The cronies have effectively used propaganda and lies to convince Americans that naive and greedy homeowners crashed the global credit markets in 2008.
They blamed the crash and current economic malaise on homeowners who bought too much house.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The fact of the matter is that the cronies crashed the global markets when they revealed that there are no mortgages to back the mortgage backed securities. They told Paulsen there was no there there. That’s why he panicked and tossed his cookies.
They could have pulled an Iceland, told the truth, arrested the bad actors and instituted real safeguards to restore the capital markets and consumer confidence.
But they chose to continue the lies and backstop the fraud on the taxpayer’s dime. The cronies covered up their partners’ crimes and orchestrated the bailout.
They feasted on our pension money and left us with the tab.
The bare naked truth is that tens of millions of mortgages were fake securitized. The cronies who fleeced Institutional Investors of $13 trillion clouded title on all the mortgages they originated and purportedly sold on the secondary market. They stole the pension money and now they’re stealing our houses.
The fake securitization scheme will make your head hurt and your heart break. So I’m not going to travel down that rabbit hole.
In the end, it all comes down to old fashioned title. Who holds the mortgage on your home? Will you have clear title at the end of the schedule? Do you have MERS in your chain of title? Was your loan ‘Assigned’ to another entity? If so, where is the evidence that substantiates those claims?
We have abandoned our efforts to convince the mighty and powerful to do the right thing. So we’re not going to waste any more of our time trying to convince members of Congress, Governors, state Attorneys General or the DOJ to arrest the bad actors on Wall Street and K Street and end the fraud.
We’re taking the fight to every local state courthouse and giving homeowners the tools to secure their homes and restore private property rights. This is a ground game and it is entirely winnable. It takes tenacity but once you learn to navigate the local state court system it’s entirely doable.
We’re working with community organizers on the left to educate all homeowners about the fraud, how it affects their mortgages and how to use the state courts systems to get real relief. We’re restoring the rule of law one mortgage at a time.
We’re getting results. Law firms are dropping foreclosure cases and homeowners who have been trying to get modifications are uncovering evidence that gives them real clout in negotiations.
It’s time we turn the tables and use the laws they have flouted as a weapon to win back our economic freedom.
We will win this war one house at a time.
This is a crime scene, so the first step is to gather evidence about your loan. All homeowners, regardless of your payment status need to take the following steps:
MERS look-up: https://www.mers-servicerid.org/sis/index.jsp
Fannie Mae look-up: http://www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/
Freddie Mac look-up: https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/
Capture the screen grabs, save and print. File the record in a binder or folder specifically for your mortgage documents.
Next step, send a Qualified Written Request Letter to your servicer. This is a way to gather evidence about your loan without going to court. The letter should be mailed to the CEO of your servicer. Contact customer service and ask for the name of the exec – could be the CEO – and the company address where the QWR letter should be sent. Be sure to send it certified mail, return receipt requested. Save the receipt and file it in your binder.
The QWR letter is a feature of RESPA, which was strengthened in the Dodd-Frank bill. The servicer is required to respond to the QWR letter in 5 business days with a written acknowledgement. Within the next 25 days they are required to deliver a written response that includes documents such as the promissory note, mortgage, closing documents, appraisal, title policy, assignments of mortgage.
If they do not answer within the 30 days or fail to provide you with evidence you’ve requested, the servicer will have to pay you $4,000 fine. You’ll have to go into Federal Court to file a complaint and get the judgement.
Here’s a template for the QWR:
Date
Servicer Name
Address
Re: Client Name
Loan Number:
Property Address:
Dear Madam or Sir:
In accordance with RESPA and Section 131(f) of the Truth-in-Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 1641(f) (2), please provide me with the name, address, and Telephone number of the owner of the Promissory Note signed by me and secured by the deed of trust in my mortgage loan referenced above.
By their signatures below, I authorize you to furnish me with the requested information, and any other information regarding my account and my mortgage loan.
You should be advised that you must acknowledge receipt of this request within five (5) business days, and respond within thirty (30) business days, pursuant to 12 U.S.C. Section 2605(e) (1)(A) as amended effective July 16, 2010 by the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act and Reg. X Section 3500.21(e)(1).
Thanking you in advance, I am
Very truly yours,
Homeowner name
cc: Law firm for servicer if there has been any correspondence
If they respond, carefully verify all information they have provided. If they provide you with the name of the investor of your loan, check it against the results of your MERS, Fannie and Freddie look-ups. If they provide the name of the trust, go to secinfo.com and look-up the prospectus for that trust. The report is called a 424B. Read it and look for the closing and cut-off dates of the trust. Did your loan close within the window, or after? What parties are listed in the deal? Is your loan listed in the Pool Servicing Agreement that is contained within the Prospectus? You can spot it by reviewing all loans listed – according to principal and interest rate by state.
