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"Dead Pledge"

What is a dead pledge?

Well, that is the literal translation of the word mortgage:

1390, from O.Fr. morgage (13c.), mort gaige, lit. "dead pledge" (replaced in modern Fr. by hypothèque), from mort "dead" + gage "pledge;" so called because the deal dies either when the debt is paid or when payment fails. O.Fr. mort is from V.L. *mortus "dead," from L. mortuus, pp. of mori "to die" (see mortal). The verb is first attested 1467.

The term comes from the Old French "dead pledge," and apparently meaning that the pledge ends (dies) either when the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure:

Coke, Edward. Commentaries on the Laws of England. “[I]f he doth not pay, then the Land which is put in pledge upon condition for the payment of the money, is taken from him for ever, and so dead to him upon condition, &c. And if he doth pay the money, then the pledge is dead as to the Tenant”

Now you know . . .

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments

Wake up call number 6? IndyMac is not the first one to go.

American's woke up to another slap in the face, IndyMac.
The bank giant where many people deposited their life savings is going out of business.
There you had them!

People waiting in line to take their money out, only to be rejected later by other bank institutions when trying to deposit their money or what they could get of it because the letterhead of the cashier's check had the infamous word: Indymac.

It was reported in the media that a california woman tried to deposit a cashier's check from Indymac at a washington mutual branch in pasadena and she was told that it could take up to eight weeks for her funds to be available
Other bank institutions said that they are following the federal guidelines in regards to availability of funds on the new deposits, and that those same guidelines apply to checks from indymac.

The truth of the matter is that failures like indymac's have name: greed from the Real Estate boom.
Now banks are paying the consequences, first it was Countrywide that have bailed out by a purchase from Bank of America, not without having the ceo (angelo mozillo) walk away with a multimillion severance package.
Now indymac is under investigation by the fbi for possible fraud in the subprime market.

According to the media reports, the investigation is focusing in the company and not in the individuals who run it.
Apparently, indymac officials approved loans to people who otherwise wouldn't be able to qualify for one, leaving now thousands on the verge of foreclosure.

Posted by: yanni raz | Jul 23, 2008 11:45:04 AM