Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 - Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003
Part One - FDIC Bank Closure Foreclosure Victim Coalition Forming
-----Updated -Urgent Action—You Could Face FDIC & Lennar Foreclosure.
Unwitting Landowner Bank Closure Victims Face FDIC Foreclosures.
FDIC & Partner Lennar Corp Foreclose On Thousands of Bank Closure Victims. FDIC -- (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).
-----Please forward this message to your entire e-mail list.
-----If you had a loan with a bank seized by the FDIC, please let us know by sending an e-mail to [email protected] with “banking info kit” written in the subject line. We’ll send you back a kit of news articles and background.
-----If you know anyone who might have had a loan with a failed bank, please also send us a note. Please send their e-mail or other contact info too. That would help. At least a phone number or address. We are putting together a network to turn this FDIC bank closure and foreclosure disaster around in Congress. Thank you in advance for your help with this important project.
-----Do you have a land loan with a bank? No homeowner or landowner with a bank loan at a failed bank is certain to be safe from what appears to be an incredible land grab and taxpayer swindle by Lennar Corporation and other banks. As amazing as this sounds, the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) is a willing partner and is funding Lennar and its subsidiaries. The FDIC is protecting Lennar from any losses with taxpayer dollars, your dollars.
-----If you have a home or land loan with a failed bank, the process may not have reached you yet. But it is spreading. You need to act quickly to head off a possible foreclosure.
-----What’s The Problem?
The FDIC is taking over hundreds of banks and closing them down. They are then packaging up the loans of those banks, both performing and non-performing loans, and selling them in bulk to giant real estate companies at pennies on the dollar. Unfortunately, these companies appear to only want to grab all the developable land for their own future development.
The loans of these closed banks are being bundled up and sold in bulk to real estate giant Lennar and other companies. Lennar, through various subsidiaries including Rialto Capital and loans packaged as Multibank 2009-1, is then foreclosing on many of these victims and threatening others who have made their payments and are current on their loan.
Because of the decline in real estate values, many properties are not worth as much as the loan. Lennar, Multibank 2009-1 Rialto, and others are then going after the landowner for the deficiencies, in many cases foreclosing on a lifetime of work.
This process is destroying jobs, undermining local businesses, local communities, forcing bankruptcies and preventing an improved job environment and economy. By using this process the FDIC is actually working against recovery from the Great Recession.
These companies, including Lennar and their subsidiaries like Rialto
Capitol, are supposed to work out the loans with the landowners. The goal is supposed to be to get the most money for the FDIC that retains a 60% interest in the loans. But that is not happening nearly as well as it would if the FDIC, Lennar, Rialto and others would really try to work out the loans with the landowners.
Instead, Lennar, Rialto and others are not working out the loans but are forcing the landowners into foreclosure and bankruptcy. Lennar, Rialto and others seem to be deliberately destroying thousands of small businessmen, costing thousands of jobs and slowing the economic recovery. Of course Lennar is destroying its future competition too.
There is almost no attempt being made to work out the loans.
It appears Lennar, Rialto and others are trying to put as many barriers as possible in front of the landowner bank and foreclosure victims to prevent them from working out an equitable solution.
-----The goal of Lennar, Rialto and others appears to be to grab up as much land and in-process developments as possible for pennies on the dollar as they can. Their plan is to wait out the recession and then sell or develop these lands at a huge profit. They plan to make billions of dollars on the backs of bank closure and foreclosure victims.
-----Click here for a short video about the sweetheart deal between the FDIC and another of the banks involved, Indymac Bank, and why there is so much incentive to foreclose rather than work with investors. This process is the same as Lennar, Multibank 2009-1 Rialto, other Lennar subsidiaries and other banks:
http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/archive/1/29027
To make matters worse, the FDIC and Congress are sitting by while Lennar, Rialto and others destroy thousands of small businessmen, killing jobs and slowing down the economic recovery.
In the process Lennar, Rialto and others appear to be treating landowners and bank closure and foreclosure victims with extremely harsh and abusive tactics, actually destroying jobs and damaging communities.
