National Mortgage Settlement All But Inevitable As California, New York Join Deal

[lefairhill06]

15. This May Not Be All There Is

As I understand it, this deal is completely separate from the recent investigation initiated by the President at the State of the Union speech -- that is, it covers only the robo-signing aspect; this action has been pending for some time. Now if it can be out of the way, at least some people will be helped, and the next phase of actual criminal activities may come under greater scrutiny (it might even be possible that some banks involved in more than one questionable activity may, having seen that fines are finally being assessed somewhere in coming months be more willing to work with homeowners rather than face even greater penalties. This is a very plausible explanation for Mr. Schneiderman joining forces with the Justice Department -- they have not been involved in the current action).