Credit Data Squaliforme Experian Objects!

Whaaaaaaaaaa. Whaaaaaaa. Whaaaaaaa.

Can you hear the whining? All the way from Vermont!

Squaliforme data broker Experian is all broken up about an Attorney General using the all-too-kindly label of "data broker" in describing them.

Julie Brill, assistant AG up there in Vermont said in testimony that "data brokers" needed more regulation (which we heartily endorse). But Squaliforme cheerleader Tony Hadley (VP of propaganda, er, "Government Affairs," for one of the biggest Squaliforme data manglers) objected.

Order! Order! Pardon this Court while the laughter dies down.

She was much too kind, Tony.

Here 'bouts we call 'em as we see 'em, and you can put lipstick on that pig all you want, but folks aren't convinced.

Your company is profiteering at the expense of consumers, Tony. Be glad someone at the AG level isn't telling it like it really is.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

More fun and games with Seisint & the Federal Snoops

Want a quick, low cost credit and background records check on someone? Apparently somebody does - or at least they're being told they do.

Want to see how Kurt Sanford (LexisNexis CEO) lies about what information Seisant has, sells and in particular, shares about people? You know, the part about the security breach where he claims credit information wasn't accessed in the now-infamous leak that was supposedly just a little one, then the truth came out. (See the March archives.)

Well, sure enough, there's a trade organization for just about every business in this great country. And what do you know, there's even an association of "self-storage" rental places, known as the "Self Storage Association." They've been around a long time; 30 years, according to their web site, and they represent some 2,750 companies with nearly 47,000 properties.

And wouldn't you know it, Seisint (the home to the MATRIX scheme) has set up a really slick, low-cost credit and background check service for these folks. It's one of those "member benefits" that they call an "id verification program" on their web site. No mention of the credit score part. No mention of the bankruptcy check they can run on existing tenants or the notification they can get if you move or file for bankruptcy. No mention of the criminal background check, either.

Now this Court understands why a storage landlord needs this information. After all, you don't want to have some low-life stashing stuff in your property, right? So your going to take the word of a computer system in Florida that is broadly contaminated with bogus information from undefined sources and mixed in with an equally-faulty credit score.

With a clever marketing scheme and a catchy name that bespeaks the protection of the country in this time of terrorist threats (ssacountermeasures), Seisint tugs at the hearts (and a little at the wallets) of storage rental landlords by asking them what it's worth, "Knowing you're doing everything in your power to help fight international terrorism right here at home." Wow, don't we all feel better.

But what no one seems to realize is that Seisint is offering this service on their custom-made and supported (just for SSA) web site at BELOW COST. $7.95 per hit for the credit-included snooping and $4.95 if no credit information is wanted. (But golly, Kurt, you said there weren't credit records available?!?)

But a better question, Kurt - why so cheap? Simple - because Seisint allows law enforcement and skip-tracing and collections companies to snoop around in people's personal business (and with this new offering, where they keep things) for, of course, a profit.

It's not what you might have in the storage space - although one has to wonder how long before that "feature" is added; if you are a tenant (or even apply to be one), you're now on Seisint's national list of suspects (or should we say "persons of interest?") because you have a storage rental unit if the landlord SSA member signs up for the service and checks on you.

And - you may not even know they checked you out. They can do it right at the desk before hand, or they can check you out later.

Not 'round here. On this side of the Pecos, citizens are hereby advised to find another place to stash their junk if the landlord starts acting inquisitive. Better yet, if you see the SSA logo on the door, ask if they use the privacy invasion system BEFORE you give them your name.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

The Smell of the Lembo case is starting to spread.

Much as this Court predicted on the 15th of this month, the banks involved in the Orazio Lembo scheme are being forced to admit the disaster is far bigger than they wanted everyone to think.

Now word has leaked that there are at least forty law firms and collection Squaliformes on the list of willing participants that have been found thus far.