The FDIC is not only benefiting from what looks like abusive treatment of landowners by Lennar, Rialto and others, it is encouraging it by the system it has set up and providing no oversight. It is providing no oversight and pretending it has no control.
The FDIC is now partners with Lennar, its subsidiaries like Rialto, and other what appear to be predator real estate giants. So the FDIC simply looks the other way and provides no oversight. The FDIC has retained a 60% interest in the loans so it appears they have a conflict.
The FDIC is funding Lennar and other predator real estate giants by providing them huge interest free loans (you, the taxpayer are picking up the interest) and providing them cash to carry out their abusive scams.
To top it all off, the FDIC has guaranteed Lennar against any losses. So you, the taxpayer pick up the cost no matter what. All this is being done in the name of economic recovery.
-----Our information is that Lennar was one of the companies that was heavily engaged in sub-prime lending to sell thousands of new houses. It was these sub-prime mortgages that led the country into the financial meltdown and the current great recession. Lennar helped create the problem and now is profiting from the problem at the expense of local business owners and local communities.
----Lennar knows exactly what it is doing, read the quote from a Lennar press release:
Stuart Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lennar Corporation, said, "Acquiring and working out distressed real estate loans was a large and extremely profitable part of our business during the last major real estate down cycle in the early 1990s. We are pleased to return to this business and honored to partner with the FDIC to manage, work through and add value to these portfolios of real estate loans. We take great pride in understanding market cycles and identifying the opportune point of entry. As we have noted on our quarterly conference calls, we have been carefully preparing to invest in this space for the last two years. Our strong cash position and proven track record in this area enables us to capitalize on this market cycle and create long-term value for our shareholders. We expect these transactions will be accretive to 2010 earnings."
-----The average American knows nothing about what is going on! I spoke to a friend in Las Vegas and his only comment was, "Yeah, the FDIC closed a local bank, but I heard it went pretty smooth and the bank opened for business as usual on Monday."
That’s true. The bank reopened for business under another name and most of the depositors were taken care of. He knew nothing of the scheme perpetrated by Lennar and a few other real estate giants and the FDIC (our government) and what happened to those who had loans with the bank. Remember, the FDIC is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a Federal agency set up to protect depositors.
-----The thing my friend doesn't know is that he is vulnerable...he just has to have a loan at a bank that is closed and taken over by the FDIC. He doesn't know what is going on behind the scenes. He doesn’t know if his bank will be next, because the list of troubled banks is a closely guarded secret. There are many more banks that will be closed over the next several years.
By sitting by and allowing this process to continue unabated, the FDIC and Congress are destroying jobs and hurting communities while actually slowing the economic recovery.
-----Congress appears to be providing limited or no oversight, apparently under the impression that Lennar, Rialto and other huge real estate conglomerates are actually helping the country recover from the recession. So Congress appears to be also not doing its job of oversight over the FDIC. It can reign in the FDIC but it’s not doing its job.
-----And if that is not bad enough, Lennar, Rialto and others are going after these landowners and small businessmen for the deficiencies on their loans, thereby taking a lifetime worth of assets from thousands of hard working Americans.
Lennar, Rialto and others are killing even more jobs, both now, and the future jobs that would have been created if these businessmen had been encouraged to stay in business instead of strangled and killed off economically.
-----All of this while the FDIC and Congress appear to be sitting ideally by under the impression they are helping the economy recover from the recession by giving Lennar, Rialto and others free reign to pillage the bank closure and foreclosure victims. Their attitude appears to be: You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.
The trouble is their omelet is funded by thousands of bank closures and foreclosure victims, the FDIC and billions of dollars of taxpayer money while destroying jobs and working against the recovery from the recession.
The FDIC and Congress are “Fiddling while Rome burns”: (the recovery, jobs and hundreds of economically devastated communities burn).
-----Listed in Part Two of this e-mail are the names, e-mail addresses and other contact information for the entire Senate Banking Committee and the entire House Financial Services Committee.
It appears these Members of Congress are doing nothing to stop the plundering of the personal assets (loan deficiencies and land of thousands of hard working landowners and job creators). Congress is sitting by while thousands of communities and their economic ecosystems are being damaged.