Find the name of the Trustee. The Trustee contact info is located in the PSA. Call the 800 telephone number provided. The recording will tell you to send an email providing your loan number, address and contact info. Write and email to the Trustee and confirm they are in fact your true creditor. Tell them the Trust was named as investor by the servicer. You’d like evidence that the mortgage was properly securitized, which includes all assignments of mortgage (there should be 4), along with the original Promissory Note.
In several weeks, the Trustee should send you an email response to your request. We’ve sent three of these requests so far, and each time the Trustee has told us that they are NOT the investor, and the homeowner should contact the servicer.
If this occurs with your loan, print out all docs, save them in your binder. You can present this document as evidence that you have a wild deed in a Quiet Title Action.
Next step is to gather all your loan documents recorded in the county registry. Ask the Register or County Clerk to print out all pages and certify them as true copies.
Be sure to determine if there is an Assignment of Mortgage in your chain of title. Examine the wording closely. Did they assign only the mortgage, or the mortgage and the note. If just the mortgage is assigned, that means the chain of title has been broken. Everything that occurred after that assignment is a nullity.
Was the mortgage assigned by a company that s no longer in business? Did the originator declare bankruptcy? If so, did the bankruptcy or demise of the firm occur before or safer the assignment? We’ve found a number of assignments where the originator – Accredited, New Century – was in bankruptcy months and years before the date of the assignment. In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, companies repudiate all their executory contracts, which includes MERS. So, if you have an assignment of mortgage that features a bankrupt originator dated after they filed chapter 11, you could get the assignment declared invalid by a judge. Which of course means the mortgage was never properly assigned to another party. Your mortgage may be a defective instrument and invalid.
Back to the documents from the registry.
Compare the documents from the registry to those you received in the QWR response. Are they the same, or are there notable differences? Record the notations on a document, attach it to the docs and file in your binder.
Examine the signatures on all documents and start googling. Type in signers name, along with keywords like their title, MERS, name of lender, robo-signer. Chances are you will find their signatures on a number of other documents recorded in registries around the country. Carefully examine the signatures – are there notable differences? Is the signer an employee of the company they are purportedly signing for? You can check their Linkedin profiles to verify employment. If their title is Assistant Secretary, MERS, drill down and expand your search. Many times these signers have various titles from different companies. This is important because if you can find evidence they are not who they say they are and don’t work for the company they claim to, you have a fatal defect in the chain of title.
Be sure to examine all ‘Discharges of Mortgages’ in your chain too. We’ve found robo-signers on a number of the discharges. Real estate attorneys tell us this means that the debt has been satisfied, but the lien has not been extinguished. So, you could challenge the current mortgage and file a claim in state court arguing that the current mortgage is no longer in first position.
Lots here that can keep you busy for awhile – at least the next thirty days.
If this sounds too daunting, just take a deep breath and take the first steps of performing the look-ups and sending the QWR letter.
Once you get a response, leave me a message on TBP and I’ll help you make sense of it all.
Remember, this fight is about restoring our property rights and the rule of law.
We are all lawyers now.
Title insurers are supposed to do just that, insure title. No mortgage is/was created without title insurance. Why are the title insurers not vulnerable to a lawsuit?
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One more comment …
If title insurance does not insure title, why are the insurers not liable? YOU paid for it.
Title insurance.
Just another scam???
The title industry is in on the scheme. The president of MERS is the former President of the American Land Title Association. Stewart Title one of America’s largest title firms is a charter member of MERS.
MERS is the electronic property registration system that was created by 6 people in a room who made the decision to replace America’s land title recording system that was transparent and paper-based.
We have drilled down into the details and it appears that there is an agreement between the title companies and the parties who fake securitized the loans to indemnify one another against legal action. The banks have agreed not to file claims for title defects if the title companies turn the other way and issue title examinations that are silent on the issues clouding title on the property.
In NJ, we have very stringent statutes regarding title that are well settled law. Your states may be the same. This is where we need to attack the impact of fake securitization.
In every loan transaction 2 title policies are issued – one for the homeowner, the other for the “lender.”
The “lender” may have a sweetheart deal with the title companies not to sue – but homeowners don’t.
If you conduct a review of the recorded documents in your chain of title and uncover defects then you should file a claim with your title company. We have learned the title industry has agreed not to pay these claims – so you will have to go to court. Do it.
There are more of us than there are of them.
Use the law and the courts to obtain real relief.
If we don’t exercise our property rights we will surely lose them.
Mary:
This is great work.
One of those times when some lawyers could make a name and a living, as they number among the most indebted and unemployed.
Where are they?
@Colma, great question.
We’ve recruited a number of excellent attorneys and are funneling new clients to them when we complete the document review process.
But there’s a steep learning curve. Many attorneys have no idea that title has been clouded on all securitized mortgages. Others falsely believe that the banks are unbeatable.