Stand by for them to play deaf, dumb and blind while they try to pin the whole thing on Lembo.

And don't count on the news media to go after and expose the lawyers who are actually behind the scheme (and have been for years). No telling how much credit/financial damage could be done to a reporter (or blogger) who outs these Squaliformes.

One other prediction: The industry lap-dogs at the FTC will tsk-tsk and make a lot of noise but won't put a single one of the firms out of business.

If they appear in this court, they'd be strung up after their assets had been liquidated and the proceeds distributed to the victims.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

Clever These Squaliformes Become They Do!

[Nods to Yoda - The movie was great!]

You folks in Irvine California ought to keep an eye out for one Mr. Darren Charest, president of US Tracers.

This low-life offers his fellow Squaliformes (the Collectoris variety in particular) all kinds of handy information – including a database of unlisted phone numbers.

WARNING: If you get a “free,” unsolicited calling card, or anyone you know gets one, DON’T USE IT!

From their web site:

"The key to the Calling Cards are their ability to locate skips or develop leads by:

- Tracing the "From Numbers" (Incoming Calls) where the cards are used
- Determine called "To Numbers" (Outgoing Numbers) that calls are placed to

Our Calling Cards were developed to pin down mobile skips that utilize various techniques to avoid being located. Calling Cards are in use to overcome the following common skip techniques (by no means complete):

- using mail drops and/or General Delivery addresses
- cohabitating with 3rd parties (girlfriends/boyfriends, spouses, relatives, friends, etc.).
- communicating using only cellular phones, payphones, or pagers
- communicating only through 3rd parties who are uncooperative
- falsifying social security numbers to avoid detection
- moving repeatedly
- living overseas

Cards are delivered in attractive packaging encouraging skips and/or their associates to use them. As the cards are used, critical location information is reported to the customer on a regular basis. Many unsolved cases can be brought to a close with minimal effort and expense."

REPEAT WARNING: If you get a “free,” unsolicited calling card, or anyone you know gets one, DON’T USE IT!

Have a little fun at their expense; leave the card at a payphone at an airport.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

Minnesota Bench Blunder

Lordy it must be the long winters up there.

In Minnesota at least, the auto dealerships can mark-up the interest rates on loans and don't have to tell the customer when they do it.

So "Truth In Lending" doesn't have to be the truth and jacking up interest rates on car loans without telling people is OK in Minnesota.

According to Judge Randolph Peterson of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the 4.75% markup Walser Automotive Group tacked on to a 15% Ford Motor Credit loan was not material to the loan.

Huh?

Y'all up there know you elect these bufoons, right?

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

Dumbest Squaliforme of the Month Award

This Court has come across what has to be the dumbest Squaliforme legal case in history.

A Bear Stearns subsidiary, EMC Mortgage, of Irving, Texas (on the other side of the Pecos, thank you), has been dragging one Robert John Wright through various courts up yonder in Dallas for EIGHT YEARS. The source posting on a web site for Elliot Spitzer (don’t ask why – it’s politics) says 3,000 days. A quick look around elsewhere tells me at least part of this case went all the way up to the US Supreme Court (and they weren’t interested) but that was with Bank of America a few years back. Even a quick read and I'm pretty damn sure they're connected.

Now, I’m not sure about what the average property up there is worth, but let’s say Mr. Wright’s house is above the national average and is worth a quarter-million.

EIGHT YEARS of litigation and they still haven’t won? To go after a property for EIGHT YEARS that MIGHT get them a house worth a quarter-million if they do win?

According to the post, Wright’s apparently penniless now so they’re not going to get their attorney fees or costs even if they win. (I’ll bet a good bottle of whiskey and a box of 12Ga. Shells they’re not accepting his payments even if he could make them.)

Now, I know up there they pay barristers pretty damn well (it’s always big $ in Big D), so simple math says EIGHT YEARS of litigation they’re into it well over a half-million just in lawyers and they’re not taking in anything from him. If Wright’s still actually in the house this story could be scripted as “The Three Stooges Play Lawyer.”