-----There is an important personal letter from landowner John Fazzolari describing his personal situation in part two of this e-mail. Unfortunately, we are collecting lots of stories like his.
-----What’s the solution?
What can be done to stop this tragedy in the making? Read this list first then look at the Action Items below.
-----A. Congress can provide proper oversight of the FDIC.
-----B. The FDIC can reign in Lennar, Rialto and other real estate giants and force them to work out loans with the bank closure and foreclosure victims wherever possible. And it is possible in many cases where Lennar, Rialto and others appear to be deliberately preventing the workout.
-----C. Congress through the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee can hold hearings to hear from bank closure and foreclosure victims. Congress can demand that Lennar, Rialto and other real estate companies involved in this giant nationwide land grab come before Congress and explain their process in front of the victims they appear to be abusing and intimidating.
-----D. At the Congressional hearings members of the Senate and House can hear directly from the victims about the horror stories of abusive and intimidating tactics by Lennar, Rialto and other large real estate conglomerates who are partners with the FDIC.
-----E. You can pressure Congress to take action to reign in the FDIC, make them do proper oversight of their giant real estate partners and treat the hard working bank closure and foreclosure victims with respect and proper legal practices.
-----F. See the complete list of what you can do below – Action Items below.
-----Action Items:
-----1. Please forward this message to everyone on your e-mail list.
-----2. Please read part two of this e-mail that should arrive later today or tomorrow. It has a complete list of the Senate Banking Committee, the House Financial Services Committee and all their contact info.
-----3. If this FDIC-Lennar Multibank 2009-1 Rialto bank closure and foreclosure victim process sounds familiar or has damaged you during a bank closure, call the American Land Rights Association at (360) 687-3087. Or send e-mail to [email protected] with “FDIC Lennar Banking Scam” written in the subject line.
Remember that Lennar has several subsidiaries. Multibank 2009-1 Rialto is only one. So you may be involved with a different subsidiary of Lennar or a different bank entirely.
-----4. Send e-mail for a free banking kit. To get more information or documentation on what is going on, please send an e-mail to American Land Rights at [email protected] with the words “banking info kit” written on the subject line. We’ll send you back a kit of information including newspaper articles and letters from victims.
-----5. Call or write your Congressman immediately to alert him or her of your concern about this process, even if it has not hit you yet. Ask for the foreclosures to be stopped immediately and urge an investigation into the FDIC and its partnership relationship to Lennar Corporation and other banks, the destruction of thousands of local businesses and likely cost of billions of dollars to the US taxpayer.
-----Please also send a letter to the Members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. They’re listed in Part Two of this e-mail.
See a list of paragraphs below you can use to write your letter or call. Keep it short. One or two pages. And focus on just a few issues that concern you. You can write another letter two or three weeks later with additional concerns but don’t stuff too much in your first letter.
You may call any Congressman at (202) 225-3121. That’s the Capitol Switchboard. When they answer, ask for your Congressman by name. When that office answers, ask for the staff person who handles the Financial Services Committee or banking.
You may write your Congressman at Honorable _____, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.
-----6. Call and write both your Senators. At least one of them may be on the US Senate Banking Committee. See the list in part two of this e-mail. Alert him or her about your concerns about the Lennar-Multibank 2009-1 Rialto FDIC foreclosure process. The same process and special FDIC deal is being used with other giant real estate corporations.
You may call any Senator at (202) 224-3121. When the Capitol Switchboard answers, ask for your Senator by name. Be sure to call both your Senators. When that office answers, ask for the staff person who handles the Banking Committee or banking.
Write any Senator at: Honorable _________ , US Senate, Washington, DC 20510.
-----7. Think of neighbors and friends who may have banked with a failed bank and could be caught in this foreclosure mess. Drop us a note with their contact information. Forward this e-mail to them and urge them to contact the American Land Rights Association.
Help put a network together to stop this mess and help save jobs and allow the economy to recover from the recession.
-----How To Write Your Senators and Congressmen.
What is your goal when you call or write your Congressman and Senators?
-----Here is an Issue Checklist to help you when you call or write your Congressman and Senators.
