| Subject -Ohio Attorney Generaly Press Release | |
| Details: |
I Sent The Following To The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office.
| Subject -Ohio Attorney Generaly Press Release | |
| Details: |
Cordray: Refiling Affidavits is an Insult to the Justice System
I don’t usually print press releases, but I REALLY like this one!
From the Ohio Attorney General Web Site –
COLUMBUS, Ohio) — In response to Wells Fargo’s statement acknowledging that it “made mistakes” and that affidavits in 55,000 foreclosures filed by the bank did not “adhere” to the law, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray offers the following statement:
“The big mortgage servicers and financial firms continue to demonstrate their belief that they do not need to play by the same rules as everyone else who uses our court system. The suggestion by Wells Fargo and its colleagues at several other national firms that they can cure fraudulent testimony by simply refiling new affidavits and continuing to proceed toward foreclosures shows they do not recognize the seriousness of the problem they have created. There is no simple ‘do-over’ for false testimony that will be likely to avoid sanctions and penalties imposed by the courts. Their brazen efforts to minimize their financial exposure by sweeping these problems under the rug are an insult to the justice system in this country. These disclosures by Wells Fargo will now become the focus for a new prong of our on-going investigation.”
Earlier this month, Cordray filed a lawsuit against GMAC for issuing false affidavits in many Ohio foreclosure cases. He has taken a hard-line approach with national loan servicers operating in Ohio in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. In July 2009, Ohio was the first state to file a lawsuit against a loan servicer for violating the state’s consumer laws. Since then, two other cases have been filed in addition to the case against GMAC.
Okay, guys, there it is. I’ve been talking about it for weeks. This is fraud. It’s not mishandled paperwork. It’s not routine. It’s not something that “wouldn’t have changed the outcome in the vast majority of cases.” It’s illegal. It’s lying to the court. It’s telling Judges what you know to be untrue on oath.
The Ohio Attorney General has the guts to get out there and say it. The President won’t. The Wall Street Journal won’t. The Treasury department won’t.
But I have almost from the beginning.
It’s time for a foreclosure freeze, a moratorium until the industry gets its house in order. It’s time for action not just in Ohio but all over the fifty AND the federal government.
The American people have a right to believe that there is one type of law for all people be they in the banking industry or other citizens.
Let us go forward as a nation not just Ohio and punish these criminal acts.
James Pilant
Bayer and The Bees (via Your Daily Dose: The Ethics Behind Pharmaceutical Marketing )
This is a fine business ethics essay from my friends at “Your Daily Dose” in this case, Christine. (If you are reading this, Christine, I will be happy to use your whole name, should you desire it.)
The writing is clever. The information is interesting. The business ethical question dead on point.
Doesn’t get any better than that!
James Pilant
Robo Signing Began With Debt Buyers
When Michael Gazzarato took a job that required him to sign hundreds of affidavits in a single day, he had one demand for his employer: a much better pen.
“They tried to get me to do it with a Bic, and I wasn’t going – I wasn’t having it,” he said. “It was bad when I had to use the plastic Papermate-type pen. It was a nightmare.”
The complaint could have come from any of the autograph marathoners in the recent mortgage foreclosure mess. But Gazzarato was speaking at a deposition in a 2007 lawsuit against Asset Acceptance, a company that buys consumer debts and then tries to collect.
His job was to sign affidavits, swearing that he had personally reviewed and verified the records of debtors – a time-consuming task when done correctly.
Sound familiar?
That’s right. This brilliant idea was thought up by debt collection agencies, the ones that buy up debts for pennies on the dollar and then sell them back and forth trying to make a buck.
Now, all we have to do is figure out what incredible genius thought you could use the same practice with mortgages.
Mortgages are a different ball park. In the United States property cannot change hands without a written contract. Further, land is surrounded by laws and guarantees dating back centuries. Robo signing on unsecured debts like credit cards is probably pretty stupid but robo signing on mortgages is just asking for hard core exciting trouble and they are getting it.
Hold on to your hats, this scandal just keeps getting better by the day!
James Pilant
How To Use Research To Change Policy!
I ran across this on the internet. In Australia they do what’s called jump racing. It has been controversial for many years. The public opposes it by high majorities but after the last series of scandals, the racing industry made cosmetic changes and in that manner common to all industrial operations all over the world announced that everything was fixed.
Well, they didn’t fix it. So, Animals Australia created this report.
WARNING – Graphic Images!
This is devastating. It’s powerful. It’s incredible. This is how the internet, advocacy, policy making, journalism, intelligence and solid hard work come together to change the way things work.