Sure ‘nuff, this EMC Squaliforme is the same outfit that’ll be paying $6 MILLION+interest to a Missouri couple (the now-infamous Starks case) and then they got their hands slapped with a $10K censure from a bankruptcy Judge just a few months ago.

Given their parent company’s historically dismal ethical performance and massive financial penalties, this Court can only assume they sent the guys responsible that weren’t already jailed for their previous dimwitted scams down to do pennance in the wastelands of Irving.

Either they haven’t got a case against him and just don’t want to admit it, or they’ve got something to hide, or they’re still dumber than a box of rocks. Probably all three.

If Wright can get his case moved to this side of the Pecos, we’ll have this thing wrapped up in under an hour. Save everybody a lot of time and money. Knowing who they are and what they do, EMC best bring cash, and lots of it. We don't accept checks from Squaliformes.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

[(Note from the clerk of the Court: His Honor didn’t mention it but he doesn’t hang people for stupidity very often. Attempts to correct the condition are made utilizing the cattle prod.)]

It's not just the big three you need to know about

As this court has pointed out more than a few times, while Creditoris Squaliformes and the sleeping-watch-dog regulators routinely blab on and on about how YOU are responsible for knowing what's in YOUR credit report and getting it fixed, they know full well other information about you is being gathered and is floating around out there. And they also don't like to admit you aren't made aware it's being collected and sold, nor do you know if and when it's used or even how to correct it when the errors and even concocted misinformation about you is collected. It's a bit too simple - if they don't have to admit they have it, they don't have to admit they use it.

In fact, in today's climate of deliberately induced fear about terrorists, the regulators and businesses who want to do so-called "background checks," would rather not have anyone know these companies are playing fast-and-loose with information about you. Government and the Squaliformes are thrilled to be able to scratch each other's backs, er, make that dorsal fins, while individual privacy is invaded willy-nilly.

Another Squaliforme has been uncovered and joins the Hall of Shame this week:

Operating under the guise of "Merlin Information Systems," Mike and Jordonna Dores have been playing private detective and gathering and selling information about people from their offices in tiny Kalispell, Montana for over 10 years now.

Recently, US Postal Service inspectors made them aware that a customer of their's wasn't exactly on the up and up. Just as with the ChoicePoint snafu, the person who wanted the information and was willing to pay for it set up what appeared to be a legitimate account. He then obtained the information on nearly 9,000 unaware victims of this decade-long covert and blatant privacy abuse.

Gosh, and aw shucks, Mike. Like it hasn't happened before or won't happen again? Up that close to the Canadian border you figure you've been eyeball to eyeball with all your "customers?" Not likely.

According to a small article in the Missoula, Montana paper:

"We, of course, immediately apologized," [Jordonna] Dores said, and the company fired off a letter this week to those whose personal records were shared. The company also offered those affected a year's worth of credit monitoring at no cost, and bought a $50,000 identity theft insurance policy for each of the 8,998 people."

Wow, so those you think had their records shared get a year's worth of credit monitoring and some insurance coverage for identity theft purposes.

Gosh, and aw shucks, Jordonna. That might be useful if the crook was using the information for that purpose. Highly unlikely, and the story isn't over yet because the crook hasn't been apprehended so we have no idea what he was doing with it or who he passed it on to.

More likely, the crook is yet another information reseller wannabe who can make money by collecting and selling supposedly private information to companies wanting to have plausible-deniability in obtaining and using such crap in "not hiring" decisions, or Squaliformes and attorneys who don't want to have to live with even the miniscule protections we're supposed to have.

And how many more "Merlin Information Systems" snoops are out there? We'll never know. Anyone with (or even without) a detective's license who can hire some techies and buy information for resale can do this and you'll never know.

So, for those folks on that side of the Pecos, the next time you apply for a job or insurance coverage, you might want to reconsider signing that waiver clause that says they can obtain information about you from anybody they want.

