Christopher King on Scribd. Officials Cover Up Housing Bubble’s Scummy Residue: Fraudulent Foreclosure Documents. EVERY DAY IN AMERICA, mortgage companies attempt to foreclose on homeowners using false documents. It’s a byproduct of the mortgage securitization craze during the housing bubble, when loans were sliced and diced so haphazardly that the actual ownership was confused. When the bubble burst, lenders foreclosing on properties needed paperwork to prove their standing, but didn’t have it — leading mortgage industry employees to forge, fabricate and backdate millions of mortgage documents. This foreclosure fraud scandal was exposed in 2010, and acquired a name: “robo-signing.” But while some of the offenders paid fines over the past few years, nobody cleaned up the documents. This rot still exists inside the property records system all over the country, and those in a position of authority appear determined to pretend it doesn’t exist.
“All they’re doing is making a mockery of our judicial system,” said Bill Paatalo, a private investigator and one of the activists. Leaked Seattle Audit Concludes Many Mortgage Documents Are Void. A Seattle housing activist on Wednesday uploaded an explosive land-record audit that the local City Council had been sitting on, revealing its far-reaching conclusion: that all assignments of mortgages the auditors studied are void. That makes any foreclosures in the city based on these documents illegal and unenforceable, and makes the King County recording offices where the documents are located a massive crime scene.
The problems stem from the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), an entity banks created so they could transfer mortgages privately, saving them billions of dollars in transfer fees to public recording offices. In Washington state, MERS’ practices were found illegal by the State Supreme Court in 2012. But MERS continued those practices with only cosmetic changes, the audit found. That finding has national implications. Every state has its own mortgage laws, and some of the audit’s conclusions may not necessarily apply elsewhere. Chain of Title & Securitization Analysis © Securitisation Analysed - Marie McDonnell. The following comments come from Marie McDonnell, an expert in securitisation and bank fraud. Marie McDonnell was a principal witness in the recent Massachusetts case which brought a severe blow to banks trying to foreclose without the required documentation (due to securitisation).
These comments, made about mid 2010, include some telling insights into banks and securitisation…. First and foremost, what your readers need to understand is that no one who has a loan secured by a mortgage on his home is safe. Mortgage servicing companies, including Wells Fargo Bank, CitiBank, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America, etc. control everything.
This is why, as banks, mortgage companies, and hedge funds began to fold, beginning with the Mortgage Meltdown in 2007, the acquisition of mortgage servicing rights was the name of the game. Regardless of whether Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or a securitized Trust Fund purportedly “owns” your loan, the Servicer controls your destiny. 2. 3. Kindest regards, THERE ARE MARKED DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AN AUDIT AND A FORENSIC EXAMINATION! | Clouded Titles Blog. The author of this post is a consultant to attorneys and county clerks and has himself participated in (along with a team of skilled auditors and examiners) BOTH processes described here. The opinions posted are that of the author and do not constitute the rendering of legal advice. I am getting a lot of feedback these days from homeowners who are viewing my handiwork and wanting the same types of processes to be conducted in their respective counties.
With that in mind, I thought I’d take the time to explain the differences between the two (if I’ve hadn’t done so earlier), for clarification purposes. In this process, a certain time frame is determined as the subject of the audit. Generally, I like to look two years before and after a given target date. Some county clerks have asked me to submit a bid based on a much smaller time frame, which I feel is inadequate because the level of “activity” within a set small period of time will not produce quantifiable results. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. Class Action. Foreclosure Defense and Offense: The Evolving Mortgage Audit Process | Livinglies's Weblog. TILA- Disclosure Req, Violations and Remedies Settlements Under RESPA Pursuit-v-UBS – Investor case proves homeowners cases Request to Purchase Garfield Homeowners Workshop Handbook- v3 0210 Request to Purchase Garfiel Lawyers Workshop Handbook-v5 0210 Predatory Lawyers and Modification companies No better than predatory lenders START HERE : Request for Preliminary Document Review The start of every case, as I see it, is the collection of facts and documents, so that a complete mortgage evaluation and status report can be prepared by an independent third party who can serve as an expert witness if the need arises.