It’s a process, which takes time. We started small with one attorney who specializes in bankruptcy. He’s also a court appointed mediator for modifications. He knew there were major issues with clients’ mortgages and had serious doubts about the integrity of the documents “lenders” were submitting in proof of claims.
Many homeowners have limited resources, and the attorneys can’t and won’t charge them for the time it takes to increase the learning curve.
Once this attorney understand the level of the fraud, we drilled down and taught him the ropes one case at a time.
It’s taken a year, but now he’s fully up to speed, taking on new clients, getting prinicpal reductions in modifications and recruiting his peers.
We also recruited an appellate attorney, a real estate attorney, and an expert in NJ land title.
I think attorneys will flock to this line of business when they understand how they can get paid.
The $4K fine for failing to answer the QWR greases the skids. So, once they understand that there is a revenue stream to tap into, more will follow.
To your point, there is an enormous market here that will exist for generations.
The innovators are creating the market. The herd will follow.
Well, I’ll try to forward this to the “Left” housing advocates…. I’ll see what returns to the inbox.
It’s a fact that these legal aid centers are FULL of volunteers, so many they turn them away in droves. While many don’t like lawyers, for good reason, their ability to smell blood and frenzy a carcas namely, I think a little frenzy on these institutions which feed and exist on the taxpayer dime would shed a little light.
Again… good work. I love your articles.
Thanks Colma. Please do send the info to housing activists. They are organized to get the word out to lots more people than we can reach.
We’ re working with several progressive community organizing groups who are focused on mortgage appraisal fraud. They took the QWR letter added blanks for people to fill in and are going door to door in NJ neighborhoods.
We’ re keeping politics out of the conversation and focusing on educating homeowners and guiding them thru the process of getting real relief from the courts.
Really appreciate your getting the word out. Thanks!
I looked at all three links and they all said that they were not the owner of our loan. Where do I go from here and if we are entering a short sale is it a bad thing to be doing this? I do not want to piss them off and them hard ball us, not working with us.
We originally requested our original loan doc’s from B of A 2 years ago and have not heard a thing tell a month ago when the informed us we are in forcloser.
Lee:
Unfortunately that’s why we need lawyers to figure it out.
They need to see the opportunity to profit by representing homeowners with real legal answers that have beneficial effect for their clients.
Like Mary said…. find the innovators.
@Lee, you have the right to demand evidence to confirm the identity of your true creditor.
Don’ t worry about teeing BOA off. They have a lot more to worry about than you do.
Send Brian Moynihan at BOA the QWR ASAP.
Question – who originated your loan? If it was Countrywide, you are foreclosure-proof.
While you’re waiting for QWR gather all the docs associated with your property from the local registry of deeds. Follow all steps outlined in the post.
It takes awhile for short sales to be approved – so you have time. But please be careful not to follow thru on the short sale until you confirm the identity of your lender.
You can always take the home off the market and meet BOA in court to challenge the foreclosure.
There are only 3 firms in the country I trust to research your loan on the secondary market –
Marie McDonnell of McDonnellAnalytics.com
Neil Garfield of Livinglieswordpress.com
Steve Dibert of mfimiami.com
They charge between $800 and $1,000 to search your loan on the Bloomberg terminals. We’ve sent them a number of homeowners and know their efforts and work is legit. Just know that about 30% of all loans can never be traced.
Hope this info is helpful.
I certainly wouldn’t trust garfield. I had audits done by him and 3 others and everyone of them returned the same info I was able to obtain to for free through google, and I found that all 4 missed too. Important info which showed my loan was placed into a different trust at the beginning. When tried to question Neil who refused to reply.
Mary Malone
This is most magnificent work!
“Work the system”, I love it. Beat them at their own game, and it’s legal, rule of law is not dead.
I have two contacts in Florida (great state for fraudclosure!) that I will send this post link to. One is a fellow Oathkeeper in the state chapter, likely she will put it in the next newsletter.
And, on a tangent here … a factoid that fell in the cracks, or I’ve never found an answer:
Namely, what started with the Chuck Schumer letter regarding the $51 billion loan to Countrywide from FHLB Atlanta …
copy of letter:
http://loanworkout.org/2007/11/a-copy-senator-schumers-letter-to-the-federal-home-loan-bank-of-atlanta/
Another thorn in the BoA side? Can’t keep up wif everyfing.
@Novista thanks for passing the link to your FLA contacts.
I just did a search on the FHFA Schumer letter and this post popped up. Seems the House passed a Bill to change budget and accounting rules to, well, hold FHFA accountable.
It was sponored bt Rep. Scott Garrett NJ. I’ll contact his office and find out if it passed the Senate..
