This Old House

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Outerborough Pols Demand Jamie Dimon Visit Foreclosure-Ravaged Neighborhoods

A group of vocal protestors was bunched in tightly together within the confines of a narrow sliver of sidewalk that JP Morgan security had provided for them yesterday morning. By design, the space kept the group safely off the spacious outdoor plaza in front of the company’s headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, placing their backs against the wide, waist high concrete bollards that delineate private property from the city sidewalk.

The protestors’ uncomfortable position simultaneously allowed a constant flow of pedestrian traffic to move past them on the sidewalk and to obstruct the view of onlookers, which consisted almost entirely of curiously observant JP Morgan employees leaving the building for lunch. The rest were the various City Council employees that were on hand to staff the three members who took turns at the makeshift lecturn shoved snuggly into the center of the chanting crowd.

Unfortunately for the protestors, their chaotic, ad hoc physical placement and the clear lack of an interested public seemed to echo the rather jumbled message that they brought to the headquarters of the corporation that they insulted, accused and then, bizarrely, invited out for a walk around Brooklyn, where they believe Chase is wreaking havoc on low-income homeonwers. Read More

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs May Jettison Home Lending Unit

Litton Loan Servicing, Goldman Sachs’ little mortgage servicer, may be on the auction block. The Financial Times reports that a buyer approached Goldman about a potential deal, but talks soured over price. But sources also told the FT that Goldman doesn’t consider Litton Loan part of its core business.

To Goldman, Litton Loan may Read More

This Old House

Banks Run Risk of $100 B. in Mortgage Putback Losses

Ooh, another scary foreclosure-crisis story! Today’s meltdown prediction comes from reliable market mover Barron’s, which says the major banks could forfeit more than $100 billion on so-called “putbacks” of mortgage securities. If courts determine that banks fibbed about the quality of mortgages they packaged into the securities, the banks may be forced buy the deteriorated Read More