Mortgage Auditor Blues
As a residential mortgage securitization auditor, I often feel like I’m riding the longest roller coaster in the world. I put on my reading glasses and spend hour after hour researching mortgage-backed securities, all in an effort to gather data that is increasingly ignored. Looks like it’s time to bury our heads in the sand and go back to letting the rich get richer. The big banks have shown that they are too big to fail and from now on they will not only get away with severely damaging the economy, covering their tracks with outright fraud, and continuing the practice of originating to distribute, but they will make billions doing it. Oh, and let’s not forget, he owns all the real estate in the country.
If I had to pinpoint the question I get asked the most, it would be: “How is this happening?” Everyone I deal with seems to think I’m the best person to rant, vent, or yell at. Apparently, the person who spends his days for the last 4 years discovering signed for theft assignments, credit default swaps, shady foreclosure companies, post-dated letters, purposely lost documents, predatory crime undercover lenders stripping communities of their wealth, he’s also the only person they can find to listen when they need to vent. I have made up this punishment system in my mind. Have you ever known someone who had to go to jail on the weekend? Perhaps a friend who did something very wrong, but is too important in society to have to spend the work week paying for his crime. I’m not saying yes, but I envision a weekend banker’s prison filled with executives from Countrywide, BOA, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo (too many to list), and every weekend busloads of super-rich, white-collar criminals turn up. They are the target of mortgage fraud. seminars presented by fraud victims, fraud examiners, auditors, etc. Of course, everyone has to pay exorbitant prices for this weekend getaway (and the money actually helps hurt homeowners instead of settlement funds paying just to pay off their taxes). Okay, I admit I’m daydreaming when I review the mortgage documents.
One thing I hope never changes in this business is the people who continue to remove their Band-Aids. Hooray for the people who will never stop fighting the mountain. I like such people and am happy to listen when they need an ear.