New Affirmation Foreclosure Attorneys Must Provide Tweak this with the laws of your jurisdiction and ask the bank lawyer to sign it. If they don't, haul them into court and ask the judge to compel them to sign it. It can stop them from stealing your home.
Arizona Federal Judge has Questions about MERS If Beneficiary status can be held and transferred independent of Holder status, does that separate the Note from the Deed of Trust? Does that void the Deed of Trust, leave it enforceable as a mortgage, or void the Note? Hearing is April 26.
BANK OF AMERICA TO PAY $250,000 IN PUNITIVE DAMAGES FOR FRAUD AND UNCLEAN HANDS Bank of America v. Pate During four-years of litigation, the Bank’s agents entered the Pate’s home several times while the Pates resided there, attempted to remove furniture, and placed locks on the exterior doors. Following the Bank’s action, the Pates had to have the locks changed so their family could enter the residence. During two of the intrusions, the Pates were required to enlist the aid of the sheriff to force the Bank’s agent to leave their home. The trial court found as fact that, due to the Bank’s multiple intrusions into their home, the Pates were forced to obtain alternative housing for 28 months, at a cost of thousands of dollars.
The Bank then obtained a force-placed policy with $334,800 in coverage and an annual premium of $7,382.98, which was included on the mortgage loan, quadrupling the Pate’s mortgage payment.
The totality of the circumstances established the Bank’s unclean hands, precluding it from benefitting by its actions in a court of equity. Thus, the trial court did not err by denying the foreclosure action.
Defunct Mortgage Lender Can't Duck Fraud Claims Home America originated mortgage loans and immediately sold them to Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, which applied for federal mortgage insurance for the loans. The whistleblowers claimed that Hicks and Home America changed borrower and property information on loan applications, fabricated documents and overrode safeguards on rejected applications, causing the government to insure high-risk loans. Order denying Summary JudgmentsDeutsche Bank still using Crystal Moore's signature to foreclose. The banks had her damaging deposition taken off the Internet. Deutsche Bank's Complaint in v. Hollister Robo-signing is still going strong in Ohio.BANK OF AMERICA LIES:Distressed homeowners oppose bills narrowing liability of banks in mortgage disputes The bill would narrow the liability of banks for their lending practices andforbid the award of punitive damagesin consumer protection lawsuits. They said if the two bills had been in effect, many Montana homeowners who sued Bank of America and other lenders for misleading them on the status of their distressed mortgagewould have had no legal claim.REPLAY:Attorney takes to task the "living rent-free" diversion from the CRIMES "First, contrary to what is alleged, Plaintiff was making her mortgage payments when the Defendants stole her home using robosigned documents and false affidavits in the foreclosure process. The last portion of that statement deserves repeating: These Defendants stole Plaintiff's home. Now, regarding the Plaintiffs 'rent-free lifestyle", let one thing be clear. Plaintiffs life-style has no bearing on the ongoing,wholesale criminal enterpriseof the mortgage foreclosure industry as they exponentially perpetuate the tsunami of illegal foreclosures across the country - and become enormously wealthy while they do it. Discussion of the Plaintiff's "rent-free lifestyle" is simply a poorly contrived attempt to divert attention from the problem." (the case is still alive) Also see:"The In-House Legal Professional's Guide to Drafting Affidavits That Stand up To Scrutiny"written by foreclosure-mill Locke-Lord.Where is the government review of the same documented mischief in illegal foreclosures? FEMA Sets up Review Process for Sandy Flood Insurance Claims Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have agreed to let Superstorm Sandy victims who think their insurance claims were not fairly paid out to undergo a review The evidence:The Storm after the StormBank ‘Breaks Into Home, Won’t Give Explanation’ People can't quite believe a bank would just decide to break into someone's house with no good reason, Tomasovich said. His attorney said that even if the house had been in foreclosure,the bank would have needed a warrant from a judge to go into the house.The Foreclosure Hour: Exclusive Tell-All Interview with Bank of America Robo Whistleblower He is going to reveal that he personally worked as part of an army of robo-signers in one of (4) Bank of America mortgage assignment manufacturing factories throughout the country (he will name their locations and give vivid details including names), falsifying loan documents, signing under oath for MERS and for the Big Banks.It is this simple... No Default Notice Means No Foreclosure, 4th DCA Rules Blum v. Deutsche Bank The bank violated the terms of the mortgage by sending the notice of default to a post office box rather than the property address, which was the official