(zieak)
One month ago, GMAC/Ally was the first major mortgage lender to freeze foreclosures and foreclosure sales in about half the U.S.. But the day after Bank of America announced it was thawing its foreclosure freeze, GMAC followed suit. Meanwhile, the White House has warned all lenders that it will go after banks who are found to employ any of the tactics that got them into this mess in the first place.
In September, GMAC had put the brakes on foreclosures in 23 states following the revelation that some lenders had put expediency over accuracy and hired so-called “robo-signers,” untrained rubber stampers who pushed foreclosure paperwork through, often without review. The result was improper foreclosures and illegal evictions.
Now that these two banks have returned to foreclosing on properties, the White House said today that all banks need to take greater care in guaranteeing that they follow the law when foreclosing on a property.
“As institutions are determining their next steps in addressing these issues, we remain committed to holding accountable any bank that has violated the law,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. “In addition to strongly supporting the investigation by the state attorneys general, the administration’s Federal Housing Administration and Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force have undertaken their own regulatory and enforcement investigation into the foreclosure process.”
White House warns banks over foreclosures [Reuters]
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Oh, I’m sure the banks are REALLY scared of this threat.
Well they know that if they screw up again good ol’ Washington will bail them out again!
no, you don’t understand – at the end of this speech, Gibbs said, in a tiny voice, “We really mean it this time!”
The only real way they will start listening is if we start throwing CEO’s in jail for screwing up.
Or just reinstate the job-killing, anti-American, socialism that was Glass-Steagall. Oops, too late.
Could we instead put a CEO-killing policy in place of Glass-Steagall? It would likely enjoy broad public support.
Did we ever see stats on the actual number of errors?
Foreclosures, when done right, are necessary to pop the bubble and get us back to normalcy, painful though it will e.
There were extremely few actual errors.
[citation needed]
Most foreclosures are not disputed. It would be impossible to determine how many factual errors there were. I have anecdotal evidence from friends who practice in foreclosure law that a large number of the foreclosures they fight have errors of some kind.
Okay, then, material factual errors.
I have a hard time believing someone would not dispute an incorrect foreclosure. On the other hand, I don’t really care if the paperwork misspells the owner’s middle name.
Whether there were “factual errors” is beside the point, really. Again, two words spring readily to mind: Due Process. Two more would be: Due Diligence. The mortgage-holders are responsible to have their papers in order as proof in a court of law. They are also responsible to submit truthful, factual evidence, handled by people who not only claim they have knew about the circumstances of the foreclosure in question, but actually DID know about the circumstances. “Robo-signers” means submitting false evidence and/or perjury. This is not how you do things in a court of law, regardless of whether the foreclosure itself was warranted.
If you guys don’t shape up, we’ll get really mad! We mean it this time! We’ll send you a really mean letter! We really, really, really mean it!
Now, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries
That’s the pot calling the kettle black.
Came here to post this.
Great. The “United Nations”-style threat: “Behave, or…we’ll warn you to behave in a very strongly worded letter next time.”
How about the government put a freeze on foreclosures until things are figured out. I hate to think someone would lose their home when they were not at fault or the bank had no holding on the mortgage. Kinda hard to un-do without major damage to the homeowner.
The White House is taking these fraudulent foreclosures seriously. They won’t do anything about it, but they’ll be real serious about doing nothing.
I’m sure that BoA, GMAC, WellsFargo, Chase, JP organ, et al, took this very seriously and had the entire staff of the bank combing all the documents for errors and omissions. They will now start a continued program of ramping up campaign donations to both parties until this matter is resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
Here’s a thought. If the bank can’t prove that they own the mortgage to your house in court then frontier law applies. Sqatters’ right. If you’re using the land then you own the land.
Here’s a thought. If the bank can’t prove that they own the mortgage to your house in court then frontier law applies. Sqatters’ right. If you’re using the land then you own the land.
This is more of the same from this administration. Take a corporation to task for exercising its rights. THESE PEOPLE DIDN’T PAY THEIR MORTGAGES … the companies are supposed to say “oh, gee, that’s ok … we were just kidding anyway when we made you sign all those papers and gave you hundreds of thousands of dollars.” 2 more years of this?
Except, ya know, all those times where the banks foreclosed on the wrong house, or someone who had a mortgage with a different bank, or DIDN’T HAVE A MORTGAGE AT ALL.
No. A thousand times, no. No one said that the banks cannot exercise their rights per the contract to foreclose. Only that, when utilizing the courts to enforce that remedy, they actually exercise due diligence and not submit false documents and perjuring affidavits. Is this really too much to ask of the beloved banks? Really?
Why do VERY few articles about GMAC mention the fact the the majority shareholder is the US Treasury? Essentially, the government is the one foreclosing on these people.
I’ve said it before… A mortgage involves hundreds of thousands of dollars. There’s a paper trail associated with it. Asking the lender to maintain the integrity of that paper trail *IS NOT ASKING TOO MUCH* If that $400K is not important enough to BofA, or Ally or whoever for them to hold onto a file folder’s worth of papers in a warehouse, then they shouldn’t be allowed to recover it by foreclosing on the homeowner.
I agree. Particularly when the closing costs on said loans cost between $2-5k. If I’m paying the bank a fee of several thousand dollars to process the loan, they should do so properly.
Robert Gibbs telling people not to be stupid? So basically, do as I say, not as I do?
“White House warns banks not to be stupid” Thats like closing the barn door after the cows got out.