 Seeking Empowerment regarding Foreclosure Issues?
For a mortgage loan to be valid, the lender needs to be able to produce the paperwork. If the bank can't produce the documents and the real owner of the loan can't be identified, the contract is null and void. By telling a bank to "produce the note," a homeowner can delay or stop foreclosure by forcing the lender to prove the suing institution has standing and is actually owns the note and the debt.
Most entities who are foreclosing do not have actual standing to do so - for one thing, they are very rarely the real beneficiary and holder of the Note. The term 'foreclosuregate' has become a mainstream issue. In judicial disclosure states, judges are increasingly demanding that standing be shown; in non-judicial states as well, more and more individuals are discovering public and/or private remedies to halt impending foreclosures. See below to shortcut your process in getting up to date in this very dynamic arena. Ethical and legal foreclosure remedies are available. Stop foreclosure in its tracks.
Recent ForeclosureGate News
It’s payback time—literally. In Florida, hundreds of homeowner and neighborhood associations are foreclosing on banks that have failed to upkeep their repossessed properties, according to—of all things— a CNN Money report. Florida is one of the states hardest hit by foreclosures, and there are nearly a half-million foreclosed houses now standing vacant and often slowly deteriorating. When a bank forecloses on a house, evicts the family and then repossesses the property, it also assumes responsibility for maintaining the home and yard and paying homeowner or condo association fees. Yet, some of the nation’s largest and richest banks have been unable or unwilling to upkeep their properties—prompting neighbors across Florida to declare enough is enough.
Payback! Hundreds of Homeowners Associations Threaten Banks with Foreclosure, 12/26/12
The National Bank of Canada is attempting to foreclose upon hundreds of American families’ homes in California over old credit card debts, according to a published report.
National Bank of Canada foreclosing Americans' homes over credit card debt, 10/5/12
A Supreme Court -Washington State ruling has now put MERS Fraudclosures in the line of fire for all previous fraudclosure victims.
They can sue the banks for previous Fraudclosures through the “Consumer Protection Act.”
Supreme Court ruling of Washington State (Fraud) Foreclosure victims can sue the banks via "Consumer Protection Act", 8/20/12
Despite these and numerous other limitations on FTCA lawsuits, the federal government still pays out millions of dollars each year to compensate FTCA claims. So if you think you may have a valid claim, it may be worth pursuing.
If you determine that you do have a valid FTCA claim, the next hurdle is to follow the prescribed steps for such claims, which include some strict time limits.
LIBOR Fraud Non-Valid Trust Foreclosure Defense, 7/8/12
Foreclosure filings fell 8 percent year-over-year in February, with 206,900 U.S. properties receiving some form of filing, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.
But don't be fooled by these numbers. Foreclosure activity is expected to increase 15 percent this year compared to 2011, according to RealtyTrac's Daren Blomquist.
Here Comes The 2012 Tidal Wave Of Foreclosures, 3/15/12
Four years after the banking system nearly collapsed from reckless mortgage lending, federal prosecutors have stayed on the sidelines, even as judges around the country are pointing fingers at possible wrongdoing.
Watchdogs that didn't bark, 12/22/11
Massachusetts sued five major banks Thursday over deceptive foreclosure practices such as the “robo-signing” of documents, potentially undermining negotiations between lenders and state prosecutors across the nation over the same issue.
Massachusetts sues major banks over unlawful foreclosure practices such as robo-signing, 12/1/11
It is apparent that the US government is so broke that it will do anything to pay its bills, including stealing Average Joe’s home. That’s change that both Barack Obama and Newt Gingrich can believe in.
Foreclosure Fraud in a Nutshell, 11/28/11
The 606-count indictment alleges that the two title officers, Gary Trafford and Gerri Sheppard, directed employees under their supervision to forge their names on foreclosure documents, then notarize the forged signatures, so that it appeared that the pair actually signed the documents.
The pair then allegedly directed the employees to file the fraudulent documents with the County Recorder's office in Clark County, Nevada. The grand jury found "probable cause" that the alleged scheme "resulted in the filing of tens of thousands of fraudulent documents ... between 2005 and 2008," said Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General John Kelleher.
A Bankster CRIMINAL Indictment!, 11/17/11
It is the obvious next step against the federal government-slash-Wall Street financial scam against the American people. Occupy Wall Street's (OWS) Oakland chapter is urging Americans to embrace "Occupy Vacant Properties" (OVP), a move to literally occupy, en masse, homes across the country that have been foreclosed upon and are sitting vacant.
OWS Oakland urges Americans to begin occupying foreclosed homes, 11/8/11
Responding to homeowner complaints, Nevada has become the first state in the nation to make illegaly repossessing a home a felony, and may send banks to jail for doing such. The new law was enacted after tens of thousands of homeowners complained to lawmakers about their homes being foreclosed without proof of ownership.
Nevada makes Illegal Foreclosures a Felony, 10/29/11
More than five million US homeowners and counting have had their homes foreclosed upon by banks since the "economic crisis" first began several years ago. But the Massachusetts Supreme Court recently ruled that the vast majority of the foreclosures that took place in the Commonwealth (and likely in most other states) within the past five years are illegitimate because the banks did not, and do not, actually hold the promissory notes for the properties.
Supreme Court rules that thousands of home foreclosures are invalid because banks do not have promissory notes, 10/25/11
Beau Biden is one of 7 state attorneys general to join New York’s Eric Schneiderman in breaking away from a broad mortgage fraud settlement led by Wall Street-owned Iowa attorney general Tom Miller. He also joined the FDIC and a large number of investors in objecting to a proposed $8.5 billion mortgage settlement by Bank of America.
Dylan Ratigan With Delaware AG Beau Biden: Fighting Big Banks Over Foreclosure Fraud, 10/21/11
On Oct. 18th, 2011 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court handed down their decision in the FRANCIS J. BEVILACQUA, THIRD vs. PABLO RODRIGUEZ – and in a moment, essentially made foreclosure sales in the commonwealth over the last five years wholly void. However, some of the more polite headlines, undoubtedly in the interest of not causing wide spread panic simply put it "SJC puts foreclosure sales in doubt" or "Buyer Can't Sue After Bad Foreclosure Sale"
In essence, the ruling upheld that those who had purchased foreclosure properties that had been illegally foreclosed upon (which is virtually all foreclosure sales in the last five years), did not in fact have title to those properties.
Houston, We've Got A Problem - Bevilacqua, 10/19/11
The sight of excavators tearing down vacant buildings has become common in this foreclosure-ravaged city, where the housing crisis hit early and hard. But the story behind the recent wave of demolitions is novel — and cities around the country are taking notice.
A handful of the nation’s largest banks have begun giving away scores of properties that are abandoned or otherwise at risk of languishing indefinitely and further dragging down already depressed neighborhoods.
Banks turn to demolition of foreclosed properties, 10/12/11
A ruling issued today, Glarum v. LaSalle Bank, by the court of appeals for Florida’s fourth district, may have thrown a really big wrench in the foreclosure machinery state-wide. I say “may” because this ruling has such big implications that the bank has good reason to appeal to try to get the decision reversed or narrowed.
The ruling itself is remarkably straightforward and damning. The trial court had issued a summary judgment for foreclosure. The appeals court reversed it because the evidence submitted by LaSalle Bank to establish the amount due and owing was inadequate under Florida’s rules of civil procedure.
Florida Appellate Decision May Be a Major Obstacle to Foreclosure, 9/8/11
The July Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. shows that foreclosure timelines continue their steady upward trend, as a payment has not been made on the average loan in foreclosure in a record 599 days. Of the nearly 1.9 million loans that are 90 or more days delinquent but not yet in foreclosure, 42 percent have not made a payment in more than a year with an average delinquency of 397 days, also a new record. At the same time, first-time foreclosure starts in June were near three-year lows, and first-time delinquencies accounted for only 25 percent of new delinquent inventory.
Average Loan In Foreclosure Has Been Delinquent For A Record 599 Days, 8/31/11
Bank of America may want to re-check its books before it starts throwing elderly people out on the streets.
ABC News reports that the bank made a mistake earlier this year, by initiating the foreclosure process on an elderly couple that had the audacity to submit a mortgage payment a week early.
Bank of America Threatens Foreclosure On Elderly Couple Who Paid Mortgage Early, 8/24/11
In a case which may raise eyebrows through the Massachusetts real estate and foreclosure industry, a federal bankruptcy court on Monday issued a ruling calling into question the very ability to foreclose upon a MERS-held mortgage. The case is In Re. Schwartz and is embedded below. This blog is the first outlet to be reporting on this very important case.
Mass. Bankruptcy Judge Voids Foreclosure Of MERS Mortgage, 8/23/11
Ninety-two percent. That's how many of the foreclosures on bankrupt families in and around New York City had no proof the creditors had the right to foreclose.
In a three-month investigation, the New York Post—a tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch and usually better known for its salacious headlines than its investigative journalism—found that in nearly all of the foreclosure proceedings, “banks have attempted to steamroll their way over sometimes-outgunned homeowners,” booting them out of their homes even if they didn't have proper documentation that gave them the right to do so.
92% of Foreclosures in New York Lack Proper Documents - Banks Booting People Without Proof, 8/15/11
Federal officials are seeking creative ideas to rent some of the foreclosed homes owned by Fannie Mae and other government entities.
10.8 Million Foreclosures Await: Fannie Mae Wants To Become Slumlord, 8/11/11
Banks have a new remedy to America's ailing housing market: Bulldozers.
There are nearly 1.7 million homes in the U.S. in some state of foreclosure. Banks already own some of these homes and will soon have repossessed many more. Many housing economists worry that near constant stream of home sales from banks could keep housing prices down for years to come. But what if some of those homes never hit the market.
Increasingly, it appears banks are turning to demolition teams instead of realtors to rid them of their least valuable repossessed homes. Last month, Bank of America announced plans to demolish 100 foreclosed homes in the Cleveland area. The land is then going to be donated back to the local government authorities. BofA says the recent donations in Cleveland are part of a larger plan to rid itself of its least saleable properties, many of which, according to a company spokesperson, are worth less than $10,000. BofA has already donated 100 homes in Detroit and 150 in Chicago, and may add as many as nine more cities by the end of the year.
Bulldoze: The New Way To Foreclose, 8/1/11
GMAC, one of the nation's largest mortgage servicers, faced a quandary last summer. It wanted to foreclose on a New York City homeowner but lacked the crucial paperwork needed to seize the property.
GMAC has a standard solution to such problems, which arise frequently in the post-bubble economy. Its employees secure permission to create and sign documents in the name of companies that made the original loans. But this case was trickier because the lender, a notorious subprime company named Ameriquest, had gone out of business in 2007.
GMAC Filed Phony Documents To Foreclose On Homeowners, 7/27/11
America's leading mortgage lenders vowed in March to end the dubious foreclosure practices that caused a bruising scandal last year. But a Reuters investigation finds that many are still taking the same shortcuts they promised to shun, from sketchy paperwork to the use of "robo-signers."
Special report: Banks continue robo-signing, 7/18/11
Marshall Home, who claims many foreclosures are illegal, has filed documents in the past two weeks with the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office showing he has supposedly taken ownership of at least 21 homes belonging to government-owned mortgage giant Fannie Mae. But none of the documents shows any money has changed hands, and Fannie Mae says it has not sold the houses.
Why would he do such a thing?
“Lenders are gangsters, and they can’t prove they own these homes. So they have no right to foreclose,” said the 80-year-old self-professed billionaire from his real-estate and political office in Tucson on Tuesday. “I plan to continue to take homes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I would buy them, but those groups can’t produce the notes showing they are the rightful owners to sell or foreclose on them.”
I think I like this guys style…
Tucson Mayoral Candidate Takes Ownership Of Hundreds Of Foreclosed Homes, Changes Locks, Kicks Out Real-Estate Agents And Posts "Do Not Trespass" Signs, 6/26/11
It’s time to turn the tables on too-big-to-fail American banks, and one homeowner did just that.
In this all too familiar tale, the homeowners paid for their home in cash and had no mortgage. Bank of America, for whatever reason, had paperwork showing that they did owe a mortgage and they subsequently foreclosed on the home and seized it. After thousands of dollars spent and the many headaches associated with going to court to clear their names, the homeowners won a judgement against Bank of America.
The homeowner’s attorney says that they repeatedly contacted Bank of America to be paid the legal fees, but the bank ignored the requests.
As a result, the homeowners were left with no choice but to come after the bank’s assets. The showed up at Bank of America with their attorney, a Sheriff’s deputy, and a moving truck. It seems like this is the best option for anyone who has been foreclosed on, intimidated by their banks and won a judgement against them. Send over the trucks, the police and your attorney and take what’s owed. They’d do the same thing to you.
Sweet justice, indeed.
Sweet Justice: How To Foreclose On Your Bank, 6/7/11
Well, it has happened in Florida and involves a North Carolina based bank.
Instead of Bank of America foreclosing on some Florida homeowner, the homeowners had sheriff's deputies foreclose on the bank.
It started five months ago when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, who didn't owe a dime on their home.
Bank of America Gets Pad Locked After Homeowner Forecloses On It, 6/4/11
The slow return of millions of REO homes to the market will keep home prices from recovering. RealtyTrac's James J. Saccio warns: "At the first quarter foreclosure sales pace, it would take exactly three years to clear the current inventory of 1.9 million properties already on the banks’ books, or in foreclosure."
Frightening Satellite Tour Of America's Foreclosure Wastelands, 5/26/11
Benson disputed Bates’ characterization that federal courts in Utah were automatically dismissing such cases, saying he was making decisions on a case-by-case basis.
But his decision to not grant dismissal does create a split among local federal judges, others of whom have routinely dismissed many of the dozens of foreclosure suits they’ve heard.
Judge sides with homeowners in foreclosure suit, 5/18/11
US Trustee Program, which is the arm of the Department of Justice which oversees bankruptcy courts, has found ongoing servicing abuses in bankruptcy courts which are an order of magnitude worse than claimed by mortgage servicers and their mouthpieces among the Federal banking regulators. And it’s funny how a real prosecutor has managed to find significant problems in a mere six months, when the 50 state attorneys general effort, which has undertaken no investigation, is rushing to get a deal done. If the leader of that effort, Tom Miller of Iowa, instead had gotten to work when the effort was formed last October rather than having tea and cookies with the Treasury Department, they might have something to show by now.
ForeclosureGate: US Trustee Estimates Servicing “Errors” at 10x Level Claimed by Banks, 5/14/11
The federal government on Wednesday ordered 16 of the nation's largest mortgage lenders and servicers to reimburse homeowners who were improperly foreclosed upon. Government regulators also directed the financial firms to hire auditors to determine how many homeowners could have avoided foreclosure in 2009 and 2010.
Gov't orders 14 lenders to reimburse homeowners, 4/16/11
Sales of hundreds of foreclosed homes in Oregon have been halted or withdrawn in recent weeks after federal judges repeatedly questioned their legality, according to a number of real estate attorneys in the state. Lenders have withdrawn more than 300 foreclosure sales since February in Deschutes County alone, one of the Oregon area's hardest hit by the housing collapse. About 130 of those notices were filed in the past week, attorneys say.
Hundreds of Oregon foreclosure sales stopped after judges' rulings, 3/5/11
"Since no evidence of MERS' ownership of the underlying note has been offered, and other courts have concluded that MERS does not own the underlying notes, this court is convinced that MERS had no interest it could transfer to Citibank. Since MERS did not own the underlying note, it could not transfer the beneficial interest of the Deed of Trust to another. Any attempt to transfer the beneficial interest of a trust deed without ownership of the underlying note is void under California law."
In Re Walker, Part Deux – March 3rd, 2011, may just be a HUGE day for California Homeowners
Arizona may become the first state to require lenders to prove they have the right to foreclose by providing a complete list of any previous owners of the mortgage, under a bill passed yesterday by its Senate.
The legislation, which is headed to the House after being approved 28-2 in the Republican-dominated Senate, would allow foreclosure sales to be voided if lenders that didn’t originate the loan can’t produce the full chain of title. Arizona permits nonjudicial foreclosures, meaning property can be seized from the homeowner without a court order.
Arizona Bill Would Void Foreclosures Without Full Title History, 2/23/11
At the time of the now famous Ibanez decision, in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court dealt the securitization industry a not-all-that-surprinsing loss by saying that lenders and servicers had to be able to produce reasonable evidence that the mortgage had indeed been transferred to the party that was trying to seize the house.
One stunning aspect of the Ibanez case, one that quite a few observers, including yours truly, discussed privately at the time: that neither of the banks involved in the case produced a decent set of transaction documents (US Bank didn’t even provide a copy of the pooling and servicing agreement).
So How Did Major Law Firms Lose Deal Documents on the Way to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court?, 2/3/11
A story at Huffington Post by Shahien Narisipour and Arthur Delaney, about how a couple lost their home as a result of the Administration’s HAMP program, actually serves to illustrate a broader issue, namely, how servicers’ dubious fees can put mortgage borrowers hopelessly under water.
It is critical to understand that it is not uncommon for borrowers to lose their homes thanks to servicer errors and abuses. And this bad practice has policy implications. Whenever we discuss “fix the housing mess” solutions that involve loss sharing, like giving viable borrowers a deep principal mod, some readers react that “deadbeat borrowers” are getting a free ride, and often will contend that they were irresponsible and need to take their medicine.
How Servicer Junk Fees Push Borrowers into Foreclosure, 2/2/11
Peculiarly (and I’ll have to admit I’m among the guilty), a state-wide halt of foreclosures by a Bank of America unit in Nevada earlier in the week attracted remarkably little notice. The number of foreclosures in involved is meaningful, over 8000. The reason may seem somewhat technical, and presumably would not apply to other BofA units, namely, that the entity, ReconTrust Co, is operating without a proper business license. But then it gets interesting...
BofA Fighting to Reverse Foreclosure Freeze in Nevada, 1/29/11
The benchmark for documented mortgage originators' lies is getting higher and higher. First it was the Allstate lawsuit, finding massive fraud in most Countrywide/Bank of America loans, then it was quantified at 70% after Wells Fargo sued JPM's EMC division, now it is all the way up to 91% after a just released lawsuit by the bulk of the world's biggest insurance companies has been made public, in a fresh lawsuit again Bank of America/Countrywide over "Massive mortgage fraud."
91% of BofA Securitized Mortgage Loans Were Fraudulent, 1/24/11
In a major ruling Friday, a coalition of nonprofit defense lawyers and consumer protection advocates in Maryland successfully got over 10,000 foreclosure cases managed by GMAC Mortgage tossed out, because affidavits in the cases were signed by Jeffrey Stephan, the infamous GMAC “robo-signer” who attested to the authenticity of foreclosure documents without any knowledge about them, as well as signing other false statements.
10,000 Foreclosures TOSSED OUT in One MD Ruling!, 1/17/11
About 4 months ago, I claimed that Banks Will Be Forced to Forgo Certain Foreclosures, Even If the Borrower Has Admittedly Defaulted! This was taken by many readers as sensationalist and unlikely...
Banks Walking Away From Homes, 1/17/11
Ohio Judge Peter Sikora was looking to take advantage of the lowest mortgage interest rates in decades and refinance his eight-bedroom, lakefront Cleveland home, so he contacted his bank, JPMorgan Chase. With property values in decline in Cleveland, Chase said no to refinancing but told the judge to apply for a loan modification instead. The judge followed JPMorgan Chase’s advice to the letter and as a result has fallen a year behind on his nearly $1 million mortgage… hasn’t paid his property taxes… and now has ended up in foreclosure.
Ohio Judge Follows JPMorgan Chase’s Advice, Ends up in Foreclosure
In a ruling that could escalate the mortgage problems facing banks, the Massachusetts Supreme Court on Friday voided two foreclosures because the banks failed to show the proper paperwork to prove they owned the loans.
The decision challenges the way mortgages were bundled and sold around the world and could lead to the invalidation of thousands of foreclosures across the state. The ruling comes in the wake of accusations last fall that lenders improperly handled thousands of foreclosures and possibly engaged in fraud, spurring federal and state investigations.
MA Supreme Ct rules against banks in foreclosure paperwork case, 1/7/11
As a result of the recent investigation launched by the Florida Attorney General’s office, Bank Of America, GMAC Bank, JP Morgan Chase, and others, have all been found guilty of foreclosure fraud.
Depositions by the banks employees revealed that the banks have been forging, falsifying, and fabricating documents in order to foreclose on millions of homes owned by unsuspecting American homeowners.
Banks Found Guilty Of Foreclosure Fraud, 12/28/10
For a loan to be valid, the lender needs to be able to produce the paperwork. If the bank can't produce the documents and the real owner of the loan can't be identified, the contract is null and void. By telling a bank to "produce the note," a homeowner can stop or delay foreclosure by forcing the lender to prove the suing institution is actually the same which owns the debt.
Stay Put - Produce the note
Luis Molina is not a lawyer and he has never played one on TV. But that didn’t stop him from putting on his best suit, marching into a Miami courtroom this month and going up against an attorney with 30 years of experience to stop a foreclosure proceeding against his family’s home. Molina did such a good job of representing himself that the judge in the case thought he was a lawyer and punctuated his ruling in Molina's favor by tearing up the other side’s motion for summary judgment and throwing it over his shoulder.
In foreclosure crisis, more Americans representing themselves in court, 1/28/9
Watch this video about Foreclosure Fraud Factories. Rep. Alan Grayson explains the ForeclosureGate crisis and tells us how much we have all been duped, used and abused by a corrupt mortgage system!
Stop Foreclosure:
See also:
Eliminate credit card debt page, eliminate debt page, eliminate mortgage page and eliminate student loan debt, here.
|
