Articles Related To Mortgage Servicing Fraud

Date	Article Articles are added weekly	Source	Comment
04/28/23	CFPB Issues Guidance to Protect Homeowners from Illegal Collection Tactics on Zombie Mortgages	Living Lies	CFPB Issues Guidance to Protect Homeowners from Illegal Collection Tactics on Zombie Mortgages The CFPB release says “It is illegal for debt collectors to sue or threaten to sue to collect debts past the statute of limitations.” The more subtle message is that Wall Street needs to stop making claims and threats on claims that either never existed or don’t exist anymore. And that is not just about the statute of imtiations. I would go further and say that anyone who uses that approach as a business model belongs in prison. Consumers don’t know how legal debts are created, managed, serviced, or extinguished. They typically rely entirely on the statements, correspondence, and notes sent to them — even if those notices come on unsigned paper under the letterhead of business names with which they have never done business. So the CFPB is catching up with an aspect of this and a fine nuance regarding the legal right to make claims or threaten action to collect an alleged debt. This time it is about Zombie mortgages. The success of the business plan depends entirely on convincing the consumer that his/her transaction was a loan, that an obligation was created, and that the instructions in the letter, statement or notice are authentic communications from a legally recognized creditor. In other words, the business plan requires lying to the consumer and convincing them to pay money when none is due, or there is no right to demand the money.
04/28/23	Advisory Opinion program	CFPB	Advisory Opinion program On April 26, 2023, the CFPB issued an Advisory Opinion to affirm that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and its implementing Regulation F prohibit a debt collector, as that term is defined in the statute and regulation, from suing or threatening to sue to collect a time-barred debt.
04/28/23	Court halts owner-occupied foreclosures after Wayne County petition	CBS News	Court halts owner-occupied foreclosures after Wayne County petition (CBS DETROIT) - The Third Circuit Court in Detroit halted owner-occupied foreclosures after a petition submitted by the Wayne County Treasurer's Office. The motion granted by Chief Judge Patricia Fresard extends through March 31, 2024. Officials say about 3,400 residential properties faced foreclosure.
04/27/23	Nationwide Mortgage Delinquency Rate Neared Record Low in February	DS News	Nationwide Mortgage Delinquency Rate Neared Record Low in February CoreLogic has released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report for February 2023, which found that 3% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), representing a 0.4-percentage point decrease compared with 3.4% in February 2022, and a 0.2-percentage point increase compared with January 2023.
04/27/23	Banks that Put Up $30 Billion to “Rescue” First Republic May Have Been Trying to Rescue their Own Exposure to $247 Trillion in Derivatives	Wall Street On Parade	Banks that Put Up $30 Billion to “Rescue” First Republic May Have Been Trying to Rescue their Own Exposure to $247 Trillion in Derivatives Ever since 11 banks on March 16 donned the garb of heroic fire fighters, rushing to extinguish an inferno at a competitor bank before it spread further, we have been asking ourselves the question – why just this group of 11 banks. We’re talking about the action on March 16 when 11 banks chipped in a total of $30 billion and bizarrely placed those funds as uninsured deposits into First Republic Bank – which was in full scale unraveling mode because of bond losses and – wait for it – too many uninsured deposits.
04/27/23	What Lawyers and Judges Are Missing in Foreclosure Cases	Living Lies	What Lawyers and Judges Are Missing in Foreclosure Cases The first question is, “if it wasn’t a loan, then what is it?” Lawyers and homeowners get hooked on this question because they think it is up to them to answer it. But the first rule of procedure and due process is that if you have a claim, then you need to describe it. If it is left to your opponent to speculate about the nature of the claim, then all existing US law requires dismissal of the case, perhaps with leave to amend.
04/26/23	Justices appear likely to side with homeowner in foreclosure dispute	SCOTUS Blog	Justices appear likely to side with homeowner in foreclosure dispute Geraldine Tyler, a 94-year-old grandmother, lost her Minneapolis condo when she failed to pay the property taxes for several years. Tyler does not dispute that Hennepin County could foreclose on the $40,000 property and sell it to obtain the $15,000 in taxes and costs that she owed it. But she argued that the county violated the Constitution when it kept the $25,000 left over after the property was sold. After roughly 100 minutes of debate on Wednesday, a majority of the justices seemed inclined to agree with her.
04/26/23	Grandma didn't pay taxes. Now her house is focus of property rights test case	NPR	Grandma didn't pay taxes. Now her house is focus of property rights test case The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in the case of a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman whose condominium was seized by Hennepin County for failure to pay property taxes. At issue is the way at least a dozen states handle the sale of homes to pay off overdue taxes.
04/26/23	Woman narrowly avoids reverse mortgage foreclosure due to communication breakdown	KOLD	Woman narrowly avoids reverse mortgage foreclosure due to communication breakdown COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX/Gray News) - Retirement is typically a time of relaxation, assuming you have enough savings to live comfortably. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned. Some seniors turn to reverse mortgages, loans that allow homeowners who are at least 62 years old to withdraw some of their home equity and convert it into cash. While it can be a useful loan for many seniors, one College Station resident almost lost her home after her mortgage company claimed she had failed to fulfill all the requirements of her reverse mortgage.
04/26/23	Federal Agencies Are on Board	Living Lies	Federal Agencies Are on Board “We already see how AI tools can turbocharge fraud and automate discrimination, and we won’t hesitate to use the full scope of our legal authorities to protect Americans from these threats,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “Technological advances can deliver critical innovation—but claims of innovation must not be cover for lawbreaking. There is no AI exemption to the laws on the books, and the FTC will vigorously enforce the law to combat unfair or deceptive practices or unfair methods of competition.”
04/26/23	Maine home foreclosures plummet while sales drop, prices inch up	Press Herald	Maine home foreclosures plummet while sales drop, prices inch up New data on foreclosure filings and on recent home sales create a mixed outlook for the state's residential real estate market. But it appears stronger than those in many other states.
04/26/23	Jamie Dimon’s Deeply Conflicted Role as “Rescuer” of First Republic Bank Requires a Credible Investigation	Wall Street On Parade	Jamie Dimon’s Deeply Conflicted Role as “Rescuer” of First Republic Bank Requires a Credible Investigation The Board of Directors and shareholders at the largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase – which has more than 5,000 Chase Bank branches dotting the landscape from coast to coast – have ample reason to ask themselves where the loyalties of the bank’s Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon exactly lie.
04/25/23	While we are all napping: Trading in MSRs hit $1 trillion.	Living Lies	While we are all napping: Trading in MSRs hit $1 trillion. According to recent reports: MSR trading volume this year is on pace to meet or exceed last year’s robust mark, when some $1 trillion in MSRs exchanged hands — then fueled by the spike in interest rates. The trading volume of MSRs so far this year is on pace to meet or exceed last year’s robust mark, when some $1 trillion in MSRs exchanged hands — then fueled by the spike in interest rates.
04/24/23	Don’t Say “LOAN”	Living Lies	Don’t Say “LOAN” Whenever anyone refers to your transaction as a loan, you should be objecting at the earliest possible moment (or else it is waived), and you should be moving to strike the phrase from the court record. But you need to do so properly. Up until now and for the foreseeable future, homeowners will continue to lose their cases by either waiting until it is “their turn,” at which point their objections are waived, or by “demanding answers” that nobody is obligated to give them. So if you at to do it right, you need to do it in the only that is legally recognizable. All other approaches may sound good but mean nothing in a court of law.
