Back From the Vomitorium: The Looting of the Mortgage Settlement Agreement

Oct. 28, 2012 -- States are looting the Mortgage Settlement Fund, and the odds are good that you or someone you know is getting robbed -- for the second time.

According to recent reports, politicians, not bankers, are the culprits this time around -- siphoning billions from that historic settlement and pumping it into their broken state budgets. Instead of "manning up" and changing their diet, they're taking a cue from ancient Rome: After a quick trip to the vomitorium, it's back to the banquet table. (Care for a mint?)

Their willingness to play fast and loose with the settlement -- crawling through certain wiggle words in its language to circumvent the clear intent of its negotiators --- tells me they still haven't learned where "fast and loose" leads. Ironically, some of the worst offenders are the governors of states that originally led the fight to win justice for consumers -- with California Gov. Jerry Brown leading the charge.

Remember the settlement -- the $25 billion that America's five largest mortgage servicers paid out to atone for fleecing millions of American homeowners? Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Ally Financial and Citigroup were held accountable for fraudulent foreclosure practices -- including the notorious practice dubbed "robo-signing" -- that cost millions of Americans their homes. The idea was not just to punish the banks (and the jury is out on exactly how much this really does punish them), but to help beleaguered homeowners as well as raise the level of consumer financial awareness in this country so 2008 would never be repeated.

"This is neither the beginning nor the end of our work to hold banks and other institutions accountable for the destruction they've caused families, communities and country," Identity Theft 911. His experience as former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs gives him unique insight into consumer privacy, legislation and financial advocacy. He is a nationally recognized expert on identity theft and credit.