Before the internet is divied up into corporate pie, there is still time for this kind of activism, telling truth to power.
James Pilant
It’s Scholarship Scam Time!
Generally, be wary of scholarship pitches that involve application fees, scholarship matching services that guarantee success and sales pitches that are disguised as financial aid seminars, said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid ( http://www.finaid.org).
Kantrowitz said he’s been seeing more loan scams that involve advance fee payments. The lure is an unusually low-interest educational loan, with the requirement that you pay a fee to receive the funding.
Of course, after you pay, the loan never materializes. Legitimate loans, on the other hand, deduct the fees from the disbursement checks.
Here are three variations of tuition scams to watch for, according to FinAid:
•Scholarships for profit: This type of fake program draws thousands of applications for scholarships and charges fees of $5 to $35 for processing. The promoters actually pay out a scholarship or two and take a hefty profit on the rest of the money. Your odds of winning the lottery are better.
•Eye on the prize: In this case, you’re notified that you’ve won a scholarship worth thousands of dollars, but you’re required to pay a disbursement fee or the taxes before the prize is released.
•The match game: Be wary of scholarship matching services that guarantee you’ll win money or they’ll return your funds.
I thought I would pass it along. Are the scammers increasing in number or is it just in reach? Are there not so many, but with computers and modern communications they can run many more scams simulaneously?
I don’t know. Maybe some of both.
Whenever you are in trouble and, right then, right there, on television or on the computer or on a roadside sign, the miraculous answer appears, it probably isn’t the answer. I am very sorry to have to tell you that.
It’s not as if the world wasn’t cruel enough.
James Pilant
The Legacy Of An Inspirational Teacher Is Felt Throughout The Ages.
Sarah Dunant writes about two teachers that inspired her.
This is her concluding paragraphs. I recommend you read the whole thing. I believe in the importance of teaching and I am a lecturer and story teller. It would be a great compliment to me should one of my students find me inspirational. Well, read.
Of course, every generation tends to view the past through rose-coloured lenses as they grow older. The importance of teachers in children’s lives is vital whatever moment in history you pick. Both of my daughters have had inspirational teachers, women and men who have cared for them emotionally as well as academically and have taught them as much about life as about learning. Indeed, one could argue that 50 years after feminism, both boys and girls have an even greater need of inspired teaching. Boys to handle the pressure that girls’ success has brought to their own educational journeys, and girls to combat an increasingly vicious culture which equates celebrity with opportunity, and sexual availability with independence. To get the other side of the story, kids need to hear about life from adults they can trust. And for their teenage years at least, the views of their parents often don’t cut the mustard.
The debate about education will, course, never end. How to ensure equality of opportunity? How far testing consolidates knowledge or just destroys curiosity? How to design a curriculum that leaves room for spontaneity and creativity for both pupils and teachers? And how to get away from the tyranny of those damn league tables?
I couldn’t figure out what a league table was, so I looked it up. From wikipedia –
A league table is a chart or list which compares sports teams, institutions, nations or companies by ranking them in order of ability or achievement. In the United Kingdom, many public-sector industries, including hospitals, compete in league tables. It is complained that the ranking of England’s schools to rigid guidelines that fail to take into account wider social conditions actually makes failing schools even worse. This is because the most involved parents will then avoid such schools, leaving only the children of non-ambitious parents to attend.
Vote For A Hero Today!
CNN is currently holding voting for heroes. They have created a panel which has selected ten people who have distinguished themselves.
You go here to vote and assess the candidates.
This is part of the story of one of the candidates –
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow was enjoying a pint at his local pub in the Scottish Highlands when he got an idea that would change his life — and the lives of thousands of others.
It was 1992, and MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus had just seen a news report about refugee camps in Bosnia. The images of people suffering in the war-torn country shocked the two salmon farmers, who’d visited there as teenagers and remembered the warmth of the Bosnian people.
“We began saying ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could just do one small thing to help?’ ” MacFarlane-Barrow says.
After talking it over, the two men took a week off work and collected food, clothing, medicine and blankets. They loaded everything into an old Land Rover, drove to Bosnia to deliver it and returned to Scotland.
“I came back here thinking that I did my one good deed and it would be back to work, but it [didn’t work] out like that, ” he says.
When they arrived home, the brothers found an avalanche of goods that people had continued to donate while they were away.
I won’t spoil the rest of it by giving away too much. Go see the kind of people we can be when we’re not trying to live by money values.
James Pilant
Set Up A Trust For Your Pet?
With an estimated 71.4 million U.S. households home to at least one bird, fish, reptile, cat, dog or bunny, pets are definitely our beloved companions in life. But what happens to them after we’re gone?
Some wind up in animal shelters, some are put to sleep. Others are farmed out to willing family or friends.
But to ensure there’s no uncertainty, it appears more Americans are specifying exactly what happens to Fido and Fluffy when they’re gone. That arrangement can be as casual as a friendly agreement with a grown child, a sibling or friend, or as concrete as a legally drafted trust.
Considering the number of cats I have, there may not be enough money in the world (at least my world) but others are taking of their pets after their death. I consider it a positive thing. Americans care enough about their pets that when Katrina forced evacuations there were pet owners who refused to leave without the beloved animals.
It’s not a sign of a sentimental people, it’s a sign of a great people, a great people with big hearts.
From further down in the article –
In California, pet trusts – which are part of estate planning documents and typically drafted by an attorney – were made legally enforceable by legislation signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008.
Some 43 states and the District of Columbia now have statutory pet trust laws on their books, according to attorney Dan Meeks, who runs a Florida website, http://www.pettrustlawblog.com.
Maybe you are in such financial shape that you can afford a trust for your pets. More likely, you have a trusted relative who will take care of your pets. That’s nice. (But if you have any extra cats, don’t leave them to me.)
James Pilant
Bank Agrees To Modify Your Mortgage – Then Kicks You Out – Standard Practice!
Across the country, struggling homeowners are increasingly tripped up by mortgage lenders that press ahead with foreclosures regardless of any effort they make to provide borrowers with relief on unaffordable mortgages.
Amid the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression, mortgage companies have established a dual-track approach toward troubled homeowners, negotiating with them over loan modifications while trying to seize their homes.
The banks are playing it both ways. They foreclose on you when you are delinquent on payments and they foreclose on you when you get your payments modified with them since you’re not paying the full amount. Confused? Think how you would feel after reaching an agreement with the bank to lower your payments and your house is auctioned!
Take a look at the case of Mr. Roberts.
In Centreville, Woodrow Roberts III said he enrolled last October in a loan modification program with Bank of America. At the time, he was still current on his $3,000-a-month payments but wanted some relief until he could find a second job. The bank agreed to trim the monthly payment by $600 for a three-month trial period and consider Roberts for a permanent modification, he recalled.
After three months, he said, he heard nothing from the bank. “I called in every week to see the status of my loan,” Roberts said. “After a year of phone calls and no real information, I received a letter in the mail.” It said he had been rejected for a modification and that he owed more than $8,800 – the total he’d thought his payments had been reduced over the course of the year plus fees. If he didn’t pay, the letter warned, his home would be sold at a foreclosure auction Nov. 12.
“If I knew this type of program could risk everything, I would have never entered into this program,” Roberts said. He explained he can’t afford to pay the sum demanded all at once and hasn’t been allowed to spread it out over time.
In response to a reporter’s question about the case, Bank of America spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens said Roberts was turned down for a permanent loan modification under the federal program because his income was too high to qualify. But she said the bank is now reviewing whether he is eligible for alternative relief.
Sounds like he had a deal to me. But he didn’t. The deals only work one way. If the bank wants to go with the deal, it’s fine. If they don’t, your home is auctioned and they don’t feel obligated to talk to you about it.
Here’s some more –
The Mortgage Bankers Association said lenders often file initial foreclosure paperwork as they work to modify a loan. John Mechem, an MBA spokesman, said they want to make sure that if the modification effort fails, they can promptly move forward with the foreclosure, which can take up to three years to complete depending on the state. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration impose deadlines for filings on loans these agencies guarantee or own, he said.
But Phillip Robinson, a lawyer at the nonprofit law firm Civil Justice Inc. in Baltimore said, “Attorneys and housing counselors here and all over the country complain every day about this kind of thing.”
I don’t understand. I thought if you called and talked to someone at a bank, a loan office, etc., and they said they would take the payment late, they would take a buyout, they would accept a lower payment over a longer time, etc, etc, that we had a deal.
Apparently not. If you’re negotiating a mortgage with a bank, and they agree to modify it, you need to get it in writing. What’s the catch? I don’t see why they should let you have any such evidence of their intent. When they can decide to foreclose or not regardless of the arrangements they have made with you, why should they put anything on paper?
If you have a mortgage, and you have made arrangements with a bank, have a backup plan in case foreclosure is pushed through anyway.
James Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.