notice address listed in the mortgage. Even though the house was vacant at the time, the appeals court agreed and remanded the case to the trial court for dismissal for noncompliance with the mortgage's acceleration requirement.Texas Supreme Court DENIES Wells Fargo's Petition for Review to overturn appeal in: Wells Fargo v. Leath Wells Fargo has failed to overturn the judgment voiding the deed of trust lien on Leath’s homestead and ordering forfeiture of the principal and interest on the related home equity adjustable rate note.Rescission: The Wheels Are Turning Tune in to the Neil Garfield Show tonight at 6 pm Eastern We continue answering questions tonight on rescission and legal strategies that lawyers should be thinking about. It’s all about the lack of meat in the sandwich — there is no underlying transaction IN THE CHAIN CLAIMED BY FORECLOSING PARTIES — no money exchanged hands. There is no loan at the base of all that paper banks are fabricating for court. Money was loaned — but not by anyone in the chain that claims rights to the loan. They have no rights, and the judicial system needs to scrutinize these transactions and the foreclosures initiated by parties who have no ownership, no authority and cannot prove the balance of the loan. The question is whether the courts will realize that this is about money, not paper.More Bid-Rigging At Foreclosure Sale Auctions Two Georgia real estate investors pleaded guilty for their roles in a conspiracy to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Georgia, the Department of Justice announced. “The division will continue working with its law enforcement partners to expose cartels that harm distressed homeowners and lenders.”Since the 1980s, fraudsters have used this simple scheme because the cops will not stop it! THE FORECLOSURE TRAP This process was causing the Patricks to be treated as if they weren’t making their regular monthly mortgage payments over a period of time when they in fact were. In two months, the amount they owed quadrupled! They realized that their servicer had laid a trap for them, and that trap had sprung.Who Will Claim $380 Million In Unspent Foreclosure-Abuse Money? "U.S. bank regulators are making another attempt to dole out about $380 million in unspent money that has been set aside to reimburse consumers for foreclosure-related abuses.Federal Court grants pro se's Motion to Strike exhibits; leaves BONY with no evidence for Summary Judgment. Homeowner's remaining claims allowed to proceed. Nicholson v. BONY Yorkovich does not, however, make these declarations under penalty of perjury, and the declaration is not supported by a jurat. Therefore, the Court grants Nicholson’s motion to strike Yurkovich’s declaration.Give foreclosure victims settlement money, US rep says "It is a cruel irony that those who lost the most to the foreclosure crisis seem to be helped the leastfrom the Department of Justice's settlement," said Marino, chair of the House Judiciary's Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law subcommittee.Mortgage Servicer's Arrogance Stands Out Matt's Mortgage Story Here Matt was, being a poster child of good mortgage behavior having never missed making a monthly payment, yet his servicer was clearly setting him up for foreclosure. Matt’s servicer was not to be denied in its attempt to drive him into foreclosure. Its’ first trick having failed, next it offered him a loan modification, but Matt didn't need one.FORECLOSURE and FRAUD UPON THE COURT Original Note Not Filed
The dark days of foreclosure; bad documents all the way around. How will the bank wiggle out of this?INVESTIGATORS:Locked Out of Their Homes; Ohio Company Accused of Taking Property (again) Safeguard says nothing is removed until the bank owns the property and the foreclosure is complete. But our investigation found dozens of complaints filed with the Ohio AG claiming that didn’t happen.Bank of America Can't Wrestle With $1.27B Countrywide Verdict Never one to mince words, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan had a few harsh ones for Bank of America, ruling that it "utterly failed" to offer a compelling reason to retry a mortgage fraud case that put the bank on the hook for $1.27 billion. "The jury's conclusion that this wasa massive and intentional fraudwas amply supported by the evidence," Rakoff wrote.US investigates a single Deutsche Bank foreclosure case Inquiry could affect foreclosures across United States In recent months, the U.S. Trustees' Office has stepped up efforts around the United States to block banks and law firms from using false or fabricated documents in home foreclosure actions.NY Times Gretchen Morgenson picks up on our latest wins. Two Judges Who Get It About Banks Gregory Leyh, a lawyer in Gladstone, Mo., who represented the Holms, said: “This is a family that was trying to do everything right to keep their house. When you pit a family in financial distress against a powerful company that wants to make a few more dollars in a foreclosure, I think that’s pretty egregious.” Holm v. Wells Fargo
