I found this site about foreclosures. It has case law and a great deal of useful information for those in foreclosure. I recommend you give it a look.
On the other hand, if you are an attorney, it’s a good place to start your hunt for the case law on this issue. And I promise you the case law is developing very rapidly in this area.
James Pilant
Author: southwerk
I am a 53 year old teacher. I have double major in Speech and Criminal Justice resulting in a Bachelor's degree from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and a law degree.
Reality Takes A Hike!!
From MSNBC Business – Real Estate –
On Wednesday, Phyllis Caldwell, chief of the Treasury Department’s homeownership preservation office, told a financial bailout watchdog panel that there was no evidence of risk to the financial system from the documents scandal — or from efforts by mortgage investors to force banks to buy back problem loans.
Okay, let’s take a deep breath.
Now, where do we start? The amount of self delusion necessary if she actually believed this is staggering. If she doesn’t believe it, she must believe that we are grotesquely stupid and amenable to the most childish stupidity.
Put me in her position and ask my opinion. It will run like this –
“Oh, my God, oh, my God, in six months we are going to have to pay out several hundred billion dollars to shore up the banking industry, the housing crisis will be extended by three to four years and there’s going to be a legal battle over bank buybacks of improper securities that should last roughly a decade.”
Oh, and I will probably add, “Thank the Lord, I’m admitting how serious the situation is, because I’d sure look like a fool if I told everyone there was no problem! After that, I wouldn’t have any credibility at all.”
It’s hard to add to this. I could throw numbers running down the page for quite a distance about the huge amounts of money and the incredible number of mortgages affected by the crisis. But you can read, if you’ve paying any attention, you already know the numbers are huge.
So, I’ll let what I say stand without throwing the numbers at you. After all, I’ve probably got 15 to 20 posts where I talk about the numbers in detail.
I tell you guys. I just don’t get it. I graduated from Oklahoma’s Northeastern State University, got my law degree at the University of Tulsa College of Law. This woman has a BA, sociology and urban planning, and MBA, University of Maryland. Why is her thinking so different from mine?
Well, she’s got something I haven’t got, twenty years in the banking industry, most of it at Bank of America.
That would be the same bank that resumed foreclosures after deciding it didn’t have a problem? It would.
I guess I might not see a problem there either, if I only just had her “experience.”
James Pilant
More Evidence That Foreclosures Were Done Incorrectly – 55,000 Times!
Remember everybody including the White House says there is no systematic problem with the mortgage industry. Wells Fargo is apparently not cooperating with the narrative
Wells Fargo admitted Wednesday it made mistakes in the paperwork for thousands of foreclosure cases and promised to fix them.
The San Francisco-based bank said it plans to refile documents in 55,000 of the cases by mid-November. The company said not all those cases included errors but didn’t say how many thousands did.
Wells Fargo described the mistakes as technical and said it has no plans to halt the foreclosure process, though filing new paperwork will cause some delays.
“We don’t believe that there are instances in which the foreclosures would not have occurred otherwise,” said Teri Schrettenbrunner, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman. The documents are being refiled in the 23 states where a judge’s approval is needed to complete a foreclosure.
I guess there isn’t any real problem. Oh! and they think so too – (from further down in the article) –
On a conference call with investors this month, Stumpf said the bank is “confident that our practices, procedures and documentation” are accurate.
Well, that’s reassuring. Except for those, well, 55,000 mistakes, they’re accurate.
I teach. By their standards, not only did all my students pass with A’s, they passed and got full credit for all the classes meeting nearby. They may have passed courses in other dimensions and forms of reality.
I hate to tell them this, but 55,000 mistakes is a lot of mistakes! Further, it doesn’t make claims that A) “We don’t believe that there are instances in which the foreclosures would not have occurred otherwise,” and B) “the bank is confident that our practices, procedures and documentation are accurate,” sound very convincing.
It’s kind of like a married man being caught with another woman. He didn’t really cheat except for those 55,000 times. Both he and Wells Fargo want you to know that it isn’t that big a deal.
James Pilant
President Clueless!
The mortgage industry lies and cheats for two years and the President conveys his concerns.
He is worried about deadbeat homeowners.
I have to point out no matter how deadbeat a homeowner, he didn’t deliberately create a half million false affidavits. No matter how far behind in payments a homeowner might be, he didn’t foreclose on a property he didn’t own.
But the President isn’t worried about violations of the law, he’s worried that some homeowner will get aid he doesn’t deserve. That explains the byzantine labyrinth of paperwork required for the federal program, HAMP, (and why it doesn’t work).
“The biggest challenge is how do you make sure that you are helping those who really deserve help and if they get some temporary help can get back on their feet, make their payments and move forward and stay in their home versus either people who are speculators, own second homes that they really couldn’t afford because they’d gotten a subprime loan, and people who through no fault of their own just can’t afford their house anymore because of the change in housing values or their incomes don’t support it,” Obama said during a roundtable discussion with a handful of progressive bloggers at the White House.
“And we’re always trying to find that sweet spot to use as much of the money that we have available to us to help those who can be helped, without wasting that money on folks who don’t deserve help,” he continued. “And that’s a tough balance to strike.”
“The sweet spot,” Wow, do you get the impression that the only people allowed anywhere near him are bankers telling stories of deadbeat homeowners. I assume after they finish their litany about “personal responsibility, they then tell him how sad it is that the American people don’t appreciate his efforts.
I have been directly criticized for having the category, incredible stupidity, as one of my topics for search engines to pick up. It’s shrill. What else is appropriate here? Damn right it’s shrill.
I haven’t the slightest objection to being tough of wrongdoing on the part of the mortgage holders. But, good grief, the banks and foreclosure industry have been gaming the legal system, and refusing to act in good faith. Doesn’t he notice? Is he obligated by his Presidential oath to only worry about wrongdoing by non-banking entities?
Couldn’t he generate an unkind word for robo-affidavits? Just one unkind word?
He couldn’t even manage that.
Is the President right and fifty states’ Attorney Generals wrong?
Well, let’s look at the problem from a different angle – from CBS news –
Now there’s more evidence of just how blatantly the paperwork for that flood of foreclosures has been mishandled. Consider this: a stack of legal documents used to seize homes that don’t even identify the lender claiming to hold the mortgage.
Instead the words “bogus assignee” fill the space where the lender’s name should be. In foreclosure after foreclosure, the lender’s address is listed only as x’s, such as xxxxxxx. In some cases the documents identify the lender as “bad bene.”
“They have foreclosed in the name of ‘bad bene,’ for bad beneficiary,” says attorney Robert Hager.
Hager, who represents homeowners fighting foreclosure, says the paperwork also appears to bear bogus signatures.
“This is how arrogant they are with regard to taking homes,” he says.
How arrogant, indeed.
They might be less arrogant if held accountable.
James Pilant
Confessions Of A Robosigner
He Spent So Many Hours Writing His Name That His Signature Morphed Into A Series Of Four Circles Overlapping One Another.
From CNN Money.com –
The paperwork he robo-signed most often were the notices to delinquent borrowers that the servicer was proceeding to foreclosure. By signing that document, he was affirming that the bank had reviewed the loan and it didn’t qualify for a modification. But, he said, the reality was he had no idea whether Bank of America had really tried to save the borrower’s home.
“We had no knowledge of whether the foreclosure could proceed or couldn’t, but regardless, we signed the documents to get these foreclosures out of the way,” he said, noting that he assumed another department had checked that the review was done.
In his final weeks on the job, a notary routinely left him stacks of 20-page files, each one with a tab indicating where he needed to sign or initial. He had no idea what those documents were.
He spent so many hours writing his name that his signature morphed into a series of four circles overlapping one another. He said that he and his co-workers joked that they got so used to the rapid-fire signatures that they started signing personal paperwork that way.
There was no examination of whether or not the homeowner qualified for a modification. That was not fair. The bank failed in its duty to its customers and stockholders. Stockholders? Yes, the banks would make more over time with modifications.
When we talk about a mortgage holder qualifying for a modification, we’re not talking about whether or not the holder is a good person or a bad one, the criteria are designed to tell the bank that they make more money renegotiating than not.
We are not talking about the bank doing a homeowner a favor. We are talking about a bank ignoring its own procedures and its own profits.
From further down in the article –
Now that he’s not in the thick of the foreclosure process, Doan said he has had time to reflect on what his actions meant. Each signature likely led to a borrower losing his or her home. While he got numb to that fact while he was on the job, he now feels guilty.
“I shudder to think how many foreclosure documents have my name on it,” he said.
It was needlessly cruel to deny borrowers the opportunity to renegotiate. It was a failure of ethical judgment and of the principles of basic fairness.
James Pilant
Drumroll: Bank of America reviews several hundred foreclosure cases and finds…. (via Rortybomb)
Further evidence is coming in that the banks’ and the Obama Administration’s assurances of no systematic abuse in the foreclosure process are just nonsense.
Here’s some more evidence.
By the way, the web site Rortybomb seems to really have their stuff together. If I were you I’d give it a regular look.
James Pilant
via Rortybomb
“We Can Either Have a Rational Resolution to the Foreclosure Crisis or We Can Preserve the Capital Structure of the Banks. We Can’t Do Both” (via Foreclosureblues)
Foreclosureblues is a web site devoting to defending homeowners. I like this web site. This is a fighting web site filled with a desire for justice and fair dealing. Here is there take on today’s congressional hearings.
James Pilant
via Foreclosureblues
Banks Muscle Up For Fight With States’ Attorney Generals!
Bank of America is loading up big guns for the coming battle over its mortgage practices. It has picked up former Virginia Attorney General Richard Cullen and Brian Boyle, formerly of the Justice Department.
Richard Cullen, chairman of the McGuireWoods law firm and Virginia attorney general from 1997-1998, is one of the lawyers representing the nation’s largest mortgage servicer. Cullen has already been communicating with the offices of various state attorneys general, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
Here’s more from further down in the same article –
Cullen served on President George W. Bush’s legal team during the Florida vote recount after the 2000 presidential election. He also represented Republican Tom DeLay in a recent federal probe that did not result in any charges being filed against the former U.S. House of Representatives majority leader.
Through a spokesman Cullen declined to comment on Bank of America. The company also did not answer questions on Wednesday.
Bank of America has also turned to a former top Justice Department lawyer in the George W. Bush administration to represent it in dealings with state attorneys general.
Brian Boyle, formerly principal deputy assistant U.S. attorney general, participated in a conference call between the bank and representatives from the Florida attorney general’s office, a spokeswoman for the office said.
It’s a pity that the Americans who were the victims of these practices will have to fight without picking up this kind of firepower.
But there is such a thing as justice and if these practices are as nefarious as they appear to me.
Justice will come.
James Pilant
Microsoft Is A Dying Consumer Brand
After I bought a new computer some years ago with Windows Vista on it, my attitude toward Microsoft changed.
I swore revenge. That’s right. Whether you call it a Jihad, a crusade, or a revival of the Lincoln County Cattle War, I’m on board.
Night after night as my operating system imploded destroying my data, I got angrier and angrier. Than came the ultimate humiliation. It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’m busy at work. Suddenly the computer shuts down and loads updates. That’s right! My robodatakiller computer operating system went Hal on me.
Then Microsoft responded to the complaints. Their spokesman explained that these problems were temporary and basically added that they weren’t going to make any real changes and people like me should learn to suck it up.
Now, I challenge you to find anything with a microsoft label in my home.
So, the article in CNN Money was not unwelcome to me.
However, it acted like Microsoft’s problems were just a matter of poor timing and products not being competitive.
Apparently the writer doesn’t understand hatred.
James Pilant
Andrew Comments On The Post – HAMP (Home Affordability Modification Program) Disastrous!
The original post was “HAMP (Home Affordability Modification Program) Disastrous!”
Here are Andrew’s thoughts –
Part of the reason I didnt vote for Obama is because he is a good orator, but I dont think he understood any of what he was actually saying.
Its not the “political system”. Its the inexperience and incompetence of the president that is causing this.
I think part of the problem is that our government is so complicated that the average layman cannot take the time to fully understand how it even works. This creates a smokescreen that allows these politicians to do as they please. Its easier to snatch cookies out of the cookie jar when noone can see you, right?
The financial industry is the same way. Worse if you ask me. There is so much red tape and smoke being blown that it seems like most banks EXPECT the average working man to not have a clue as to how banks and financing work. A perfect example of this was when I applied for the mortgage on my home. The loan officer was going through the paperwork with me (she was a very nice lady, by the way). When we got to the interest rate, I stopped her and asked her “Is this number here (pointing to the sheet of paper) the nominal or effective interest rate?” She seemed utterly astonished at this! She said in the 8 years that she has been a loan officer, she has never run across anyone else, who did not work in the banking industry, who understood that distinction. That suprised me.
If the American people dont even understand the problem, then how can we effectively judge how well the administration is doing to actually fix the problem. This creates an environment so that the President can attend to his own agenda and, like you said, let good PR cover up the fact that he doesnt seem interested in actually fixing the problem.
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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