I can not imagine a bank losing anything. If you are familiar with Country Wide Mortgage, you are aware of how they are shafting people either in a bankruptcy or have paid off their mortgage through it. CWide is now claiming that these paid-off debts are not paid in full and that most people still owe them at least $10,000 in interest and fees. Not so. if you have read the USA Today newspaper, dated june 26, 2008, you will discover what mortgage companies are involved in this fraud scheme. some are Country Wide, Citicorp and others. The Federal Gov. is stepping in and declaring these mortgage companies to be at-fault and are making them pay restitution. If you fit into this category, contact an attorney. You will be the winner.

Each banking corporation is required by law...to set aside..a percentage of their gross profits for any losses they may have!! soo guess what?? THERE IS NO SUCH A THING OF LOSES,funny how they do make public reports of how much money they are loosing..but ALL LOSES ARE TAX DETUCTIBLES...MEANING IS A TAX WRITE OFF, CHARGE OFF TO THEM IS A TAX WRITE OFF..HSBC,CITIGRUOP,WELLS FARGO,BANK OF AMERICA,ALL MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE MORTGAGE INDUSTRY they all report losses..funny how a 3.00 charge to atms ONLY costs the bank .50 a transaction but 3.00 to us citizens...BANKS are in the bussness of earning profits..otherwise they would close doors..they may layoff people but not close.

With the "normal" rate of foreclosures you are correct. Banks sell the property then write off what they can't collect as a tax loss. Problem now is that banks over-extended themselves ( greed ) and with foreclosures hitting record numbers, all these banks now find their money tied up in vacant properties they can't sell for as much as they loaned in the first place. For them it is like throwing out all of their cash and filling their vaults with bricks. They can't write off those bricks until they sell them. Now that they are afraid to loan money, who has the ability to buy these properties in foreclosure? Do they even have the money left to lend until they can sell these hundreds of thousands of vacant houses they now own? This is why they now want us, the taxpayers, to bail them out of this hole...even though they would do nothing to bail us out. Perhaps it is time for these banks to get into the real estate business and sell these houses back to those they took them from for a reduced rate and low interest. At least they would solve the problem of what to do with them and generate more income over time than if they sell them outright.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to know under the current accounting schemes being used. Banks take a significant hit for every foreclosure (on average $50K to $60K), and even larger hits whenever they approve a Short Sale (frequently into the hundreds of thousands). Part of the problem is the concept of Marked To Market, where banks take heavy write downs even on performing paper. I have seen this coming for much of the past two years. Banks can't afford to keep "discounting" their assets indefinitely. They had to hit bottom ... and they have. Now, was their FRAUD on the part of Fannie, Freddie, and others? You bet there was! Fannie and Freddie ought to have been taken into receivership years ago. I was heartened to hear that the FBI was called in. Please stay tuned, but a bailout is the last thing we need to do. A WORKOUT is the only proper solution, and the write downs need to be done using a 3- to 5-year rolling Marked To Market concept. The current model ain't working!