Franklin v. Wells Fargo(Banks are not transferring Notes - they are trading bits of data.) In Re: Franklin More precise pleadings are getting the courts to understand the banks' claims do not make sense. "Wells Fargo has offered no explanation, let alone evidence, of who else, if not Wells Fargo, held the original of the Note with the blank ABN Amro indorsement before December 28, 2009, if, in fact, such a version then existed. The far more likely inference, instead, is that when the loan was transferred to Wells Fargo, the Note with the blank ABN Amro indorsement did not exist.""It's about mistake upon mistake upon mistake,"said Epstein's attorney Roy Oppenheim. Murphy's Law: Paperwork Errors Dog Lenders in Foreclosure Cases It should have been a straightforward case, but a clerical error put Bank of America on the losing end of a four-year foreclosure case Wednesday. Attorneys say it took the bank two years (2 YEARS!) to move to fix the problem, leaving Epstein as the documented owner facing homeowner association bills.Middle Class Getting Squeezed Out of Courts. So What is Being Done About it? Labarga saw the same thing during his 15 years as a Palm Beach trial court judge,particularly in foreclosure cases. “Every other case had one unrepresented party,” he said. “Today, it must be even more. There is nothing more heartbreaking than to have a foreclosure case, and the bank’s lawyer comes in all polished, well-dressed, and he knows exactly what to do, and you see a husband and wife all by themselves with a file. As a judge, you can’t say, ‘This is what you have to do so I can rule in your favor,’ but you want to.”This opinion is what you would expect from cases like this. Missouri Court hammers Wells Fargo with $3 Million in punitive damages for its outrageous conduct Title quieted in the homeowner! The Court finds Defendant Wells Fargo's attitude toward Plaintiffs unfathomable. The incredible effort made by Plaintiffs to keep the property they so clearly love should have been commended, not condemned. Wells Fargo's decisions to renege on its promises and contract, and to deceive Plaintiffs with the pledge to cancel the foreclosure sale, were outrageous and reprehensible.Foreclosure echo Former homeowners face huge insurance claims The lawyer represented a mortgage insurance company Galindo had been paying premiums to for years. He’d never given his insurance policy much thought – it was just something he had to buy to qualify for a mortgage since he couldn’t afford a big down payment. He thought it would help him if he got in a bind. Too late, Galindo realized that the policy only protected the bank, and nothing prevented the insurer from coming after him for losses related to the foreclosure.Ocwen and Bondholders Clash Over Mortgage Services In a letter to the bondholders’ lawyer, Ocwen’s lawyer Richard A. Jacobsen said the group’s “ultimate objective” was to “stop servicers from modifying loans and force them to foreclose on and evict as many homeowners as quickly as possible.”(Since it opened in the 1980's, Ocwen's business model is to foreclose and evict - not 'service'. Servicing is the front to access free homes and equity. -MSF)LOST EQUITY? NOT LOST, BUT STOLEN. WE CAN, AND MUST TAKE IT BACK! Wall Street's Achilles Heel may be hidden in plain sight As these boardroom and courtroom battles play out, millions of distressed home owners' lives have been ripped apart: upset, stressed, their health and well being threatened, marriages dissolved and families splintered. We must mount a successful challenge against an enormous foe to stop all mortgage foreclosures and then move to recover our homes and lost equity.Ocwen Agrees to $2.5 Million Settlement for Failing to Provide Loan Information The settlement also prohibits Ocwen from taking on any new California customers until the DBO determines the firm can fully respond in a timely manner to future requests for information, and the DBO will drop its effort to suspend Ocwen’s license in California.From our case archives: COPY OF NOTE IS NOT ENOUGH
BLAIR v. HALLIBURTON In the 1970's case, the court wrote in its two-page opinion: "We have judgment being granted solely on the pleadings, with a "copy" of a note a part thereof. That is not enough. He was faced only with pleadings -- no proof... pleadings alone will not raise a fact issue."A FORGED DEED IS VOID AND DOES NOT PASS TITLE "In an issue of first impression, we must decide whether an affirmative defense of forgery, supported by an affidavit alleging that the defendants’ signatures on a deed of trust were forged, raises a genuine issue of title intertwined with the issue of possession sufficient to deprive a justice court of jurisdiction in a forcible detainer action. We hold that it does." (“A forged deed is void ab initio and inoperative. . . . Thus, when a document is void or void ab initio, it is as if it did not exist because it has no effect from the outset.”); (“A forged deed, or deed of trust, is void, and does not pass title to land.”)OCWEN stock down almost 40% Ocwen Financial Corporation is a provider of residential and commercial mortgage loan servicing, special servicing and asset management services, and is currently under investigation.
