Bailout

The attorney generals? proposed bank settlement

By Felix Salmon

Cheyenne Hopkins, of American Banker, has a great coup today: she’s found the famous 27-page term sheet laying out exactly how the state attorneys general are trying to force mortgage servicers to “change a dysfunctional system”, in the words of Iowa AG Tom Miller. There’s a lot of material in here, and unfortunately I’m a bit pushed for time right now and can’t give it a full go-through until later tonight.

So have at it, and let me know what you find — do you think this will actually result in a lot more principal reductions, as outlined on pages 18-19? I do hope so, but that bit about being “reserved for further discussion” does give me pause. It’s certainly the part which would cause the greatest immediate harm to banks’ balance sheets — much more than any fine the AGs might come up with.

27 Page Settlement

Full post as published by Macroprudential on March 07, 2011 (boomark / email).