Jingle mail, Jingle Mail, Jingle all the way.....
This borrower couldn't pay and thus stopped doing so. This should generate a "NOD" (Notice of Default) and ultimately lead to foreclosure, right? It should result in an impaired asset which might be sold to some other company (at a discount), right?
It got sold all right - right at the "120 day" late point where Wells counts a loan as "defaulted."
But look at who it got sold to..... (click for a larger copy)
Yes, Wells bought the loan from.... itself?
Yep.
I have the original purchase documentation on the mortgage from July 21st 2008, when it was bought (by Wells in Frederick MD) from the original funding company in Tempe AZ.
Now, when the borrower defaults, Wells buys the loan from itself?
For what purpose?
The obvious questions that arise are:
- Is this loan "suddenly new and thus not yet non-performing" after playing this shell game? And if so, how many more "performing" loans does Wells have now that they haven't been "non-paying" for at least 90 days (having "just been acquired")?
- Was it sold at Par?
- Was this accounted for as a "true sale" when it was in fact "sold" from and to the same company in a different office location?
You don't think there might be a little shell game going on here do you?
Doesn't anyone remember that the S&Ls did this same sort of crap (with the twist that in many cases they colluded with each other to shuffle them around between institutions) as they swirled the bowl?
Inquiring minds want to know the answers to the above three questions, and if we had honest regulators they'd be demanding answers to those questions too.
