What the week’s big mortgage moves mean for consumers

This week brought three big developments to the nation’s beleaguered mortgage landscape. For consumers, the complex moves have been mostly mystifying, but experts say they all aim at turning the page.

“There is a strong desire to put behind us all this period of time — the aftermath of the darkest period in American finance. All these things [announced this week] are intended to do that,” said John Taylor, president and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based community advocacy group. “There are good and bad things in it for consumers.’’

A new rule issued Thursday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau aims to prevent lenders from making the sort of toxic mortgages that forced many unsuspecting borrowers into ruin. Yet the new “qualified mortgage” rule, according to some lenders, also could perpetuate the nation’s tight credit problem and keep many would-be homebuyers on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, two settlements unveiled Monday with big banks should resolve some lingering issues from the mortgage meltdown that have kept banks focused on past errors instead of getting back to the business of lending.

Here is a quick primer on the week’s developments and some likely implications for consumers.

OCC Settlement

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates nationally chartered banks, Monday unveiled an $8.5 billion settlement with 10 giant banks that service mortgages.

As part of the controversial settlement, the OCC is scrapping its Independent Foreclosure Review, which was aimed at identifying victims of robo-signing and other improper foreclosure tactics by banks, but soon proved to be a badly flawed effort.

Instead, under the OCC’s new approach — which will be spelled out in enforcement actions in a couple of weeks — more than 3.8 million borrowers who faced foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2010 stand to get some payment regardless of whether they actually suffered any harm.

The mortgage servicing banks covered are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, SunTrust, PNC, Sovereign, U.S. Bank, MetLife Bank and Aurora.

The agreement provides for $3.3 billion to go directly to borrowers. Another $5.2 billion is earmarked for loan modifications and the forgiveness of deficiency judgments.

The OCC said the amount that eligible borrowers get will range from a few hundred dollars up to $125,000, depending on the type of error that possibly occurred in their mortgage servicing.

“If a borrower went through foreclosure with one of those 10 lenders, they should receive a couple hundred bucks, whether they deserve it or not,” said Guy Cecala, publisher and CEO of Inside Mortgage Finance Publications in Bethesda, Md., which tracks news and statistics in the residential mortgage industry. “The odds of getting $125,000 is the odds of winning the lottery. It would have to be a false foreclosure or where they were thrown out of their house illegally.”

The OCC will look to 13 broad categories of errors outlined in the Independent Foreclosure Review launched in April 2011.

Those include a litany of bumblings and misdeeds by the mortgage servicers, ranging from foreclosing on a homeowner who was following the rules during a trial period of a loan modification, to failing to offer a loan modification as mandated under a government program, to failing to follow up with a borrower to obtain needed documents under a government program.

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DOJ proposes overhaul of Florida’s program for disabled children

TALLAHASSEE --
In a new and even harsher indictment of Florida’s treatment of severely disabled children, federal civil rights lawyers have issued a comprehensive blueprint for overhauling the state’s system of care for frail youngsters.

The 17-page “settlement proposal” by the U.S. Justice Department demands the state stop slicing in-home nursing services for frail youngsters, stop ignoring the requests of family doctors who treat disabled children and stop sending hundreds of children to geriatric nursing homes — where they often spend their childhoods isolated from families and peers.

On the same day The Miami Herald obtained the “confidential” settlement proposal, the heads of three state agencies held a news conference in Tallahassee to defend the housing of hundreds of disabled children in nursing homes and to tout a newly minted program that matches medically complex children with specialized caseworkers.

“I can tell you that what I found was way better than I even thought I would find,” Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Liz Dudek said Thursday, a day after she toured two nursing homes in Miami Gardens and Plantation. “I have to wonder what the DOJ was looking at when they went through there and I would invite any of you to go to any of those facilities, because I certainly did not see what they were seeing.”

The Miami Herald asked to join several Department of Children & Families administrators, including Secretary David Wilkins, on a tour of the most-troubled nursing home last month — but was rebuffed.

The home, Golden Glades Nursing and Rehabilitation in Miami Gardens, is where two severely disabled children died in recent years — one of them, 14-year-old Marie Freyre, perished after caregivers failed to give her life-saving anti-seizure drugs.

Federal regulators fined the home $300,000 for the girl’s death.