And on this side, any company that uses these Squaliforme enablers better not show up in this Court.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

They're working hard to keep this one quiet

Creditoris Squaliformes Majoris Bank of America and Wachovia are doing their best to keep this one out from under the major news media radar, but as of last week, a few news outlets decided to live with the possibility of reduced advertising revenue and ran with the story. Along with some smaller institutions PMC Financial Services and Commerce Bank) they are worried this one might expose the shady relationships that leak confidential information about people if the right palms are crossed.

Turns out, for the last several years, a skip-tracer/detective in New Jersey has been using his contacts at the above-mentioned Squaliformes banks to get information for his collection-company and law firm clients. Well, to use modern reactionary slang, DUH!?!?

One banking-publication columnist expressed shock and dismay. Puhleeeze. Spare me the surprise act.

The perpetrator, who lives in Hackensack, New Jersey, is one Orazio Lembo Jr., a thirty-five year old scammer who made millions from his clients and paid about $10 for each of the bank records he got from less than ten employees at the banks - and we're not talking low-level tellers; the perps are management employees. Obviously, for him to make that much money, the law firms and collections companies paid Lembo a lot more than that to get information they knew they couldn't acquire legally.

Even an employee at the New Jersey Department of Labor got caught up in the net.

B of A had a spokesperson claiming that only about 75 persons were "affected" and had been notified.

Bovine Scatology. That's the only ones they know about or are willing to admit to. This thing has been going on for four years which means they haven't got a clue as to how many people were "affected." Somewhere out there on dozens, maybe hundreds of shady, underhanded, low-life data miners' computers are these records and variants of them.

Information about everyone doing business with Creditoris Squaliformes is bought and sold, almost instantly. More than one time. It is re-sold over and over again on the ever-growing gray and black market for such things.

The Creditoris Squaliformes industry would have everyone believe these kinds of situations are rare. But they know they aren't. For every Lembo who gets caught, there are dozens like him and hundreds of less-detectable, lower-grade schemers with their insider contacts. And they share with others like themselves to exchange valuable information about people.

The Squaliformes will dance to the tune of their PR firms and carefully avoid taking responsibility for these leaks, knowing full well there isn't a damn thing they can do about a determined snoop with a bankroll from collections companies and their law firms.

Life on the other side of the Pecos is interesting for folks. Over here we'd just hang Lembo and the slimeball lawyers and collectors, toss the bank employees in prison for 30 years, their bosses in for 10 and get on with life - in private.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

As if y'all didn't have enough to worry about

The Squaliformes and their pardners in the collections industry are getting more and more creative all the time, and with all the news about the techno-geek scammers lurking on the Internet, the really creative Echeneidae Collectoris are emulating the hackers and phishers.

Take the example of "John," who got tired of telemarketing calls, took the time to get on the "do not call" list, changed his phone to unlisted and when that didn't stop harassment from a collector, he disconnected the phone and like many people today, simply uses his cell phone.

For the collectors and skip tracers, this is a problem. Well, not for all of them. If they don't have a willing insider in the phone company (and many do), a little cooperation from some of the more helpful credit card issuers can get him the email addresses of the customers who had registered on the card company's web site. But rather than open up the can of worms revealing or using that supposedly "confidential" information, the collector involved had concocted a "phishing" email message that notified the customer that his credit card information needed to be validated by clicking on a URL that looked like it was the card company, but it actually went to a site set up by the collector.

Among the information requested in order to have someone actually call to assure the card was still safe was a phone number and a best time to call. In fact, the message said that this couldn't be done securely via email so it was imperative that he provide a phone number so someone from the card company could call him.

It worked. He dutifully filled out the contact information (they already had his card number, of course), and within a day he got a call - from the collection firm he had told to never call again.

Echeneidae Collectoris is indeed cunning.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

Exposing yet another enabler

Lurking under the radar of most consumers is yet another company routinely gathering information about everyone and selling it.