04/21/23	Black Knight's First Look: Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Record Low in March, While Prepayments Rose on Easing Rates and Seasonal Tailwinds	Black Knight	Black Knight's First Look: Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Record Low in March, While Prepayments Rose on Easing Rates and Seasonal Tailwinds The national delinquency rate dropped 53 basis points (-15%) in March, falling below 3% for the first time on record, ending the month at just 2.92% While delinquency rates almost always fall in March – as borrowers utilize tax refunds and other seasonal revenues to pay down past-due debt – the drop marked the second largest decline in the past 17 years Factoring in March's decline, the total number of past-due mortgages (including active foreclosures) has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 23 years, dating all the way back to April 2000 Serious delinquencies (90+ days past due) showed marked improvement, falling by 51K to their lowest level since March 2020, with volumes shrinking in every state Likewise, every state saw overall delinquencies fall in March, with improvements ranging from 11.9% in Washington to 21.5% in Vermont Both foreclosure starts (+9.0%) and sales (+4.6%) rose in the month but still remain well below pre-pandemic volumes at the national level Active foreclosure inventory held steady, but remains 31K (12%) below March 2020 levels The prepayment rate (SMM) rose to 0.50% (+44% month over month) driven, as anticipated, by seasonal tailwinds in sale-related prepayments and an increased demand for refis due to falling rates
04/21/23	Foreclosures spike as banks lower the boom on homeowners	CBS News	Foreclosures spike as banks lower the boom on homeowners Americans are losing their homes at a faster rate this year as banks make up for lost time after state and federal foreclosure bans expired. Lenders repossessed nearly 96,000 properties during the first three months of 2023, up 22% from the same period last year, according to real estate data provider ATTOM.
04/21/23	It is NOT the job of the court to answer your questions	Living Lies	It is NOT the job of the court to answer your questions People familiar with my victories in court frequently ask for a list of generic questions that they hope will work in every case. Lay people are not rained to think within the context fo the rules of civil procedure or motions required to force the opposing side to comply with those rules. There are plenty of POSSIBLE questions and plenty of ways to ask them. But there is no list that is one size fits all. It MUST be tailored to the specific case. Some of the questions are obvious from my prior correspondence.
04/20/23	Former New York Fed Pres Bill Dudley Calls This the First Banking Crisis Since 2008; Charts Show It’s the Third	Wall Street On Parade	Former New York Fed Pres Bill Dudley Calls This the First Banking Crisis Since 2008; Charts Show It’s the Third The official that oversaw the secret funneling of trillions of dollars of bailout money from the New York Fed to the grossly mismanaged mega banks on Wall Street during the financial crisis of 2008 to 2010, had the temerity yesterday to pen an opinion piece at Bloomberg News pointing his finger at current Fed officials for today’s banking crisis – without once mentioning his role in getting us here.
04/20/23	Biggest U.S. Banks Report Bumper Profits Amid Industry Turmoil	Living Lies	Biggest U.S. Banks Report Bumper Profits Amid Industry Turmoil The mega banks are reporting higher profits that were most likely created years ago and stuffed into offshore repositories in off balance sheet transctions. From 1998 to 2008, they siphoned trillions of dollars out of the US economy using worthelss and faslely represented “Mortgage-backed bonds.”
04/19/23	Is Modification Legal?	Living Lies	Is Modification Legal? You are completely correct to say that modification of a contract is not possible without the parties to that contract agreeing to modify. Even a court may not modify that contract unless it contains something that is patently unlawful.
04/19/23	Heading off the next foreclosure crisis	Commonwealth Magazine	Heading off the next foreclosure crisis OVER THE LAST few years, Americans have faced countless challenges we couldn’t have easily predicted: a global pandemic, war in Ukraine, supply chain snarls, a roiling economy — including recent bank collapses — and skyrocketing housing costs amidst all of it. But we could have predicted what was to follow: a volatile housing market and inflation at levels we have not seen since the 1970s. Household budgets for people with low and middle incomes are being put to the test, and many homeowners are turning to increased credit card spending to sustain their cost of living expenses. Most troubling, home foreclosure stats are on the rise nationwide.
04/19/23	Home prices see largest decline since 2012 as banking crisis hits demand: 'There's this fear that everything will crash'	Business Insider	Home prices see largest decline since 2012 as banking crisis hits demand: 'There's this fear that everything will crash' Median home prices in March dropped 3.3% annually, the biggest decline since 2012, Redfin said. Pandemic boomtowns and the San Francisco Bay Area led the price declines. "I was consistently busy in the fall, but things got really quiet in March after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank."
