Tag: robosigining

Robo Signing Began With Debt Buyers

On By southwerkIn business ethics, ethics, Philosophy of Business, White Collar Crime

From the St. Louis Dispatch –

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

Confessions Of A Robosigner

On By southwerkIn business ethics

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