Well, not quite everyone anymore. At least not the citizens of the State of Utah.

Now - for a bit of clarification in case someone goes looking: The data snoop-and-sell perpetrator operates under something called "Explore Information Services," but that is a dba for "Robot Aided Manufacturing Center, Inc.," which is actually part of The Schwan Food Company.

For the more curious, the gory details of the particular case can be found here:

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/03/381.asp

But to save time, this Court would like everyone to be aware of what this company is and what they do. Excerpted from the background of the case:

Explore is a Minnesota corporation, registered to do business in the State of Utah. As part of its business, Explore obtains driving record information contained within the motor vehicle records of various states and provides it to insurance companies for underwriting, rating, and claims investigating purposes. Pursuant to an agreement between Explore and the Utah Department of Public Safety's Driver License Division (the Division), which agreement has expired, Explore had received information concerning Utah drivers from the Division, on a monthly basis, since December 1996. The information Explore received was a list of all licensed Utah drivers who had received moving vehicle citations that were reported to the Division during the prior month. The information Explore received included a person's name, driver license number, date of birth, type of driving violation, and the date when the violation was recorded in the Division's database.(1) Explore would then match the names of those individuals reported for violations with names of individuals insured by the various insurance companies to whom Explore provides its services. The district court noted in its findings of fact that, through these reports, Explore obtained the identities of, and information about, 21,726 individuals in June of 2000, and 22,932 in July of 2000. The court also noted that Explore only successfully matches, on average, about 2% of those individuals reported with persons actually insured with the various insurance companies for which Explore works. In other words, 2% of what Explore learns as a kind of busy-body for hire is properly its business, while 98% is not.

Kudos to the Utah Judiciary on this one! As well as the bureaucrats who had the nerve to stand up to the snoops in the first place.

And Schwan's trucks are hereby banned on this side of the Pecos.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

Blogger Blocking Banditos Beaten

It would appear certain miscreants being exposed here brought about a lower-than-a-snake's-belly response and got someone to prevent further revelations; but what would one expect?

For weeks, the blog has been locked out by the mysterious and supposedly unfixable problem of having the password changed without this Court's knowledge, let alone approval.

Then the games begin. Now, after many emails and finally taking the time (and paying) to have a lawsuit prepared for filing in US District Court, blogger.com magically restores the original password - which they said couldn't be done!

Needless to say the backlog of cases is significant - bear with the Court while I hunt down the Clerk we released on vacation while all this was going on.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

Industry "experts" prove their arrogance

With all the noise about the leak-ridden consumer data brokers coming to light, one would think some bright bulb out there would have picked up on a connection this Court made.

News accounts indicate the folks at LexisNexis got hacked into. Well, that's not exactly the story. Turns out that notable squaliforme enabler ate one of it's more sinister siblings, Seisint in September of 2004.

And what's the connection?

Seisint is one of the companies behind the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange Program (MATRIX). In case you're wondering what that is, it was an outgrowth of a working group between the Feds and state law enforcement agencies.

It was Seisint that got hacked into. Some 32,000 people have had their private information stolen.

"Criminals found a way to compromise the logins and passwords of a handful of legitimate customers to get access to the database," said Kurt Sanford, the company's chief executive.
Well, that sounds like a reasonable explanation to the uniformed and unsuspicious, Mr. Sanford - but it's probably a well-crafted PR statement that falls short of actually admitting the entire consumer snooping industry is hiding more than they are revealing.

Seisint's "Accurint" database sells reports that have Social Security numbers, past addresses, dates of birth as well as voter registration (party affiliation) data. Supposedly, credit and medical records (which are also there) weren't accessed.

Now doesn't that just make us all feel safer?

Mr. Sanford belongs in jail, but the buffoons in Washington are bent on having 'big brother' in place under the guise of "anti-terrorism," so it's up to this Court (again).

