Podcast of August 20th Show – Word of the Day – "Gas" Bachman's Political Promise – The Economy, Housing and Shedding 2nd Mortgages and Credit Card Debt

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Spotlight On the News with Chuck Stokes – Ken Gross appears to discuss Short Sales and What to Do if You're Underwater in Michigan

Houses Under Water – Solutions for Michiganders – Ken Gross Interviewed by Chuck Stokes – On Spotlight on the News 6/25 Channel 7

Ken Gross Appears Again on Chuck Stokes's Spot Light On the News – Channel 7 9:30 AM Sunday, June 26th -

Catch last weeks video from the June 19th show:

The Topic is MERS Foreclosure and Houses Underwater

Catch TV Broadcast – Ken Gross on Detroit Wants to Know – The Housing Crisis – MERS Foreclosure and Michigan's Expiring Mediation Law

In depth discussion of the MERS Class Action in Michigan as a result of the recent Michigan Court of Appeals decision and the need for Michigan to take action to extend the Foreclosure Mediation Law that is expiring July 5, 2011

Podcast of May 28st Show – Word of the Day – "Uneasy" – Why you should not use a National Tax Service

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Ken Gross to appear on Detroit Wants to Know – Sunday 1 PM 5/22/11 – Topic is MERS Class Action in Michigan and Extension of 3205 Foreclosure Mediation

Be sure to watch Detroit’s Steve Hood interview Ken Gross on the hottest topics in Michigan housing – the Court of Appeals decision invalidating MERS foreclosures by advertisement and  the extension of Michigan’s Foreclosure Mediation Law that is set to expire July 5, 2011

IMPORTANT NEWS FOR PERSONS WHOSE HOME HAS BEEN FORECLOSED IN MICHIGAN

Dear Friend, I hope you’re doing well. I’m writing to let you know of a recent Court of Appeals decision decided last month that ruled that foreclosures by advertisement where the foreclosing party is identified as Mortgage Electronic Registration System (also known as “MERS”) rather than in the name of the lender are invalid. As a result of this decision, THAV GROSS has  teamed with two other law firms and filed Class Action lawsuits seeking damages against the lenders that have improperly foreclosed.

We are notifying you of this important decision – in case you know of friends or family members who have been through foreclosure. Assuming the Court of Appeals decision is not reversed or limited by the Supreme Court, we believe that people who have been wrongly foreclosed have a claim that is worth pursuing in the litigation. This litigation does not require the expenditure of any funds by the Class Members for legal fees.  At present, we are looking for Class Representatives to participate in the litigation.

How to Determine if the Foreclosure is Invalid

The key to whether you have a valid claim is determined by looking at the foreclosure notice and Sheriff’s Deed that was generated in the foreclosure process. If you have these documents at home, you need to pull them out. If not, you should go to the Register Deeds Office for the county where the home was and request a complete copy of the Sheriff’s Deed with attachments. Some counties will provide this information via online for a fee.

Invalid Foreclosures

If the foreclosure notice mentions MERS, as the mortgagee, and there is no indication that MERS assigned the mortgage back to the lender then in it is most likely that the foreclosure is invalid.  You can further look at the Sheriff’s Deed. If the “party of the second part” in the heading is listed as MERS and not the name of the lender, then, again, it is likely the foreclosure was invalid.

Foreclosures that Do Not Apply as to this Issue

If, however, MERS is not listed as the mortgagee or there is reference that MERS assigned the mortgage to the lender in the foreclosure note, then the situation does not apply. Similarly, if the “party of the second part” in the heading on the Sheriff’s Deed is the lender, then the situation does not apply.

What Should You Do

If you have the papers, you can email them to me and we’ll look at them to determine if the foreclosure falls within the claim. If you send it via email, be sure to let me know when you purchased the home and the name of the lender. We will contact you after reviewing the documents. Alternatively, you can call our office. Please ask for my assistant, Elizabeth Keating, and she will assist you in the process.

For more information – visit our Website at www.financialcrisistalkcenter.com. The site will continue to post announcement as the process moves forward.

Please forward this email to friend and encourage them to do the same.  Many  good people have been dealt an unfair set of cards in the course of the economic meltdown Michigan has faced the last few years. This may be a chance, for some, to level the playing field.

Sincerely,

Ken GrossTweet

Don’t Balance the Budget on My Back – Ken Gross

We all understand we have a massive deficit. The Iraq War was costly – but the rescue of the banking and financial industry from the economic recession along with the Economic Recovery Act and the trillion dollar bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are, without question, the major causes why our country is so far in the red.

Having the benefit of over 2 years since the Great Recession tumbled Wall Street and our country in the latter half of 2008, it is commonly accepted that the cause of the debacle rests with the greed and avarice of the banking and financial institutions. Had President Bush and President Obama not rescued the banking industry at the pinnacle of the crisis, most economists agree that the world economy would have totally unraveled. So on this point, let’s give credit where credit is due and compliment our government for having the guts and willingness to take dramatic action in a short term  urgent situation.