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2010/02/23/put-fannie-and-freddie-on-the-budget/
@ Lee and everyone else who has received a notice from law firm for ‘lenders” or servicer:
Send them a letter, certified mail, return receipt request, demanding that counsel sign an affidavit stating they have examined all documents submitted to the court and there is NO fraud.
Also, they have spoken/met with a specific individual person, at their client firm who has direct knowledge of the facts of your loan. Not a computer print-out. A real conversation with a real person. Of course, they’ll need to provide the name, title of the individual and verify they worked for the client. And the date, time and evidence the conversation(s) occurred.
This is extremely important because if an attorney signs this affidavit and fraud is uncovered, they are directly implicated. The attorney could be sued for malpractice and lose their license. A signed affadavit is considered testimony before the court – if they lie on this form, it’s perjury.
In every instance, the attorneys disappear. The legal actions end. The lender and their client go away.
When this happens, file a Quiet Title Action. They will not show up, you will win by default and be mortgage-free.
Mary, thanks for posting this extremely helpful information.
When Depression 2.0 hits and the Crunch happens, it will be too late to take them on, everything will be swept under the rug and there will be a new set of carpet baggers running around the country laying claim to all kinds of property.
Do you know of any state specific sources of information, or websites with this information. In particular, I live in a Deed of Trust state which allows deficiency judgments (NC). While I’m not in default now, if I give the bank the keys because the house isn’t worth what is owed, they’ll come after me for the difference.
What can I do now, other than what you’ve already recommended? I’ve heard others say to stop making payments, and put the money into an escrow account until chain of title is proven.
@Nonanonymous – you’re very fortunate to live in a state where the judicial decisions are favoring the homeowner.
http://mcgrathspielberger.com/new-north-carolina-foreclosure-decision-favors-homeowners
http://www.troutmansanders.com/north-carolina-court-of-appeals-invalidates-foreclosure-despite-finding-of-valid-debt-in-default-06-23-2011/
If I were in your shoes I would gather all the evidence described in the post and comments and find an attorney who understands the intricacies of fake foreclosure. If you do their work upfront – which is identify the fraud and describe how that impacts your chain of title – you’ll make it easier for them to represent you. In the end, you’ll save a lot of dough.
If you take all the actions described in the post and comments – you will gain the advantage, with the goal of suing them for Quiet Title once you prove they are not your lender. Quiet Title is very quick – not a protected expensive legal exercise. That’s why we like it so much.
You could win by default – especially if you make a big deal about “lender’s” attorney signing an affidavit that no fraud exists in the documents or in your chain of title. They will run for the hills – especially in NC, where the judges are onto their scheme.
For attorney referrals, check with Max Garnder who lives and practices in NC. He educates Bankruptcy attorneys on how to fight mortgage fraud in chapters 7 and 13 – but should know other attorneys who are looking for this kind of work outside of BK.
Stay away from firms promising to arrange modifications for $3000 fee. They are preying on desperate homeowners, take the money and do nothing to help their clients.
Good luck – and let me know how you do.
@Nonanonymous I realized I didn’t answer your question regarding with- holding payments from servicer.
You can take this step in a Quiet Title Action or in an adversarial action in chapter 13 . The payments can be placed in escrow. But the banks are so screwed up I am loathe to do that. Your credit rating can be destroyed and they will use this as an excuse to place you in the foreclosure bucket. Once that happens, it’s impossible to get out.
So we suggest people continue to pay but get aggressive with hauling the ‘lender’ into court with Quiet Title Action as soon as you’ve gathered enough evidence to cat doubt on their claim of owning the note.
Life is hard enough thee days. No sense in asking for trouble.
OK, Mary:
Names in California? Bay Area, specifically….
I could do the research but it looks like a hit or miss… weasel or champ, you know?
@Colma in Cali there is nobody better than the attorneys at Prosper law firm. They are in LA but I would suggest all CA homeowners touch base with them first. They may have an office in Northern CA.
Contact Deborah@prosper law.com
310-893-6200
Thanks!
“Question – who originated your loan? If it was Countrywide, you are foreclosure-proof.”
Yes it was CountryWide that originated the loan. How does this make us foreclosure-proof?
Lee, call a lawyer.
Find one with some balls.
@Lee How does this make us foreclosure-proof?
Linda DeMartini, a Countrywide executive testified in Countrywide vs. Kemp that all Notes were stored in a vault in CA at origination. The Notes never left the vault. So, they were never endorsed by the other parties who “purchased” the loan before it was locked down into the trust.
Countrywide fake securititzed 100% of all their loans.
NY security law requires that the mortgage which has 2 parts – the promissory note and the deed in trust travel together and be endorsed by each party in the chain.
For example it should look like this:
Countrywide to Bank A – Bank A to Bank B – Bank B to Bank C – Bank C to Trustee who locks it into the trust within 90 days.