The current “cottage industry” of TILA audits is insufficient but a necessary part of the entire package that needs to be completed in order to properly advise a homeowner, as well as impressing an attorney with the validity of claims to be made both defensively and offensively. The objective is to get the case in position where it can be settled without litigation. Like this: Untitled. National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks. “MERS is not a “holder” under the plain language of the statute,” says the Supreme Court of the State of Washington | Deadly Clear. Finally, the Rule of Law is followed by the brilliant masters of the Washington state Supreme Court system. Yea! This ruling affects over 67 million MERS mortgages – whether in foreclosure or not. As good as it is – there are still more facts that need to be adequately plead and addressed by the Court(s).
The Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously today in Bain (Kristin), et al. v. . “1. “we answer the first certified question “no.”” The decision, authored by Justice Tom Chambers, stated in part: “MERS argues we should be guided by Cervantes v. Cervantes is a miserable little “Deed of Trust” case that judges in Hawaii and elsewhere have apparently misinterpreted since its inception. Pleading fraud in specificity is a special task and apparently some details about MERS were not plead in this case either. To prevail in an “unfair or deceptive act or practice” the Court states: “To prove that an act or practice is deceptive, neither intent nor actual deception is required. Mahalo! Like this: California Land Title Association : Common Ways of Holding Title. « Back to Consumer Library Title Consumer Series: Common Ways of Holding Title How Should I take ownership of the property I am buying? This important question is one California real property purchasers ask their real estate, escrow and title professionals every day.
Unfortunately, though these professionals may identify the many methods of owning property, they may not recommend a specific form of ownership, as doing so would constitute practicing law. Because real property is among the most valuable of assets, the question of how parties take ownership of their property is of great importance. The California Land Title Association (CLTA) advises those purchasing real property to give careful consideration to the manner in which title will be held. The CLTA has provided the following definitions of common vestings as an informational overview only.
Common Methods of Holding Title Sole Ownership 1. A man or woman who is not legally married or in a domestic partnership. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - tracking the housing finance breakdown, related to Alt-A and subprime mortgages, lending fraud, predatory lending, housing bubble, mortgage banking, foreclosures, debt, consolidation, lawyers, class-action lawsuits. “The REMICs have failed! “The REMICs have failed!” | Deadly Clear. Most average homeowners have no idea what a REMIC is – actually most attorneys have no clue …. so, you know many of the Judges are completely in the dark.
REMICs are a form of IRS tax shelter sold to investors as part of the mortgage-backed securities package (Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (“REMIC”) pursuant to I.R.C. §§860A-G). The documents that killed the REMICs may actually help save your home. A new report by Oppenheim Law reveals “the Black Magic of Securitized Trusts”. The largest key to REMICs is that they are required to be passive vehicles, meaning that mortgages cannot be transferred in and out of the trust once the closing date has occurred, unless the trust can meet very limited exceptions under the Internal Revenue Code. I.R.C. §860G. What does that mean to the average homeowner in foreclosure? The Assignment of Mortgage [below] shows a 2006 Trust – and a fraudulent assignment in 2009 – 3 years AFTER the Trust had CLOSED! This is FIVE (5) years too late! Like this: Cloudy with a Chance of Radicalism: How Broken Chain of Title Can Turn the Tables on Banks.
In an earlier post on this website, we told the story of Richmond, California, a small city with big plans to end its foreclosure crisis via a novel use of eminent domain. If successful, this plan could set a nationwide precedent, and Strike Debt Bay Area (@StrikedebtBA), among other groups, is fighting to push it through, against pressure from big banks and big government alike. But there’s a new twist on the concept of using eminent domain that could have far wider implications, not only for the foreclosure crisis, but also for the power of big banks.
In this post we explore that twist—referred to here as “clouded chain of title”—and its potential implications. By this point, many of us have at least heard of mortgage-backed securities and other financial products that gambled on future mortgage payments and lost, precipitating the 2008 financial crisis and throwing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people out of their homes via foreclosure.
These are issues of power.