Banks find it easy to skirt federal laws protecting U.S. Military from Foreclosure

abc News Florida

* By: Alan Cohn

TAMPA - While they are fighting for our nation overseas, some military personnel are losing their houses to foreclosure here at home.

In the thick of battle, in the heat of the fight, it's the last thing a GI should have to worry about. While Coast Guardsman Keith Johnson was fighting for our country overseas, he was losing a battle here at home, for his home.

A battle, he claims, he had no idea was being waged until the moment he got back and spoke to his wife.

"It just boggled my mind. I got back and she said 'the house is basically foreclosed' and I was like 'What do you mean?'" Johnson says.

At the same time, Johnson and his wife Alysia were negotiating with their lender, Wells Fargo, to modify the mortgage on their Clearwater home, the bank's lawyers were foreclosing on the property, getting a summary judgment, and auctioning it off.

That happens fairly often. Banks negotiate loan modifications at the same time they move to foreclose. The difference here is that Johnson says no one ever informed him the bank was foreclosing.

If that's true, it would be an apparent violation of a federal law specifically designed to protect active duty military personnel.

The Servicemember Civil Relief Act requires active duty soldiers be informed of civil actions like foreclosure, and allows them to delay the process until they are home to defend themselves.

Attorney John Odom is a nationally known expert on the act, and says it also protects soldiers against default judgments because, "Active duty personnel are not free to come and go as they might need to defend themselves," Odom tells us.

The I-Team has uncovered case after case in the Tampa area, around Florida, and the nation where banks have foreclosed on the homes of active duty military personnel.

In Johnson's case, Tampa Attorney Jay Passer was appointed by the court to track him down and protect his rights. He said he went to neither their home nor the base to find Johnson.

If Passer had only contacted Johnson’s unit at Air Station Clearwater or used the Coast Guard's world-wide personnel locator, Johnson said, "my command would have informed me immediately -- immediately."

Instead, Passer sent a letter to the Pentagon. He never received an answer from them. "It was not known to me. It was never explained to me, and I never received a response to any of that," Passer said.