It is mandatory that the note be endorsed by Countrywide to Bank A, who endorses it to Bank B, Bank B endorses to Bank C, and Bank C to Bank D. The note MUST travel. If the Note does not travel and is not endorsed by all those parties, it never makes it into the trust.
This means that 100% of all Countrywide loans never made it into their trusts. The investors were sold something that never existed.
Your mortgage has a broken chain of title – it no longer is a Countrywide-held mortgage, but the other parties who “purchased” your loan never endorsed the Note, or recorded the Assignments of Mortgage in the county registry.
Like Colma said, get an attorney who understands fake securitization ASAP.
What state is your property located in? We’re in NJ, but I may be able to track down a good attorney for you in another state.
Here’s a link to check out for more information on the fake securitization scheme:
http://www.njteapartycoalition.org/SystemicMortgageFraud.html
Please gather all of your documents and send the QWR letter. When you have the docs, write your contesting answer to the foreclosure yourself if you can’t find a good attorney in time. Be sure to meet all the required deadlines. It is vital that you respond. Even if it’s a letter to the judge stating the facts as you know them.
The affirmative defense is: Countrywide is not the owner of your note in due course. They refuse to provide evidence they have a real interest in your property. They do not have evidence of ownership so they do not have standing. No standing, no foreclosure.
Whatever you do, do NOT admit that your loan is in default. You don’t know that because you need discovery to determine if TARP, CDO, insurance payments streamed in to pay down your balance. If payments flowed in from other sources, how could the loan be in default?
Do NOT admit you borrowed one thin dime, or there was a closing – the transaction you attended is based on fraud. Fraud vitiates everything.
Deny every allegation. Question every assumption and fact that BOA presents.
Put on your crash helmet, it’s gonna be a wild ride.
Admin,
Could you keep this post up a little longer so Lee and other Countrywide clints can see it?
Thanks!
Mary
I’ll keep moving it back to the top of the list.
Thanks, Admin!
Another important piece of evidence all homeowners can access from public records is the Originator/fake lender’s Annual Report.
Obtain the report for the year your loan originated.
These banks always disclose if they “sold” loans in their portfolios to third parties, or kept the loans off-balance sheet and “sold” them to investors.
We found these kinds of admissions, signed by the banks CEO’s in:
-Countrywide, M&T Bank and HSBC Annual Reports.
Pull the paragraphs that provide evidence the “loans” were sold and include that information in your complaints or contested answers in foreclosure.
The goal is to stop the clock on a summary judgement in foreclosure. Present enough credible evidence from trusted sources that create reasonable doubt that the “lender” has a valid claim on the property and legal standing to foreclose.
If you are in a judicial state like NJ, the process is very lengthy. Stop the clock before it gets to the “lenders” ability to request a summary judgement. Fight the default motion.
Present the evidence from Annual Report, QWR answer/non-answer, government reports like the OCC, FDIC, Fed, Congress to show the judge there may not be a default if monies streamed in and paid down your loan from sources unknown to you – TARP, credit defaults, insurance payments.
The goal is to get the judge to deny summary judgement and allow the case to proceed to trial.
Demand due process that is only available in Discovery.
You can do this with a good attorney, or without one as Pro Se.
Just do it.
What is the objective here? To screw the banks (who wanted something for nothing) or to get a free house (something for nothing), or to secure your title?
Or, if and when justice is done (a doubtful outlook, given our current King, Court Jesters and Head Lawdawg) everyone should try paying cash or doing without.
Talk about breaking the bank – that would do it.
I’ve had no debt since 1973 when Nixon started the strangle job on the money. I came to the conclusion that very little bad could happen to you ( except an accident) if you owed no debt to anyone and so that’s what my sweetie and did.
When I retired, we paid cash for a considerably smaller house (ease of taking care of it, you know) and now I look at this mortgage fraud and stinking cloud of thieves and criminals and feel really sorry for all the people who borrowed up the ass with no down payment to “own” a McMansion.
What was it Forrest’s Mom said? Something like ” Stupid is as stupid does.” or something like that.
The old greasy yearning to get something for nothing seems to be powering both sides of this particular pile of burning garbage.
I’ll just quietly stand aside and let the whole mess collapse, which I hope it does.
MA
Muck About – good post. “The old greasy yearning to get something for nothing seems to be powering both sides of this particular pile of burning garbage.”
In order for both sides to get “something for nothing”, interest rates had to be held down, which ended up hurting the ones who did not partake.
In order for both sides to continue to get “something for nothing”, interest rates are manipulated and held down still, which screws people who have worked hard and SAVED (you know, where you have to do without).
The way I see it, none of this could have happened at all if RISK had entered the equation. Lenders would have had no one coming through their door and prices would not have been forced ever higher had mortgage rates reflected risk (say 7 or 8%). People with little to no money down, with no documentation, with teaser rates, should NEVER EVER have been able to borrow at ridiculously low rates.
