As a residential mortgage securitization auditor I often feel like I am riding the world’s longest roller coaster. I put my reading glasses on and spend hour after hour drilling into mortgage-backed securities, all in an effort to collect data that is increasingly being ignored again. Seems that it is time to bury our heads in the sand and get back to letting the rich get richer. Big banks have proven they are too big to fail and from here on out not only will they get away with severely damaging the economy, covering their tracks with blatant fraud and continuing the practice of originate to distribute, they will make billions doing it. Oh, and let’s not forget, own all the real estate in the country.
If I had to pinpoint the question I get ask the most it would be, “How is this happening?” Everyone I deal with seems to think I am the best person to rant, blow off steam or yell at. Apparently, the person who spends her days for the last 4 years uncovering robo-signed assignments, credit default swaps, shady foreclosure firms, post dated letters, purposely lost paperwork, predatory crime hiding lenders that strip communities of their wealth, is also the only person they can find to listen when they need to vent. I have invented this punishment system in my mind. Have you ever known anyone who had to go to jail for the weekend? Maybe a friend who did something big wrong, but they are just too important in society to have to spend the work week paying for their crime. Not saying I do, but I envision a weekend banker’s prison filled with Countrywide, BOA, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo executives (too many to list), and every weekend busloads of super wealthy white-collar criminals show up and are subjected to mortgage fraud seminars presented by fraud victims, fraud examiners, auditors, etc. Of course they all have to pay exorbitant prices for this weekend getaway (and the money actually helps wronged homeowners instead of the settlement funds they pay only to write off on their taxes). Okay, I admit to daydreaming when digging through mortgage documents.
One thing I hope never changes in this business is the people who continue to pull the Band-Aids off. Hooray to the people who are never going to stop fighting the mountain. I like those folks and am happy to listen when they need an ear.