04/18/23	Hawaii court ruling establishes precedent for reverse foreclosure cases	Reverse Mortgage Daily	Hawaii court ruling establishes precedent for reverse foreclosure cases At the end of March, the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii vacated a reverse mortgage foreclosure handed down by lender James B. Nutter and Co., which was doing business as Nutter Home Loans. The court found that Nutter “submitted a materially deficient attorney affirmation to the circuit court” regarding the foreclosure. The case, which has made its way through the state court system since 2009, now sets a precedent for foreclosure cases within the state, according to legal experts who spoke to the Honolulu Civil Beat.
04/18/23	CFPB Issues Guidance on Abusive Conduct Under Federal Law	Living Lies	CFPB Issues Guidance on Abusive Conduct Under Federal Law Most homeowners will continue to ignore such pronouncements that fail to give relevant examples. Most lawyers are too lazy or presumptive to research the issue and seek advice from experts who actually are competent to comment on investment banking applied to the loan market. But since the implied unpaid loan account does not exist and the designated party as claimant expects no payment, they are missing out on easy enforcement of obviously abusive behavior — including attorney fees and costs under the FDCPA and RESPA.
04/18/23	Nothing Is Obvious or Clear in Court Until You Make It So	Living Lies	Nothing Is Obvious or Clear in Court Until You Make It So Hat tip to Elle She raises probably the most important problem confronting homeowners in conflict with pretender lenders. “what if the witness is clearly lying, but it is affecting the judgment of the presiding judge?”
04/17/23	Only unbridled arrogance could produce a statement like this	Living Lies	Only unbridled arrogance could produce a statement like this The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) renewed proposal to prohibit conflicts of interest in securitizations is critically flawed and would impose significant impediments to the ongoing functioning of the assetbacked securities market, industry advocates said recently. See https://asreport.americanbanker.com/news/damage-to-financial-markets-and-economy-feared-from-secs-abs-proposal It is astonishing that anyone could say that with a straight face. The fact is that the entire value proposition that certificates sold under the name “Mortgage-backed securities” is based on conflicts of interest.
04/14/23	How to use the statutory definitions of the word “servicer”	Living Lies	How to use the statutory definitions of the word “servicer” Hat tip to summer chic. I might add a hat tip to some State and Federal agencies that are waking up and trimming the edges around the false claims implied to support the remedy of foreclosure. Things are changing — and before the banks manage to use their influence in state and federal legislatures, homeowners would be doing themselves and everyone else a favor if they went on the attack now. Getting down in the weeds is what wins. For about 2 decades or longer, lawyers have been claiming to represent companies that are implied to be creditors and companies that are implied to be servicers. In truth, the lawyer does not represent either one, and neither of those companies has ever touched a single penny of the payments tendered by homeowners. The word “servicer” has been used to define any company that claims to be a servicer and who satisfies one of several elements. One element is that it claimed to have physical possession of the implied loan file, including the promissory note. Although untrue, this has always been implied and largely unchallenged by homeowners, thus forcing the court to rule in favor of the lawyer implying the existence of a claim. The second condition is always argued but never true. That is, the company implied to be processing payments from the homeowner has in fact been doing so. Therefore its records of such are admissible as business records, and those business records are easily admitted into evidence against the homeowner as an exception to the hearsay rule. Until 2022, this was a somewhat gray area. But in 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Board changed all of that. It said that any company that was in fact, receiving and processing payments from homeowners was a servicer. This made sense since the record of payments could only come from transactions between the company receiving the payments and the homeowner who tendered such payments. But companies like CoreLogic et al (FINTECH) continue to argue that they are NOT servicers because they do not own or hold the implied underlying obligation or any documents pertaining to the transaction with the homeowner. Most homeowners and lawyers back off simply because they don’t know the next step. Here it is —- Servicing means receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a borrower pursuant to the terms of any federally related mortgage loan, including amounts for escrow accounts under section 10 of RESPA (12 U.S.C. 2609), and making the payments to the owner of the loan or other third parties of principal and interest and such other payments with respect to the amounts received from the borrower as may be required pursuant to the terms of the mortgage servicing loan documents or servicing contract. In the case of a home equity conversion mortgage or reverse mortgage as referenced in this section, servicing includes making payments to the borrower. 12 USC 1024.2
04/13/23	Just How Much is a Mortgage Lien Enforceable After Bankruptcy Discharge	Living Lies	Just How Much is a Mortgage Lien Enforceable After Bankruptcy Discharge The basic premise is that the debt is NEVER discharged. It is only the ability of the owner of the underlying debt to enforce that debt that is discharged. Thus the owner of a lien may still enforce the lien after BKR discharge. The only exception would be a finding in Bankruptcy court that the claim is not secured by the claimed lien in favor of a particular creditor.
