Volume 2, Issue 48 March 27 - The South Asian Times

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14 Finance March 27- April 2, 2010 TheSouthAsianTimes.info By Harry Aurora Foreclosure Statistics, Procedures and Relief II Harry Aurora is a mortgage banker and leading realtor, serving the community for over a decade, operating under Wall St Commercial Capital. His Sherman Oaks Realty is helping homeowners and investors in Manhattan and Nassau County. Recently, Aurora's new venture Wall Street Modification Services has helped hundreds of homeowners save their houses from foreclosure. He can be contacted at 516-681- 8000, email: harry@shermanoaksrealty.com, website: wallstreetmodification.com. This is his second monthly column on the subject. Dear Homeowners, in our previous article we brought you the current statistics as of the last fiscal year in terms of Short-Sales and Foreclosures in New York as a percentage of the total relief funds applied to the Tarp program. The most important indicator of the same is the Foreclosure rate which is depicted below as of 02/28/2010 (Source: Bloomberg). In the above chart we can see that on 1st Jan 2010 the Foreclosure rate was 350,000 Houses which went down to 310,000 houses as of today. Therefore, we have an average reduction of 40,000 nationwide in 3 months. Below mentioned are latest rates on mortgage nationwide as of Mar 17th 2010. As per Herbert Allison – Assistant Secretary of Treasury,last year about 30 percent of borrowers in trial-payment plans had turned in the necessary paperwork to qualify for a permanent loan modification so far, the only problem is that if an eligible borrower with three months of trial payments doesn’t turn in all their paperwork by year-end “jeopardize their chance to get a permanent modification”.This is the present view of the banks regarding modification as per a research study by federal reserve last year. The Above Charts show the Waterfall of eligible borrowers which practically state which removes the existing notion of people of being delinquent and getting their loan modified. A closer look at the red bars on both sides show us the amount of Hamp approvals granted by the govt in terms of the 60+ delinquency.Below mentioned are the Predominant reasons for Permanent Modifications as per the latest reports released by the Treasury in Feb ‘2010 & Jan ‘2010. Below mentioned is the data for Feb ‘2010 which states NY has the maximum number of Trial and Permanent Modifications and the number is growing. At Bank of America Corp., which accounts for almost a third of the loans targeted by the program, 55 percent of borrowers aren’t eligible because they are unemployed, don’t live in the home or their mortgage payment is less than 31 percent of gross monthly income, Mr. Jack Schakett, who runs the bank’s credit loss mitigation strategies, said in an interview last December. Bank of America has moved approximately 65,000 trial payment plans into permanent status by Dec. 31. Of those, 50,000 have either not submitted any of their paperwork or have submitted incomplete or inaccurate information, Schakett said and this is the very reason for their negotiators and Loss mitigation analysts are delayed with granting Trial and Permanent Modifications. Mortgage Bankers Association state they have ramped up staffing to keep up with the “extraordinary” volume of applications and flurry of paperwork. JPMorgan Chase had opened 30 homeownership centers in 13 states, with 21 more planned for the first quarter of 2010, to more directly reach borrowers and help collect paperwork. The bank has added more than 2,550 new loan modification counselors and 2,825 mortgage operations employees this year to deal with the “unprecedented volume,” Molly Sheehan, who runs housing policy for the company’s home lending division. New York State has had highest number of Hamp approvals with servicer participation agreements to modify loans under HAMP which rose from 63 to 102 last December. Conclusion: As per the latest report by our president released on January 19th 2010 on the Modification Conversion Drive More Than 850,000 Homeowners Now with Median Payment Reductions Exceeding $500; More Than 110,000 Permanent Modifications Approved to Date Aggressive Administration Campaign which significantly accelerates Conversion Rate; December Push Doubles Number of Permanent Modifications Over Life of Program. The new February 2010 data shows us that more than one million borrowers are receiving a median savings of $500 each month - a 36 percent median monthly payment decrease. Permanent modifications have been granted to 170,000 homeowners and an additional 91,800 permanent modifications have been approved by servicers and are pending only borrower acceptance. On February 19, 2010, President Obama announced $1.5 billion in funding for innovative measures to help families in the states that have been hit the hardest by the aftermath of the burst of the housing bubble. States where house prices have fallen more than 20% from their peak are eligible for this funding. As of now, HAMP is designed to offer through 2012 up to 3- 4 million homeowners reduced monthly mortgage payments that are affordable and sustainable over the long-term.
