It is something that’s been abuzz in the real estate world for quite some time now: major banks and mortgage lenders freezing foreclosure proceedings amidst talks of fraud and robo-signing. The delay in foreclosure is supposed to be used to review the policies and procedures behind foreclosure proceedings. Lifting on the foreclosed properties, banks now come to their defense and are calling the recent mess a mere ‘technicality’.
Some weeks ago, banks like GMAC Mortgage and Bank of America have announced that they are suspending foreclosures because of issues of fraud and of signing off foreclosures without checking accompanying documents. Bank of America even extended the freeze from the 23 states where foreclosures need judicial review to all 50 states. Now, both Bank of America and GMAC Mortgage are pushing through with foreclosures, saying their individual reviews did not produce evidence that borrowers were wrongly foreclosed on.
Court filings on loan documents from mortgage servicers have produced a different story. A case of a 45-year old software engineer tells of his house being sold by San Francisco bank Wells Fargo & Co. in a foreclosure sale in August, only to have the bank rescind the sale a month later. Admitting that the sale should never have happened, Wells Fargo offered the software engineer a loan modification increasing monthly payment by $70 to $1,422.34.
Even with such existing cases, banks are still saying that looking into the mortgage paperwork has not uncovered wrongful foreclosures. The banks defend themselves by saying that those who are currently facing foreclosures are indeed behind in their mortgage payments. Bank of America shares that in the second quarter, 33% of foreclosure sales involved vacant properties and 80% of them have not been paid for a year.
To further downplay the issue, banks say that the current paperwork problems were just technical errors. The banks go on to say that there were no systematic flaws in which previous (and ongoing) foreclosures are handled.
For those who fear that lifting on foreclosures will wrongly take their homes away from them, state attorneys general are still looking at the issue. Concerned that foreclosures and mortgage modifications happen simultaneously, the attorneys general – who recently launched a unified investigation – will look at robo-signing, bungled paperwork, and even backdating of documents.
The “technical issue” the banks are referring to is properly known as fraud.
Here is a link to a recent RICO suit filed against the banks;
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=2196166
If you still believe the banks assertions that shredding notes, securitizing loans, shorting them with 10X AIG default insurance and making more money on defaulting mortgages than legitimate lending is all fine and legal, you should read this law professors take on the legality of the MERS system here;
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1684729
Banks are insolvent. Put backs will either put them out of business or our government will bail them out again. Very grim.
Written 10-22-20010
DIRTY INVESTMENT BANKERS
Last year at this time there were 3 Foreclosures in the Roundup which was 3 more than the year before. As you can see by the first 2 issues of Dec. 2009, our property was one of them. There were 17 foreclosures in the Roundup last week, 20 this week, and more to come. The frustrating part is that 90% of our country’s current foreclosures are tied to fraudulent loan documents. Last week, it was all over the News and on the internet about how Bank of America (BAC), JP Morgan and other banks are halting their foreclosures in 23 states which are Judicial Foreclosure States. This means that the banks must prove their claim in a court of law. Why did they halt? Because the banks cannot prove in court that 90 % of the mortgages over the last decade are not filled with fraud.
Yes, you see, for the past decade mortgage documents had to be fraudulent in order for Mortgage Electronic Registry System (MERs) to turn them into mortgage backed securities (MBS). Surely the dictionary definition for FRAUD will soon be “Mortgage Backed Securities”. This very type of fraudulent foreclosure practice by the banking industry is currently being exposed as the biggest fraud ever upon the American people. How can we give our children a good education in this country if the Dirty Investment Bankers have conspired to commit fraud on homeowners by getting homeowners involved in fraudulent mortgages and then, turn around and fraudulently foreclose on those same American homeowners and kick the homeowners and their kids out on the street in the cold snow bank? Sounds like we the people are getting a good snow job.
Now, the biggest problem is that these banks are only picking on us poor folks in Non-Judicial Foreclosure States (states that allow foreclosure without requiring the banks to prove their claim in a court of law). Well isn’t that just what you’d want if you knew you could not prove your claim. That way you could railroad people out of their homes before they that got chance to take you to court and show that your mortgage loan docs were laced with fraud so that they could be turned into mortgaged backed securities where people around the world could trade these MBS. Each time these MBSs were traded the investors would nearly double their money. Throughout time what had sounded like fraud has been fraud and this nationwide mortgage debacle is no different.
Where these cases have gone to court the judges have been forced to dismiss them because the mortgage documents are laced with fraud from start to finish. Chances are 9 to 1 that yours is too particularly if it was initiated within the last decade. We were able to save our home from these Al Capone like thugs last year, and now, here they come again because Wyoming is A Non-Judicial Foreclosure State. Without having to go to court to prove their claim they can railroad folks and their children out of their homes and into the snow without any form of due process. So much for the 5th amendment where we were each assured that we would not lose life liberty or property without due process (without our day in court).
We saved our home once from these thugs and we will win again. Perhaps more importantly if you think that you may be headed towards foreclosure and you think that your loan too may be laced with fraud, then we can help you save your home and property from the thugs. We can even help you get it back from them. Send us and email at [email protected] or call 307-354-6227.
Article by Bruce Eaton of Boulder Wyoming