Set one foot west of the Pecos, Sanford and you'll get to experience the hospitality of one of our jail cells.

Just a small diversion - right!

[Note from the clerk: What was supposed to be a short-lived project to assist someone turned into a marathon event of unexpected proportions, such that this Court has been passing off cases left and right. No longer.]

Things have only deteriorated as the Squaliformes advance their agenda in Washington, and evidence of their ever-growing power means those of us who seek to expose them for what they are are just going to have to find more hours in the day.

So, in recognition of his abject disregard for the privacy of average people, Derek Smith, the CEO of ChoicePoint is this month's poster-child for slime as he swore before a House committee that there was some "soul searching" going on at the company.

Mr. Smith, don't bother searching. You're not going to find one in the company you operate to secretly gather information about everyone and sell it for specious purposes.

The myth Mr. Smith and his PR flacks have spent months concocting (that the company was somehow scammed by crooks who posed as "legitimate" businesses) doesn't hold water in this court.

ChoicePoint is the tip of the supposedly newly discovered iceberg of congressionally-protected corporate invasion of personal privacy. If they can come up with a customer to buy it, they will find a way to get it (legitimate or otherwise), package it with other information, sell it and then find more of the same kinds of customer to repeat the process.

Then they'll point to their customers as the problem and hide the real issue - their insatiable thirst for more knowledge about everyone.

Balderdash.

And of course, no one will be prosecuted. A lot of hand-wringing on the part of their pals in Washington will provide political protection for the sleeping watchdogs in Congress, namely the committee chairs who have been more than happy to keep taking the Squaliformes money while exposing citizens to these risks and ignoring the calls for legitimate limitations.

And let's not forget the PR opportunities for people like the AG of Texas, who jumped on the fast-moving bandwagon and said:

"Recent events in California, New York and elsewhere involving ChoicePoint, DSW Shoe Warehouse, LexisNexis and other companies that store sensitive data show an alarming breakdown of security that has compromised consumers' sensitive personal information," said Attorney General Abbott. "Names, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and financial information of hundreds of thousands of consumers, many in Texas, may have been compromised or even unleashed to identity thieves. This trend must be halted now and the perpetrators brought to justice."

And where was Mr. Abbott when consumer groups were warning of the dangers of unlimited personal information mining? Nowhere to be found.

And why are these sleepy supposed consumer watchdogs still refusing to see that the problem isn't in the protection of the data being held, but in the whole concept of collecting it without the permission of the consumers?

Protection of data is meaningless, hopeless and merely window-dressing. It's like treating gunshot wounds without realizing the guy with the gun needs to be put away after his first killing.

Don't count on firm and effective prosecution and punishment; the corporate death-penalty isn't available for malfeasance as long as big business is in charge in Washington. And the miniscule fines (if any) aren't going to impact anyone's decision-making.

As far as this court is concerned, Derek Smith should be behind bars and ChoicePoint and other similar business spies should be put out of business.

Wish they were here on this side of the Pecos. We'd have a grand ol' time. Now, where's that cattle prod? Somebody's been moving things while I've been gone!

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

Note from the Clerk of the Court

[(His Honor wishes to advise the public at large that the docket for this court will be cleared until 1/16/2005. His Honor has refused to elaborate but the Clerk hereby admonishes counsel with pending cases that he is not indisposed to reading and will not let scoundrels slip through the cracks during this time.)]

Washington Doing the Squaliforme Shuffle

The war for consumer rights is going to boil down to a Senate committee and one of its sub-committees and their equivalents in the House.

Squaliformes are expecting Christmas presents for delivery next year, including bankruptcy "reform," suppression of State's consumer protection laws and making it harder for consumers to file class action lawsuits.

They've spent heavily during the campaign, and wisely. Not one of their goals will get an unfriendly reception at the White House, so the war, what little there will be, is going to be fought in the legislative branch. Don't count on committee chairs to be watching out for consumers; they're the agenda managers for the squaliformes and will be using leverage and deal-making to get the bills out for final approval by the full House or Senate.