And now, with the lowest rates in history, both sides are still bent on getting “something for nothing”. Unbelievable, really.
The risk has been placed squarely and very unfairly on the backs of the savers.
Look guys, one party is going to get the property.
Either the fake lender who participated in the scheme to cloud title on 66 million homes will walk away with a free house.
Or the homeowner, who put 10-20% down, paid their P&T, property taxes, upkeep will get a “free” house.
Make no mistake somebody is getting a free house.
Also – have you guys checked your satisfaction/discharges of mortgages?
Well, maybe you should.
We have found extensive amount of document fraud committed in these documents. Real estate attorneys tell us that even tho the debt has been satisfied, the lien has not been extinguished.
So much for moral hazard, huh?
Mary you are just, simply, amazing.
Keep up the good fight.
My hub is signing over our chances to the FHA this week.
He’s saving a buck, will probably cost us a house down the road, but not my concern.
Keep up the good fight woman, you reaffirm my faith in (some of) our fellow citizens.
Mary – How do you determine if the lien has been extinguished. I purchased a condo in 2000 financed by GMAC and paid off the loan in 2005. They never sent me or notified me that the mortgage was satisfied although the document was filed with/in the county records office. Could I be in any kind of undocumented trouble in the future.
Mary Malone: “Make no mistake somebody is getting a free house.”
Why should either the lender or the borrower get a free house?
1. The paperwork should be corrected. 2. The lenders should be forced to immediately mark to market the true value of the homes, and the banks that are insolvent should go under. 3. The borrowers should either keep paying their mortgages, if they can, or walk away, or be put into foreclosure. 4. The foreclosed-upon homes should be placed immediately on the market and sold to people who can afford them.
If there was fraud involved at any level (by lenders or buyers), those people should be brought into court and charged, jailing them, if necessary. No more fines; actual jail time for these guys.
The real travesty of justice would be to do otherwise.
backwardsevolution says:
“The way I see it, none of this could have happened at all if RISK had entered the equation. Lenders would have had no one coming through their door and prices would not have been forced ever higher had mortgage rates reflected risk (say 7 or 8%). People with little to no money down, with no documentation, with teaser rates, should NEVER EVER have been able to borrow at ridiculously low rates.”
You hit the nail on the head. It should never have happened! Govt removed the risk. I believe that if you go back and watch every State of the Union speech given by Bush you’ll find that he stated each time that the path to financial independence for Americans was through home ownership. Each and every year the rules and requirements for obtaining a mortgage became more and more lax. I believe that very early on, the banks were all promised bailouts if it all went bad. When it went bad, TARP I and II were rolled out to do exactly that……bail out the banks.
“And now, with the lowest rates in history, both sides are still bent on getting “something for nothing”. Unbelievable, really.”
It’s not really unbelievable, the banks will be rewarded again with another bailout so why should they care if people take out loans they have no hope of repaying? From a short term business standpoint, it a no brainer. For borrowers without a conscience, it’s a no brainer as well. Just think, buy a home with no money down, zero interest, and no payments (or interest only payments) for 5-6 years, then default on it and keep the bankers at bay for a few more years while you pay nothing and at worst you end up with virtually no rent or mortgage payments for 6-9 years. Hell, if you were smart, you could pay the full on mortgage payments to yourself (in cash held outside a bank of course) for that entire period and end up with up to $108,000 in cash which could then be used to buy the home you were evicted from at auction and own it free and clear!
I_S
Backwards and Indentured:
Here’s the thing… nobody owns it free and clear. This mess and these actions are about just that: Cloudy title. Nobody knows who actually owns anything…
But the non-owner forecloses?
Read the case Mary linked to.
If you don’t realize that title law is the cornerstone of private property since the term was invented, well shit fire….We’re FUBAR.
Colma, point taken and I already knew that regarding title law. I did a no cash out refi last year with US Bank. I have followed Mary’s advice and looked into my own mortgage which appears to be on the up and up. I had followed her advice prior to that when my loan was with Wells Fargo and everything appeared to be in order then as well. Fortunately, we did not buy or refi during the mortgage frenzy period so there appears to be a clear chain of custody for our property.
I_S
Colma Rising – we’re already FUBAR. We’ve had FASB change the rules for the banks, we’ve had LIBOR rates manipulated, Attorney-General Eric Holder and politicians turning a blind eye, insider trading, high frequency trading, corruption, fraud, bailouts, etc., and you think title law is sacrosanct?
It should be, but so should everything else.
If the title is cloudy, then it needs to be unwound. Take it right back to square one. If the homeowners want out at that point, let them out. Then force the banks to mark to market and if insolvent, go under. But if the buyers still want in, then let’s clear the title.
Great discussion – thanks for weighing in.
My posts may sound a bit cagey, like we are trying to beat the system and steal a house.
