The National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS) has waged a campaign of shock and awe against Minority Females and Labor for decades as its members have paraded around pretending that the foreclosure services they render are performed by independent contractors. Millions of dollars in settlements for employee misclassification have been paid out spanning the entire United States in both liberal and conservative state and federal jurisdictions — with lawyers receiving the lion’s share of the funds. And while many have argued that the $3 inspections paid to determine if a homeowner retains their house is fair, the one two punch of both COVID and inflation has begun to steadily turn the tide.
The National Labor Relations Board confirmed a vote Friday to form a union at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, meaning the coffee retailer, for the first time, will have to bargain with organized labor at a company-owned U.S. store.
“We don’t want to fight Starbucks — we’re asking them to turn over a new leaf,” said Jaz Brisack, an organizer at the store, one of three New York Starbucks locations that petitioned the labor board for a union election in October.
Voting wrapped up last week and the board certified the results of the Buffalo employees’ 19-8 vote Friday.
When NAMFS Executive Director Eric Miller began accepting nearly $10,000 a year bonuses which has brought is last annual salary reported by IRS to over $138,000 while refusing to increase pay to Labor for nearly 30 years, many began publicly to express their concern about maintaining a robust servicing environment in the Mortgage Field Services Industry. The tell tale signs were everywhere: MFS Supply, a NAMFS member whom supplies the majority of materials necessary for the Industry, announced the first ever increases in pricing using the word substantial when discussing the matter in an email to all customers on 06 December 2021. Simultaneously, MFS Supply is suspending all discount programs. As inflation has ravaged the buying power throughout the US in tandem with supply chain disruptions; as the global pandemic of COVID has killed millions and infected tens of millions, Miller’s response was to request a donation of $120,000. And to reinforce the tone deafness indicative of NAMFS, out of all their members, they were only able to collect $28,850 when you subtract the $10,000 of NAMFS seed money. That number has been frozen for the past 5 weeks as a testament to the fact that NAMFS members are living well on the profit margins they extract from Labor.
Time and again the failures of NAMFS members have been passed down to Labor whose shoulders are becoming fewer and fewer as they realize that there is no future in the Industry. Take Carolyn Reaves, CEO of Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS) whom recently oversaw yet another sale of MCS, this time to Littlejohn, after defaulting on payments related to nearly a third of a billion dollars in debt. And yet it is Reaves, herself, whom has balked about any discussions of raising pay in the Industry at multiple conferences. The dynamic duo of Safeguard Properties and Brookstone Management have also chimed in supporting Reaves; however, due to Jewish holidays were not present at the latest iteration. It boggles the mind when one would believe that both Labor and Management would stand to benefit unless the real reason is to prevent fair and open competition in a non closed environment.
We know that the profit margins of NAMFS members are astronomical. In fact, Altisource’s CEO Bill Shepro revealed the real numbers being paid in Altisource’s Earnings Call circa August 2020,
In a normal market, we estimate that for every 1% increase in delinquency rates, the addressable market for our default related services increases by approximately $700 million. Based on the increase in 30-plus day delinquency, since the beginning of the year, we estimate that the addressable market for our services has grown by over $2.7 billion. — Bill Shepro, Altisource CEO
Now, the Federal Reserve Board states that the current delinquency rate in the US, as of Q3FY2021, is roughly 2.27% — that is about $3 Billion if you so the math on the back of a napkin. That number is anticipated to skyrocket in January when the last foreclosure moratorium lifts implemented by Regulation X under Dodd – Frank. And those still in forbearance — over one million according to DS News with that number climbing and another half a million pending processing — are the canaries in the mine. With 12.9 million people whom have simply quit their jobs over the past recorded 90 days and another 4 million more anticipated for December, the canary is dead and the light is permanently shut off in the tunnel. Combined with across-the-board minimum wages of at least $15 an hour — with zero overhead, signing bonuses, and benefits — it is completely delusional to believe that the Industry will fare well as the onslaught of evictions begin in several weeks.