The only hope for consumers lies in the time between sessions, when real live citizens can go one-on-one with their elected representatives who can go back to Washington next year with an education about creditoris squaliformes.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

[(Note from the Clerk of the Court: His Honor has been diligently engaged in non-judiciary duties. Life must go on even for a self-appointed jurist. His profuse apologies to those who may have wondered what the hell was going on 'round here.)]

Illinois Governor Caught up in Squaliforme PR Machine

The juggernaut that is Ameriquest's public-relations machine has netted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and the city of Schaumburg.

Now the squaliforme that is spending billions (taken from victims) on everything from a blimp to the Superbowl to a ball field in Texas to a Seattle football team to NASCAR is getting 25 million in Illinois tax credits for a promise to create over two thousand jobs in the Chicago suburb.

Anybody else see what this Honorable Court sees here?

Governor, you come west of the Pecos and you'll learn what a cattle prod can be used for.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

News Media Squaliforme Cheerleader of the Week

Once again this Court must step in (yes, even during the holiday week) and expose another news operation that just doesn't get it.

Submitted to the Court from a source in another part of the great state of Texas, an article by none other than the "Real Estate Editor" of the Dallas Morning News, Steve Brown.

In an article from the November 19th edition, "Foreclosure listings increase," Mr. Brown takes the same, trite, ill-informed and misleading squaliforme-endorsed line on the issue. Without lifting a finger to dial a phone or email a consumer advocate or even explore the 'net about the squaliformes stories in other sources, Mr. Brown quotes only George Roddy, the head of the echeneidae* Foreclosure Listing Service:

"Mr. Roddy said he blames the continued high foreclosure rates on more corporate
layoffs in North Texas and looser loan standards."

"The downsizing of jobs and lowering of salaries continues," he said. "Some people are hanging on, but each month that goes by, more of them can't go on any longer.

"The other problem is the screwball loans they are making," Mr. Roddy said. "They are loaning money to anybody that is breathing."

Wrong, Mr. Roddy, and wrong Mr. Brown for repeating the squaliforme myth about jobs and the economy being behind the foreclosure plague.

And Mr. Roddy is being very disingenous. They don't make loans to anybody that is breathing. They make loans to people because they know they can be taken advantage of by their fellow squaliformes in the loan servicing industry. And when the victim runs out of resources to fight them, another loan will eventually be generated.

This Court is not unaware of the Dallas Morning News' unclean hands in these issues. This Court's source also cited other pieces from writers Pamela Yip and Danielle DiMartino who are unwilling to pull the curtain back and let people see the squaliformes for what they really are.

Given the revenue from real estate and financial services advertising, it is no wonder they take a soft approach in these stories.

But this Court and this Honorable Judge have no such softness for promoters who willingly seek to keep the public misinformed.

The Dallas Morning News gets the News Media Squaliforme Cheerleader of the Week Award.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

[(Note from the Clerk of the Court: His Honor wishes to advise locals to not show up on Court property or the environs thereabout with a copy of the Dallas Morning News.)]

*See October archives for an introduction to echeneidae.

Latest Consumer Credit Counseling Scam action

Well, someone at the FTC decided to move against one of the worst of the squaliforme enablers.

Better Budget Financial Services (BBFS) and its principals, John Colon, Jr. and Julie Fabrizio-Colon, have defrauded consumers out of hundreds or thousands of dollars each, causing many to be sued by their creditors and forcing others into bankruptcy. The FTC has asked the court to award consumer redress to the victims of this scam. On November 3, 2004, the court entered a temporary restraining order halting the defendants’ illegal business practices, freezing their assets, and appointing a temporary receiver pending a preliminary injunction hearing.

As good as that FTC announcement sounds, the problem is the Colons have been stealing people's money for FOUR YEARS!