“We were quite pleased with what was going on there,” Dudek said of Golden Glades and the two other homes she visited Wednesday. “One place had clouds in the sky and they had personalized activities; their rooms were very much personalized. Children had buddies who were there. They went out to school in all the cases where they could or were in in-home school,” Dudek said of the six homes in the state that house youngsters.

Dudek and the other agency heads called the news conference to offer details of a new program — announced last month — that offers “enhanced care” coordinators, or caseworkers, for every medically fragile child whose care is paid for by Medicaid, the joint state and federal insurance program for the needy.

The Enhanced Care Coordination program will enlist at least 28 nurse care managers throughout the state to work with families of disabled children and the nursing homes where they are being treated.

“The program is designed to help empower parents, to help them and to educate them and to help them personalize the experience that they have,” Dudek said, adding that the coordinators will be able to help some children return home from institutions.

Dudek extended an olive branch to the Justice Department, saying AHCA’s intent was “to work with the federal government.”

But she also said the state was eager to convince the DOJ that Florida is breaking no laws by housing so many children in institutions.

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Three witnesses won’t be charged in Ohio football rape case: documents

(Reuters) – At least three members of a high school football team in Steubenville, Ohio, received word they would not be prosecuted just days before testifying against teammates accused of raping a 16-year-old girl, according to documents obtained by Reuters.

In letters from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office addressed to each student’s lawyer, the state committed to not prosecuting Evan Westlake, Anthony Craig and Mark Cole, three witnesses for the prosecution.

But DeWine said on Thursday his office had made no deal with any of the witnesses involved in the case.

“We have offered nothing, made no promises to any witness in this case. … No deals have been cut with anybody,” DeWine told WTOV television in comments confirmed by his spokesman.

The case has unsettled Steubenville, a city of 19,000 near the Pennsylvania border where football has a powerful influence.

Community leaders have criticized authorities, voicing suspicion they have avoided charging more players who could have been involved in order to protect the school’s beloved football program.

Days after the letters were sent, all three players testified at a pre-trial hearing against teammates Ma’lik Richmond and Trenton Mays, both 16, who were charged with raping a classmate at a party attended by many teammates last August. Richmond and Mays were set to be tried as juveniles in February.

Although evidence in the criminal case showed each player “may not have conducted himself in a responsible or appropriate manner, his behavior did not rise to the level of any criminal conduct,” all three letters say. “Therefore, we will not prosecute your client for his actions on August 11-12, 2012.”

Walter Madison, an attorney who represents one of the students charged with rape, verified the letters’ authenticity, but declined to comment further.

The letters can protect the players from criminal charges, said John Burkoff, a criminal law professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

“If the government says that it won’t prosecute you and then changes its mind, you can argue that it can’t go back on that,” he said. “It’s constitutional estoppel (an impediment).”

The letter to Westlake, dated September 28, was signed by Ohio Associate Attorney General Marianne Hemmeter. The other two letters were signed by Ohio Associate Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Brumby and dated October 9, three days before the trio testified against their teammates. Brumby and Hemmeter conducted the questioning at that hearing.

Attorney General spokesman Dan Tierney said the state decided the students would go uncharged only for the crime of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.

“We would stand by the attorney general’s previous comments,” he told Reuters on Thursday.

The case shot to national prominence last week when the online activist group Anonymous made public a picture of the purported rape victim being carried by her wrists and ankles by two young men. Anonymous also released a video that showed several other young men joking about an assault.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Peter Cooney)

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They Dated Golden Globes Edition Part 2

Remember them?

Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal have a tendency to mix it up as far as dates go at the Golden Globes. With the 70th annual ceremony almost upon us, we're looking back at these celebs and their various plus-ones as they arrived to the star-studded event over the years.

Related: They Dated?! Golden Globes Edition - Part 1

Jolie has had the privilege of walking the Golden Globes red carpet multiple times in her career, often on the arm of a different gorgeous gentleman. The beauty's very first adult appearance was in 1999, with then-hubby Johnny Lee Miller. Just three years later, Jolie walked the carpet with new husband Billy Bob Thorton. In 2009, the actress debuted her latest beau, Brad Pitt.

Damon is now happily married to wife Luciana Barroso, but back in 2000 the Good Will Hunting star proudly held the hand of then-girlfriend Winona Ryder. A decade or so prior, his date arrived with her Square One co-star Rob Lowe.