Foreclosurepedia broke down the numbers, last week, of what Labor is commanding in the real world and the reality is that the $3 inspections offered by NAMFS members, payable 45 days later and subject to zero pay policies, are not the type of incentives which Labor is looking for. To that point, the recent rash of violence laden – zero pay inspections rolled out in a modern day apartheid by NAMFS members, against Labor, is a sure fire way to destroy the Industry. The crowning of kids in their early 20’s, with no experience whatsoever, is a recipe for disaster as witnessed by the Inspectors whom are serving on the front lines of a foreclosure war playing out across the US.
In light of your newsletter earlier today, I thought you might find interesting the below email exchange between a state rep and myself about a knock inspection where the homeowner became hostile with my female inspector on an inspection done back in [redacted] and ordered her off his property. The most current inspection was rejected because of no knock photo and below is my conversation with the state rep.
These people are nuts!!
Btw, because I refused to send my inspector back, this inspection was just cancelled out of my queue and reassigned to another vendor who has no idea the history we have with this hostile homeowner. So now the new, unsuspecting vendor is going to go up on this guy’s property and try to contact this homeowner.
This is what these people do.
That quote is typical of what I received when our 17 December 2021 Newsletter went out. And the contractor whom wrote that is well seasoned with over a decade of experience. Here is another example,
My inspector reported on the inspection in March that he met the man as he was leaving the property. The man told him do not come on his property. Now you’re telling me that because the man was “cooperative”, and not hostile during that encounter, even though he still told my inspector not to come on his property, that my inspector should just ignore the homeowner’s wishes and go back on his property just to get a knock photo? There are obvious occupancy indicators photos that were included on the most recent inspection that has been rejected — Boat, car, etc.
Btw, the inspection form from 3/17/21 does not have “cooperative” checked as far as the “Attitude” section of the form. Nothing was checked under that section. I’m not sure where you got the info the occupant was “cooperative” because that has never been reported. These are his comments from the contact inspection back in March… “man leaving property stated not to come on property. photos taken from road”.
The takeaway is that these tweenies — kids in their teens and twenties — are being hired because most intelligent career oriented adults refuse to work for the pennies being offered. And the adolescent habit of replies, spewed out in 240 character Tweet formats, are putting lives in jeopardy. No two ways about it. It is a systemic problem prevalent throughout the Industry predicated upon a lack of training and competitive bonus system driven by waste, fraud, and abuse.
When Foreclosurepedia began attacking the prolific fraud in the Industry during the 2008 meltdown, the most effective tactic used was naming the party responsible for the mayhem. And to this day, Foreclosurepedia continues receiving requests ranging the gambit from former paper pushers to lawyers to redact names from our articles. The main reason why is that as they appear in background checks larger Fortune 500 firms run. And my reply has always been the same, You certainly were not concerned when you committed your atrocities against Labor, so why should I be now?
Should we simply publish the Vendor Manager’s names or the hack replying to contractors in the staccato bursts? I think so. It was effective in the 2008 crisis and I believe it would be effective now. Accountability is the byproduct of a well regulated Industry and it should come as no surprise that we have neither accountability nor regulation under the NAMFS Regime. Totalitarianism is best exemplified in NAMFS Executive Director Eric Miller’s ability to keep the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at bay when it comes to investigations. The absurd menagerie of Labor running around with their collective heads cut off are the epitome of pitting the masses against themselves while chasing scraps at NAMFS member tables. Like a chapter out of Frank Herbert’s Dune, Labor mines the profits of spice for NAMFS members praying to collect what few drops of water are wrung out as pay. In fact, Labor’s plight could not be more poignantly demonstrated than through the pen of former Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Apropos, could it be the banality of evil; could it be that the dereliction of duty is so rewarded that no one cares? Ney, I say as I honestly believe that what we are witnessing is calculated and with specific intent.