Now this... California Moving to Suspend Ocwen’s Mortgage License For at least 20 years, Ocwen has been a major player engaged in the theft of homes (land) and wealth from homeowners.UNANIMOUS Decision from SCOTUS! Court clarifies rules for rescinding mortgages JESINOSKI v. COUNTRYWIDE Held: A borrower exercising his right to rescind under the Act need only provide written notice to his lender within the 3-year period, not file suit within that period. Section 1635(a)’s unequivocal terms—a borrower “shall have the right to rescind . . . by notifying the creditor . . . of his intention to do so” (emphasis added)—leave no doubt that rescission is effected when the borrower notifies the creditor of his intention to rescind. This conclusion is not altered by §1635(f), which states when the right to rescind must be exercised, but says nothing about how that right is exercised. Nor does §1635(g)—which states that “in addition to rescission the court may award relief . . . not relating to the right to rescind”—support respondents’ view that rescission is necessarily a consequence of judicial action. And the fact that the Act modified the common-law condition precedent to rescission at law, see §1635(b), hardly implies that the Act thereby codified rescission in equity. Pp. 2–5.You Won't Believe What Decided the Fate of Foreclosure Cases at the 4th DCA "Normally you see discrepancies of this nature within different circuits. But what we're seeing in the Fourth is discrepancies among themselves. In the end it doesn't help anybody when you have inconsistent rules." -attorney Roy OppenheimWhat about the thousands of illegal foreclosures? Debt Buyer Faces Fine and Loss of Thousands of Court Judgments The Encore Capital Group is expected to vacate 4,500 court judgments and pay a $675,000 fine to New York State over concerns that it filed thousands of flawed debt collection lawsuits against residents. Billions in settlements TO the government, however, not a nickle towards vacating illegal or void foreclosure judgments.Osceola County set to take on Fraudulent Foreclosures The clerk of the court is about to authorize an audit of the court's records to see if banks have used faked documents to take people's homes. "A certain amount of foreclosures are legit. But for the most part - they are not," said a forensic auditor, adding "They are fabricating documents to give the illusion that they are the true owners of the Notes. The audit will look at foreclosure filings for the last two years to see if any of the documents were used toillegallytake over other homes. This audit should have been done 20 years ago.Bank of America's Manufactured Foreclosure: Evan Rosen Wins Trial for Client Who Never Missed a Payment I thought their arrogance and disregard for truth, justice or fairness was unparalleled, but I was wrong. They later surpassed themselves. Even after Bank of America and their lawyers lost,they still kept pushing to take this person’s home away based on their own fabricated default. The homeowner was chairman of the banking and finance committee.Removing commonsense to create a conflict. Oral Argument Preview:More Procedural Issues on Standing in Foreclosure Cases On January 14, 2015, the Supreme Court of Ohio will hear oral argument in the case of Wells Fargo v. Horn. The issue in this case is whether Fed. Home Loan Mtge. Corp. v. Schwartzwald requires a plaintiff to attach evidence of standing to the complaint, or whether it is proper for plaintiffs to clarify standing through sufficient evidence provided at a later stage of the litigation. Why should an innocent person be forced to bear the expense and hardship of frivolous litigation brought by a plaintiff who lacked standing to file the action? Now the defendant has suffered damages, in part, by the court's failure to demand a plaintiff meet its prima facia burden of proofbeforethe case is filed. -MSFHomeowner Wins Appeal Against Nationstar "Without notice to Morlock or his counsel, Nationstar moved for the issuance of a default based on Morlock's alleged failure to file a responsive pleading,and the trial court granted that motion." (Actually, Morlock filed his response twice.) Morlock v. Nationstar Another Nationstar case Reversed for No Notice Stevens v. Nationstar965 Homeowner Mass-Joinder Moves Forward Against