04/12/23	Why Courts Enter Judgments Based upon False Facts	Living Lies	Why Courts Enter Judgments Based upon False Facts I frequently get provocative letters explaining to me that the entire system is corrupt and that it is futile to contest actions undertaken by the mega banks or their intermediaries. In turn, these letters frequently go out to others and become the norm in exchanges of information between uninformed people. These letters are getting increasingly frequent as I zero in on the real cracks in the illusion of armor presented by those banks (through intermediaries and regional law firms who are clients of the foreclosure enforcement law firms). Yes, that is right. The law firm presenting the claim against you is presenting another law firm, not the designated creditor. Homeowners get particularly incensed when the opposing attorney supposedly writes a letter containing bald-faced lies.
04/12/23	First Republic Bank’s “Rescuers” Had Underwritten $3.6 Billion of its Preferred Shares, Which Have Lost 65 to 70 Percent of their Value Year-to-Date	Wall Street On Parade	First Republic Bank’s “Rescuers” Had Underwritten $3.6 Billion of its Preferred Shares, Which Have Lost 65 to 70 Percent of their Value Year-to-Date Four of the eleven big banks that announced on March 16 that they were going to dump a combined $30 billion of their own money as uninsured deposits into the plunging coffers of First Republic Bank were also the underwriters of $3.6 billion in preferred stock for First Republic Bank. Units of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo were underwriters of the majority of the preferred stock outstanding at First Republic Bank. UBS, which did not contribute to the $30 billion deposit infusion, was also one of the primary underwriters. UBS was otherwise occupied last month by having a gun put to its head by the Swiss government to “rescue” the tanking Credit Suisse. The Swiss government also denied shareholders on both sides of the deal the ability to vote on the matter.
04/11/23	How Wall Street Banks Use SEC.GOV as a Billboard for Faking MBS	Living Lies	How Wall Street Banks Use SEC.GOV as a Billboard for Faking MBS Digging Into a $344 Billion Investing Mystery Preposterous claims in private investment offerings illustrate an important point about red-hot ‘Reg D’ securities: No one is checking to see if the details in these filings are even remotely true
04/11/23	Fed Report: Largest 25 U.S. Banks Have Shed $700 Billion in Deposits Over Past Year	Wall Street On Parade	Fed Report: Largest 25 U.S. Banks Have Shed $700 Billion in Deposits Over Past Year To read the headlines in the major business press, one would think that since the upheaval began in the U.S. banking system, the largest U.S. commercial banks have been the beneficiaries in terms of deposit inflows. For example, on March 13 the Financial Times ran this headline: “Large US banks inundated with new depositors as smaller lenders face turmoil.” The subhead was even more questionable, reading: “Failure of Silicon Valley Bank prompts flight to likes of JPMorgan and Citi.”
04/10/23	Collateral lawsuits and Adversary lawsuits in bankruptcy actions	Living Lies	Collateral lawsuits and Adversary lawsuits in bankruptcy actions If the party named as claimant or Plaintiff or Beneficiary did not own any unpaid debt and said party, therefore, suffered no economic injury by and through any action or inaction of the defendant or homeowner, then despite the appearance of default, no legal default has occurred even upon declaration of such by a disinterested third party. 1916 article on collateral attacks.