When you write to Congress, please put these issues in your own words as best you can. Only use three or four of the issues and try to keep your letter to one page, two max. Your letter to Congress means a lot. We know this e-mail is too long. But we are trying to give you enough information to feel confident calling or writing Congress.
--Ask for the foreclosures to be stopped immediately and urge an investigation into the FDIC and its partnership relationship with Lennar Corporation;
--Ask them to stop all the FDIC Lennar-Multibank 2009-1 Rialto and other subsidiaries and banks foreclosure actions NOW to save local businesses, communities and jobs all over the country;
--Lennar has other subsidiaries that are doing the same thing as Multibank 2009-1 Rialto. Ask Congress to stop all the foreclosures until it investigates how Lennar and some other real estate companies are likely to make billions, a good portion at taxpayer expense;
--Ask Congress to stop the FDIC, Lennar, Rialto and others from going after the personal assets and homes of landowners to cover loan deficiencies. Often these deficiencies could have been mitigated or eliminated by good faith negotiations with the landowners. They were created by real estate values going down;
--It appears that Lennar, Rialto and others are making no effort to work out the loans. They want the land. The FDIC is has given Lennar, Rialto and others free reign to pillage thousands of landowners and destroy thousands of jobs hurting local communities and slowing the recovery from the recession;
--Lennar subsidiaries like Multibank 2009-1Rialto are refusing to negotiate or settle loans when offered the opportunity by local businesses? Multibank 2009-1 Rialto and the other Lennar subsidiaries are going about their business in a way that actually increases the costs to the FDIC and the taxpayer, you. Lennar and its subsidiaries appear to be deliberately losing money because all their losses are guaranteed by the FDIC – You, the taxpayer;
--Ask why the FDIC is allowing Lennar to carry out the destruction of thousands of local businesses and increase costs by billions of dollars to the US taxpayer. Instead of saving money as it is supposed to, the FDIC is costing billions of dollars and destroying jobs;
--The local businessman is actually a victim and is powerless to fight the government on his own. The government agency, FDIC, is insulated from any repercussions by the fact the FDIC denies any control over Lennar Multibank 2009-1Rialto or other subsidiaries, when they actually retain about a 60% interest in all the loans. So the FDIC is participating in the predator activities of Lennar and other surrogates;
--Lennar, Rialto and other FDIC partners appear to be resisting allowing the landowner to make a deal and save his property so they can get their hands on hundreds of homebuilding projects and then reap the benefit of billions of dollars in profits when the real estate market improves;
--Instead of helping local communities or saving local businesses and jobs, Lennar and its subsidiaries along with its funding partner, the very FDIC that closed the banks in the first place, is tying these local businesses up in red tape, tying up their assets, incentivizing foreclosure and threats of destruction. The FDIC, Lennar and its subsidiaries are forcing thousands of bankruptcies;
--Ask for an investigation into why the FDIC gave an incentive to Lennar Corp. and several subsidiaries and other real estate companies to foreclose on bank closure victims rather than allow them to negotiate a way to work out a solution to save their small businesses, jobs and local community economic activity;
--Why did the FDIC guarantee all Lennar losses with taxpayer dollars? Why were these incentives not offered to local businessmen? The way it is set up now, Lennar cannot lose, but the taxpayer (you) pay through the nose;
--Tell your Congressman you want to help stop the recession and protect jobs in your community. Tell him or her you are afraid the FDIC bank closures and foreclosures through Lennar, its various subsidiaries and other real estate companies, are going to make the recession last longer and cost more jobs;
--Why would the FDIC make a deal with such predators? Lennar does not seem to have any interest in helping local communities recover from the recession or saving jobs;
--The FDIC, and Lennar and its various subsidiaries including Multibank 2009-1 Rialto are destroying thousands of small businessmen, jobs and communities. The FDIC could make far more money by negotiating with local businessmen, helping save jobs and the local community;
--Many people who are paying on their loans and are current in their payments are being tied up in red tape and delays and economically threatened along with those who have non-performing loans;
--The FDIC entered into partnerships with private companies, mostly subsidiaries of Lennar, and is using taxpayer money to fund this massive takeover of private property. Lennar and its subsidiaries are doing it on a national level in what appears to be a planned policy of preying on and putting out of business local businessmen and landowners;
