Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

[BigBagel]

http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/...n-foreclosures

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/bu...rtgage.html?hp

Article in Propublica details an individual manager signing 10,000 documents a month that need to be notarized with the signer having detailed knowledge of the details in the document.

The NYT detailing that a title insurance company will not issue policies to buyers of GMAC foreclosures.

"And if completed foreclosures were not properly done, families who bought the troubled homes could be vulnerable to claims by the former owners."

Watch who you buy a foreclosure from.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/bu...e&ref=business

JP Morgan also suspending foreclosures.

The madness continues.

[don]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

After years of Extend & Pretend. It will be interesting to see how the oligarchs spin this aspect of the political economy....

Big Bank Foreclosure Delays Signal Big Trouble

JP Morgan Chase told CNBC on Wednesday that it will delay more than 56,000 foreclosure proceedings due to paperwork that was signed, "without the signer personally having reviewed those files."

That came on the heels of GMAC halting foreclosures and evictions in 23 states for roughly the same reason. All this leads anybody with a heartbeat to figure that other large servicers will likely follow suit, as potential lawsuits abound. So what will that mean to the larger foreclosure crisis and the already weakening housing recovery?

"It's clear the pace of foreclosures will slow down," says Laurie Maggiano, Policy Director in the Treasury Department's Homeownership Preservation Office.

"Worst case is that the current foreclosure problems turn out to be industry-wide and trigger a landslide of legal challenges that lock up foreclosures resolutions for a year or more," says Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance.

That means all kinds of borrowers would sit in their homes free of charge, banks would be unable to get any return at all, and the housing market would still be facing the inevitable: "We may then see a [foreclosure] surge at some point in the future," notes Treasury's Maggiano.

We've talked an awful lot about artificial government stimulus skewing the housing recovery as it tries to help; that's nothing compared to the potential for this latest scandal to wreak havoc on housing yet again.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39441529

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

More evidence that at the turn of the century the U.S. stopped accepting the rule of law, starting at the top and spreading downwards.

It wasn't an epidemic of young thugs mugging and burgling people directly; it was an epidemic of middle-aged managers stealing indirectly with lies from the comfort of their desk.

Just like street crime, it will continue until we put the criminals in jail.

[don]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

Denninger on Mortgage Gate:

Here Comes The Spin! (Foreclosure Fraud)
You can't expect The Manhattan Times to actually report on the facts that would sink all their patrons, can you?

GMAC has acknowledged legal missteps in processing mortgages, and JPMorgan Chase has acknowledged the possibility of missteps, and both have suspended all foreclosures in the 23 states where they need a court’s approval. That’s 56,000 in the case of Chase alone; GMAC declined to provide a number.

Notice the wording here - "legal missteps."

Uh huh.

Fabricating documents is a "misstep"? No, it's fraud and uttering (forgery.)
Counterfeiting a summons is a "misstep"? No, it's both fraud and uttering (forgery.)

GMAC and Chase are in trouble because, overwhelmed with foreclosures, they tried to process them as quickly and cheaply as possible, defense lawyers say. The companies say they are reviewing their procedures to take care of any violations.

Oh c'mon.

GMAC and Chase are in trouble because, during the go-go years in 2005 or thereabouts, they never properly conveyed the paper into the trusts in the first place, and, it has recently come out, much of the paper that was taken was not in compliance with the representations and warranties expressed in the offering circulars. While the particular cited example is from Countrywide, there is no reason to believe that any other lender was acting in a materially-different fashion.

That is, it wasn't "a few bad loans." Indeed, it was a majority of bad loans, to the point that the banks issuing and funding them had to know they were no good in the first instance, and were in rank violation of the promises they made to investors. Yet once the bad loans were made, violating those promises (this is fraud too!) was necessary in order to refill the coffers from which more bad loans could be made.

