Daily News related to the Foreclosure Crisis

The biggest unpunished heist in human history - Max Keiser

2014

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Mortgage Servicing Fraud
occurs post loan origination when mortgage servicers use false statements and book-keeping entries, fabricated assignments, forged signatures and utter counterfeit intangible Notes to take a homeowner's property and equity.

 Date

Article

Articles are added several times a day 

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9/2014

[Infographic]: White Collar Crime

The Solution?

Tougher penalties for white collar crime will deter criminals. Currently, white collar crime is treated as a property crime, and jail sentences are often light or non-existent.

USC Gould School of Law The law, however, is catching up to these master manipulators. Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff ran one of the longest running Ponzi schemes in history and bilked individuals, corporations, educational institutions and charities out of billions of dollars. His triple-digit prison sentence was unprecedented and an eye-opener for anyone who was considering following in his tracks.

in part

Bank of Mew York Mellon v. Huth

OHIO 
SIXTH Court of APPEALS 
We reverse the trial court’s sua sponte grant of summary judgment against 
appellants on the issue of damages and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings to determine damages in the foreclosure action. 

Wells Fargo sent Spivak the Notice before MERS assigned the mortgage to it. 

Wells Fargo v. Spivak

Wells Fargo served him with the 
Notice in October 2010 — approximately two years earlier, before instituting its prior action, and before it had any ownership interest in the Note or the property.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania When a residential mortgagee delivers an Act 6 notice, commences a foreclosure action against a mortgagor (“first action”), discontinues that foreclosure action, and re-files another foreclosure action against a mortgagor for the same premises (“second action”), the lack of a new notice prior to the second action is fatal to the second action. 

The prejudice that Spivak suffered from Wells Fargo’s failure to furnish a second 
notice is palpable, most notably, from Spivak’s inability cure the default by 
virtue of his lack of knowledge regarding the amount necessary to do so. 

10/31/14

JP Morgan Chase v. Porzio

“When the plaintiff filed a request for leave to file a third amendment complaint on December 14, 2010, the plaintiff included a proposed complaint that indicated it had attached a copy of the note that is at issue in this case.   Contrary to this allegation, there was no such note attached.” The date the note was lost is a material issue of fact.

No copy of the promissory note was produced in court for the undersigned's examination at the hearing on this Motion for Summary Judgment.   It appears that no color copy of the original of the promissory note has been produced by the plaintiff at any time.   The original of the note has never been produced by the plaintiff in this litigation.   Although the plaintiff may successfully prosecute a foreclosure when the note has been lost, the authenticity of signature of Michael Porzio on the photocopy of the note is a material issue of fact.

Superior Court of Connecticut Judge Mintz's criticism of the plaintiff's attorneys in handling this file is worthy of citation:  “Nevertheless, the court is still quite displeased with the manner in which the plaintiff has conducted itself in this case.   When this action was commenced in February 2009, the plaintiff was aware it did not have physical possession of the note.   Despite this knowledge, the plaintiff still alleged in its complaint that it was ‘the holder of said Note and Mortgage.’   Additionally, the plaintiff waited until December 2010, to reveal the fact that the note was lost to the court and the defendants.   Although it has been determined from the fact that the plaintiff did not have a physical copy of the original note in its possession does not render the plaintiff without standing to bring this action, the court still concludes it was misleading for the plaintiff not to provide all interested parties with this relevant information.” Judge Mintz further characterized the plaintiff's litigation practice in this case by using the following phrases in his Memorandum of Decision:  “ plaintiff misrepresented some facts of this case,” “plaintiff knew about the lost note before it brought the foreclosure case and that the plaintiff should have pleaded as such in its original complaint,” “the plaintiff probably should have alleged that the note was lost in its initial complaint,” “the plaintiff delayed in furnishing any information regarding the lost note to the relevant parties,” and “plaintiff's sloppy pleading and withholding of information.”

10/31/14

Foreclosures Are Making Americans Sick

Those who have lost homes endure the greatest costs. 

American Banker Statistics clearly show that seven years after the housing bust began, millions of Americans are still suffering. And suffering is the operative word — because both foreclosures and economic inequality impact people’s health.

There is nothing inevitable about the foreclosure crisis, surging inequality and the impact that these issues have on Americans’ health. Policy choices helped get us here. Different choices — ones that recognize how social problems are interconnected — could help get us out. 

10/31/14

In Depth: How Big Business Buys State Courts

More than 90 percent of judicial business in the United States is decided in state courts, and with business interests tangled up in much of the litigation, it's easy to understand why corporations spend big on state judicial campaigns. 

TruthOut "Special interest groups continue to dump money into state supreme court races in an attempt to stack the deck in their favor," Bannon said. 

"Voters should feel like our courts are fair and impartial, not political playgrounds where business interests and lawyers can tilt the scales of justice with their pocketbooks."

Related from 2006: Campaign Cash Mirrors a High Court's Rulings

10/31/14

What is Evidence or Proof of the Existence of the REAL Loan?

The logical question is why would the assignor or endorser transfer a valuable debt without payment? 

Living Lies The only reasonable conclusion is that there is no underlying debt --- there is paper but the power of that paper is at very best highly speculative. "Underlying debt" means that the alleged borrower does not owe any money to the party named as payee on the note.
Traveling down the line, seeking for evidence of payment, you don't find it. Even the originator does not get "paid" for the loan but assigns or endorses the paperwork anyway. No reasonable business explanation can be found for this free transfer of the paper except that the participants knew full well that the paper was worthless. 

10/30/14

Wells Fargo whistleblower lawsuit from 2011 unsealed

WSOCTV Wells Fargo is the target of a whistleblower lawsuit charging it took money from federal programs while hiding “mismanagement and fraudulent practices.

"Once it's filed, it stays under seal while the government has time to investigate it," Wyatt said.

10/30/14

An Open Letter to CFPB’s Richard Cordray

Older American consumers, the widowed spouses of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage reverse-mortgage borrowers, are being kicked out of their homes in violation of federal law.

The law gives protection to spouses of HECM borrowers whether or not they signed the loan papers as co-borrowers.

National Mortgage News How many illegal HECM foreclosures are going on across the country? How many existing HECM non-borrowing spouses are there? How many HECM non-borrowing spouses are going to lose their homes when their borrowing spouses die? What is HUD doing to stop the illegal foreclosures? Why is HUD shifting responsibility for a problem caused by its flawed regulations to widowed spouses and to lenders? And, more importantly, who will hold HUD accountable on this issue?

HUD broke the law and vulnerable widowed HECM non-borrowing spouses (you are sworn to protect) are paying the price: getting kicked out of their marital homes. It is an affront to justice. Please do something about it!

New Mortgage Madness Again?

Lending industry is not learning from the real estate investment and mortgage mistakes they have made in the past.

Hulio If you have been involved with these lending institutions in the past ten years, you know how deceitfully they operated. I know a family who lived in their home three years without making a mortgage payment. The reason was that when the foreclosure attorneys tried to trace the initial commitments, they were never located.

10/30/14

Transferring mortgage servicers can harm homeowners, inspector finds

“Treasury’s immediate action is necessary to ensure that HAMP servicers comply with HAMP rules and to protect homeowners,” the report said.

Market Watch The report, by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), said homeowners trying to apply for relief under the Home Affordable Modification Program face problems including miscalculation of payments, lost applications, trial modifications not being honored or even foreclosure proceedings.

10/30/14

Banks and Loan Services are Liable under the Consumer Protection Law for Improper Handling of Loan Modification Requests

The United District Court ruled last week that a pattern of delay and evasive and erroneous responses to a consumer requesting a loan modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), can be the basis for a lawsuit under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 93A, the Consumer Protection Statute. Hanrahran v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC (1:14-cv-10397-PBS) (October 23, 2014).

South Coast Today SLS sent her a notice that she was eligible for a loan modification and she promptly filed her application. Under the applicable formula, she was entitled to a thirty per cent (30%) reduction in her monthly payments. Instead of approving her application, SLS informed the plaintiff that her mortgage was in default and referred for foreclosure. The plaintiff sent a demand for relief under MGL 93A. SLS continued to deny her application for HAMP for cording to the court, “for dubious reasons.” SLS delayed her HAMP application and request for almost twenty months and during this time SLS added fees and interest to her normal monthly mortgage payment.

This is an important case because the Federal District Court is acknowledging that the cumulative effect of delay and inappropriate practices by a bank or servicing agency during a loan modification application process can be the basis of a 93A claim, which permits multiple damages and attorneys’ fees.

DTA vs. CPA

LYONS v. US BANK

Washington State Supreme Court We affirm the court's grant of summary judgment in favor of NWTS for the DT A and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims. We reverse the grant of summary judgment on the CPA claim and remand to the trial court.

10/30/14

Prosecutors Reopening Cases Against Bank Recidivists

naked capitalism At this stage, it is incremental change, but it shows a rift among elite regulators and high-powered insiders, that the officialdom is finally putting its foot down and saying certain types of conduct no longer wash. This may seem a modest place to draw the line, but it’s still a meaningful shift in attitudes. It says that within the club, certain types of corruption are no longer tolerated. That’s a long-overdue step in the right direction.
10/30/14

Ocwen Sets Aside $100M for Possible Foreclosure Settlement, Posts 3Q Loss

The mounting regulatory problems are likely to prevent Ocwen from completing its purchase of $39 billion in mortgage-servicing rights from Wells Fargo.

Mortgage Servicing News Ocwen's executive chairman, said the $100 million charge was the company's "best estimate of the exposure" for backdating thousands of foreclosure letters to borrowers. Erbey deflected most questions about the potential settlement, essentially leaving open the possibility that litigation expenses or the cost of an actual settlement could be higher.
10/30/14

Expect (ILLEGAL) Foreclosures and REO to Increase as QE Ends

National Mortgage News Even today common sense rules the day, at least for just over 50% of Americans. And something else one needs to ponder; just who or what entities benefited from this Fed policy? It certainly wasn’t the middle class or working class. But it most certainly exacerbated "inequality" in this country.

10/30/14

Identity Theft By the Banks: A New Cause of Action?

So the identity theft allegation is one of the core causes of action that ought to be looked at carefully. If successful it busts open the paper cocoon that the banks are hiding within. The paper is not worth the ink on it because it is all based upon stolen money, stolen identity, and forged, fabricated documents being hidden by a pattern of conduct in creating loans that had to fail and wrongful foreclosures, without notice to the investors, that multiple possible settlements and modifications might have mitigated the loss or eliminated it entirely.

Living Lies Taken as a whole, it is highly likely that the percentage of wrongful foreclosures over the past 7 years is around 94%. Out of more than 6 million foreclosures (and another 5-6 million to come) only 360,000 (estimated) would be valid.
This theft of household wealth has resulted in an economy that is and will continue to be struggling for equilibrium until the housing and mortgage issue is addressed in accordance with the true facts and existing applicable law. But judges first must dispel any bias about deadbeat borrowers trying to get out of a legitimate loan or debt. There is no legitimate loan and as to the people who are seeking to enforce the debt, there is no debt. The owners of the debt don’t know they own it because they are still laboring under the misapprehension that the money and the loans were funneled through the REMIC Trust. it wasn’t.

Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Nationwide Foreclosure Rescue Scam

Brother gets 35 years.

DOJ Mike Head played an important leadership role in a fraud scheme that promised to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and repair their credit. He recruited and managed other members of the scheme. Through misrepresentations, fraud and forgery, the Head brothers and their associates substituted straw buyers for the victim homeowners on the titles of properties without the homeowners’ knowledge.

10/29/14

Ocwen relents, enables retired nurse to keep her house

Eartha Smith finally got an e-mail from Ocwen Financial granting her a mortgage modification following several false starts and 16 trips to court

NY Post Smith sought a modification after missing four payments on her $131,000 home loan in 2009. In September of 2014, Ocwen’s lawyers said the company would accept $180,000. Then, in October, Ocwen did an about-face and demanded $205,000.
On Sunday, one day after The Post reported on Smith’s problems, lawyers for Ocwen reached out to Gleason with an offer to accept the lower amount.
“We have authority to accept the 185K payoff,” Seth Weinberg, a lawyer for Ocwen, said in an e-mail. “

10/29/14

Abbott Cover-up Uncovered

Greg Abbott issued formal ruling that helped the Enterprise Fund conceal improper payments of nearly one-quarter billion dollars.

Lone Star Project News reports now detail that Greg Abbott was engaged in a cover-up to prevent the discovery that nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money kept within the Texas Enterprise Fund was funneled to businesses without proper review and, in most cases, without even a formal application being submitted. Abbott himself has taken more than $1.4 million in campaign contributions from those who have received improper payments from the Texas Enterprise Fund.

10/29/14

MIHALYI v. LaSALLE BANK

FLORIDA COA
FOURTH DISTRICT
"Adrianna Mihalyi appeals the trial court’s order denying her motion for 
attorney’s fees, which she filed after LaSalle Bank voluntarily dismissed  its foreclosure action. She argues that she is entitled to recover prevailing party attorney’s fees pursuant to section 57.105(7), Florida Statutes (2007), and the attorney’s fees provision in her mortgage. We agree."

10/29/14

 

Wells Fargo's Summary Judgment Reversed

Wells Fargo v. Niamke

OHIO COURT OF APPEALS 
NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT 
It is not clear from the evidence Wells Fargo submitted whether the bank provided the required notice of default before or after the Niamkes’ defaulted. The affidavit that Wells Fargo submitted plainly states that the Niamkes defaulted on the note by failing to make the payments due for May 2011. There is no evidence in the record that the bank provided the Niamkes with a notice of default after they failed to make the May 2011 payment. Accordingly, we conclude that there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Wells Fargo complied with the mortgage’s conditions precedent. The Niamkes’ assignment of error is sustained. 

10/29/14

Federal Judge Sustains 8 Count Complaint Against US Bank, OneWest, Ocwen

The courts are turning the corner. They don’t like what they see on the “lender” side.

Buffington v. US Bank

more below...

Living Lies Courts are coming to grips with the notion that the entire mortgage premise is a scam and so are the foreclosures, to wit: by not alleging they are holders in due course, the foreclosing entities are admitting either unclean hands (which bars success in a court of equity enforcing the mortgage) or they are admitting their was no purchase of the loan for value.
Some Borrowers seek to become proactive and filed suit to clear up the questions of title,. and the identity of their creditor (something that should have been disclosed in what was table funded loan that is predatory per se — REG Z). Many of these law suits were dismissed under the theory that there was no pending controversy — but that finding was based on the court bias that the loan documents were real, not faked.
11/13/14

Az Federal Judge Strikes at Heart of Nonjudicial Foreclosure, Denies OneWest Motion to Dismiss

This is a dramatic reversal — lawsuits just like this one were previously dismissed in Az Federal Court

Living Lies A Federal Judge upheld a Complaint against OneWest on all counts except fraud. Actually the Judge was doing the homeowner a favor because the burden of proof on fraud is clear and convincing evidence whereas the burden of proof for the rest of the causes of action is only a preponderance (50% + 1) of the evidence. If it is more likely than not that the homeowner is right on the multi-count complaint that has now survived dismissal, the homeowner wins and the damages goes to the jury to jury to decide how much that should be. 

10/29/14

Judge Throws Out $16M Verdict Against PHH for Servicing Errors

Foondos said he plans to appeal Berrier's ruling. 

National Mortgage News In a surprise victory for mortgage servicer PHH Corp., a California judge overturned a $16.2 million jury verdict awarded to a California homeowner in July for a botched loan modification.

The judge did acknowledge that PHH had acted as a "bad party" to the loan modification contract. PHH made "inconsistent demands for payment arguably repudiating the modification contract, threatened [Linza] with foreclosure, refused to return his many calls or to apologize for or correct its errors, refused to enter into a new agreement and even ridiculed his plight."

Regardless, Judge Berrier said there was no evidence to support claims of negligence or fraud.

 

Prosecutors Suspect Repeat Offenses on Wall Street

DealBook It would be the Wall Street equivalent of a parole violation: Just two years after avoiding prosecution for a variety of crimes, some of the world’s biggest banks are suspected of having broken their promises to behave.
White Paper

11/2/9/14

How New York City Will Save Mortgage Loans by Condemning Them

Yale Law Journal Many cities across the nation have begun to consider exercising their eminent domain authority to purchase, then write-down principal on, otherwise unmodifiable home mortgage loans facing foreclosure.2 I and several others have advocated this method and cognate uses of government authority to stabilize troubled housing markets for some years now,3 but the eminent domain approach to the problem nevertheless remains unfamiliar to many people. This is likely to change in the coming months.

10/29/14

$1.5 Million Sent in Error to Money Manager (Both Are Missing)

Credit Suisse is trying to find Joseph Galbraith, manager of Galbraith Capital Investment Management, to which the bank says it sent the money in January

DealBook Mr. Galbraith has yet to file a legal response in the case or be personally served with court papers.

So now Credit Suisse is left to play a different game: Where in the world is Joseph B. Galbraith?

Reached by a reporter recently via email, Mr. Galbraith said he had not been aware of the Credit Suisse lawsuit. In an email, he said the accusations against him were “ridiculous, bordering on laughable” and part of an effort to malign and slander his character.

10/28/14

Consumer Bureau Finds Homeowners Harmed by Loan Firms

Mortgage Servicing News Supervisors found "substantial delays" in modifying loans that resulted in "negative consequences," such as higher mortgage payments and unjustified blemishes on borrowers' credit reports, the report said.

"All borrowers should be treated fairly by loan servicers, and through our supervision program, we intend to hold them accountable," Richard Cordray, the CFPB director, said in a statement.

10/28/14

AZ Court Denies Motion to Dismiss on 8 of 9 Counts!

Buffington v. US Bank

The Order is a damning indictment of the mortgage industry!

What is telling is the Court agreed that the Plaintiff’s note probably received shared loss payments and that the Plaintiffs may in fact OWE NO MONEY!

Ken McLeod

____

Arizona Federal Court

Buffington/Behrens (plaintiffs) sued Ocwen/US Bank and others (defendants) on nine counts: Negligence per se, violation of the recordings statutes, trespass upon their property, Fair Debt Collection act, filing FORGED documents with the County and other major claims. 

Citing Steinberger, the Judge denied only ONE of the nine claims, leaving massive liability and the likelihood of treble damages against the pretender lenders on the EIGHT remaining counts. 

10/28/14

Wall Street Journal: Wealth Inequality Is Your Own Dumb Fault

Pam Martens

Wall Street on Parade

The absurdity that buying high and selling low fueled wealth inequality in the United States is firmly established in the data from decades of the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) indicating that the vast majority of American households don’t even own stocks. According to the 2007 SCF, the year before the 2008 financial crash, only 17.9 percent of American households owned stocks.

10/27/14

Don’t Buy A Home: You’ll Get Burned

Automatic Earth Builders and contractors and lenders and servicers and owners and borrowers will all be hit hard, but what’s the use of keeping up a virtual good face it that means killing off the future of the entire industry? Besides, don’t young people everywhere deserve a shot at a future, building a family etc., without having to bend over backwards just to be allowed to live somewhere?

10/27/14

BofA Mortgage Settlement Stalls Over SEC Political Fight

SEC commissioners split on granting waivers for relief

“Firms need to understand there are consequences to criminal behavior and bad actions.” 

Bloomberg Banks have historically sought relief from the extra punishments by arguing that the sanctions are severe, too broad, and target units that had nothing to do with the fraud.

The uprising over waivers has been led by SEC Commissioner Kara Stein and her fellow Democrat Luis Aguilar, who argue that additional sanctions are sometimes justified, especially for banks that get in trouble again and again.

10/27/14

Courts, Campaigns, and Corruption:
Judicial Recusal Five Years After Caperton

Friday, November 14, 2014
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Registration at 8:30 a.m.

Greenberg Lounge, Vanderbilt Hall
NYU School of Law
40 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Brennan Center For Justice State supreme court justices, law professors, and leading law experts explore the issue of judicial partiality and the state of recusal reform five years after Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., the 2009 case in which the Supreme Court held that a litigant’s due process rights can be violated when an elected judge refuses recusal in a case in which that judge received significant campaign support from a litigant

10/27/14

Ocwen posts open letter and apology to borrowers

Pledges independent investigation and rectification

Click here to read the full text of the letter. 

Housing Wire After nearly 20 years of mentally and financially destroying innocent lives, and now Ocwen is under investigation, its CEO Faris writes a letter  to borrowers and ends by saying that Ocwen is committed to keeping borrowers in their homes. (In the past, Ocwen's business model focused strictly on taking borrower's money and property, and I doubt it will change. MSF)

Foreclosure Reversal Issued in Case With 'Robo-Witness'

In three cases over two days, the First District Court of Appeal threw out evidence submitted in foreclosure actions and ruled the lenders' witnesses were unqualified.

DBR In what appears to be a trend, the court said the trial courts in two of the three cases should dismiss the lawsuits altogether in favor of the homeowners.
The Oct. 13 and 14 decisions are believed to be the first to strike down so-called robo-witnesses in a homeowner's case with a lender as plaintiff
.

BURDESHAW v. BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON

10/22/14

Pierce County lender Kandi gets 5 years for mortgage fraud

James Schoenberger, who also represented Kandi, argued that much bigger fish than Kandi, including executives at big lenders such as Countrywide and Bank of America, escaped criminal prosecution for similar actions.

The News Tribune He acknowledged that some people got off easy during the real estate meltdown that plunged the U.S. economy into recession and many people into foreclosure.

It is regrettable that we accommodated the financial institutions because of their importance,” the judge said. “It sickens me. But that is not before us here.”

10/25/14

Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required

“How can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?”

NY Times The Internal Revenue Service agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on her taxes — in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead, the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than $10,000 at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a required government report.
10/25/14

The American Dream Is Leaving America

NY Times A new Pew survey finds that Americans consider the greatest threat to our country to be the growing gap between the rich and poor. Yet we have constructed an education system, dependent on local property taxes, that provides great schools for the rich kids in the suburbs who need the least help, and broken, dangerous schools for inner-city children who desperately need a helping hand. Too often, America’s education system amplifies not opportunity but inequality.

10/25/14

Deutsche Bank Lawyer Found Dead In Apparent Suicide

Business Insider He had been closely involved in negotiating legal issues for Deutsche Bank such as a probe by regulators of banks over allegations they manipulated the Libor benchmark interest rate as well as currency markets, the newspaper said.

He was also an associate at a private law firm and a regulatory enforcement lawyer between 1997 and 1999, the Wall Street Journal said, citing Gambino’s LinkedIn profile and conference biographies.

10/24/14

Banker Suicides Return: DSK's Hedge Fund Partner Jumps From 23rd Floor Apartment

Zero Hedge A French-Israeli banker and partner of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced former chief of the IMF, was found dead Thursday after apparently taking his own life by jumping off the 23rd floor of one of the Yoo towers, a prestigious residential complex in Tel Aviv. This is the 16th financial services executive death this year.

10/24/14

What Difference does it make where the money came from?

The simple answer is that these cases are all about money and not much else. The rest is window dressing or methods of collection on DEBTS that are not owed to the collectors or enforcers. It matters because it controls the issues of default, ownership and balance of the loan — as well as the terms for enforcement.

The important thing is that the actual lender and the actual borrower have no written contract between them. Thus the note and mortgage are worthless and fatally defective. Foreclosure therefore becomes impossible.

Living Lies The Trusts are said to be holders and never alleged to be holders in due course. If they are holders, they must prove the right to enforce and that they don't merely possess the paper like a courier would. There is no logical business or legal reason not to allege holder in due course status when you qualify --- it eliminates virtually all borrower defenses.

If they are alleging holder status, then for whom are they holding the paper? The issue of the paper being worthless comes from fact and logic. If they are not alleging HDC status they are admitting that something is missing
 

10/23/14

 

Here is How Ocwen May Have Caused Your Foreclosure

Just one year ago, Ocwen had tapped the real estate market with short sale options for homeowners who were (ironically) sent into foreclosure because of Ocwen’s practices.

By offering “money incentives” to homeowners to sell their home, realtors like Guillermo Fernandez praised the financial backend profits that resulted from consultations with distressed homeowners.

Susanne Posel Shockingly, “Ocwen did nothing to investigate or address the backdating issue when an employee question the accuracy of Ocwen’s letter dating process and alerted the company’s vice president of Compliance.”

Just 2 months ago, Lawsky wrote to Hayes regarding “forced-placed insurance which was actually a “complex arrangement designed to funnel as much as $65 million in fees annually from already distressed homeowners to” Altisource Protfolio Solutions (APS) “for minimal work”.

10/23/14

Banks Again Avoid Having Any Skin in the Game

NY Times “The loophole has eaten the rule, and there is no residential mortgage risk retention,” said Barney Frank, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and the Frank in Dodd-Frank.

What happened? The sense of outrage over the actions that led to the credit crisis faded, and the economic recovery that followed the Great Recession was slow. The argument was made that we need more mortgage loans, and that regulators should avoid rules that would make it harder for people to get mortgages.

10/23/14

This is why Fannie and Freddie mortgage initiatives won't work

MBA declarations are feel-good, but temporary

Housing Wire Apparently Fannie Mae will soon buy 97% loan-to-value mortgages.

Sure, this is a boon to mortgage lenders and will most certainly enable more American’s to purchase a home.

But no matter how much the “quality” of underwriting has increased, over time a loosening of underwriting guidelines will open the door for more low quality loans being sold to low-income individuals and families – particularly by nonbanks.

10/23/14

Illinois Lawyer And Internet Radio Talk Show Host Convicted In $9.7 Million Mortgage Fraud Schemes

Radio host and self-styled “People’s Lawyer” convicted of mortgage fraud

eNews Park Forest

____

Chicago Sun-Times

The defendant, WARREN BALLENTINE , schemed with others to obtain more than two dozen fraudulent mortgage loans and represented buyers at multiple closings, knowing that they were fraudulently qualified for loans to purchase homes in Chicago and various southern suburbs. 

10/23/14

 

HSBC loses two appeals in same day - same court

HSBC's Judgment REVERSED

Harper v. HSBC

Florida Court of Appeals First District The only proof offered by the Bank relative to whether it had complied with its notice and cure obligations prior to foreclosing and accelerating the debt was a letter attached to the Bank’s initial Complaint notifying Ms. Harper that all sums due had already been accelerated. The letter—dated just eight days before that Complaint was filed—did not indicate that Ms. Harper had been provided notice, nor the cure period called for by the parties’ earlier agreement. And thus, the letter does not show that the Bank complied with the terms of its agreement with Ms. Harper, nor refute her affirmative defense and 
other denials of the Bank’s factual allegations.

HSBC's appeal affirmed

HSBC v. SERBAN

Florida Court of Appeals First District The trial court’s determination that the 
amendment had no relation to HSBC Bank’s failure to supply a witness for trial was reasonable. Under the circumstances of this case, the trial court’s proceeding to trial on the scheduled date, even though fewer than twenty days had passed “after service of the last pleading,” did not deprive HSBC Bank of due process and does not warrant reversal.

10/20/14

“The problem with designing something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of a complete fool.” Dwight Haskins, 
Retired, former Senior Financial Analyst, FDIC Bank Regulator
I could never get my FDIC supervisors to listen to my suggestion that we begin tracking in 2007 the credit default swap index to detect any sign of problems in the subprime mortgage market. They never thought it would be a worthwhile exercise. The rest is history.

Combine this situation in the financial crisis where the margin spiral was declining with the fact that banks were shedding assets, often at fire-sale prices, and that they were hoarding liquidity out of fear of a run, you had all the makings of a catastrophe in the making. 

2/3/11

Dealing with the Pro Se Litigant

Foreclosure Mill

Locke-Lord

Predatory borrowers: unrealistic and unreasonable borrowers who are trying to capitalize on the current industry turmoil and are willing to employ any tactic to obtain a free home. FALSE!

Borrowers are trying to prevent banks from obtaining a free house and all of the borrowers equity from loans the banks paid nothing for and who resorted to fabricating documents and false statements to dupe judges and STEAL homes.

10/23/14

Family: Bank is 'heartless' for foreclosing on dead woman's home

“We offered to pay, they don't want it, it is too late,” White said about the home.

WSBTV The family of a murdered woman is calling a local bank "heartless” after the bank filed foreclosure on the dead woman’s home.

White said the family believed Bridgette Holt’s Hampton home was paid off upon her death.

“I’ve had so many things ripped away from me,” said Stacey White.

10/16/14

NOTE & MORTGAGE ARE VOID. Homeowner gets all payments back! 

BANK OF AMERICA, BACHLS v. NASH

Eighteenth Judicial District Florida The Note and Mortgage are void because the alleged Lender, America's Wholesale Lender, stated to be a New York Corporation, was not in fact
incorporated in the year 2005 or subsequently, at any time, by either
Countrywide Home Loans, or Bank of America, or any of their related
corporate entities or agents.
America's Wholesale Lender, stated to be a corporation under the laws of
New York, the alleged Lender in this case, was not licensed as a mortgage
lender in Florida in the year 2005, or thereafter, and the alleged mortgage loan
is therefore, invalid and void.

Constitutional Limitations on the Judicial Power: 
Standing, Advisory Opinions, Mootness, and Ripeness

University of Kansas City Missouri The Issues: What limitations stem from Article III's language that the federal judicial power extends to "cases or controversies"?

10/22/14

New York Fed’s Conference Evokes Thoughts of Violence Against Wall Street

Venture capitalist, Nick Hanauer, worried aloud to his fellow plutocrats in Politico Magazine about when public anger might spill over into pitchforks. Hanauer writes:

“What everyone wants to believe is that when things reach a tipping point and go from being merely crappy for the masses to dangerous and socially destabilizing, that we’re somehow going to know about that shift ahead of time.

Pam Martens

Wall Street on Parade

Any student of history knows that’s not the way it happens. Revolutions, like bankruptcies, come gradually, and then suddenly. One day, somebody sets himself on fire, then thousands of people are in the streets, and before you know it, the country is burning. And then there’s no time for us to get to the airport and jump on our Gulfstream Vs and fly to New Zealand. That’s the way it always happens. If inequality keeps rising as it has been, eventually it will happen. We will not be able to predict when, and it will be terrible—for everybody. But especially for us.”

10/22/14

Ohio Supreme Court Accepts Appeal in Radatz Class Action

Fannie's Memorandum in support of jurisdiction 

Radatz Memorandum Opposing Jurisdiction

Amicus in support of Radatz

Docket and additional documents

Radatz filed her class action complaint on August 7, 2003, alleging that Fannie Mae failed to timely record her mortgage satisfaction, and seeking statutory damages of $250 under R.C. 5301.36(C). Contrary to Fannie Mae's statement, Radatz did not previously receive $250 payment on this claim in another lawsuit.

Ohio Supreme Court Fannie Mae Memo, p. 13. (Indeed, the trial court rejected that identical argument made by Fannie Mae in an effort to forestall mailing notice to the class members). On November 1, 2006, the trial court granted class certification. In a September 14, 2010 journal entry, the trial court ordered the parties to search public records to identify the class members. (The extensive time gaps between 2003 and 2010 are due to Fannie Mae unsuccessfully twice removing this case to federal court.) In late February 2013, Radatz' counsel completed the task of identifying the class members (a process in which Fannie Mae refused to participate) and notified Fannie Mae that over 100,000 late class members had been identified. Fannie Mae responded by racing to secretly contact its conservator and, without notice, hearing, or findings, obtaining a "consent order" from FHFA on March 6, 2013. A week later, citing the consent order, Fannie Mae filed a motion to dismiss. The trial court granted Fannie Mae's motion on July 8, 2013.

10/22/14

Mortgage Company Ocwen Financial Is Crashing After New York Regulator Says It Uncovered 'Serious Issues' At Company

 

Lawsky's letter to Ocwen

Business Insider “The existence and pervasiveness of these issues raises critical questions about Ocwen’s ability to perform its core function of servicing loans,” Lawsky writes. “Even worse, Ocwen did nothing to investigate or address the backdating issue when an employee questioned the accuracy of Ocwen’s letter dating processes and alerted the company’s Vice President of Compliance… Ocwen’s indifference to such a serious matter demonstrates a troubling corporate culture that disregards the needs to struggling borrowers.”

10/22/14

Lawsky's New Ocwen Fight Threatens Wells Fargo Servicing Sale

Mortgage Servicing News Mounting regulatory and political problems may prevent Ocwen Financial from completing its purchase of $39 billion in mortgage-servicing rights from Wells Fargo.

The deal has been in jeopardy for months since New York's top banking regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, froze it indefinitely and he may have just delivered the death blow, analysts and servicing experts said.
10/22/14

Years After the Market Collapse, Sidelined Borrowers Return

NY Times Four years since foreclosures and short sales peaked in the Great Recession, millions of former borrowers have spent the required amount of time on the sidelines, which means they have cleared at least one of the major hurdles required to qualify for another government-backed mortgage. Whether the rest of their financial lives have sufficiently recovered — or whether they even want the burden of a new mortgage — are still open questions. But there is early evidence that some former borrowers are slowly returning.

10/23/14

Out of State Lawyers Cannot Help You!

I recently had occasion to observe a terribly sad sight in foreclosure court, one that has me urging everyone not to make the same mistake this homeowner did.

Stopa Law The homeowner explained to the court how he had retained an attorney from another state and paid that attorney $3,500 to get him a loan modification. However, that lawyer never appeared as counsel in the pending foreclosure lawsuit, never filed any papers on the homeowner’s behalf, and did not attend the hearing. By the time that hearing arrived, of course, the loan modification was nowhere to be found.

Obviously incredulous why a lawyer would collect $3,500 and not do anything, the judge asked this homeowner for more specific information. The homeowner explained that this law firm had been “recommended” on the Florida’s Hardest Hit website.

Everyone in the room, including the judge and yours truly, felt awful. This man tried to be diligent in protecting his interests. But he got screwed.
10/21/14

FHFA's Watt Bends to Lenders But Devil Is in the Details

Mortgage Servicing News Many mortgage lenders remain gun-shy about loosening credit after being forced by Fannie and Freddie to repurchase billions of dollars in soured loans since 2008. Regulatory enforcement actions, as well as hefty fines from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Justice Department, continue to weigh heavily on lenders.

10/21/14

Ocwen Backdated Thousands of Foreclosure Notices, Lawsky Says

The systems failures that Ocwen outlined previously as "isolated" are much greater in scope than what the company had previously disclosed.

That enforcement action underscored the regulatory headaches facing nonbanker servicers Ocwen and Nationstar

Mortgage Servicing News In September Ocwen told monitors the backdating issue was an isolated incident, but the issue is far larger, Lawsky's letter said. There may have been 6,100 problem letters sent to borrowers before Ocwen addressed the issue in May 2014, after an employee alerted a monitor of the problem five months prior. The company told monitors it responded and corrected the issue in May.

"Each of these representations turned out to be false," the letter said.

The problem may prove to be even more widespread, perhaps affecting hundreds of thousands of borrowers, according to the letter.

10/21/14

HuffPost Reveals Secret Internal Documents Showing Fraudulent Intent by Bank CEO’s

Top Regulator Says Bank CEOs Meant Well -- This Evidence Says Otherwise

Documents obtained from an industry-wide venture reveal that the nation's leading mortgage lenders colluded to create a false-front company, driven by a back-end database, specifically for the purpose of bypassing local jurisdictions' taxes and filing requirements. These banks were later to hire low-paid temp workers specifically to process foreclosures (JPMorgan Chase called them the "Burger King kids").

Living Lies

_____

Huff Post

IT WASN’T “RECKLESS” IT WAS FRAUDULENT AND AIG WAS PART OF THE FRAUD

The banking industry's epidemic of mortgage-related fraud might not have been possible without the existence of the legal entity known as "MERS." MERS made it possible to bypass local processes for recording changes in title and loan ownership by pretending that these mortgages were held by this artificial legal creation.

By creating the legal fiction that their loans had been owned by "MERS Inc." all along, banks were able buy and sell them without notifying local jurisdictions -- or, for that matter, the borrowers themselves. Eventually even that wasn't efficient enough, so MERS' backers created something called "MOM" -- MERS as Original Mortgagee -- ensuring that the bank which originated the loan would never be a matter of public record.

More Plaintiffs Attorneys Looking to Handle Whistleblower Cases

According to several attorneys, the federal government has expanded the protections and incentives for whistleblowers over the past few years, which helped spark the interest from plaintiffs attorneys.

The Legal Intelligencer According to Messa, oftentimes qui tam cases involve highly complex schemes, and understanding them can take time and a sophisticated understanding of the industry. Breaking the schemes down to an easily understandable level for juries also takes a lot of skill as an attorney, Messa said.

Qui tam cases also often involve participation from federal attorneys, and several lawyers said after initially working up a case, the next move is to get the government involved, as it can help shoulder some of the investigative burden and can take the cases to trial.

10/21/14

KUCHTA UPDATE

Motion for Reconsideration

Memorandum Amicus in Support of Motion to Reconsider

Grace Doberdruk

----

Andy Engle

Justice O'Neill, in his dissenting opinion, recognized the apparent dichotomy between this Court's prior decisions and correctly recognized the confusion that could well be caused by disparate interpretations of decisions in ProgressOhio.org, Schwartzwald, and the slightly older decision in Cheap Escape v. Fladdox (2008) 120 Ohio St. 3d 493. While the Kuchtas may not have met the burden of proof on Civ. R. 60(B)(3), they did meet the burden of demonstrating that Bank of America failed to invoke the jurisdiction of the court and the trial court should have dismissed the matter pursuant to Civ. R. 12(H)(3), as it is clear from the record that the jurisdiction of the trial court was never invoked.

Stunning federal corruption case moving forward with almost no media attention

If these allegations can be proven, federal prosecutors involved should receive lengthy prison sentences. And if Eric Holder can be shown to be involved, he should join John Mitchell in the ranks of former AGs with a prison record. This is intolerable.

American Thinker Eric Holder’s Justice Department is implicated in a dramatic and shocking case of alleged corruption that is so bad that the Chief Judge of the Eastern District of California has taken what can rightly be called the “nuclear option” and recused all the judges in the district from the case because they may have been defrauded by the DoJ prosecutors.

Cummings, Warren Request GAO Study on Nonbank Servicer Stability

Mortgage Servicing News They are asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate the financial stability of nonbank mortgage servicers and potential harms to borrowers.

Judge Dismisses UD - RECONTRUST was not licensed or registered trustee

Utah District Court RECONTRUST may not be registered in your state. 

Check to see if your TRUSTEE was licensed and registered to do business as a TRUSTEE, and cite this case (as persuasive authority) to seek UD dismissal.

FHFA to Change Buyback Rules for Fannie, Freddie

Mortgage Servicing News The Federal Housing Finance Agency is close to issuing refinements to the government-sponsored enterprises' representation and warranty framework that will limit lender liability on buybacks of legacy loans.

10/17/14

AIG Bailout Trial Bombshell III: Paulson Lied to Congress About TARP

I’ve gone through only the first day of testimony from the AIG bailout trial, and we are already up to our third bombshell.

As we said from the very time the scheme was first mooted, on September 19, it couldn’t possibly work as advertised:

naked capitalism Why do we need the government to create a massive and costly effort to buy paper at market prices? Institutions can sell paper at market prices now. This is clearly ether a massive game of smoke and mirrors (f we are lucky) or a plan to buy bad assets at above market prices but somehow pretend that they are indeed correct.

The latter takes us straight down the Japan path. The government is left holding lousy paper it will have to dispose of at a loss, the banking system gets subsidized not based on triage, on who might it make most sense to rescue, but who gets enough of the crappy assets sold at a high enough price. It’s a terrible, inefficient way to recapitalize the banking system. Why should taxpayers underwrite banks without getting some upside and a measure of control?

10/17/14

Smart program saves homeowners from foreclosure

This story isn’t just about Shepard. It’s about the many people who are still facing foreclosure, many through no fault of their own.

Washington Post Lisa Shepard followed the rules.

She got a good education. She became a registered nurse and then got a law degree. Her schooling led to a good job in health-care management. She bought a home she could afford in Jessup. She lived within her means. Then the recession hit.

To qualify for the program, the home has to be in foreclosure or about to be in foreclosure or the homeowners have to be awaiting eviction because of a foreclosure. You have to have a steady income that can support a mortgage. There is no fee to apply.

 

Bank’s Records Are Hearsay

Burdeshaw v. Bank of NY Mellon

Error to enter judgment of foreclosure where the only evidence offered to support the amount of indebtedness was inadmissible hearsay — Computer printout purportedly showing fees, expenses, and balance due on note and mortgage was not admissible under business records exception to hearsay rule where printout was not authenticated by a records custodian or person with knowledge of elements required for the business records exception —

Weidner Law Admission of witness’s testimony about the loan balance and the admission of computer printouts witness was called to authenticate constituted reversible error where witness’s only knowledge about the amount due came from her review of the printouts, and she had no information about how and when those records had been prepared or where the data came from — Issue of sufficiency of evidence to support judgment was properly preserved for appellate review — Further, challenge to sufficiency of evidence to support judgment is cognizable on appeal regardless of specificity of objections where trial was a bench trial — Trial court also erred in denying motion to dismiss for lack of prosecution — Remand for entry of order of dismissal.

10/17/14

Another Reversal of Foreclosure to add to the growing pile...


DELIA v. GMAC

It appears more courts are catching on to the bank lies

Florida COA Fifth District In this case, the bank failed to present any evidence on the issue of adequate protection. Accordingly, we are constrained to reverse the foreclosure judgment and to remand this matter for establishment of the lost note and mortgage. See Guerrero v. Chase Home Fin., LLC, 83 So. 3d 970, 974 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012) (remanding for establishment of the lost note and mortgage when the bank failed to sustain its burden presenting evidence proving that the homeowners would be adequately protected against loss).

12/28/11

 

Clouded Title: The Gross Illegality of MERS

“What’s happened is that, almost overnight, we’ve switched from democracy in real-property recording to oligarchy in real-property recording. There was no court case behind this, no statute from Congress or the state legislatures. It was accomplished in a private corporate decision. The banks just did it.” 

 

Link to Harper's article.

What makes the article so remarkable is it has one of the most powerful anti-MERS arguments I have ever read in the mainstream media. In addition to the quote above, there is this:

The BIG Picture At the heart of the clouded-title problem is a Virginia-based company, recently much in the national news, called Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems. MERS was created in 1995 as a privately held venture of the major mortgage-finance operators, chief among them the government-sponsored mortgaging entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Its stated purpose was to manage a confidential electronic registry for the tracking of the sale of mortgage loans between lenders, which could now place loans under MERS’s name to avoid filing the paperwork normally required whenever mortgage assignments changed hands. No longer would the traffickers in mortgages have to document their transactions with county clerks, nor would they have to pay the many and varied courthouse fees for such transactions. Instead, MERS was listed in local recording offices as the “mortgagee of record,” the in-name-only owner, a so-called nominee for the lender, so that MERS would effectively “own” the loan where the public record was concerned, while the lenders traded it back and forth.

Post-Foreclosure Hell: Banks Still Chasing Ex-Homeowners Years Later 

Realty Biz Thousands MILLIONS of Americans who lost their homes to foreclosure years ago may have finally moved on, rebuilt their finances, and even considered home ownership again. But first, they may have to face a rising number of debt collectors who are chasing them down for money they still  (DO NOT) owe from the foreclosure they thought they had left in the past.

10/15/14

Breakdown of the Robo Signing “Scandal” Settlement —- Another Elephant in the Living Room

Living Lies If the Banks are paying fines for actions leading up the foreclosure then why is the foreclosure being treated as presumptively valid?

FORECLOSURES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED PRESUMPTIVELY INVALID, GIVEN THE INFORMATION IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN THAT INCLUDES ADMINISTRATIVE FINDINGS OF WRONGDOING.

 

10/15/14

New Claim Against MERS 'May Have Teeth'

MortgageOrb MERS was unable to prevail at the motion to dismiss or summary judgment phases, indicating that this claim may have teeth - and setting a precedent for other states to look for causes of action that are not dependent on the moving parties' interests in the land. 

The implications of this case could be widespread, with the Montgomery County clerk being the first of possibly many to bring a hopeful case against the mortgage giant. 

Foreclosure judgment reversed

Lacombe v. Deutsche Bank

Florida COA First District The evidence presented at the bench trial was insufficient to support the trial court’s judgment because Deutsche Bank’s documents and witness did not prove the bank’s standing to bring the foreclosure action. We agree and the judgment is thus reversed. (HOW DO THESE GET PAST THE TRIAL COURTS?)
White paper

LITIGATING ARTICLE III STANDING: 
A PROPOSED SOLUTION TO THE SERIOUS (BUT UNRECOGNIZED) SEPARATION OF POWERS PROBLEM

MARTIN REDISH
SOPAN JOSHI†
As a result, the parties and courts endured years of litigation only to discover that there was no valid case or controversy in the first place.

Misery as Americans hit by the mortgage crisis face fresh nightmare

Biz News Today, more and more banks are using illlegal methods to pursue these former mortgage-holders for the money the banks were unable to recoup with the sale of the illegally foreclosed property. Many former mortgage-holders are having their wages and assets seized by lenders, and it’s causing a great deal of pain and economic turmoil. 

10/14/14

Americans Face Post-Foreclosure Hell As Wages Garnished And Assets Seized

Business Insider Many thousands MILLIONS of Americans who lost their homes in the housing bust, but have since begun to rebuild their finances, are suddenly facing a new foreclosure nightmare: debt collectors are chasing them down for the money they still owe by freezing their bank accounts, garnishing their wages and seizing their assets.

10/14/14

Banks Have Been Pursuing Policy of Driving Homeowners Into Foreclosure

It comes as a surprise to nobody that Banks have been steering borrowers into default, foreclosures and judgments, and now they are arrogant enough to seek deficiency judgments where there was NO LOSS on the part of the party claiming to be the creditor. The FCPB, engineered by Elizabeth Warren is doing more than other agency to address this practice. Investigators at that agency know and understand that it all begins with lies.

Living Lies The mortgage encumbrance is probably void and subject to nullification because no owner of the debt is secured by it.
Hence any attempt at “foreclosure” on the “mortgage” is a false claim.
And no attempt to collect on the note can be successful because no owner of the debt is named as the payee.
The ownership of the debt is being intentionally withheld so that it becomes obtuse, giving the opportunity for the pretender or stranger to claim that it is irrelevant how the debt is apportioned — a completely worthless legal argument that is nonetheless attractive to judges on the bench.

10/13/14

HAMP Hacker Sentenced for Fannie Mae Data Breach

National Mortgage Professional Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) has announced that Sathish Kumar Chandhun Rajendran of Sterling, Va., has been sentenced for engaging in unauthorized access to government servers that hosted a Fannie Mae Web site used to support federal mortgage loan modification programs, including the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

10/13/14

The shocking truths for homeowners struggling against foreclosure

Law firm: Wells Fargo case study allegedly reveals what they are up against.

The report also claims that Wells Fargo has perpetrated a seemingly endless cycle of misleading, deceptive and exploitative practices 

Report: Wells Fargo Wins, Homeowners, AG and Courts Lose 

Housing Wire “I’m not hopeful that future bank settlements will provide any relief to homeowners,” said Trina Scordo. “This Wells Fargo case study exposes the legal maneuvering by banks to keep their crimes hidden while continuing to strip communities of their wealth. This is why we’re issuing policy recommendations to the Governor’s Office, the NJ Attorney General and the NJ State Legislature."

Wells Fargo preyed on these communities then negotiated away the rights of homeowners to take legal action. Homeowners deserve their day in court." 

10/13/14

HECM protects non-borrowing spouses 

Fourteen words

It all came down to the meaning of fourteen words.

think reverse The merits hearing in the non-borrowing spouses’ case against HUD – the hearing HUD tried and failed to kill from the start by challenging the spouses’ standing – boiled down to the meaning of a fourteen-word sentence Congress dropped into a ninety-nine-word subsection of HECM law.

10/13/14

When the Art of the Deal Becomes a Crime

Two cases raise the question about what role the courts should play in policing negotiations and the limits that can be applied to the tactics one side can use in making a deal.

DealBook A lawsuit filed on behalf of shareholders in the American International Group contends the government abused its power in negotiating the terms of the $184 billion bailout at the height of the financial crisis as the company teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. The other case involves the appeal by Jesse C. Litvak of his convictions for misrepresenting the profit his brokerage firm would make in selling mortgage-backed securities when he negotiated with sophisticated investors.

10/12/14

Ohio Supremes Use Procedural Grounds To OK Improperly Commenced Foreclosure By Standing-Lacking Lender "Even If A Plaintiff’s Assertion Of Standing Was Patently False" Home Equity Theft Report The Supreme Court reversed, holding that a lack of standing cannot support a motion for relief from judgment, and lack of standing does not render a judgment void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. (Through lies and deceipt, you can now get a judgment against anyone, even though they didn't harm you. Anyone! Anyone. MSF)

11/11

Cracking the Mortgage Assignment Shell Game

Florida Bar The attorneys who pioneered these transactions were comforted that the structure would work by legal conclusions they drew from Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), the Official Comments to the UCC (Comments), and favorable case law. The law was clear enough that attorneys were able to give legal opinions concerning perfection, but as the amount of securitized mortgages reached into the trillions of dollars, the uniform law commissioners decided to revisit Article 9 and make it safe for securitizations by officially sanctioning these practices.

10/13/14

Glitches, and complaints plague Ocwen, other mortgage servicers 

They paid the property insurance on their home along with their mortgage, putting the money in escrow like most homeowners.

Trouble is, their mortgage servicer -- Ocwen Financial Corp. -- didn't pass that money on to the insurance company for this year's premiums.

Tribune News Service They battled unsuccessfully for months to reinstate the lapsed policy without additional costs, the couple said. Ocwen instead imposed so-called force-placed insurance -- expensive coverage that protects the lender's interest, but doesn't shield the homeowners from loss.

"There have been so many home-invasion robberies around here, and if that were to happen to us, we wouldn't be covered." 

"I feel like we were robbed -- by Ocwen."

This is what foreclosure courts FAIL to consider.

In re Murchison, 349 U. S. 133, 136 (1955)

SCOTUS We conclude that in determining whether a judgment should be vacated for a violation of § 455(a), it is appropriate to consider the risk of injustice to the parties in the particular case, the risk that the denial of relief will produce injustice in other cases, and the risk of undermining the public's confidence in the judicial process. We must continuously bear in mind that "to perform its high function in the best way `justice must satisfy the appearance of justice.' "

10/13/14

COLUMBUS DAY: LESSON IN HUMILITY

While comparisons cannot be exact, the above “history” illustrates history repeating itself with the tens of millions of Americans who essentially lost their lifestyle through loss of homes, jobs and savings caused by Banks who were allowed to corner the market on money.

Practically none of the claimants in any foreclosure action have any right, justification or excuse for making claims on the borrowers whose lives they are ruining.

Living Lies The presumptions used in court are causing most cases to arrive at the wrong conclusion and pushing the burden of proof or burden of persuasion over to the borrower who has the least knowledge about what happened.

The government and media got it all wrong just like we did with the various discoverers of the American continents. By assuming that the “primary dealers” (i.e., mega banks who had siphoned off most the liquidity in most world economies) were essential to the continued functioning of the financial system, they gave free money to the people who caused the problem and are already in the process of doing it again.

10/12/14

EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Warren on Barack Obama: “They protected Wall Street. Not families who were losing their homes. Not people who lost their jobs. And it happened over and over and over”

The system is rigged.” You said exactly what was on millions of people’s minds. I wonder, now that you’re in D.C. and you’re in the Senate, and you have a chance to see things close up, do you still feel that way? 

Salon That’s the question that lies at the heart of whether our democracy will survive. The system is rigged. And now that I’ve been in Washington and seen it up close and personal, I just see new ways in which that happens.  

Before the crash, one in five mortgages that were being marketed by the biggest financial institutions were exploding and costing people their homes. No one would permit toasters to be sold when one in five exploded and burned down somebody’s house. But they were selling mortgages like that and every regulator knew about it.

And those people who had it blow up in their faces, those are the ones we’re prosecuting.

"Oh God. So exactly right. Well, to the extent we do [prosecute] anyone."

10/12/14

Tide of foreclosed homes on the rise again

With state protection ended, bank-owned homes a growing nuisance and economic drag

Capital Gazette Those lower values, coupled with abandoned properties, push the housing market down. Some of these properties will sit for months, even years, as banks sort out paperwork (they didn't have to even file for foreclosure), or wait until the market strengthens enough for them to recoup financial losses.

10/12/14

Woman Fights to Take Back House Stolen in Deed Fraud Scam 

The extraordinary ‘theft’ of a woman’s NYC home

It’s a case of grand theft house.
A Manhattan woman claims an ex-con stole her family home in Queens by filing a phony deed with the city and moving in. (Phony deeds work for the banks)

NY Post Since June, the new policies have red-flagged more than 500 deed transfers. While many were found to contain legitimate filing errors, at least 100 deeds impacting 300 properties are now being investigated as possible frauds, Fucito said.

Often they involve crooked attorneys and title companies, he said.

“We want to stem the tide of fraudulent filings,” the sheriff said.

Big Abbott donors among top law firm contract recipients and Foreclosure-Mills

Dallas News Fulbright & Jaworski and Locke Lord represent banks in illegal foreclosure cases, and the certifiable evidence shows these firms had to commit felonies to win.

AIG Lawsuit Presents Different Versions Of 2008 Bailout

NPR The financial crisis of 2008 has been the backdrop of a fight playing out in a federal court in Washington all week. Specifically, it's a lawsuit over the government's bailout of AIG. On the stand, former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the rescue, saying it saved the company and the global financial system. 

10/10/14

A Wells Fargo Employee Emailed The CEO Asking For A $10,000 Raise And He CC'd 200,000 Other Employees

Business Insider In the letter, Oates brought up the issue of income inequality. He pointed out that Stumpf took home $19 million in compensation for 2013.

Oates told the Charlotte Observer that he had been with Wells Fargo for about seven years. He started out making $13 per hour. Now his hourly rate is $15.

Why is Preet Bharara, the 'scourge of Wall Street', taking a friendly tone towards mortgage bankers?

So the bankers will make him U.S. AG


Preet Bharara, the prosecutor with a legendary record of convicting insider trading cases, says people should lay off Wall Street for the crisis

The Guardian Here’s something you don’t expect to hear from a man who made his reputation by jailing bankers and becoming the “scourge of Wall Street”: ask him if fraud existed during the mortgage crisis and his answer is “the evidence is not there.” (It is in court, land records and homeowner files!)

In boasting about his record of putting white-collar criminals in jail, Bharara repeated a common – but outdated – Obama Administration line, that the mortgage crisis was not fuelled by fraud. 

10/10/14

Fannie's Fraud

The Hurts’ case is the first one we’ve seen where Fannie is an active participant in the homeowner fraud. In 2011, the Hurts were sued for foreclosure by their loan servicer. A cursory review of the promissory note and mortgage attached to the Complaint quickly demonstrated that the servicer was not the proper party to be seeking foreclosure. The Note lacked a critical endorsement, and the Mortgage had a fatal break in the chain of assignments. For this reason, that case was dismissed, only to be revived by Fannie Mae in the way of a brand new foreclosure complaint in the past several months.

McGookey Law This time around, Fannie itself is the plaintiff (the party bringing the action). And lo and behold, the critical missing endorsement from the first foreclosure magically appears on the Note attached to the new Complaint, and a “Corrective Assignment” amateurishly attempts to wipe out the fatal defect in the chain of mortgage assignments. All things considered, it looks like Fannie agreed to bring the new case to give it the appearance of legitimacy, hoping that by doing so the defects would be covered up in the foreclosure process.

This will not happen. We have already pointed these glaring deficiencies out to opposing counsel, and are confident that he will have a long hard discussion with his client, Fannie.

10/10/14

The court's duty is to do justice. That is not what the court is doing in Kuchta.

Merit Decision: Standing and Subject Matter Jurisdiction. A Field Day for Civil Procedure Geeks. 

Bank of Am., N.A. v. Kuchta

On June 1, 2010, Bank of America, N.A. (the Bank) filed a complaint in foreclosure against the Kuchtas, attaching a copy of the original note and mortgage to the complaint, and claiming to be the holder of the note and the assignee of the mortgage. But at the time the Bank filed this foreclosure action, it was neither.

Commentary

Legally Speaking Ohio

The Kuchtas argued that the Bank’s lack of standing meant the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the case, and thus the judgment was void ab initio. This certainly seemed like a logical argument to make after Schwartzwald, but the court rejected it.

“What does this rule mean in practical terms? Does it mean that if the defendant in any given case fails to challenge standing on appeal, then the standing issue is forfeited in favor of the party who did not have standing to invoke the jurisdiction of the common pleas court in the first place, ”

Botts held that lack of standing isn’t subject to challenge for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, [but rather for failure of the plaintiff to state a claim on which relief can be granted].

WELLS FARGO v. FROIMSON

Attached to the Notice was a document from the National Information Center (“NIC”), a government website... A 
trial court can consider such documents only when they are accompanied by an affidavit from a competent witness who can verify them.

Ohio Court of Appeals Eighth District Eric asserts that Wells Fargo lacked standing to bring the underlying 
foreclosure action and that Wells Fargo failed to meet the evidentiary standards required for a grant of summary judgment. We conclude that Wells Fargo did not submit evidentiary quality materials sufficient to establish standing, and so we reverse the trial court’s final judgment. 

Full post

What happened to those “lost notes?”

But as an introduction to topics coming up on this blog, we ask some questions about so-called "lost" notes. We have been hearing reports that the banks are admitting what Katherine Ann Porter told us 7 years ago --- they regularly shredded the original note. Why would you shred the equivalent of cash unless you were hiding something and doing something wrong?

Living Lies By institutionalizing the practice of shredding they diminished expectations of seeing the original. This is what enabled the banks to see the same loan papers (without the debt) to multiple third parties. "Losing the note" was the means to an end--- getting $10 for every dollar of actual debt.

Where was the note?
Describe the people and process of recovering it!
Who lost it?
Who found it?
Where was it?
How was it found?

10/9/14

EXCLUSIVE: Bank of America’s horrid “customer service” scandal

"It's hurting the customer, it's hurting us," a whistleblower says. How the bank's neglect reached a tipping point

Salon Bank of America has had more complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau than any other American financial institution.

What’s sad is that, when we’re not trained properly our mistakes tend to favor the bank, when we’re trained properly we don’t favor the bank. Some people feel that the bank would rather us not be trained because the money they make off of that is in their favor.”

This country is in a dire situation because so many systems, of which banking is one, are failing them, because banking has become more about greed,” he says.

10/9/14

Mortgage servicers are still wrecking lives 

No penalty - no reason to stop. 

SHUT THEM DOWN!

They also were informed their loan was being transferred to a new servicer, Ocwen Loan Servicing.

The worst part of their home loan nightmare was about to begin, as the Pazes became two of the thousands of Americans who have struggled with unresponsive or negligent mortgage servicers. Housing advocates say those problems haven’t stopped, despite government efforts to crack down on mortgage servicer abuses.

Philly New servicer rules haven't stopped abuse

Among the abuses that consumer groups have documented: (This is how an illegal foreclosure begins. Criminal gets free house, equity and mineral rights. MSF)

t Loan payments being misapplied or lost. 
t Illegal fees.
t Escrow account foul-ups, including failures to pay taxes or insurance.
t Lost documents.
t Dual tracking, in which a servicer is working to foreclose at the same time it is supposedly helping the owner modify his or her mortgage — an approach now against CFPB rules.
t Rushed or illegal foreclosures.

10/9/14

Wells Fargo to Pay $5M in Record Maternity Discrimination Settlement

Wells Fargo will pay up to $5 million to resolve allegations it discriminated against mothers on maternity leave, the largest settlement of such claims ever reached by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

National Mortgage News Women on maternity leave were denied Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages, and the nation's largest mortgage lender made "discriminatory statements to and against women who were pregnant or who had recently given birth," in violation of the Fair Housing Act, complaints filed by six mortgage applicants, along with a broader complaint filed by HUD, allege.

Homeowner locked out by her own bank

King5 Cox said she was stunned when the home that she owns was locked up by the bank -- even though the home isn't in foreclosure.

Records obtained by the KING 5 Investigators show that the Washington Attorney General's Office has 13 similar complaints on file. 

10/8/14

Pro Se wins Reversal

Affidavit Fail

US Bank v. Umphrey

Ms. Umphrey argues that the trial court erred in awarding summary judgment to 
U.S. Bank because there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether U.S. Bank was entitled to foreclose on the loan. We agree. 

OHIO COURT OF APPEALS 
NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
Ms. Umphrey argues on appeal that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because Ms. Griffin’s affidavit fails to satisfy U.S. Bank’s initial Dresher burden of demonstrating that it is entitled to foreclose. 

Specifically, Ms. Umphrey argues that Ms. Griffin’s affidavit fails to satisfy the personal knowledge requirement of Civ.R. 56 and that her statements were either legal conclusions or statements made without supporting facts.

 

1/8/2001

Third-Party Defenses to Mortgages

In a typical fraud case, a landowner is fraudulently induced to convey title to a grantee who then gives a mortgage on the
land to secure a debt . If a court voids the deed because of the fraudulent conduct and the former owner thereby reacquires title, is the title still encumbered by the mortgage or can the former owner successfully assert the fraud to eliminate the mortgage?

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW

Ann M . Burkhart

Another source of confusion in these cases is the morass of facts involved in each case. Because the cases almost always involve fraud or other wrongful conduct, the facts are often quite complicated . Wrongdoers often act through a series of nominees, designees, straw people, and shell corporations; engage in conduct that wrongfully enables them to collect payments on loans they no longer own or to sell the same loan more than once; and otherwise act to obfuscate and cover their tracks. 

However, order does exist within this chaos of facts.
Distilled to their essentials, the third -party defense cases virtually all involve one of the following six fact patterns:

 

 

 

 

10/8/14

 

 

 

Bank of America v. Kuchta

Instead of affirming the Ninth District, this court goes to great lengths to preserve a void judgment. And in so doing, it undermines this court’s own rule in Schwartzwald and creates uncertainty in foreclosure cases that will operate in favor of careless banks while eroding the rule of law in Ohio. I dissent.

Ohio Supreme Court 1. An allegation that a plaintiff fraudulently claimed to have standing may not be asserted as a ground for vacating the judgment under Civ.R. 60(B)(3).
2. Lack of standing is an issue that is cognizable on appeal, and therefore it cannot be used to collaterally attack a judgment in foreclosure. 
3. Although standing is required in order to invoke the jurisdiction of the court of 
common pleas over a particular action, lack of standing does not affect the 
subject-matter jurisdiction of the court.
For these reasons, we answer the certified question in the negative and hold that lack of standing cannot support a Civ.R. 60(B)(3) motion for relief from judgment, even if a plaintiff’s assertion of standing was patently false. We further hold that lack of standing does not render a judgment void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We therefore reverse the judgment of the Ninth District Court of Appeals and reinstate the judgment of the Medina County Court of Common Pleas, denying the Kuchtas’ Civ.R. 60(B) motion. 

Ohio Supreme Court holds borrowers cannot raise standing challenges in post judgment motions

Bank of America's counsel in Kuchta The Ohio Supreme Court issued Bank of America v. Kuchta, Slip Op. No. 2014-Ohio-4275 which substantially limits attacks on foreclosure judgments in Ohio, and which should resolve concerns of title insurers and purchasers of foreclosed properties. ()

10/8/14

Statute of Limitations bars US Bank's claim

US Bank v. Adams

Maine Supreme Judicial Court U.S. Bank as Trustee for Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities 2006-AC2 appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court denying it an equitable lien on Charles Adams’s portion of a property that he owns jointly with Dorothy Adams in Dedham. 
Because we conclude that the statute of limitations bars U.S. Bank’s claim, we 
vacate the judgment and remand for entry of dismissal.

2 HSBC Directors May Leave Over New British Rules on Banking

DealBook Two independent directors on the board that oversees HSBC’s British business may leave the bank over stricter rules aimed at holding bankers more accountable for reckless actions that may lead to the failure of a lender

New Mortgage Lender Demands Less Documentation

This is one of the elements that created the crisis!

SoFi’s mortgages will be geared toward borrowers with high credit scores, though other criteria will be less onerous than what most other lenders require

WSJ The firm isn’t requiring tax returns to verify applicants’ income or proof of funds to verify the source of borrowers’ down payments—requirements that most lenders have had in place since the housing downturn. Instead, SoFi is accepting applicants’ most recent paystub or W2 as proof of income. It will also take all applicants at their word that their down-payment funds aren’t coming from a loan they have taken out elsewhere

10/7/14

Motion to Compel Discovery: General Template I am Using

Living Lies I have determined that a great deal more must be said in order to convince the trial judge and preserve your issues on appeal. Remember you must set down their objections for hearing IN ADDITION TO a hearing on your motion to compel.

Sound arguments:

"AN INTEREST IN THE MORTGAGE IS NOT ENOUGH TO CONFER STANDING"

Reply brief in SRMOF Trust v. Lewis 

Ohio Supreme Court

____

Andrew Engle

This general principal, however, presumes two important facts. First, the mortgage must indeed grant rights to the mortgagee. In other words, the mortgagor's duties must flow to the mortgagee, not to a third party for whom
the mortgagee is acting
. Second, the mortgagee whose rights have been violated must actually sue for a breach of its rights. Neither of those facts is present in this case.

10/6/14

Bank Seizes Woman’s Home After Falling Victim To Two Mortgage Frauds

She is facing eviction from her home after falling victim to a mortgage fraud from two companies now under state investigation.

She contacted Templeton Group and paid them $3,000 upfront for a loan modification. But then, she said she couldn’t get in contact with them.

News12 Bates says she was desperate and contacted another company: Farmingdale-based Home Affordable Direct.
“They promised me everything would be fine, they could work it out no problem, they had the legal team, the staff that could do it,” Bates said.
From her hospital salary savings, the homeowner handed over two lump sums to help her get her mortgage back on track. Home Affordable Direct closed shop. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is going after both agencies, saying it is illegal to demand an upfront fee, outraged that middle class New Yorkers continue to be victimized.

10/6/14

  90-year-old woman facing Wells Fargo eviction

Citibank purchased the home at sale for $100.

First Coast News A 90-year-old woman is facing eviction from her home for not paying on a mortgage, a loan she claims she never made. But after our inquiries, Wells Fargo tells us they are putting the eviction on hold while they investigate.

10/6/14

Paulson Takes the Stand in A.I.G. Trial

Mr. Paulson was the first of a series of witnesses who were the leading government figures during the financial crisis in 2008 to testify in the trial of a lawsuit that challenges what became a $192 billion government rescue of A.I.G. He testified for little less than two hours on Monday morning

DealBook By the end of October, Mr. Paulson testified, A.I.G. was on the verge of bankruptcy once again — and faced a ratings downgrade that would have required additional capital that the company did not have. “The situation had deteriorated,” Mr. Paulson said.

As a result, the Treasury Department decided to tap its authority to its then-new bailout fund, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to infuse A.I.G. with another $40 billion in taxpayer cash. 

Due process and judge recusal

Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co.

SCOTUS The 2009 case in which the Supreme Court held that a litigant’s due process rights can be violated when an elected judge refuses recusal in a case in which that judge received significant campaign support from a litigant. 

10/6/14

Right of Redemption Case

BACHLS v. Fulbright

Washington Supreme Court The common law doctrine of lien priority was "first in time, first in right." Under the common law doctrine, an interest created prior in time took priority over any subsequent competing interest. This rule was universally clarified, and now every state has some form of statutory recording system. The purpose and effect of a recording act is to reverse the order of priorities in certain cases. 

10/6/14

Mortgage-seizure idea: A solution in search of a problem? 

SF Examiner If you own a home in San Francisco, or one day would like to try, you soon might have more to worry about than skyrocketing housing prices. The Board of Supervisors will likely vote Tuesday on whether to approve a policy enabling it to seize mortgages through eminent domain. The resolution would allow The City to explore partnering with Richmond to seize mortgages at less than market cost through eminent domain and rewrite them at lower value.

10/6/14

HECM protects non-borrowing spouses 

Why widowed spouses won standing fight

The DC Circuit agreed with the district court that if redressability depended on the actions of lenders, the spouses would have no standing to sue HUD; they would be toast. Nevertheless, it threw out the district court’s decision, gave the spouses standing, and sent the case back to be heard on its merits at the district court.

Think Reverse Blog Why did the DC Circuit overrule the district court in this case? It found a part of HECM law which empowered HUD to solve the foreclosure-displacement problems of the spouses and the investment-low headaches of the lenders.

In Subsection (i) of HECM law, Congress says HUD can take “any action necessary” to further the purposes of the HECM mortgage insurance program. Needless to say, protecting homeowners (including their non-borrowing spouses) from displacement and lenders from losses are stated purposes of the HECM program.

10/5/14

Homeowners get OK to fight foreclosure scams

American Hope Group and the Donado Law Firm worked hard to sign up Queens homeowner Ana Lopez for their foreclosure rescue services.

The assistance turned out to be a scam, Lopez says. She is out $14,000, has not received a modification and fears she will end up on the street.

New York Post Brardo and Lopez’ case is moving forward now that a New York Supreme Court judge in Queens County has denied the defendants’ request for dismissal. Judge Robert J. McDonald also allowed two other plaintiffs alleging similar harm to join the suit.
“The judge makes it crystal clear that individuals or firms performing distressed property consulting services can be held accountable for deceptive or unlawful practices,” said Lopez’ attorney, Nicole Arrindell of MFY Legal Services.

10/4/14

ERIC HOLDER: ARREST A U.S. BANKER

Over five million families were foreclosed on since the financial crisis, many MOST of them illegally. But despite defrauding so many Americans, Holder has failed to jail a single U.S. banker. 

other98 Here are just two blockbuster criminal cases that Eric Holder’s Justice Department could have tried…but didn’t: 

- Over 1,000 members of our military were illegally foreclosed on — a crime punishable by a year in prison per foreclosure.

- A mountain of evidence showed Goldman Sachs committed fraud in their “Abacus” deal. The case got lots of media attention, but no prosecutions.

The Top Five Bank Bailouts We Never Heard About

Gallons of ink have been devoted to Wall Street executives’ lack of accountability for a global financial meltdown that was built on top of a mountain of fraud... (and they initially blamed it all on homeowners.)

Moyers & Company Nobody at the top has faced criminal prosecution. Executive compensation and bonuses have rebounded nicely. And while taxpayers committed trillions to keeping those “too-big-to-fail” institutions afloat, the foreclosure crisis persists six years after the crash.

Elizabeth Warren flagged a special ruling by the Treasury Department that allowed AIG to carry over losses it incurred before the bailout for tax purposes. In 2012, she and several colleagues wrote that the insurance giant’s “profits increased a staggering $17.7 billion — from a loss of $2.2 billion a year earlier — because of [the] special tax breaks.”

10/3/14

At Last: Jury Blames Bank Execs for Mortgage Fraud

 

Too Big to Jail?

A veteran bank regulator lays bare how Washington and Wall Street are joined in a culture of corruption.

Moyers & Company “This is the first that a jury has ever got to hear what actually caused the crisis,” Black, who testified for the defense in the case, told Moyers. “And the jury was horrified, because it was the lenders who deliberately made massive amounts of fraudulent loans and then sold these massive amounts of fraudulent loans through additional frauds to the secondary market and eventually brought down the global financial system.”

MERS finds the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is in Texas - the fraud headquarters.

MERS hot streak continues

For the second day in a row, MERSCORP is celebrating a legal victory in a case brought by disgruntled mortgagors who claim that MERS doesn’t have the authority to assign a mortgage.

Housing Wire MERS secured another favorable verdict, this time in Texas. (Texas is the fraudsters hitching post).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a District Court judgment on the pleadings, dismissing the borrower-plaintiffs’ complaint in Van Duzer v. U.S. Bank, N.A., MERSCORP Holdings, MERS, et al.

In that case, the plaintiffs questioned MERS’ authority to assign a mortgage in a case related to the origination, subsequent assignment, and attempted foreclosure of a home equity loan.

2/26/14

Cloudy with a Chance of Radicalism: How Broken Chain of Title Can Turn the Tables on Banks

A situation known as “broken” or “clouded” chain of title—a lesser-known aspect of the mortgage-backed securities story—may hold the potential to turn this around.

HANNAH APPEL AND JP MASSAR  STRIKE DEBT BAY AREA While this clouded chain of title situation may seem obscure and technical, it turns out that when the mortgage-backed securities market started heating up around 2005, and even before, an unknown but very high percentage of mortgages that were turned into mortgage-backed securities were transferred into their PSAs after the cutoff date. One industry insider told us that all non-Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages were transferred improperly. In other words, the ownership of potentially millions of mortgages is in question.

10/3/14

Watchdog Addresses Problems With Foreclosure Review Payments

The review ultimately proved to be a cumbersome, slow, and costly process and by November 2012, 18 months into the review, no money had been given to any of the borrowers but the independent consultants had billed servicers $1.8 billion and there were estimates that another two years and $2 billion would be needed to complete the reviews which had also attracted a good deal of Congressional attention. 

Mortgage Daily OIG also found that the Board has not selected an approach with which to end the payment agreement and to distribute any remaining funds. The lack of an approved plan creates uncertainty about the disposition of these monies and may subject the Board to further stakeholder criticism.

OIG said it attributes the limited planning to the compressed time frame involved in transitioning to the payment agreement and the aggressive deadlines imposed in order to get payments to borrowers without further delays. 

The OIG Report: The Board’s advance preparation and planning efforts for the payment agreement with the 13 servicers that joined the agreement in January 2013 were not commensurate with the complexity associated with this unprecedented interagency effort to remedy possible harm at an individual borrower level for nearly 4.2 million borrowers. 

10/3/14

Six Years Later, We’re Still Litigating the Bailouts. Here’s What We Know.

Were they stooges of Wall Street who funneled hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to the financial industry?

NY Times The obvious question, asked many times now, is why the Fed did not insist that those banks take “haircuts” on what they were owed given A.I.G.’s near-bankruptcy and government bailout. That would certainly seem like the fair course.

10/3/14

HUD scandal: official pleads guilty to stealing $843,000 in taxpayer funds 

Thompson scheme went undetected for nearly a year. To conceal his fraud, he fabricated settlement documents with false sales prices and even buyer names. 

Daily Caller Thompson was responsible for selling properties acquired by the government after borrowers defaulted on their HUD-guaranteed mortgages. Specialists like Thompson were tasked with ensuring the sale of these properties at the best possible price to reimburse the government for taxpayer funds made to mortgage lenders for insured loans. Instead, he funneled portions of the proceeds into bank accounts he controlled, netting himself $843,000 in the process. 

10/2/14

Foreclosure News Roundup

A Tax court found that the investors were not secured creditors against the home and could not foreclose. That means that any claim “on behalf of the certificate holders” is false and perhaps void.

Living Lies Wells Fargo and Bank of America in particular are taking hits practically every day leading them to file last minute voluntary dismissals. While this might cost as much as $100,000 in attorney fees to homeowner’s counsel it avoids a judgment for the homeowner, which preserves their gaming of the system and the investors and insurers and the government — most particularly the Federal Reserve who paid 100 cents on the dollar for worthless mortgage bonds — issued by REMIC Trusts whose assets consisted of derivatives or whose assets consisted of nothing at all. The fee awards are leading some attorneys to take cases entirely on contingency — just for the fee award.

10/2/14

‘Invisible’ Credit? (Read This Now!)

If Congress passed a law requiring everyone in the United States to get a license to be considered for a job or rent an apartment, the nation would rise up in protest. The irony is that such a system already exists and its validity is rarely questioned: the license is, of course, your credit score.

NY Times The good news is that there are lots of people today working to solve this problem — in government, in the nonprofit sector and increasingly in business. In fact, some of the approaches that promise the greatest potential for growth are emerging at the nexus of technology and for-profit financial services.

“Tens of millions of people are misclassified by the system, at the hand of prejudice or any other number of factors,” says Arjan Schutte, the founder of Core Innovation Capital.
10/2/14

Documents on JPMorgan Chase

Regulatory filings and court documents tied the giant investment bank.

DealBook Interactive JPMorgan Cyber Attack, Consumer Relief, Settlement Agreement, Statement of Facts, List of RMBS Covered by Settlement, Claims Resolved by NY State Against JPMorgan and EMC Mortgage

10/2/14

Owner of Mortgage Servicing Company, Whitehall Funding Gets 8 Years for Fraud

QC Times Jager devised a scheme to defraud mortgage pools serviced by Jager and Whitehall. Jager drafted and faxed false remittance reports to investors in the mortgage pools and submitted false end-of-the-year reports to mortgagors.

Jager also improperly transferred funds received from mortgagors to Jager's personal accounts, and in one instance, used mortgagor and investor funds to make a payment of $137,660.97 to pay off Jager's own home equity loan.

10/2/14

JPMorgan Chase Says More Than 76 Million Accounts Compromised in Cyberattack

DealBook The latest revelations, which were disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, vastly dwarf earlier estimates that hackers had gained access to roughly one million customer accounts.

Association Actions to Quiet Title & Unenforceable Mortgages

Wetherington Hamilton After languishing for several years, the bank foreclosure action is dismissed by the court. The association files a quiet title action and it is determined that the mortgage, the date of default now being more than five years in the past, is now unenforceable. 

10/2/14

Fed Faulted on Handling of Foreclosure Accord in Watchdog Report

Mortgage Servicing News The Fed, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and other agencies struck deals with the largest U.S. servicers to set up the Independent Foreclosure Review to repay borrowers harmed by foreclosure errors after the 2008 mortgage crisis. After the case-by-case review failed to return anything to borrowers, the agencies replaced it with direct payments.
 

Court’s HOA foreclosure ruling ‘a win for Nevada 

The court ruled that super priority liens held by HOAs for unpaid assessments take precedence over first trust deeds held by banks or other mortgage lenders.

Vegas Inc. The recent Nevada Supreme Court decision that allows homeowners associations to trump mortgage lenders in foreclosing on homes sent a shot from Carson City across the state and through the Nevada real estate community. The ruling has the potential to affect the delicate relationships among homeowners, HOAs and lenders covering more than 500,000 properties in nearly 3,000 HOAs in Nevada.

10/1/14

Make No Mistake: Eric Holder Chose Not to Jail the Bankers

Many commentators were confused by the Department’s decision in 2011, after two years of investigation, to drop a criminal investigation against former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. Oddly, the Justice Department decided to drop the case even after the SEC received a favorable, $67.5 million verdict in their civil case.

Medium And this comes in the face of some very public whistleblower accounts, documented by journalist Michael Hudson, which outline behavior suggesting that systemic and long-standing fraud occurred within Countrywide. And while an August Bloomberg article indicated that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles may soon bring civil charges against Mozilo, we have still seen no criminal charges against this poster child of the 2008 meltdown.

10/1/14

 

HSBC v. Donaghy

Appellant petitioned the trial court to vacate the default judgment against her, alleging, inter alia, Appellee failed to 
provide her with notices required under Sections 20 and 22 of the mortgage 
agreement. Appellee did not answer Appellant’s petition to vacate, and on October 24, 2012, the trial court issued an order granting the petition and 
opening the judgment. 

SUPERIOR COURT OF 
PENNSYLVANIA 
It is unclear from the record whether 
Appellee, inter alia, provided Appellant with a notice of default, an explanation of the action required to cure the default, and a reasonable timeframe by which to cure the default prior to accelerating the mortgage. Regardless, as noted earlier, Appellee in its answer to Appellant’s new matter denied having failed to comply with the required notices under the agreement. Such denial was sufficient to create a factual dispute that would bar the entry of summary judgment. 

10/1/14

When Deutsche Bank bought the property at the foreclosure sale, Hair’s judgment lien was still attached to it. 

Hair v. Deutsche Bank

Calvin Hair appeals the denial of his motion to set aside a default judgment for foreclosure entered in favor of Deutsche Bank. We reverse and remand.

Indiana Court of Appeals The issue before us is whether the judgment obtained by Deutsche Bank was VOID as to Hair for lack of personal jurisdiction, resulting from ineffectual service of process.

Because the foreclosure judgment obtained by Deutsche Bank was void as to Hair, we reverse the denial of Hair’s motion to set aside judgment. Hair’s judgment lien against the Talbott Street property still exists and we remand for further proceedings to address that lien.

10/1/14

Denied Motion for Continuance reversed

SMG 1054 v. Thompson

Arkansas Court of Appeals On appeal, SMG contends that the trial court abused its discretion in denying its motion for continuance and in refusing to admit certain documentation into evidence. 

We reverse and remand, holding that the trial court abused its discretion in denying SMG’s motion for continuance. 

10/1/14

Freiday v. OneWest

OneWest stated that “[a]ll conditions 
precedent to the acceleration of the note and foreclosure of the mortgage 
have occurred or have been performed, waived or excused. They lied.

Florida COA 4th District As previously noted by this court, “‘[m]erely attaching documents which 
are not ‘sworn to or certified’ to a motion for summary judgment does not, without more, satisfy the procedural strictures
inherent in Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.510(e).’” 

Since there remains a material issue of fact as to whether OneWest complied with Paragraphs 15 and 22 of the mortgage, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

10/1/14

Florida: Note and Mortgage Still Enforceable After Dismissal of Foreclosure Action

Carlton Fields Jorden Burt Unsuccessful mortgage foreclosure actions have resulted in a new wave of "quiet title" lawsuits brought by borrowers attempting to have their notes and mortgages deemed void and unenforceable. However, the federal district and state appellate courts of Florida considering the issue have uniformly rejected the theory that a failed foreclosure attempt allows mortgagors to obtain their property free and clear of the lien where the mortgage and note have not been paid in full.

ELIZABETH WARREN: The Secret New York Fed Tapes Confirm The Game Is Rigged

Business Insider "ultimately this report tells us exactly what we already knew — that the relationship between regulators and the financial institutions they oversee is too cozy to provide the kind of tough oversight that's really needed." - Warren

10/1/14

A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN SUES BROOKLYN AND FLORIDA LAW FIRMS INVOLVED IN ALLEGED FRAUDULENT MORTGAGE RESCUE SCHEME

“Consumers facing foreclosure place a special trust in attorneys hired to help them navigate the myriad of legal issues they are facing, and our office will hold those accountable who perpetrate scams that prey upon families at risk of losing their home,” - NY AG

Long Island Exchange The lawsuit targets Litvin Law Firm; Litvin, Torrens & Associates, PLLC; and the firms’ principal attorney Gennady Litvin. Litvin and the two firms allegedly preyed upon financially vulnerable consumers by claiming they would provide them with a comprehensive legal services plan that would allow consumers to avoid foreclosure or obtain a mortgage modification. The firms, directly and through their marketers, collected hundreds of dollars in monthly fees from consumers and routinely failed to deliver on their promises. The lawsuit seeks to halt the illegal business practices, provide restitution to consumers, and seeks penalties and costs.

9/30/14

 

Racketeering case against foreclosure-mill, Lerner Sampson, Bank of America, and MERS allowed to proceed

Slorp v. Lerner Sampson and Rothfuss

In Slorp v. Lerner Sampson and Rothfuss, we successfully argued that our client’s racketeering lawsuit against the law firm LSR, Bank of America, and MERS for robo-signing should proceed. 

"If Bank of America had no right to file the foreclosure action, it makes no difference whether Slorp previously had defaulted on his mortgage."

Doucet Law Firm

_____

6th Circuit COA

There, we alleged the law firm directed one of its paralegals to fraudulently robo-sign mortgage assignments, and then used one of those mortgage assignments to foreclose on our client’s home months earlier. After Mr. Slorp retained our firm in that earlier foreclosure action, the law firm and Bank of America dismissed it. We then filed a federal lawsuit alleging their actions violated several laws, including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). The Sixth Circuit’s federal appellate decision allowed our racketeering claim to proceed – a major victory for people wrongly foreclosed on by banks using robo-signed documentation. The decision also found in favor of consumers on a very important issue surrounding their ability to challenge documents in foreclosure cases. This case will likely shape law in Ohio for some time.

10/1/14

Judgment must be set aside.

Indiana Court of Appeals Gets to the Real Thing — Forecloser Must Prove It Controls the Note

This case is important because the court is no longer making presumptions that all elements of “holder with rights to enforce” are present. It 180 degrees opposite to the “discretionary” rulings by trial courts that the loan and the transfers of the loan must be valid — why else would the forecloser be in court.

Good v. Wells Fargo

Living Lies  In discovery the homeowner has been restricted because of these presumptions — thus barring the homeowner from demanding proof that is in the sole care, custody and control of the Defendants. Or it is not in their control, which is what this case says and what is true in nearly all other cases in which there is a foreclosure based upon defective loan origination documents that are subject to false claims of securitization.

"Wells Fargo has not shown that it controls the Note for purposes of §7021(b) and, accordingly, has not established its status as holder for purposes of the UCC. Because Wells Fargo has not established that it was entitled to enforce the Note as its holder, the trial court’s grant of summary judgment was improper and the resulting judgment must be set aside. We reverse and remand."

10/1/14

How reverse mortgages cause financial cancer and emotional pain

Executives from reverse mortgage companies know plenty about consumers’ feelings around inheritance. After all, they’re in the business of encouraging older Americans to drain equity now from homes they may pass on to their heirs in the future.

OC Housing News But dare to quote one of these people as a source in this publication, as I did last week, and this is the kind of vigorous reaction that comes from readers:
I can’t even imagine a scenario where a reverse mortgage should be considered anything but radioactive,” said one comment.
And: “They’re nothing but a scam that nobody with any common sense should fall for,” according to another.
These vehicles are the province of the most unscrupulous of lenders and would be outlawed in a more civilized society,” said a third.
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