That’s not the sentiment or the intent at all.
I agree the preferred course would be a national cleansing that held the bad actors responsible for their crimes and restored the capital markets and the rule of law.
The fact is, that just ain’t gonna happen. It took me 2 years to come to that realization. So now we’ve moved to Plan B – and are providing homeowners with the knowledge and tools they need to protect their private property in the state court system.
It’s our only avenue left. If we do not act and exercise our property rights, we will completely lose them. Then America will be over.
I understand that some people who do not deserve a break will get one with this strategy. For the most part tho, the people who took liar and no doc loans washed out of the system in 2006 and 2007.
Today, homeowners who had equity, made sound decisions are struggling because of stagnant wages and brutal unemployment.
I certainly haven’t met 66 million people whose chain of title was broken, so I cannot vouch for their integrity.
But the people I have met in this journey are good, responsible, hard-working people who have been outfoxed by the TBTF. Some made mistakes. Others not. In the end, they did not deserve the punishment they endured.
The sins of the TBTF far outweigh the unwise financial decisions some people have made.
Homeowners and TBTF are not even remotely in the same league if you want to argue moral hazard.
Remember, many people who never over-stretched, were fiscally conservative were also harmed. Many have serious defects in their chain of tile – robo-signed discharges of mortgage – that will render their property unmarketable when this blows up.
So, we are encouraging homeowners of all stripes to clear their title and get relief in the state court system. We’ll let the chips fall where they may.
@FTL: How do you determine if the lien has been extinguished?
Did GMAC send you the original promissory note? Did they record the original satisfaction with the county, or a copy? They should have sent you the cancelled mortgage, stamped satisfied and the original promissory note with the endorsements. GMAC is a mess – now called ALLY. Contact them and ask for your original documents. I would send them a letter demanding the cancelled note and mortgage/deed, certified mail, return receipt requested. You may need this documentation for the future.
Next, contact your title company. The policy is effective for the length of time you and your heirs are in the home. Ask for a copy of the policy, along with a copy of the title report they have for your home at the time of origination.
Ask them to provide you with a list of items that constitute a defect in title.
Keep the policy, title report and defect list for your records.
Next, Google the names of all the individuals who signed and endorsed your Discharge/Satisfaction of Mortgage.
Use keywords like robo-signer, document fraud, Assistant Secretary, Assistant VP, MERS, with their names. You’re looking for evidence they are who they say they are and worked for the company who had the legal duty to discharge your mortgage. Conduct your search different times of the day and be willing to go to page 10 on the organic results. The government – which now owns ALLY -has hired Reputation Defender – so it’s getting more difficult to find the info in online searches.
You should find documents from registries through-out the country that they signed.
Check to see if the signature is the same – consistent on all docs. Is their title the same, or do they sign under different titles? Is their title and company name typed beneath the signature? Or, does it look like they are trying to hide the employer’s identity?
Review the notary’s signature. Is there a stamp? Were they licensed at the time they signed your doc? Check with your state’s dept. of consumer affairs or Attorney General. They will have a record of the notary, their license number and dates of their commission.
Also check to be sure the notary is licensed and works in the state where the signers are located. For example, we have seen signatures of Asst. VP, Asst. Secretary who are located in California and the docs were endorsed by a notary in Texas. Not good.
If you find evidence that the signatures are forged on documents – notable differences, you can find the signer’s signature on their own mortgage at their county clerk. I did this – simply found the notary’s home address and contacted their registrar of deeds and paid for a copy of their mortgage to examine his authentic signature. Heh.
Use LinkedIn to check the signers employment history and title. Did they work for the company they claimed to on your document at the time they signed? Was their title the same?
I’m guessing you have a MERS mortgage, or language in your mortgage that says GMAC could sell your loan. Examine the doc closely. What company names are typed on the page? Do you see LPS, or Orion anywhere? If so, odds are your Satisfaction is robo-signed.
If you find evidence that the chain of title is broken, meet with the best attorney who specializes in property title issues.
I’m sorry you have to go thru this FTL – it’s a real chore. But better to sort this out now before the chaos begins. Good luck!
backwardsevolution says:
What is the objective here? To screw the banks (who wanted something for nothing) or to get a free house (something for nothing), or to secure your title?
I’ll weigh in on this one … putting a polite face on it, I reckon it is to secure some certainty. Now that’s out of the way …
I got tired of the faux moral hazard argument in 2007. Before that, after my wife died I “went away from the world for awhile” and started reconnecting around April, 2006. Shit, even I saw the housing bubble was unsustainable. I kept up with it a lot as much of the scams unfolded in my home state of Florida.
If all you see is vampire squids vs. speculators and deadbeats, you have No. Fucking. Idea.