04/09/23	Lawyer accused of scamming homeowners skips court appearance	The Real DEal	Lawyer accused of scamming homeowners skips court appearance A North Carolina attorney facing felony charges for her alleged role in scamming poor homeowners failed to appear at a hearing related to her criminal case scheduled last week. Ilesanmi “Ile” Adaramola is accused of finding properties facing foreclosure and forcing them into auction by falsifying documents, among other things, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
04/06/23	Ocwen is seen as potential trouble!	Living Lies	Ocwen is seen as potential trouble! Ocwen Related Matters During the year ended December 31, 2022, Ocwen was our largest customer, accounting for 41% of our total revenue. Additionally, 6% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 was earned on the loan portfolios serviced by Ocwen, when a party other than Ocwen or the MSR owner selected Altisource as the service provider. Ocwen has disclosed that it is subject to a number of ongoing federal and state regulatory examinations, consent orders, inquiries, subpoenas, civil investigative demands, requests for information and other actions and is subject to pending and threatened legal proceedings, some of which include claims against Ocwen for substantial monetary damages. Previous regulatory actions against Ocwen have subjected Ocwen to independent oversight of its operations and placed certain restrictions on its ability to acquire servicing rights. Existing or future similar matters could result in adverse regulatory or other actions against Ocwen. In addition to the above, Ocwen may become subject to future adverse regulatory or other actions.
04/05/23	Government program helps Wisconsinites avoid foreclosure	Spectrum News	Government program helps Wisconsinites avoid foreclosure Thousands of Wisconsinites have received assistance from the state’s Help for Homeowners program, but more help is still available, Gov. Tony Evers said Thursday. WHH launched in March 2022, and thus far, more than 5,400 Wisconsin homeowners have received assistance through the program. WHH, which is federally funded, provides up to $40,000 for Wisconsin homeowners, ensuring people can stay in their homes and avoid facing foreclosure because of “pandemic-related financial burdens.”
04/05/23	15 USC§1635 triggers an event, not a claim	Living Lies	15 USC§1635 triggers an event, not a claim The basic thrust of argument on TILA rescission is that rescission is an event, not a claim. After sending (mailing USPS) the notice of rescission, there is nothing else required on the part of the homeowner. It was passsed in the 1960s to force compliance with lending laws. 15 USC §1635 is effective upon mailing, even if the judge or anyone else thinks it was not sent in good faith, as long as it is within 3 years of consummation of the alleged transction. See Jesinoski v Countrywide (2015 unaimous US Supreme Court decision). Virtually all foreclosures of the note and mortgage after rescission are and will always be void. Title remains vested in the homeowner. Both title and the right to possession can be enforced by such homeowners by injunction and eviction proceedings. The only limit to such enforcement is an action by the pretender lender to obtain title by advserse possession which generally carries a minimum of 20 years for the adverse possession of the dispute property. No such action is allowed to be filed in less than 20 years since the the commencement of the “adverse possession” as if the possessor had title.
04/05/23	A Growing Lack of Confidence in the Fed Is Spilling Over into a Lack of Confidence in U.S. Banks	Wall Street On Parade	A Growing Lack of Confidence in the Fed Is Spilling Over into a Lack of Confidence in U.S. Banks Millions of Americans are beginning to ask themselves this question: Is the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) a competent central bank or a terminally compromised regulator that simply does the bidding of Wall Street’s mega banks to the peril of average Americans and the U.S. economy? Millions of other Americans have already made up their minds on this point.
04/04/23	After Pushing the Wall Street Scheme to Repeal Glass-Steagall, the New York Times Returns to Puff Pieces on Rodge Cohen and Jamie Dimon	Wall Street On Parade	After Pushing the Wall Street Scheme to Repeal Glass-Steagall, the New York Times Returns to Puff Pieces on Rodge Cohen and Jamie Dimon The New York Times has been able to fly below the radar in terms of its insufferable ability to muck up the financial system of the United States and then canonize its aiders and abettors with puff pieces. It was none other than the New York Times that repeatedly used its editorial page to advocate for the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had protected the U.S. financial system from crisis for 66 years until its repeal under the Wall Street friendly Bill Clinton administration in 1999. It took only nine years after its repeal for the U.S. financial system to crash in 2008, requiring the largest public bailout in U.S. history. We’re now in banking crisis and bailout 3.0.

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