--They are balancing their books on the backs of unsuspecting taxpayers...ones whose loans were often sold when they weren't in default and were paying their taxes and going about their business as usual...until the day the bank was seized by the FDIC;
--Multibank 2009-1 Rialto, Lennar and the FDIC often refuse to provide loan or mortgage documents or payoff requirements. Lennar and its subsidiaries generally refuse to commit to agreeable terms or any kind of official document borrowers can read before signing;
--Lennar is making big bucks...actually billions of dollars, while the citizen who has created jobs, paid his bills, and has been a responsible citizen and taxpayer is being foreclosed upon or threatened by the partnerships formed by the FDIC, Lennar, its subsidiary companies and other giant real estate companies;
--The FDIC is hiding behind these surrogates and benefiting from their predator activities with one hand while losing money and giving away taxpayer funds with the other. They only appear to be benefiting the taxpayer while actually losing the taxpayer billions of dollars;
--The FDIC has given a sweetheart deal to this giant real estate company, Lennar, whose CEO makes over $22 million per year, while bankrupting local economies with the loan-buying scheme. There are other companies besides Lennar who have also gotten special deals;
--By refusing to negotiate with landowners, Multibank 2009-1 Rialto, Lennar and other Lennar subsidiaries are actually delivering less money to the FDIC than the FDIC could get if they negotiated in good faith with the landowners. That is breaking the law. The FDIC is required to maximize the money they are getting back. By sponsoring the predator tactics of Lennar, its subsidiaries and other banks, the FDIC is participating in what appears to be a racket;
--The FDIC has set up incentives for Multibank 2009-1 Rialto and other Lennar subsidiaries to create large losses that give them huge tax benefits. They refuse to negotiate thereby creating many more foreclosures and bankruptcies while destroying small businesses and the lives of bank closure victims;
--Multibank 2009-1 Rialto and other Lennar subsidiaries are immune from any business risk because the FDIC has guaranteed any losses that Lennar and its subsidiaries incur during this process. Lennar has no incentive to limit losses, foreclosures or increase the benefits for taxpayers. There is no way Lennar can lose. You, the taxpayer, get all the losses;
--The FDIC appears to have a conflict on of interest when it takes over a failed bank. It retains a 60% interest in the loans it takes over which makes it possible for it to benefit from bank closures. The FDIC is also required to get the most money back possible for the FDIC when they take over a bank. But they are refusing to work with local landowners so they cannot possibly get the most money back for the taxpayer;
--Instead of the FDIC maximizing returns to the taxpayer, they are allowing Lennar, the partner of the FDIC through its various subsidiaries, to say no to any negotiations with most landowners that could bring in more money and save local businesses. That’s because the FDIC has created an incentive for Lennar to have giant paper losses that are then funded by the taxpayer through the FDIC and large tax benefits. All of this costs you, the taxpayer, huge amounts of money;
--This process works against helping the US out of its current deep recession and is ruining the financial future of thousands of unwitting property owners and small business victims costing thousands of jobs; and
Your goal is to stop the foreclosures by Lennar and its subsidiaries now. Congress must investigate the FDIC insider deal with Lennar and Multibank 2009-1 Rialto. Congress does not realize that what appears to be good for the FDIC on the surface, is actually destroying jobs and hurting communities while increasing the cost to the taxpayer.
It’s critical for you to take immediate action. These bank closures are occurring every month with hundreds of banks already closed this year and last. The process is spreading. Don’t wait until the last minute and face foreclosure yourself.
Sincerely,
April -- 2011
Chuck Cushman
American Land Rights Association
[email protected]
(360) 687-3087
PS. Part two of this e-mail will arrive later today or tomorrow. It will include a complete list of the Senate Banking Committee Members and the House Financial Services Committee and its Members. You will also get their e-mail and fax addresses.
You may use the Capitol Switchboard number to call any Congressman at (202) 225-3121. Call any Senator at (202) 224-3121. Please don’t fail to send your Congressman and Senators a letter with copies to the Members of these Congressional Committees. It would be good to send a copy to American Land Rights but you don’t have to.
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