Community | July 18, 2011 | 4 comments

Banks Continue 'Robo-Signing' Foreclosure Practices In Spite Of Promises To Contrary: Investigation

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letsliveinpeace
NEW YORK/IMMOKALEE (Scot J. Paltrow) - America's leading mortgage lenders vowed in March to end the dubious foreclosure practices that caused a bruising scandal last year.

But a Reuters investigation finds that many are still taking the same shortcuts they promised to shun, from sketchy paperwork to the use of "robo-signers."

In its effort to seize the two-bedroom ranch house of 87-year-old Margery Gunter in this down-on-its-luck Florida town, OneWest Bank recently filed a court document that appears riddled with discrepancies. Mrs. Gunter, who has lived in the house for 40 years and gets around with the aid of a walker, stopped paying her loan back in 2009, her lawyer concedes. To foreclose, the bank submitted to the Collier County clerk's office on March 3 a "mortgage assignment," a document essential to proving who owns a mortgage once the original lender sells it off.

But OneWest's paperwork is problematic. Among the snags: state law permits lenders to file to foreclose only if they already legally own a mortgage. Yet the key document establishing ownership wasn't signed and officially recorded until months after OneWest filed to foreclose on Mrs. Gunter. OneWest declined to comment on the case.

Reuters has found that some of the biggest U.S. banks and other "loan servicers" continue to file questionable foreclosure documents with courts and county clerks. They are using tactics that late last year triggered an outcry, multiple investigations and temporary moratoriums on foreclosures.

In recent months, servicers have filed thousands of documents that appear to have been fabricated or improperly altered, or have sworn to false facts.

http://huff.to/qYuFij
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    Community,   Business News & Analysis
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    Banking Crisis
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4 comments // Banks Continue 'Robo-Signing' Foreclosure Practices In Spite Of Promises To Contrary: Investigation

  • artemis6
  • Schnookums
    • +2
      Schnookums  

    • Banks said one thing, and did another?!? Unbelievable.

      :)

      Actually, I'd be more surprised if they didn't. As a famous douchey CEO said, "as long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance".

      In other words, they will keep committing fraud right up until it isn't possible to pull it off anymore.....and not before.

    • 10 months ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • +3
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  

    • DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,

      WE DEMAND THAT ALL MORTGAGE COMPANIES BE SHUT DOWN AND ALL HOME MORTGAGES BE CANCELED AND THE HOMES DEEDED TO THE PURCHASERS ! WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THE CONTINUED FRAUD WHICH HAS BEEN PERPETRATED ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THE DEVASTATION WHICH MORTGAGE BANKS CONTINUE TO HEAP UPON THIS NATION. WE THE PEOPLE DEMAND THIS OF OUR EMPLOYEES, THE LEGISLATORS AND YOURSELF.

    • 10 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
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