Restitution? Sure, sounds great. Doesn't work. Frozen assets? Only the ones they know of. The Colons have their wealth protected somewhere, you can bet.

Victims of squaliformes get pennies on the dollar in these kinds of cases. The slowness to act on complaints only helps the crooks amass personal wealth that won't be found, let alone touched.

I guess justice on the other side of the Pecos is a bit different than 'round here.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.

Note from the Clerk of the Court

[(The Clerk of the Court is in receipt of a communication from an alleged squaliforme-retained lawfirm suggesting the Honorable Judge Roy Bean is going too far in his public condemnation of their clients.

It is my duty to report for the public record that I have been instructed to advise that His Honor has not had an appropriate amount of time to digest the entire complaint, let alone bring his laughter under control.

There were a number of verbal outbursts related to the ancestry of the complainants, most of which were associated with what His Honor wished to be recorded about them. Be it known that this Clerk managed to prevail in vigorous oral argument to delete their absurdities and their names from the record - at least for the time being.

Something along the lines of "go $#*& yourselves" would seem to suffice.

The Clerk of the Court.)]

Fitch Pitches Petulant (Phony) Fit

You can almost hear them singing "neh-neh-neh-neh-neh, we told you so," behind this one:

On Nov. 7, 2004, the Massachusetts Predatory Home Loan Practices Act (the Act) will become effective. This legislation increases the risk of unlimited assignee liability relative to the existing Massachusetts predatory regulations. Because of this risk of uncapped liability, Fitch Ratings will not rate any deals with Massachusetts mortgage loans that are subject to the Act after the effective date.

So the lap-dog rater who stayed curled up and snoozed all the while the mortgage servicing squaliforme Fairbanks Capital stole billions of dollars from consumers stuck with predatory loans now wants to act on behalf of all of the squaliformes. So they take a slap at the Massachusetts legislators by claiming they won't rate mortgage paper because of the protections the state wisely enacted.

Fitch has previously indicated that it will not rate residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transactions which contain loans that are originated in jurisdictions which have enacted legislation that may result in unlimited purchaser or assignee liability for predatory lending practices of an originator, broker or servicer. Thus, as of Nov. 7, 2004, Fitch will not rate any transactions that contain Massachusetts 'high cost home mortgage loans'.

Note from this Honorable Judge: Massachusetts, stick to your guns, dammit! Responsible lenders will fill any real void the squaliformes supposedly leave.

See here, this Court is fed up with Wall Street's and Fitch's utter disdain for the real sources of their revenue, the victims. As in, the borrowers.

When conduits buy loan portfolios and Wall Street sells bonds and then just sits there immune from liability for what their squaliforme partners set up and then passed on to them, they're only helping them keep the scams going. By providing for assignee liability, they might have to look at who they're feeding and what the results could be. And if they didn't like who put the loan together or the predatory terms they could opt not to buy the bonds.

And guess what, pretty soon the squaliformes wouldn't be able to make the predatory loans. And the servicers wouldn't be able to prey on the victims and threaten them into paying billions more than they really should!

Of course, this Court recognizes should those circumstances come about, there would be a corresponding reduction in funds available for the servicer squaliformes to pay Fitch to do the ratings.

So instead of wanting to do something about predatory and abusive lending and servicing, Fitch is all to comfortable with how good the squaliformes have been to them! And they're dutifully providing ammunition for Wright Andrews and his ilk to use to get legislation passed at a federal level to prevent states from acting when Washington bows to the squaliforme altar of financial gluttony without regulation.

Get ready for more and more "news" about the consumers in Massachusetts not being able to get loans.

And if some yahoos in Massachusetts back down to these crooks, they bettter not wander very far out here west of the Pecos. We have an aversion to that type of enabler. Don't want 'em taking up good air, let alone space in the jail. Keeping them away is what cattle prods are for. Usually only takes one or two pokes to be effective. (Leaves a helluva mark. Bet it smarts like all get out.)

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean.