Just when it looked like the Ally Financial/GMAC Mortgage robo-signing drama couldn't get any more, well, dramatic -- it did. Last week, the fourth-largest mortgage lender in America revealed that the foreclosure documents for potentially all its foreclosures over the last five years had simply not been read, because the staffer tasked with signing them had been assigned the inhuman job of "reading" and signing over 10,000 documents per month.
More than 50,000 foreclosures, evictions and resales of foreclosed homes on home loans held or serviced by GMAC Mortgage were frozen across 23 states; within the week, the California attorney general had asked GMAC to stop foreclosures in the nation's largest state until the company could prove it was complying with state foreclosure laws, Connecticut's attorney general had requested a court order halting all banks from foreclosing on homes there for 60 days and the attorneys general of Ohio and Florida had initiated investigations into GMAC foreclosures.
This week, though, the debacle flew straight up the food chain of the mortgage lending industry. Executives at JP Morgan Chase and the country's largest mortgage lender, Bank of America, have also confessed to signing tens of thousands of foreclosure documents without reading them, causing these banks to also halt foreclosures in the 23 states that require judicial involvement to consummate a foreclosure and evict the former homeowner.
The latest? Yesterday, the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ordered the seven largest mortgage lenders in the country to review their foreclosure processes for flaws in their document management systems.
For tips on what this means to those who are facing or have already experienced foreclosure, and think their documents might have been "robo-signed," check out this report we filed when the Ally Financial/GMAC Mortgage foreclosure mill story first broke.
Yesterday, five homeowners in the state of Maine filed a class action suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing them of filing knowingly false certifications for foreclosure, and false affadavits which back up the documents. Maine is one of the 23 states where judicial sign-off is required to move ahead with a foreclosure, and where GMAC (now Ally Financial) has suspended evictions.
In depositions of GMAC/Ally officials as well as those at top mortgage lenders across the country, employees have admitted that they do not spend any time verifying the accuracy of the foreclosure documents, and often use a “robo-signer” who looks at the materials for less than 30 seconds and signs up to 10,000 affadavits a month.
The lawsuit alleges that thousands of Maine homeowners have lost their homes unfairly due to judgments based on false documents, and that most of them had no attorney operating in their defense. GMAC has been sanctioned in a Maine court for their “high-volume and careless approach to affidavit signing.” Local attorneys, along with the offices of Maine Attorneys Saving Homes, the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Responsible Lending are working on the case.
Bank of America, the largest holder of mortgages in the country, yesterday admitted to this practice and suspended foreclosure processes while they review the documents. They plan to “amend all affidavits in foreclosure cases that have not yet gone to judgment,” a process that could take months or even years. Citi and Wells Fargo, the only major lenders which have not slowed their foreclosures yet, have defended their documentation actions, with Wells Fargo standing by the accuracy of their affadavits. If all lenders eventually submit to review, it could put on hold the future of 4.37 million households either in foreclosure or severe delinquency.
The lenders often just service the loans, without owning the title. Private investment pools or even the government, in the form of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, often own the homes. Sometimes the owner cannot be determined because of securitization and sloppy processes during the housing bubble, leading to foreclosures by servicers who cannot establish ownership.
Connecticut, a judicial foreclosure state, has suspended all foreclosures for 60 days while the Attorney General investigates. California, a non-judicial state, has asked GMAC/Ally and JPMorgan Chase, another lender reviewing their documents, to halt their foreclosure operations. Asm. Ted Lieu, the state legislator who wrote the law that requires lenders in California to try to contact borrowers and document the outcome before any foreclosure, said yesterday that the state should call for a foreclosure moratorium.
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Just when it looked like the Ally Financial/GMAC Mortgage robo-signing drama couldn't get any more, well, dramatic -- it did. Last week, the fourth-largest mortgage lender in America revealed that the foreclosure documents for potentially all its foreclosures over the last five years had simply not been read, because the staffer tasked with signing them had been assigned the inhuman job of "reading" and signing over 10,000 documents per month.
More than 50,000 foreclosures, evictions and resales of foreclosed homes on home loans held or serviced by GMAC Mortgage were frozen across 23 states; within the week, the California attorney general had asked GMAC to stop foreclosures in the nation's largest state until the company could prove it was complying with state foreclosure laws, Connecticut's attorney general had requested a court order halting all banks from foreclosing on homes there for 60 days and the attorneys general of Ohio and Florida had initiated investigations into GMAC foreclosures.
This week, though, the debacle flew straight up the food chain of the mortgage lending industry. Executives at JP Morgan Chase and the country's largest mortgage lender, Bank of America, have also confessed to signing tens of thousands of foreclosure documents without reading them, causing these banks to also halt foreclosures in the 23 states that require judicial involvement to consummate a foreclosure and evict the former homeowner.
The latest? Yesterday, the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ordered the seven largest mortgage lenders in the country to review their foreclosure processes for flaws in their document management systems.
For tips on what this means to those who are facing or have already experienced foreclosure, and think their documents might have been "robo-signed," check out this report we filed when the Ally Financial/GMAC Mortgage foreclosure mill story first broke.
Yesterday, five homeowners in the state of Maine filed a class action suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing them of filing knowingly false certifications for foreclosure, and false affadavits which back up the documents. Maine is one of the 23 states where judicial sign-off is required to move ahead with a foreclosure, and where GMAC (now Ally Financial) has suspended evictions.
In depositions of GMAC/Ally officials as well as those at top mortgage lenders across the country, employees have admitted that they do not spend any time verifying the accuracy of the foreclosure documents, and often use a “robo-signer” who looks at the materials for less than 30 seconds and signs up to 10,000 affadavits a month.
The lawsuit alleges that thousands of Maine homeowners have lost their homes unfairly due to judgments based on false documents, and that most of them had no attorney operating in their defense. GMAC has been sanctioned in a Maine court for their “high-volume and careless approach to affidavit signing.” Local attorneys, along with the offices of Maine Attorneys Saving Homes, the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Responsible Lending are working on the case.
Bank of America, the largest holder of mortgages in the country, yesterday admitted to this practice and suspended foreclosure processes while they review the documents. They plan to “amend all affidavits in foreclosure cases that have not yet gone to judgment,” a process that could take months or even years. Citi and Wells Fargo, the only major lenders which have not slowed their foreclosures yet, have defended their documentation actions, with Wells Fargo standing by the accuracy of their affadavits. If all lenders eventually submit to review, it could put on hold the future of 4.37 million households either in foreclosure or severe delinquency.
The lenders often just service the loans, without owning the title. Private investment pools or even the government, in the form of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, often own the homes. Sometimes the owner cannot be determined because of securitization and sloppy processes during the housing bubble, leading to foreclosures by servicers who cannot establish ownership.
Connecticut, a judicial foreclosure state, has suspended all foreclosures for 60 days while the Attorney General investigates. California, a non-judicial state, has asked GMAC/Ally and JPMorgan Chase, another lender reviewing their documents, to halt their foreclosure operations. Asm. Ted Lieu, the state legislator who wrote the law that requires lenders in California to try to contact borrowers and document the outcome before any foreclosure, said yesterday that the state should call for a foreclosure moratorium.
Sea Ice <b>News</b> – delayed a day – but still something interesting <b>...</b>
It makes good news right now because of the nice 15 year trend down, which is actually a 30 year trend down. The problem is that our satellite data for the sea ice extent started in 1979 (for the whole year at least). ...
Record attendance for Eurogamer Expo | <b>News</b>
This year's Eurogamer Expo, which took place in London across October 1-3, has been hailed a.
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