By Vir Sanghvi, HT Media Here is a hypothetical situation. Imagine that the Indian police arrest a man who had advance knowledge of the 9/11 plot. Not only did he work with the conspirators but he had also been sent to New York several times to conduct reconnaissance so that the terrorists would be able to successfully execute their assault. Naturally, the US would want to extradite this person so that he could be tried in a US court for his involvement in one of the worst acts of terrorism in recent times. Assume now that India not only refused to discuss the extradition but also denied the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) any access to the suspect. “We will tell you what he is saying,” the Central Bureau of Investigation would insist. “There is no way you can interrogate him face to face.” Take our scenario further. Imagine now that even as the US seethes at being denied access to this important link in the 9/11 case, India announces that it has done a deal with the man. He will plead guilty to all charges. So, there is no question of the death penalty under our law. Nor is there any prospect of his being prosecuted under American law. Part of the deal is that we have assured the suspect that we will never extradite him. As for the sentence, that is still to be worked out but it will be decided on the basis of the deal that we have made with the terrorist. How do you suppose America will react? The answers are obvious. There would be a diplomatic incident. The secretary of state would call our home minister (or perhaps our prime minister) to insist that the terrorist is handed over By Pankaj Vohra, HT Media The most obvious aspect of the new team announced by BJP president Nitin Gadkari is that it has the unmistakable stamp of L.K. Advani. The only change that had been promised by the RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat last year has been in the ritual of replacing Rajnath Singh with his blue-eyed boy Gadkari at the very top of the saffron party. Otherwise, it is Advani’s team to be spearheaded in the organisation by Ananth Kumar and Ravi Shankar Prasad and in Parliament by Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. Gadkari, who had appeared to have won round one in Indore during the meeting of the National Council, seems to have surrendered to Advani who rightly said that he may have quit the position of the leader of Opposition but had not retired from active politics. Both Gadkari and his mentor Bhagwat, a veterinary doctor by profession, have demonstrated that their interests were confined only to Maharashtra. It is, therefore, not surprising that nearly 30 activists from that state alone have been accommodated to the FBI. India would be accused of betraying the war on terror. How can we prosecute the man in our country, we would be asked, when the crime he was involved in occurred in America? There would be threats galore. We would be warned of a suspension of aid. Summits would be cancelled and so on. I have spent some time outlining this scenario because it closely parallels something that has actually happened: except that in this case, the terrorist was involved in 26/11, not 9/11. And it is not India that is refusing to extradite him but America that has told us to go take a flying jump. It is not difficult to see why the case of David Headley evokes such strong emotions among Indians. For us, 26/11 is as important as 9/11 is to Americans. The difference is that while the US knows pretty much everything it needs to about 9/11 — in the National Executive and among officebearers. Both had been very keen to get Sanjay Joshi to replace Ram Lal as the representative of the Sangh in the BJP. But this has not happened. No prizes for guessing why. The majority of office-bearers have never contested polls especially as al-Qaeda has openly taken credit for the attack — India is still trying to piece together the details of the conspiracy. It is the US that has told us that Headley made several reconnaissance trips for 26/11. Naturally, we believe that such a man not only deserves to be punished by an Indian court but that his information may hold the key to unraveling the 26/11 plot. What’s more, we suspect that Headley also suggested Poona as a potential terror target. How many other such targets did he pinpoint? Until we interrogate him, we will never know. So, why is the US behaving in this manner? Say what you will about the Americans but the truth is that till now, they have genuinely tried to fight a global war against terror and have regularly involved the world’s intelligence agencies in this effort. of any nature and political circles have been left wondering how the Rajya Sabha types or those who know little about the ‘art and science’ of contesting elections will provide the BJP organizational strength when it comes to going in for assembly or Lok Sabha polls. The only political point that Gadkari has managed to score over the Advani camp is his act of nominating an ailing Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the Parliamentary Board. There has been widespread criticism over why the former prime minister, no longer in the pink of health, was named to the party’s highest body. Gadkari has apparently done this to convey to Advani that he was not the numero uno, either symbolically or theoretically. As long as he lives, Vajpayee will remain the top BJP leader and Advani, despite playing a more successful political innings, will have to be the perpetual number two man. Gadkari’s team lacks the potential to beat even the ‘B’ team of the Congress. It has tired and retired faces as compared to the youthful appeal of the Congress. If one takes away Shahnawaz Hussain and Varun Gandhi, there is hardly anyone who can appeal to the youth. Op Ed 15 TheSouthAsianTimes.info March 27- April 2, 2010 What does America have to hide? A court design of David Headley being produced before the judge in Chicago. BJP president Nitin Gadkari. The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times. It is not difficult to see why the case of David Headley evokes such strong emotions among Indians. For us, 26/11 is as important as 9/11 is to Americans. The difference is that while the US knows pretty much everything it needs to about 9/11 — especially as al-Qaeda has openly taken credit for the attack — India is still trying to piece together the details of the conspiracy. It is the US that has told us that Headley made several reconnaissance trips for 26/11. Gadkari’s team bears Advani’s mark Ananth Kumar has the ability to be a future leader but he has many miles to go before that happens. Gadkari, who had sung a popular movie song at Indore in a filmi style, seems to be also obsessed with introducing glamour at the cost of budding activists. How can one explain the exclusion of someone like Amit Thaker, the president of the Yuva Morcha? This over-emphasis on glamour could prove to be a costly affair when it comes to the polls. Murli Manohar Joshi, who was being tipped to take over an important position due to his seeming proximity to Bhagwat, has been further marginalized. In his capacity as a past president he will be in the Parliamentary Board, which incidentally has six Brahmins as members. None of Joshi’s close supporters have found a berth in the new set-up and the show seems to be over for him as far as the RSS and BJP go unless destiny wills otherwise. The announcement of the team when the Congress was at its most vulnerable stage is not going to make things better for the Sangh Parivar. But hats off to Advani. He has humbled the RSS and shown Bhagwat and Gadkari their place. Between us.
Page 1: Ultimate Bollywood 12 Finance 14 Sp
Page 4 and 5: 4 Community March 20-26, 27-April 2
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Page 11 and 12: TheSouthAsianTimes.com By Hiral Dho
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Page 19 and 20: By Dr.Akshat Jain Forty years back
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Page 23: Another first from your favorite ne

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