Related: Pick the Winners With ET's Golden Globes Ballot!

Gyllenhaal has dated two award show beauties, Kristen Dunst and Reese Witherspoon. In 2003, the actor escorted Dunst to the ceremony and just three years later, Gyllenhaal would bring Witherspoon as his plus-one.

Click the video for more, and tune in to the Golden Globes on January 13 at 8 ET/5 PT on NBC.

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Twist in Net 'sex' drama

The stripper who claims she was sexually assaulted in a Brooklyn Net’s hotel suite said the hoopster watched the attack and did nothing to stop it.

“He peeked in the room,” the alleged victim said of forward Andray Blatche. “He just didn’t . . . when he came in, he didn’t have intercourse with me.”

The 21-year-old woman told Philadelphia’s ABC 6 that Blatche knew exactly what was happening to her but never tried to help.

“He was not oblivious. He was aware the whole time,” she said on camera, with her face silhouetted.

She said she met up with the baller and his entourage at Delilah’s, a Philly strip club, and they partied there before going back to Blatche’s Four Seasons hotel suite.

Andray Blatche

She told the station she believes she was drugged at the club.

“I felt strange,” she said.

She collapsed on a bed in the hotel just before the first alleged attack.

“It was like I was asleep, but I was still conscious. I heard everything that was around me, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t move,” said the college student.

“And not long after that, that was when the first guy came in. It was like he rolled me over and had his way,” the student said.

Blatche and at least one of his pals watched the attack from the doorway, she said.

“And then the other guy came in, the short one with the dreads, and then he had his way,” she said.

“It was like they kept peeking in. He went to the door a few times, opened the door, and then they were all three at the door.”

She never claimed that Blatche assaulted her.

Blatche didn’t seem worried yesterday.

“When the truth comes out, then everybody will realize what really happened,” he said at the team’s practice. “In the meantime, I can’t really have too much comments on it.’’

The hoopster, who has a history of brushes with the law, denied that he runs with a bad crowd.

“No, I’m telling you — y’all will hear the truth sooner or later. It’s just a bad situation . . . but trust me, no. When the time comes and I can talk about it, then everybody will realize that it’s not what you think.’’

Philadelphia cops yesterday said no one was in custody and no charges had been filed.

The city’s police commissioner, Charles Ramsey, has questioned the validity of the woman’s claims because of her intoxication and said it would be a tough case to make.

dmacleod@nypost.com

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Miami doctors, Walgreens join race for ACOs

With Walgreens joining insurers and hospitals in a race to reshape healthcare delivery in the country, a group of 75 doctors has become the first federally approved accountable care organization in Miami-Dade, Medicare officials announced Thursday.

South Florida ACO and the drugstore chain were on a list of 106 groups receiving approval to offer integrated care that is intended to improve quality and lower healthcare costs, with the providers sharing in any savings.

The concept, part of the Affordable Care Act, has sparked a race among major healthcare providers throughout the country. Many hospitals are hiring doctors and other groups are organizing networks that are expected to create a major shift in the nation’s healthcare system.

Many healthcare experts believe growing numbers of doctors will soon work for large entities. Jorge Acevedo-Crespo, a Miami pulmonologist, said he brought together the South Florida ACO to avoid that trend.

“I think it’s best for doctors to control healthcare — not hospitals, not insurance companies,” Acevedo-Crespo said Thursday.

One reason commonly given by Medicare for setting up ACOs is that many patients discharged from hospitals are quickly readmitted because they do not take required medications or have follow-up visits with their doctors.

Walgreens, the national drugstore chain, believes it can help fix those kinds of problems, starting with the three ACOs it has set up, including one in the Tampa area.

Jeffrey Kang, the physician who is running the Walgreens ACO effort, said one example of how coordinated care can work is a Walgreens pilot program in which pharmacists checked to see that patients were taking the proper meds after being released from hospitals. That program reduced readmissions by 40 percent, Kang said.

“Walgreens is a very natural partner” for physicians, Kang said. In Tampa, it is working with Diagnostic Clinics, which employs doctors. Many of the chain’s stores already contain Take Care clinics, which employ nurse practitioners to treat minor ailments.

“Walgreens provides 365-day-a-year, convenient, accessible, face-to-face health offering for the public,” Kang said. “We’re now the largest provider of vaccinations in the country. And we’re second in hypertension and diabetes screening.”

Walgreens is heavily promoting its virtues as it enters a competition that is growing increasingly intense. Fifteen other Florida entities were granted ACOs Thursday — most of them in the Tampa-Orlando-Jacksonville area.

Florida Blue has already set up informal ACOs, with Holy Cross doctors in Fort Lauderdale and with Baptist Health South Florida and a group of oncologists in Miami-Dade. But the state’s largest health insurer has not yet sought official federal approval, which carries with it a complex series of requirements.

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Wisdom from the mouths of babes

The other day, a friend of mine email me the following letter from a 7-year-old second-grader, Abigal Lily Alder, at Heron Heights Elementary in Broward County, and I want to share it with you, my dear Neighbors in Religion readers:

The title: "AUTISM SPEAKS to Me!"

"If I could help somebody it would be my brother, Grant, who has autism. People with autism like Grant sometimes have trouble communicating and they may act 'different.' I participated in a walk for Autism Speaks with my family, and learned that for every 88 kids one of them will have autism like my brother. If you have a conversation with someone who has autism they are not always able to focus on what you are saying and they may only want to talk about things that are important to them.

“Restaurants, playgrounds and shops can sometimes be too exciting for them at first. They may be loud, say things you may not expect or they may have trouble understanding what you are asking them.

I would like people to accept kids like my brother who are unique in their own way, and not judge them. Just be patient. If you see someone who you think may have autism, you should help them or just be a friend. I went to camp during the summer with kids who have autism like my brother, and I found out that they can be real friends just like anyone else. We laughed together and played games. It was a blast and I am still friends with many of them.

“There are good things about autism, too. My brother is the most fun and active person. He is awesome on computers and every morning when I wake up, my brother has a big smile on his face and he says, 'It is a beautiful morning.' He is still the BEST BROTHER EVER!

“I know I may be only seven, but I can make a difference and so can you."

Abby is in Mrs. Chiros' class and was the essay contest winner for her grade level.

Oh, thank you, so much Abby. You are wise beyond your young years. I know your parents are so proud of how sensitive you are — and that's a feather in their hats. God bless you and Grant. My godson Isaiah Swift, 6, has autism and I love him so much, and tell him often.

Although he had not been able to speak, one day at church he shocked my boots off, so to speak, when he said without any prompting, "I ... love ... you.”

It brought tears of joy to my eyes.

‘Why I am Thankful’

On Dec. 28, I asked readers to share reasons they are thankful. Here is a response from Charlotte Delascasas:

"I am grateful for the upcoming MLK Holiday and our national tradition of community service. Coral Gables Congregational Church will be having their annual food drive and Pastor Laurie Hafner will remain fasting up in the tower until 3,000 pounds (one dollar also equals one pound) is raised before the cherry picker brings her down, usually 7 p.m. Saturday night, when there will be a rock ‘n’ roll band in our parking lot in front of the Biltmore Hotel, to celebrate.

“Our church will also adult education about Dr. King from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m., each Sunday in January. I am thankful that our congregation welcomes everyone, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey, with an open door. Each Thanksgiving we join Temple Judea and Riviera Presbyterian for an interfaith service and we have welcomed theologians from all religions to speak as well. Our social justice program includes Green Christians, who have just started a community garden.

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Three top U.S. wireless carriers to embrace BlackBerry 10

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Three of the top U.S. cellphone carriers signaled this week that they would support Research In Motion’s BlackBerry 10 products, the first of which are due to be unveiled Jan 30, offering a hopeful sign for RIM’s comeback effort.

Executives at Verizon Communications , AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA all said they are looking forward to the devices, which will be crucial for RIM’s chances of regaining lost ground from rivals such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics .

“We’re hopeful its going to be a good device,” Lowell McAdam, chief executive of Verizon Communications, majority owner of the biggest U.S. mobile service Verizon Wireless.

“We’ll carry it,” McAdam said in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

BlackBerry 10 is RIM’s next-generation mobile operating platform and it is preparing to launch new smartphones later this month. Word that major carriers will offer the devices is good news for RIM.

RIM, which once commanded the lead in the smartphone market, has rapidly lost ground to Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s line of Galaxy products, especially in North American and European markets, as customers abandon its aging BlackBerry devices.