Example: bloke bought a house in Florida on a short sale, paid cash. A month later, he was foreclosed. WTF? Another Florida example, four different banks, including Deutsche bank fronted up in the same courtroom claiming foreclosure on one house. WTF? I know the CDO slice’n’dice machine was good, didn’t realize you could do the same to a single mortgage. In fact, I suspect it’s not possible.
Another thing, many of these banks doing foreclosure ‘forgive’ the balance of the mortgage. And then they bundle a bunch of those ‘claims’ and sell them for three cents on the dollar to collection agencies who will hound you to the ends of the earth and your life.
Or they accepted gov’t fees from HAMP and _told_ people, stop making your monthly payments which will assist in a modification. Several months later, “You don’t qualify.” You owe us X fees on top of the arrears.
Or they succeed with a modification which will make it easier on a person and she ends up paying more per month than she started.
Like mm said, the speculators & deadbeats have moved on.
Many of the hapless millions left, if still working and surviving, will likely end up paying off a mortgage in full to -someone- they know not who … and somewhere down the track, some smarmy bastard with a piece of paper comes and says, “You owe me”.
Oh yeah, if the vampire squids don’t get you, some of those ‘forgiven’ loans are bait for the IRS, they consider it income.
Mary – Appreciate so very much for the detailed mortgage/title information you posted. Will research all this and hope for the best. Many Thanks FTL
Mary,
I am quite intrigued by your thoughts.
So much, that I would like to make lovies with you.
But, lest we have to interupt the event for me to ask a question, I will ask it now.
“Send them a letter, certified mail, return receipt request, demanding that counsel sign an affidavit stating they have examined all documents submitted to the court and there is NO fraud.” – mm
Carrot or Stick? How is this done?
When I demanded from a now ex-wife that she sign a a bar napkin document (in preparation for our divorice) that she refused to take off those super mormon underwear and cook me breakfast on Sunday morning in a thong …she told me to fuck off.
Just sayin’
ci
Like Leonard Cohen says, “Everybody Knows’
Check out this real estate listing on Craig’s List:
http://austin.craigslist.org/reo/3118696546.html
Told ya.
@crazyivan – LOL.
Seriously, just the suggestion that these scumbag attorneys should sign an affidavit sends them packing.
It’s happened every time – in open court, in telephone conversation or a letter. The attorneys freak and the case gets dropped.
The most dramatic example – A 75-year old NJ widow, Susie Johnson, fought her foreclosure and lost.
The Sheriff was on his way to evict Susie and her daughter from the home, which was located on a busy street outside of Newark.
A group of housing activists squatted on the road in front of the home, blocking traffic. The truck-drivers all backed up and refused to move forward. Many are sympathetic to struggling homeowners, others didn’t care either way because they were paid if they traveled anywhere or not.
So, the Sheriff couldn’t get through the traffic and turned around. Their action bought Susie another month in the home.
The group handed us Susie’s Mortgage and Assignment of Mortgage, along with the Lis Pendens. It was sort of a throw-away. See what you can find, Okay Mary?
It took me two hours and I uncovered multiple serious fraud. The loan was originated by a LI firm that targeted Black homeowners in low-income neighborhoods. The President was indicted and plead guilty to 41 counts of mortgage fraud, copping to the HUD home flipping scam. He also was fined $5 million.
Anyway, the Pres supposedly signed Susie’s Assignment of Mortgage a month before he went to the slammer. The Prez is in LI and the notary was in Ocala FLa. Hello…
There’s more, but you get the idea. Serious, serious fraud.
I wrote up a report and recommended the advocates attorney who was assisting Susie contact the foreclosure law firm that filed the foreclosure and sheriff sale actions.
They followed through and sent the affidavit to the foreclosure mill.
The outcome?
The attorneys called and said their client did not have standing to foreclose and they were withdrawing the foreclosure and subsequent sheriff sale.
This is the most dramatic example, but not the only one. Verbal request demanding the affidavit work too.
Mary.
Balls, in the expresive sense rather than litteral sense.
@ crazyivan
Thanks, man. That’s the best compliment I’ve had all day!
@Mary
I sent the qwr this morning and I will be sending a letter to Recontrust the Trustee that taped the fore closer letter to our door. We live in Idaho and I am very interested in finding an attorney that might be able to help us.
Would you mind sending me an email as i have a few questions that I do not want everyone to read?
Thank you
Lee
[email protected]
@Lee – No worries. Just sent you an email and am researching Idaho property law and attorneys now.
May good things always come your way, Mary Malone. Your column/post is sure to help many people. Good discussions and input.
Mortgages are created out of thin air by the banks .Most people in this country have been led to believe that the money loaned by the bank is from the deposits of the banks customers. The more money the public saves, the more it can use that money to lend. In a way, the banks slide of hands accomplishes this task by creating your deposit based on the note you sign and then lending it back as if it was already on the books.