Free Republic

Another ticking time bomb in the realm of real estate bad behavior is bound to go off sooner rather than later, and it is likely to impede normalization of values of residential property. As readers no doubt know, there is a lot of actual and shadow residential real estate inventory in the US. The time from serious delinquency to foreclosure has lengthened considerably, due not just to crowded court dockets, but also bank/servicer disinclination to take possession (reasons include that investors take a dim view of bank real estate holdings; the bank is liable for expenses, most important real estate...

GMAC Mortgage, one of the nation's largest servicers of home loans, said it is suspending sales of foreclosed homes and putting a moratorium on evictions of borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgages in 23 states. The company, a unit of Ally Financial Inc., which is majority-owned by the U.S. government, - snip -

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Treasury Department sank billions into auto finance giant GMAC Inc. without an exit strategy or proof the company was viable -- a decision that could cost taxpayers $6.3 billion, a new watchdog report says. The government said the $17.2 billion bailout was a necessary step to save troubled automakers General Motors and Chrysler. GMAC provides critical financing to auto dealers, who borrow to finance their fleets until the cars can be sold to consumers. Yet GMAC faced far fewer conditions than the bailed-out automakers, the report says. When the automakers were rescued, they were forced into...

As the Republican presidential candidate in the fall of 2008, Arizona Sen. John McCain had more power than anyone to upend the Wall Street rescue package. But McCain now feels duped by former Republican Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. “We were all misled,” McCain said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” speaking of Paulson. “What did he do? He started pumping money into the financial institutions. Now the financial institutions are fine — Wall Street’s doing great. Main Street is in deep trouble.” Paulson and other former Bush administration officials told Congress at the time that the $700 billion lawmakers approved...

January 04, 2010, 0:00 a.m. Will the American People Finally Revolt?Federal indulgence and incompetence are too vast to catalogue. By Deroy Murdock Where is Nelson Mandela when we need him? In an especially memorable moment in Clint Eastwood’s fine new film Invictus, South Africa’s first black president (exquisitely portrayed by Morgan Freeman) inspects his first official paycheck. “This is terrible,” Mandela says. He decides he earns too much money and subsequently donates a third of his salary to charity. Thus was born the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. Mandela’s humility and fiscal restraint would be as exotic in the nation’s...

Republican Study Committee Chairman, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), issued the following statement after the administration announced it was providing another bailout and taking larger ownership of GMAC...

GOVERNMENT DOLES OUT $3.8 BILLION TO GMAC, MISSPELLS TWO WORDS IN HEADLINE: I kid you not. And just in case someone from the U. S. Treasury comes back and checks their spelling, I've copied and pasted the announcement below (page down). Notice the headline: "Treasury 'Annouces Resturcturing' of Commitment To GMAC"

<p>GMAC Financial Services is close to getting approximately $3.5 billion in additional aid from the U.S. government, on top of $12.5 billion already received since December 2008, according to people familiar with the situation.</p> <p>The announcement, expected within days, will coincide with GMAC taking additional steps to absorb losses related to its mortgage operations, these people said. The cleanup is designed to return the Detroit-based finance company to profitability in the first quarter of 2010, according to one of these people.</p>

In a surprise move, the head of GMAC Financial Services -- the giant, taxpayer-supported auto lender -- was ousted Monday. The forced resignation of Alvaro de Molina after only 19 months as chief executive caps a series of clashes with regulators and mounting board frustration over his turnaround plans for the Detroit company. GMAC has received $12.5 billion in taxpayer money since December 2008 in two installments, giving the U.S. government a 35.4% stake and growing power over the firm's trajectory. Government officials said they made no suggestion to GMAC's board to dump Mr. de Molina. "That was 100% GMAC's...

Who knew? Ally Bank is running all those TV ads belittling the “fine print” used by other banks. But as the Wall Street Journal detailed on Tuesday, the ads do not disclose that Ally is a unit of troubled GMAC  Financial Services, the former financing arm of GM, now seeking its third multi-billion taxpayer  bailout.Ally had been offering some of the highest CD interest rates in the nation until federal bank regulators pressured Ally to reduce them. Lower rates are one thing but there is another compelling consideration when shopping CD rates. When you deposit your money with Ally, you...

GMAC, the former lending arm of General Motors Co., is in talks with the Treasury Department for a third injection of taxpayer aid, a further sign of the U.S. government's entrenchment in the U.S. auto industry. The Treasury Department mandated earlier this year that GMAC Financial Services raise an additional $11.5 billion in capital after undergoing a "stress test" along with 18 other banks. While other banks deemed undercapitalized have been able to raise funds from private investors, GMAC has been forced to go back to the government.

Pay Czar Feinberg, Not Obama, Behind Decision to Slash Executive Pay White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg did not seek President Obama's approval to order steep pay cuts from bailed-out executives. Thursday, October 22, 2009 White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg was the driving force behind the move to order steep pay cuts from bailed-out executives, and did not even seek the president's approval before making his decision. The Treasury Department is expected to formally announce in the next few days a plan to slash annual salaries by about 90 percent from last year for the 25 highest-paid executives at...

More tales from broken the credit markets. Read » Ford has been learning the danger of being a relatively successful company in the age of bailouts: higher borrowing costs. The Associated Press breaks down the numbers: GMAC, 9.9 percent owned by GM and lender to its dealers and buyers, sold $3.5 billion of 2.2 percent three-and-a-half year notes on June 3 guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. priced at 99.841 cents on the dollar to yield 2.25 percent. Ford issued $1.1 billion of five-year 8 percent notes May 28, priced at 82.036 cents on the dollar to yield 13...

Big auto and mortgage lender GMAC LLC, which has received $12.5 billion in federal bailout aid, spent $410,000 lobbying in the first quarter on legislation putting restrictions on companies receiving the rescue money, its restructuring as a bank holding company and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - GMAC LLC, which is giving the U.S. Treasury Department a 35.4 percent equity stake, said on Friday it might take 17 years for the government to shed its investment if the auto and mortgage lender were to go public. The timetable suggests that federal involvement in GMAC's affairs could persist long after troubles plaguing the economy and the auto industry end. GMAC has gotten $12.5 billion of government infusions since December, including $7.5 billion on Thursday.

The Obama administration announced late Thursday that it's forking over another $7.5 billion to GMAC, LLC (General Motors Acceptance Corp.). And, in keeping with the fascist theme of this new administration, the government has mandated two new directors to GMAC's board of directors. Not that anyone is keeping track, but this now totals approximately $13.5 billion that the government (supposedly you and me) have invested in GMAC. Oh, how quickly times have changed. Or, have they? Just yesterday, Turbo Tax Cheat Timothy Geithner said that the administration wasn't getting involved in management decisions at General Motors Corp. Oh, I see...they're...

WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday it has put another $7.5 billion into auto lender GMAC to enable it to support both Chrysler LLC [CBS.UL], and General Motors Corp Corp (GM.N) car buyers and partly meet a shortage of capital.

By Glenn Somerville and Corbett Daly WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday it has put another $7.5 billion into auto lender GMAC to enable it to support both Chrysler LLC [CBS.UL], and General Motors Corp Corp (GM.N) car buyers and partly meet a shortage of capital. The widely anticipated action is intended to help counter a scarcity of credit that has helped drive sales of domestic cars into a ditch. The Federal Reserve also extended an exemption that will let GMAC keep lending to GM dealers and retail customers, which it normally would be...

The U.S. Treasury Department is preparing to announce as early as Wednesday that it will invest an additional $7.5 billion in lender GMAC LLC in a deal that could allow the U.S. government to hold a majority stake in the Detroit-based auto finance company, the Detroit News reported. GMAC (GJM), which also provides loans for consumers to buy General Motors Corp (GM) and Chrysler LLC vehicles, has been in talks for several weeks to secure additional capital, the newspaper said. The U.S. Treasury declined to comment. A GMAC spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy...