The Daily Q: What is Attorney General Schneiderman's record on the foreclosure crisis?

The Daily Q: What is Attorney General Schneiderman’s record on the foreclosure crisis?

Posted January 27, 2012 By Yolanne Almanzar

What is Attorney General Schneiderman’s record on the foreclosure crisis?

Today, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, along with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, announced the formation of a working group of federal and state officials that will investigate institutions involved in the pooling and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities. President Obama first aired this initiative in this week’s State of the Union Address. The sale of residential mortgage-backed securities to investors led to the financial crisis and millions of home foreclosures nationwide, but officials have had limited success in holding responsible parties accountable.

The New York World would like to know: What is Schneiderman’s record as New York Attorney General on the foreclosure crisis?

If you have information or insights to share, please comment below, write us, or tweet to @thenyworld.

What we found

Schneiderman was chosen to lead this group for good reason: as attorney general of the state where some of the biggest financial institutions are headquartered, his job allows him to investigate these financial behemoths.

Josh Zinner, the co-director of Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, which does research and advocacy on behalf of financial services consumers, said it’s encouraging to see Schneiderman heading the group because he has opposed previous deals that were seen as soft on banks by advocates. “He’s given every indication they’re going to seek the strongest relief for homeowners,” said Zinner. “Any settlement that comes out of this investigation has to have at its focus relief for homeowners and bolstering lower-income communities.”

Most notably, Schneiderman was involved with most of the attorneys general around the country in developing a proposed settlement with five major banks over robo-signing and other mortgage-related misconduct. Worth up to $25 billion, the deal would require banks to offer much-needed relief to struggling homeowners, such as modifications and refinancing. But Schneiderman and a handful of other attorneys general opposed the preliminary deal and contested it let the banks off too easily.

Last year, Schneiderman began a separate investigation of the mortgage securities operations at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. At the same time, he partnered with Delaware Attorney General Joseph R. Biden III in investigating Bank of New York Mellon and Deutsche Bank to ensure that bundled mortgages sold to investors had been properly documented.

Reports from today’s announcement indicated the new task force has already sent subpoenas to the 11 largest financial institutions in its investigation of mortgage-backed securities fraud. The group – which includes the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – aims to secure compensation for homeowners and investors alike.

The New York World is published under Creative Commons' BY-ND 3.0 license. Unless otherwise noted, you are welcome to reprint The New York World's reporting. Except by prior arrangement, the following guidelines apply:

Credit The New York World, preferably by appending “The New York World” to the bylines already on the stories. Bylines must remain in the stories.
Do not edit stories, except to reflect relative changes in time or location (eg. “Yesterday, following months of uncertainty, Governor Cuomo...” may be changed to begin “In January,” or “Early this year”)
You may edit stories to accommodate style variations or to expand acronyms (eg. “TWU Local 100” may be written “Transport Workers Union Local 100”)

Stories reprinted online must:

include a link to the original story on http://www.thenewyorkworld.com
retain all links included in our original reporting
Retain in republished HTML a simple tracking code, provided in the body of each story as published on The New York World website.
include a syndication source tag directing search engines to the original story in The New York World
Do not republish The New York World wholesale or automatically
Contact our editor with any questions about this policy or to make arrangements to reprint The New York World stories under other terms.
This reprint policy is subject to change.

<h1>The Daily Q: What is Attorney General Schneiderman’s record on the foreclosure crisis?</h1><h3>What is Attorney General Schneiderman’s record on the foreclosure crisis?</h3>
<p><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dailyQ2-01.jpg');"  href="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dailyQ2-01.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-2600" title="dailyQ2-01" src="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dailyQ2-01.jpg" alt="" width="105" height="105" /></a>Today, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, along with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, announced the formation of a <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2012/jan/jan27a_12.html');"  href="http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2012/jan/jan27a_12.html">working group</a> of federal and state officials that will investigate institutions involved in the pooling and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities. President Obama first aired this initiative in this week’s State of the Union Address. The sale of residential mortgage-backed securities to investors led to the financial crisis and millions of home foreclosures nationwide, but officials have had limited success in holding responsible parties accountable.</p>
<p>The New York World would like to know: <strong>What is Schneiderman’s record as New York Attorney General on the foreclosure crisis?</strong></p>
<p>If you have information or insights to share, please comment below, <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/mailto/nyworld@thenewyorkworld.com');"  href="mailto:nyworld@thenewyorkworld.com">write us</a>, or tweet to @thenyworld.</p>
<h3>What we found</h3>
<p>Schneiderman was chosen to lead this group for good reason: as attorney general of the state where some of the biggest financial institutions are headquartered, his job allows him to investigate these financial behemoths.</p>
<p>Josh Zinner, the co-director of Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, which does research and advocacy on behalf of financial services consumers, said it’s encouraging to see Schneiderman heading the group because he has opposed previous deals that were seen as soft on banks by advocates. “He’s given every indication they’re going to seek the strongest relief for homeowners,” said Zinner. “Any settlement that comes out of this investigation has to have at its focus relief for homeowners and bolstering lower-income communities.”<span id="more-2974"></span></p>
<p>Most notably, Schneiderman was involved with most of the attorneys general around the country in developing a proposed <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/attorney-general-foreclosure-settlement-eric-schneiderman-beau-biden_n_1202643.html');"  href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/attorney-general-foreclosure-settlement-eric-schneiderman-beau-biden_n_1202643.html">settlement</a> with five major banks over robo-signing and other mortgage-related misconduct. Worth up to $25 billion, the deal would require banks to offer much-needed relief to struggling homeowners, such as modifications and refinancing. But Schneiderman and a handful of other attorneys general opposed the preliminary deal and contested it let the banks off too easily.</p>
<p>Last year, Schneiderman began a separate investigation of the mortgage securities operations at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. At the same time, he partnered with Delaware Attorney General Joseph R. Biden III in investigating Bank of New York Mellon and Deutsche Bank to ensure that bundled mortgages sold to investors had been properly documented.</p>
<p><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.housingwire.com/category/leadstory');"  href="http://www.housingwire.com/category/leadstory">Reports from today’s announcement</a> indicated the new task force has already sent subpoenas to the 11 largest financial institutions in its investigation of mortgage-backed securities fraud. The group – which includes the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – aims to secure compensation for homeowners and investors alike.</p>

Increasing number of New York school children skipping vaccinations

More than 22,000 medical and religious exemptions were granted to students for the 2013-14 school year, up 27 percent from 2010-11, according to the state Health Department. Public and private enrollment over the same period remained largely flat.

New data provides first detailed look at military gear held by New York law enforcement agencies

Over the past several years, more than 120 law enforcement agencies across the state, from the NYPD to Tuckahoe, have obtained military-grade equipment through the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which transfers excess military equipment to state and local police across the country.