That being said, let’s roll the clock forward to today. We just witnessed over the last two weeks Congress bogged down in gridlock on approving the budget so that a shutdown of the federal government could be avoided. In the end, they were fighting over $40 Billion of funding and the biggest event that occurred was Washington D.C’s right to spend its own funds on abortion funding was blocked in a compromise between the Republicans and Democrats to avoid the shutdown. Immediately after, the focus has now shifted to the fight over raising the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling and arriving at an acceptable agreement to resolve the budget deficit, which is currently estimated at $1.5 trillion for 2011.

So far – whether the discussion is about a State’s economic woes or the Federal deficit – every proposal I hear has one common thread. The cost of deficit reduction is to be borne by the U.S. citizen – through higher taxes (assuming the Bush tax cuts are not continued), Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Health Care and on and on. Now don’t get me wrong – somewhere and somehow you have to either increase revenue (i.e. taxes or and expanding economy) or cut spending to restore fiscal integrity to the system.

My question is this. If the Great Recession was caused by the greed of the Financial Industry, which was saved from economic death by the Government and the taxpayers and the recession is the cause of the deficit problem we now face, shouldn’t those responsible for the problem be called upon to bear the expense of resolving the problem? After all, as reported in The Wall Street Journal on March 25^th, U.S Finance Profits are soaring and have jumped back to $426.5 billion in the 4^th Quarter – nearing their high levels in 2006. Isn’t that nice? They get bailed out, saved from falling off the face of the earth – and now they are back to where they were before the recession. At the same time, the Administration and the Republican platforms are advocating budget restraints on the backs of the U.S taxpayer. My question is why us – and not them? Whatever happened to the notion of laying blame where blame belongs and making those at fault bear the cost of their actions? It doesn’t seem that difficult to me. The corporate profits of the Financial companies are presently running at an annual rate of $810 Billion. Here lies a simple solution. For the next 10 years, impose a 30% financial sector “Get Well Tax.” Assuming growth rates of 10% annually for the financial sector, the revenue increase would be $3.868 Trillion over 10 years. As a measure of protection so that the financial wizards that rule our great nation cannot weasel out from the tax, Congress needs to assess the tax on financial institution profits before officer compensation in excess of $250,000 per officer.

So what do you think – is it reasonable to make those responsible pay for resolving the problem – or should we just let our representatives continued to be influenced by the greed of Wall Street and saddle the U.S Taxpayer with the cost of resolving the problem created by the financial sector?

Ken Gross is an attorney with THAV GROSS PC (www.thavgross.com) and hosts The Financial Crisis Talk Center (www.fctalkcenter.com), a radio program that airs weekly at 9 AM on Saturday mornings on WDFN “The Fan” 1130 AM.Tweet

THAV GROSS – Seeks MERS Class Action Members from Western Side of Michigan

“The Class Action is gaining momentum day by day. We are looking to reach victims of foreclosure throughout Michigan and in particular in the Western side of the State,” said Ken Gross, managing shareholder at THAV GROSS. Anyone who knows of a friend or family member who suffered through a foreclosure in the last 6 years is requested to contact Thav Gross at its offices via email or calling direct at 888-235-4357. “Anyone who has been foreclosed by advertisement should investigate whether their claim falls within the class,” said Gross. “They owe it to themselves and their family.”

THAV GROSS – issues statment of purpose behind MERS Michigan Class Action Foreclosure Lawsuit

This lawsuit is about leveling the playing field. The financial institutions caused the housing bubble to be created by pursuing profit motives with no regard to realistic underwriting criteria. When the bubble burst and they were one week from collapsing (going out of business) and causing a World Wide end to financial markets – we, the taxpayers, bailed them out. The government then directed them to pursue policies designed to modify mortgages and avoid foreclosure. Instead, the industry gave lip skink to the requirements – ignoring the directives and choosing to cause millions of homeowners to be played like fish in the process of attempting to modify their mortgages, only to be told at the last minute, “Your paperwork was incomplete, or you didn’t respond timely.” Then bang – the house is sold at the foreclosure sale 2 to 4 weeks later. Motives – it’s easy. The banks, in our perverse world – are better off foreclosing because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – have to buy back the mortgages and end up covering the loss – not them. That cost was already at $148 Billion in November, 2010 and is estimated to exceed $280 billion. Guess who is paying for it? The banks, instead of appreciating the fact that we allowed them to stay in business, have simply continued to push the costs of their failure business practices to the taxpayers. Ms. Boser is the Class Representative of those Michiganders – who are the victims of the banks wrongful conduct. If successful, the banks, not the taxpayers, will be forced to absorb the losses they caused and some (but not all) of the people harmed will benefit. Ms. Boser’s and all future class representatives’ actions deserve our best wishes and applause.