By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Steven Mufson and Jia Lynn Yang Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, October 9, 2010
Senior Obama administration officials said Friday that a nationwide moratorium on foreclosure sales may be inevitable, despite their grave reservations about the impact a broad freeze would have on the nation's housing market and economic recovery.
Their remarks were made as pressure for a nationwide moratorium mounted Friday when Bank of America, the nation's largest bank, halted evictions in all 50 states. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who is locked in a tight reelection campaign, called on other major lenders to follow suit.
The White House has so far resisted joining the election-season calls for action but convened two interagency meetings this week to discuss reports that banks filed fraudulent documents to evict borrowers who missed payments as well as fundamental questions about whether banks are seizing properties without having clear ownership of the mortgages.
One meeting was made up mostly of groups that regulate the housing industry, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Treasury Department and the White House. The other, which involved the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. attorneys from across the country, was focused on the question of whether financial fraud was committed.
With foreclosed properties comprising one in every four homes sold in the United States, the spreading moratorium could disrupt real estate deals in progress, slow down the process of clearing the backlog of troubled home loans and prolong the economic recovery, analysts said.
A freeze would also strike at the financial sector, just two years after it suffered one of the worst crises in its history. One government official who has been in discussions with several big financial firms said the banks are bracing themselves for a wave of lawsuits from homeowners who are fighting to keep their homes and from investors who had bought mortgage loans on Wall Street. On Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 11,000, most major bank stocks fell.
Bank of America said it was halting all foreclosure sales nationwide, and industry sources said J.P. Morgan Chase, the nation's second largest bank, will expand its freeze in 23 states to a handful of others. PNC Financial Services has stopped some foreclosure proceedings, according to an industry lobbyist and a title insurance company. A PNC spokesman, Frederick Solomon, declined to comment on whether the lender was halting foreclosures. He said the bank was reviewing its procedures.
Bank of America is the first bank to put a moratorium on foreclosures in all states, extending its suspension to states such as California and Nevada, which have been hit hardest by the housing bust. Previously, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and others had announced that they were stopping foreclosures only in the 23 states where a court order is needed for an eviction.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan played down the gravity of its moratorium and the impact of the paperwork flap. "We haven't found any foreclosure problems," he said. "What we're trying to do is clear the air and say we'll go back and check our work one more time."
-snip-
Also Friday, the Federal Housing Administration said it had asked agency-approved mortgage servicers - which includes the nation's largest banks - to immediately audit their foreclosure operations. The FHA can impose financial penalties on companies that do not follow rules set by housing regulators.
Questions over the legal standing of banks in foreclosure proceedings as well as reports that these firms cut corners as they pushed foreclosures through the legal system fueled calls in Congress for a nationwide freeze and federal investigations.
-snip-
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DIONYSUS: " Thou hast no knowledge of the life thou art leading; thy very existence is now a mystery to thee. " -from 'The Bacchantes' By Euripides “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” -George Orwell
Once again, I ask the question, if no bank or institution can prove they own the note, then who is a homeowner to pay? And if the homeowner has no one to pay, then I guess he owns the home. After all, the original seller was paid, the bank was paid when they shuttled everything off to be sliced and diced--so now who owns the note? If no one can prove it, then I guess the guy mowing the lawn and sleeping in the bed has homesteaded the land...he now owns it.
I will make this caveat. I have no dog in this hunt, in that we purchased out home in the 90s though a private party. I just won't be able to chomp down on that free baloney sandwich..
What SHOULD happen is that you sue for quiet title and deposit into escrow with the Clerk of the Court the mortgage payment.
This prevents a foreclosure, as you're paying - but you refuse to deliver the funds until the so-called owner establishes that they, and only they, have the right to the funds.
There's a right way to do this and a thousand wrong ways. On a blanket basis this needs to happen, but on an individual basis it can even before it does on a blanket basis.
GET GOOD REPRESENTATION FIRST - this is not to be attempted Pro-Se. You cock this up and you're ****ed.
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I don't care if it makes sense -- only if it makes money. -- Me Bank (n): See scam, fraud and theft.Eat a bankster -- they're low-carb. What part of "shall not be infringed" was unclear?
Here’s what you do and here is a reasonable expectation of what could happen:
1. Mail a form letter in accordance with 15 USC sec. 1641(f)(2) (which is part of the Truth in Lending Act(TILA)) requesting the chain of title information to the note and Deed of Trust which, by Federal law, the lender or servicer must give you. The loan servicer will probably blow you off. The filing is free and even though you can do this part yourself, it is better you have an attorney do this for you. Two reasons: first, and most importantly, the lender or loan servicer is less likely to blow off a letter from an attorney requesting this chain of title information than he is a letter from you and second, the attorney can craft a series of interrogatories in a discovery request which you probably cannot. These two letters should cost you between $250 & $500. For all those DIY types who want to get in there and roll up your sleeves, this is the only step in this process you can possibly think about attempting yourself. It does not involve the courts but it is a big step towards the courts. 2. When you are blown off, have your attorney sue the servicing agent & lender to prove this chain of title. 3. Send your monthly mortgage payment to the court in an interpleader arrangement. That way, the other side cannot move for default or foreclosure during the process you are all about to endure. 4. At trial, if the defendants prove to the court’s satisfaction they are indeed able to prove chain of title information, the court will release all back payments to the other side and you should continue with your obligation as before. 5. If, at trial, the defendants are unable to prove chain of title, have your lawyer move for quiet title in your name and ask the judge to order all the money you have set aside be returned to you. 6. If you are really ballsy, request the return of every mortgage payment made during the period where the title is clouded. 7. Assuming all of the above and you are granted your order, you will end up with clear title to your house, no more mortgage payments and and windfall of cash you can do with as you please.
lolsers. these ****ers forge court summons' and don't go directly to jail, are you serious? joe ****ing shmoe is going to drop $500 on a lawyer to buy a lottery ticket from a gaming commission that's owned by the mob? really?
Uh, there is no ****ing "moratorium" on foreclosures. The MSM keeps getting this wrong. They've stopped sales, not proceedings:
Quote:
Mediator Ken // Oct 9, 2010 at 9:59 AM
Matt, I spoke to several plaintiff’s lawyers yesterday who represent Bank of America, and as of 2:00 pm, none of them had been asked to put any of those files on hold. In fact, they had not received any notice from bank of America regarding anything. It’s just business as usual.
I suspect that what we MIGHT see, is a suspension of setting sale dates on properties already foreclosed. I do not anticipate a suspension of litigation. http://mattweidnerlaw.com/blog/2010/10/t....
Banks are in a panic to foreclose before the door shuts on the opportunity. If defendants face a scheduled trial it is best they appear rather than assume cancellation.
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=========================================================== " October is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February."
I don't care if it makes sense -- only if it makes money. -- Me Bank (n): See scam, fraud and theft.Eat a bankster -- they're low-carb. What part of "shall not be infringed" was unclear?
Apparently it's on the books here, that a judge can just say until the court can be certain who deserves to get paid, the payments go into a fund that can be created by that Statute just by the Judge saying so.
The law dates to the swampland scandal in Florida, and it's one way to stop this **** - at least in Florida.
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I don't care if it makes sense -- only if it makes money. -- Me Bank (n): See scam, fraud and theft.Eat a bankster -- they're low-carb. What part of "shall not be infringed" was unclear?
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