Think Bank of America is regretting the day it decided to salvage Countrywide? The acrid aftertaste of that acquisition just got a little worse with the news that Allstate Corp has sued BofA and 18 other defendants, alleging losses on more than $700 million of mortgage securities Allstate purchased from Countrywide. [More]
foreclosure fracas
Scammed In A Refi, Woman Loses Home
By 11.23.10
A woman who thought she was doing a simple refi for $50,000 and became the victim of an elaborate swindle was just dealt her final savage blow: her house is getting foreclosed on. [More]
Foreclosures Are Hurting The Children
By 11.22.10
Children are an overlooked victim in the mortgage meltdown. Experts are growing concerned about the negative social, emotional and academic impact foreclosure turmoil is having on kids. Everything from forced relocation, moving to a new school, seeing your parents at each other’s throats over money, to coming home and finding all your belongs in the trash takes its toll, and there isn’t currently a public policy response to address the issues. [More]
Strapped To A "Rocket Docket" Built For Max Foreclosure Speed
By 11.19.10
Florida has special high-velocity courts presided over by retired judges that process foreclosures at the rate of 25 per hour. That’s potentially one evicted family every 2.4 minutes. Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi sat in on one of these “rocket dockets” to show what goes on, marveling at the shoddy and fraudulent paperwork the banks are cramming through the courts. [More]
Foreclosures Drop 9% Over Fudged Paperwork Fallout
By 11.11.10
For the first time in a long while, foreclosures actually dropped in October, falling 9%. The big drop came about as several big banks halted foreclosures across the board after news about the robo signers began to emerge. Foreclosures are expected to pick back up again November, albeit at a softened pace. It may be 3-4 months before the rate fully resumes. So take a gasp, homeowners behind on your mortgage, you just caught a temporary break. [More]
Banks Paper Over Robo-Signer Errors, Structural Problems Remain
By 11.1.10
After the foreclosure fraud scandal broke, banks scrambled to fix what they described as “procedural” errors and “technicalities.” But the lawyer whose deposition of a former robo-signer sparked the uproar says all the banks have done is put bandaids over bandaids. [More]
Understand The Essential Players In The Foreclosure Scandal
By 10.25.10
Having trouble keeping track of all the different players and abbreviations and names in the latest foreclosure fraud mess? ProPublica offers a handy primer. [More]
Bank Of America Admits It Kinda Sorta Screwed Up On Some Foreclosures
By 10.25.10
In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, Bank of America has never really confessed to making errors on home foreclosures… until today. [More]
Bank Of America Gets Back To Foreclosing In Some States
By 10.18.10
Ten days after announcing a freeze to foreclosures in all 50 states, Bank of America announced on Monday that it was time to get back to the business of foreclosing on homes in 23 of those states. [More]
Tips For Weathering The Foreclosure Freeze
By 10.15.10
As mentioned here earlier this week, the current foreclosure freezes by Bank of America and others have more than a few people in limbo as they wait to either buy or sell a foreclosed property. To help these folks out, Reuters has put together a list of helpful tips for weathering the freeze. [More]
Bankers: We Wouldn't Hire Unqualified Robo-Signers If You Just Paid Your Mortgage
By 10.14.10
While a lot of attention has been paid to recent foreclosure freezes and the hordes of unqualified “robo-signers” hired to rubber stamp mortgage documents, the bankers of Wall Street want to remind the homeowners of America — This is all your fault. [More]
Robo-Signer Confession: 'I Don't Know The Ins & Outs Of The Loan, I Just Sign Documents'
By 10.13.10
In spite of their nickname, “robo-signers” — those hired to process the mountain of foreclosure documents during the recent recession — are flesh and blood human beings. And like many human beings, they also know very little about mortgages and foreclosures. [More]
Texas AG Calls For Statewide Foreclosure Freeze
By 10.5.10
Hot on the heels of foreclosure and eviction freezes by GMAC/Ally, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, the Attorney General for the state of Texas has become the latest AG to request that loan servicing companies put a temporary halt to foreclosures. [More]
Bank Of America Freezes All Foreclosures In 23 States
By 10.4.10
Bank of America announced Friday that it was halting foreclosures in each and every case that hadn’t gone to judgement. They became the third major bank to put the brakes on foreclosures after revelations that document processing firms were allegedly forging papers and signatures on a massive scale. [More]
Foreclosure Firm Allegedly Forged Bank Execs' Signatures On Affidavits
By 9.23.10
A foreclosure firm listed “Bogus Assignee” as the mortgage owner on the documents they submitted to the court to process the foreclosure. That’s one of the many oddities surfacing in the investigation of a Florida foreclosure firm for allegedly using improper documentation to speed up foreclosures. Another is an employee “Linda Green” who signed of on thousands of foreclosure affidavits claiming to be executives from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and other lenders. [More]