It has been testing the new BlackBerry 10 devices with carriers so they can assess their compatibility with networks.

No. 4 U.S. mobile provider T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom , also plans to carry the new BlackBerry 10.

“We’re extremely optimistic that it’s going to be a successful product and our business customers are extremely interested in it,” Chief Executive John Legere said.

AT&T has promised to support the BlackBerry 10 platform, according to Chief Marketing Officer David Christopher, but he would not discuss specific devices.

However, AT&T handset executive Jeff Bradley made it clear that the No. 2 U.S. mobile operator would carry the phone.

“It’s logical to expect our current (BlackBerry) customers will have the best BlackBerry devices to choose from in the future,” Bradley said.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Oscar Moments: Best & Supporting Actress Wins

The 85th Annual Academy Awards is just six weeks away, and we're taking a look back at four great moments from the last two years: When Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Melissa Leo and Octavia Spencer picked up their coveted statuettes.

ET's Complete Academy Awards Coverage

In a bit of an upset, Streep won her third Oscar at the 84th Academy Awards for her spot-on portrayal of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, besting front-runner Viola Davis (The Help), Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn). "When they called my name I had this feeling that half of America said, 'Oh no, her again?'" said the self-effacing star. "But, whatever." The 17-time Oscar nominee closed her speech by saying she was "sure she'd never be up here again" and thanking, "all my colleagues and all my friends … the thing that counts the most with me is the friendships and the love."

A pregnant Portman danced to the stage to cradle her Best Actress statuette at the 83rd Academy Awards for her riveting performance as a dancer on the edge in Black Swan, out-pirouetting Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence and Michelle Williams. "I truly, sincerely wish the prize was to get to work with my fellow nominees," said Natalie. Brought to tears when she thanked her parents for "showing me every day to be a good human being by example," she also singled out her fiance and "beautiful love, Benjamin Millepied, who has now given me my most important role in life."

Video: 83rd Oscars Red Carpet Flashback

The Help star Spencer was named Best Supporting Actress at the 84th Academy Awards over Bridesmaids star Melissa McCarthy, Albert Nobbs' Janet McTeer, The Artist's Bérénice Bejo and her Help co-star Jessica Chastain. "Thank you, Academy, for putting me with the hottest guy in the room," quipped the break-out character actor before breaking down in tears of joy. "I share this with everybody. … I'm sorry, I'm freakin' out. Thank you world!"

And at the 83rd Academy Awards, Leo bested her The Fighter co-star Amy Adams in addition to Helena Bonham Carter, Hailee Steinfeld and Jacki Weaver for the Best Supporting Actress statuette. Asking legendary presenter Kirk Douglas, "Will you pinch me?" Leo basked in the moment, declared, "I'm shakin' in my boots here," then accidentally dropped the F-bomb before she thanked the real-life Fighter clan matron Alice Ward.

Related: Seth MacFarlane to Host 85th Oscars

The 85th Academy Awards will air live from Hollywood on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013 on ABC.

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Yacht owner says lenders are trying to take ship in 'fire sale'

He won’t surrender the ship.

The owner of an iconic presidential yacht is suing his lenders claiming they’re trying to commandeer the ship in a “fire sale,” according to documents filed in New York Supreme Court.

The lenders “developed and then instituted a dastardly plan to wrest control of the Sequoia from,” its owner, the complaint states.

Sequoia owner Gary Silversmith, of Washington D.C., was burdened by the costs of maintaining the 104-foot wooden yacht. Built in 1925 it served presidents Hoover to Carter, until the later sold it at auction.

Silversmith received a $5 million loan in July 2003 from D.C.-based company called FE Partners, which the complaint says is owned by a powerful business family from the Indian state of Goa.

But FE Partners only paid Silversmith half the loan and then served him with fabricated default notices, the filing alleges. The notices were issued for infractions like bringing prostitutes abroad the vessel, according to the complaint, which calls those charges “outright false.”

“The plan was to strategically loan only half of what it contracted to loan,” forcing Silversmith to default on his payments and surrender the ship for half its stated $13 million value, court papers say.

The yacht, a National Historic Landmark, is rented out to private groups and used for charities including an organization that helps wounded vets.

Silversmith wants the court to force the lenders to pay the balance on the loan and prevent them from buying the historic ship.

The parties are due in court on Jan. 17.

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