The banks didn't care. They (correctly, thus far) deduced that they would not be held responsible for their lies, just as they got away with it back in the 1990s with their "IPO madness" during the Internet Bubble, when they also peddled paper they knew was riddled through with lies.

Caveat Emptor is all well and good, but in order to exercise it as a buyer you have to be able to actually discover the truth. In many cases this was literally rendered impossible - witness today that Fannie and Freddie have been unable to obtain the original loan documents from the banks as they examine whether the loans should be "put back" - that is, the banks are refusing to document what they originally sold.

Why would you try to hide something that would exonerate you if you did nothing wrong? You wouldn't - you'd immediately present the proof, and that would be the end of it.

The conclusion that comes from this is obvious.

Defense lawyers say the disclosures are symptomatic of the carelessness, if not outright fraud, that lenders have been exhibiting for years in their rush to file cases. Many necessary documents have disappeared, with defense lawyers saying the lenders often do not even have standing to foreclose.

The documents haven't "disappeared" they were destroyed. In point of fact, as I have documented, the lenders admit to, in many cases, having destroyed them. Then when they wish to foreclose they file an affidavit claiming the paperwork has been "lost." This too is a fraud - that which you intentionally destroyed was not lost, you trashed it. If you trashed it in a state that requires you to present originals, you have, by your own hand and with intent, destroyed your standing before the court.

So there you have it. The media once again comes out and spins the news, trying to cover up the facts - the very institutions in their districts made a bunch of bad loans, they did it on purpose, they sold them knowing they were trash to other people, and now, having intentionally designed and implemented processes that did not meet state law requirements and having destroyed some of the evidence that might implicate them, they claim "the dog ate my homework."

Just as with Watergate, the real crimes aren't usually in the original act. Watergate was a burglary - a decidedly pedestrian criminal event. But the attempt to cover it up was sufficient to bring down a President. Thus it will be this time too - if we can find an honest judge or prosecutor somewhere in the nation to decide that they've had enough of this crap.

Fraud upon the court is an extremely serious matter. If it is allowed to continue without severe and certain punishment it destroys the citizen's confidence in the judicial system - the "last stand" for someone who has been wrongly accused of some act, whether it be civil or criminal.

By allowing these frauds to stand with either a handslap (e.g. dismissal without prejudice, no sanctions, and no contempt citations) the Judges in this nation are trashing the last bit of confidence that the common man has in our government and legal system. This is an extremely dangerous act, and one that is likely to have consequences that, if it does not stop, will reverberate for a generation.

We need judges with a pair of balls who will start issuing criminal contempt citations and throwing the attorneys involved in the fabrication of paperwork and filing of false pleadings, affidavits and "evidence in prison, and we need them now.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=168000

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

More evidence that at the turn of the century the U.S. stopped accepting the rule of law, ...

Which century - 1900 or 2000 <grin> ?

[don]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

The former, when we entered the colonial game

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

Which century - 1900 or 2000 <grin> ?

"both" is a good answer, but my personal tangible concern is last 20 years.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

I should have symmmmmmmmmmpathy for dead-beats who defaulted on their created mortgages, with little or nothing down?????????? Who cares if the paper-work didn't have every i-dotted and every t-crossed properly????????????? Why are the details of the foreclosures an issue? The dead-beats skipped the payments, and that should be the point that the courts note. The dead-beats stiffed the lenders--- an olde story in the USA, really a national pastime. And the dead-beats have rights????????????? The American courts uphold these rights, and the Demos play politics with these rights????????

My home is in Canada, for many reasons, like the banks don't lend in Canada unless the home-buyer puts major skin-in-the-game, like 50% down, and the banks lend on a clear and physical title, not on a trust-deed mess. The dead-beats pay good olde-fashioned rent in Canada, and they are not automatically entitled to the rights of home-ownership..... Dead-beats who default on mortgages are not considered to be victims in the Canadian courts.

[BigBagel]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business...,0,36776.story

Steve, you have sympathy for the guy in the story above. He paid cash for his house but Bank of America foreclosed on him anyway. "We don't need no stinking mortgage. We take your house anyway." FIRE gone berserk.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business...,0,36776.story

Steve, you have sympathy for the guy in the story above. He paid cash for his house but Bank of America foreclosed on him anyway. "We don't need no stinking mortgage. We take your house anyway." FIRE gone berserk.

When you have PHYSICAL POSSESSION oF CLEAR-TITLE, no lender can foreclose on you for the simple reason that YOU HOLD THE TITLE. Let's take this nice and slow, the way I like it: YOU HOLD A PHYSICAL DOCUMENT CALLED A CLEAR-TITLE TO PROPERTY with a lacy border and the name of the jurisdiction at the top. This so-called victim held a deed of trust and NOT a clear-title.

Oh, my goodness, why do I live in Canada with its miserable winters and its taxes? There are many reasons why, one of them being Canada's archaic system of transferring real estate title. YOU GET A PHYSICAL TITLE TO PUT ON YOUR WALL, next to your certificate of divorce. IT IS REAL, just like gold is real.

A REAL TITLE is a real ownership of titled-property under the jurisdiction of the government; just like gold is real money. IT IS IMPORTANT! The devil is in the details. A TRUST-DEED OR TRUST-DEED CHAIN IS NOT A CLEAR TITLE TO PROPERTY; a first-deed of trust is first mortgage in a property. A second-deed of trust is a second mortgage. Just because you hold a deed of trust, does NOT mean you have established a CLEAR-TITLE. Even holding a first-deed of trust might leave problems in the title with un-paid taxes, un-paid utility bills, un-paid property assessments, spousal rights from a divorce, etc.

Kids, you really need to ask questions and stay late. Seek the help of a lawyer when you transact real estate. Or have your clear-title guaranteed by A TITLE COMPANY with deep pockets for liability. AND NEVER BUY PROPERTIES FOR CASH IN AN AUCTION OF ANY KIND. NEVER!

This is why I am deemed, "slow" in school. Maybe you are smarter than lawyers and smarter than thieves? I am not, so I need plenty of qualified legal help in a real estate deal. And lacy titles, registered with the jurisdiction in a real estate deal are paramount.

[don]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc


So to make the moral argument is nonsense. See, in the past if you walked away everyone would look at you like a financial newbie because you had to put 20 percent into your home (frankly, it was very unlikely except in extreme cases that a strategic default would occur). Today, if you bought a home for $500,000 with zero down and the home is now worth $250,000 why in the world would you stay in the place? It just doesn’t make economic sense. Banks have robbed the country blind and they are only standing because the public has bailed them out. Now there is this propaganda that TARP is nearly paid back. Well let us all do a happy dance!

We are now three years into the bailouts and Wall Street shenanigans and most Americans are now poorer than they have ever been. And someone is arguing that typical Americans should pay their mortgage no matter what? Give me a break. This is exactly why you have large down payment requirements to begin with.If these history revisionists want to preach about something why don’t they talk about the 20 percent down payment that was typical in the past? Why don’t they argue for bringing back the separation of investment and commercial banking? It seems like their parent’s generation did well under this system. Of course they won’t argue this because they would rather argue a narrow focused ideological battle that has nothing to do with historical economic facts.


It is rather clear what works and what doesn’t and now we need the actual reformation of the system to be implemented.


http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/c...for-the-state/

[don]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Homes in Florida Seized Without Notice of Foreclosure: Suspicously Large Number of “The Dog Ate My Summons” Filings

More revelations from one of the epicenters of the housing implosion. 4ClosureFraud has published an eyepoppingly long list of affidavits of lost summons in foreclosure cases.
This is a teeny extract from their sample, so readers can see what their roster looks like:



I spoke to the individuals who compiled this sample; the roster on the 4ClosureFraud site is from DuVal county only. They’ve pulled records from across the state and find similar high volumes in every county. They have refined their queries to exclude judicial notices that are not germane and are up to nearly 9000 questionable notices of lost summons, nearly all from 2010 (in three counties, they have gone into 2009 records). They are in the process of drilling back in time to come up with a more definitive figure.

Both judicial and non-judicial states require that the person being foreclosed upon receive some sort of notification that they are at risk of losing their home as a result of serious delinquency on their mortgage borrowings. In judicial states such as Florida, the first step is the service of process. As 4ClosureFraud noted:

Proper service of process initially establishes personal jurisdiction of the court over the person served. If the defendant ignores further pleadings or fails to participate in the proceedings, then the court or administrative body may find the defendant in default and award relief to the claimant, petitioner or plaintiff. Service of process must be distinguished from service of subsequent documents (such as pleadings and motion papers) between the parties to litigation.

One has to remember the timetable here: foreclosure notices take place during an active phase of the entire foreclosure process. What are the odds that these “lost” notices reflect legitimate lost documents, as opposed to failure to provide proper notice at all and lying to the court after the fact? The sheer volume strongly suggests the overwhelming majority are the result of the utter disregard of the foreclosure mills for due process. As noted earlier, this sample is from DuVal county (see the CA in the case identifier). And notice how many look bogus; they don’t even have the borrower’s name on them (”for unknown tenants/owners”, “for Mortgage Electronic Registry Services”; many in the name of Jane or John Doe).

It may seem incredible that the foreclosure mills aren’t bothering to provide summons; after all, how hard is it to provide service at someone’s home? All the process server needs to do is slip a notice under the door or tape it to their front door. But the foreclosure mills are processing cases in such volumes that performing this task has, well, become a tad inconvenient. An employee of one of the mills in Florida explained:

I worked at ProVest for 7 months a few years ago, as jobs are scarce. There were some issues there of some of the servers just “drop serving” the summons, (just leaving at the door and saying they gave it directly) or Sewer serves, (saying it was served and they never even left at the door). A few borrowers obtained legal counsel and executed their rights, as they were never properly served, but there are probably more borrowers unaware they have been “had”.

If Improperly served, the court dates cannot be set.

Due to ProVest’s aggressive style, and high volume of work, it is possible many servers, not direct employees, were forced to do the serves this way due to the volume and ProVest’s unrealistic expectations. They wanted a serve within 10 days of it being filed at the court house. As an employee, server or not, if you did not meet their outrageous timeframes it provoked what I call “public floggings” of employees. Not a nice place to work.

Yves here. Mind you, this is a report from a few years ago; foreclosure volumes have exploded since then. How hard is it to imagine that the foreclosure mills are simply skipping this step more than occasionally in districts with bank-friendly judges?

Make no mistake about it: the nature and scale of these frauds cut at the very heart of our judicial process. We didn’t call the Florida courts “kangaroo courts” lightly. A home is most people’s most important asset; shelter is a bedrock of personal security. Both the Fifth and the Fourteenth amendments enshrine the notion of due process, yet we see increasing evidence of it being violated on a routine basis in the Sunshine State.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/...s-filings.html

[Starving Steve]

Re: Robo-Signers Cause Havoc

How can a dead-beat who put nothing down on a house, "be had" in a foreclosure proceeding? Not only did the dead-beat not put skin-in-the-game, but they also wrote-down the interest to almost zero for the first three years or so of the mortgage. These were called, "liar loans" because the dead-beat would lie about their income and ability to pay the mortgage amortization. And then upon foreclosure, the dead-beat drags-out the process to stay in the house rent-free. Then upon eviction, the dead-beat strips the house of fixtures. And don't tell me this is the exception; this is the rule. This is the norm. It's "the par for the course". The dead-beat does get evicted, after months or years of paying less than rent, maybe not even paying a penny in rent. The dead-beats in America have perfected this "mooching off of the system" into an art-form, really a national past-time.