Major US Banks & Mortgage Lenders Case touted as “a major case breakthrough for homeowners who want to move forward in their cases against major US banks and mortgage lenders.” The Third Amended Complaint was over 3,000 pages. Petersen v. Bank of AmericaColorado AG charges two more foreclosure-mill law firms with FRAUD Inflated fees andnon-existenttitle insurance policies. "For abusing the foreclosure process for their own profit, eight Colorado foreclosure law firms have now been targets of investigation by my office," Suthers said in a statement. "It is my hope that these actions will result in greater transparency and fairness in the legal processing of foreclosures."OCWEN investigation found evidence ofwrongfulforeclosures. Ocwen Chairman to Step Down in Settlement With New York Regulator Ocwen will also pay $100 million for foreclosure relief and community redevelopment programs and $50 million to New York residents whose mortgages have been serviced by the company. New York borrowers whose houses have been foreclosed by Ocwen since January 2009 will receive$10,000each.
Hey, sorry we stole your home, all your equity, ruined your life and health, kept you in court for years, and all the multiple damages you suffered. Here's $10,000 to make us even. We would give you more, since we made a killing committing all the crimes against you using your property we didn't even own, but we do need our profit to pay off judges, sheriffs and other conspirators. OCWEN's 8K SEC FilingCountrywide Whistle-Blower to Receive More Than $57 Million A former Countrywide Financial executive who became a financial crisis whistle-blower is collecting more than $57 million for his effort in helping federal prosecutors force Bank of America to pay a record $16.65 billion penalty in connection with its role in churning out shoddy mortgage securities.The BANKSTERS ARE DOING THE SAME THING WHY AREN'T THEY GOING TO JAIL? Felony Complaint for title fraud, forgery, grand theft of property, conspiracy, etc. Use this to help write your police report against bank attorneys.
Pair Arrested for Stealing Title on Home and Selling it for Profit Amazing how quickly the DA arrests and indicts INDIVIDUALS for forging robo-stamped docs to take title to a home and sell it for profit, yet the BANKSTERS and their LAWYERS do hundreds of thousands of them THE SAME WAY with impunity. -attorney NDFormer Foreclosure-Mill attorney hit with wrongful foreclosure She may turn out to be a tougher foreclosure than most; she once worked as a loan-enforcement lawyer at Polsinelli, a law firm that made a bundle during the foreclosure crisis.GETTING YOUR HOUSE BACK: RIGHT OF REDEMPTION IS WORTH A TRY The banks are fighting this tooth and nail because of their fear of liability from insurers, investors, guarantors and counterparts on hedges like credit default swaps — all vehicles for the effective sale of the same loan over and over again. This means they could have a liability for as much as 5-10 times the stated amount on the note. So they want the foreclosure sale even if it nets nothing and the property is abandoned.
Get Your House Back After Foreclosure? Every state allows struggling homeowners to buy back their properties before the homes are lost to foreclosure sales. In about half the states, even foreclosure isn't the final word: Defaulting borrowers may have one last chance to get back their homes.Tampa couple wins $1M from Bank of America in robocall suit The judgment amount is based on $1,500 per computer call. "If the court finds the calls were willfully and knowingly placed, it provides for trebling the damages."Court: "Whichever way one comes at it, the McLeods’ Motion to Dismiss must be granted." Deutsche Bank Fails Again A prior state court judgment bars the relief Deutsche Bank seeks, so the Bank cannot state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Deutsche Bank refused, in five years of further proceedings following entry of that judgment, to ask the state court to fix the supposed error, and it refuses even now to make that request in post-judgment proceedings. This dismissal will leave Deutsche Bank free to seek correction in the state court,if it can justify its five-year delay, or to reacquire the note and deed of trust from the current holder. Congratulations to attorney Beth Findsen.
