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U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, trustee, vs. Antonio IBANEZ (and a consolidated case)
After foreclosing on two properties and purchasing the properties back at the foreclosure sales, U.S. Bank National Association (U.S.Bank), as trustee for the Structured Asset Securities Corporation Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2006-Z; and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Wells Fargo), as trustee for ABFC 2005-OPT 1 Trust, ABFC Asset Backed Certificates, Series 2005-OPT 1 (plaintiffs) filed separate complaints in the Land Court asking a judge to declare that they held clear title to the properties in fee simple. We agree with the judge that the plaintiffs, who were not the original mortgagees, failed to make the required showing that they were the holders of the mortgages at the time of foreclosure. As a result, they did not demonstrate that the foreclosure sales were valid to convey title to the subject properties, and their requests for a declaration of clear title were properly denied.
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Order Granting Summary Judgment
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF RUSSELL COUNTY, ALABAMA The following matter was FILED on 3/30/2011 2:12:06 PM PHYLLIS HORACE VS. LASALLE BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, ET A 57-CV-2008-000362.00.
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New Jersey Holder Case
Before the court resolution is the debtor's adversary complaint seeking to expunge the proof of claim filed on behalf of the Bank of New York by Countrywide Home Loans....
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Michigan county approves funding to help homeowners fight MERS, DocX cases
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011, 5:42 pm A committee for the Ingham County Board of Commissioners in Michigan approved up to $60,000 in Legal Aid funding to represent borrowers affected by allegedly improper foreclosures and possible documentation fraud.
The full board is scheduled to approve the resolution June 14.
The county's Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel Jr. uncovered potential fraudulent documents in his office calling into question hundreds of foreclosures. Hertel told HousingWire Wednesday he found 400 cases with possible fraudulent documentation involving Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems and another 100 involving DocX, a division of Lender Processing Services (LPS: 20.51 -12.24%).
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Foreclosure Nightmare - MERS -No Legal Foundation
The role of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) throughout the foreclosure furor is interesting-mostly because there is no legal basis for its role. It was created out of whole cloth by the investment bankers who brought us the Mortgage Backed Securities fiasco, without any basis in law. Reuters explains what MERS is:
"The growing furor in the United States over improper foreclosure documents is focusing intense attention on MERS, a mortgage-record service company that tracks more than 60 million mortgages. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems [MERS] has filed thousands of foreclosure actions around the country on behalf of lenders. Its right to do that is under challenge. Several courts around the country recently have ruled that MERS lacks the right to file such cases.
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Justice Department looking into improper foreclosures
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is looking into allegations that mortgage lenders in the foreclosure crisis have been evicting homeowners using flawed court papers, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Wednesday.
President Obama’s financial fraud enforcement task force has a mortgage component to it, Mr. Holder noted during a news conference.
In a letter Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and dozens of other Democratic lawmakers urged bank regulators and the Justice Department to probe whether mortgage companies violated any laws in handling foreclosures and borrowers’ requests for loan assistance.
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Mortgage lenders must pay homeowners for improper foreclosures
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government on Wednesday ordered 16 of the nation's largest mortgage lenders and servicers to reimburse homeowners who were improperly foreclosed upon.
Government regulators also directed the financial firms to hire auditors to determine how many homeowners could have avoided foreclosure in 2009 and 2010.
Citibank, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, the nation's four largest banks, were among the financial firms cited in the joint report by the Federal Reserve, Office of Thrift Supervision and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
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Fed investigating banks for improper foreclosures
WASHINGTON - Federal banking regulators are examining whether mortgage companies cut corners on their own procedures when they moved to foreclose on people's homes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday.
Preliminary results of the in-depth review into the practices of the nation's largest mortgage companies are expected to be released next month, Bernanke said in remarks prepared for delivery to a housing-finance conference in Arlington, Va.
"We are looking intensively at the firms' policies, procedures and internal controls related to foreclosures and seeking to determine whether systematic weaknesses are leading to improper foreclosures," Bernanke said. "We take violation of proper procedures seriously," he added.
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Masses of defective foreclosures uncovered
Mortgage companies used a processor who signed 10,000 foreclosures a month -- without reading them or using a notary.
Some of the nation's largest mortgage companies used a single document processor who said he signed off on foreclosures without having read the paperwork -- an admission that may open the door for homeowners across the country to challenge foreclosure proceedings.
The legal predicament compelled Ally Financial, the nation's fourth-largest home lender, to halt evictions of homeowners in 23 states this week.
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