Grayson Untangles the Web of Fraud in the ‘Foreclosure Mills’

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Citigroup, Ally Sued for Racketeering Over Database

Bloomberg

By Margaret Cronin Fisk and Thom Weidlich – Oct 4, 2010

Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc. units were sued by homeowners in Kentucky for allegedly conspiring with Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. to falsely foreclose on loans.

The lawsuit, filed as a civil-racketeering class action on behalf of all Kentucky homeowners facing foreclosure, also names as a defendant Reston, Virginia-based MERS, the company that handles mortgage transfers among member banks. The suit claims that through MERS the banks are foreclosing on homes even when they don’t hold titles to the properties.

[…]

The homeowners claim the defendants filed or caused to be filed mortgages with forged signatures, filed foreclosure actions months before they acquired any legal interest in the properties and falsely claimed to own notes executed with mortgages.

Forgery is No Joke.

Neither is being evicted, by Banks who ‘really don’t own’ your Home.

Surely all these civil action suits, are just disgruntled borrowers, who got in over their heads — and are now crying about “Sour Grapes” …

Surely they are over-stating the extent of the Mortgage Industry’s little “paperwork problem” …

Think again.

Straightening Out the MERS Mess

By Steve Cook Real Estate Economy Watch — Sept. 23, 2010

Could 62 million homeowners be secure from foreclosure because their mortgages are held by an industry-run electronic mortgage registry that a California bankruptcy court recently ruled cannot be used to establish ownership of the loans?

[…]

At the heart of the cases brought by owners facing foreclosure is the requirement that to foreclose on real property, lenders must be able to establish the chain of title entitling it to relief.

[…]

On May 20, a California bankruptcy court held that MERS could not foreclose because it was a mere nominee; and that as a result, plaintiff Citibank could not collect on its claim. Since MERS did not own the underlying note, it could not transfer the beneficial interest of the Deed of Trust to another.

The California decision inspired similar legal challenges to MERS across the country, including a class action filed in Florida in July seeking relief against MERS and an associated legal firm for racketeering and mail fraud.

Wow.  Racketeering and Mail Fraud are serious.

So is having your family evicted out into the Streets, by Bankers who ‘really don’t own’ your Home … at least according to the IRS and the Law, as we will see next.

Thankfully Alan Grayson is taking serious, this pervasive problem of Mortgage Fraud, and he breaks it down and explains, in only the way Grayson can.

Rep. Grayson cuts to chase around Time Mark 3:00.

Fraud Factories: Rep. Alan Grayson Explains the Foreclosure Fraud Crisis



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Here’s my transcript from around TM 3:00 … apologies for any typos.

These sub-prime Lenders, Trusts, and Banks decided to cut as many costs as possible — including the cost of record keeping. They didn’t keep good records. And they violated the laws mandating that they had to file records with the County Clerk, on who owned, what Mortgage Title.

Instead the Banks simply digitized the Mortgage Titles into a privatized system called the Mortgage Electronic Registry System, or MERS.

And it did the transfers by trading the Excel spreadsheets among the Banks and Trusts — rather than Endorsing the Notes, as required by their own Contracts, by State Real Estate law, and by IRS Rules.

Today MERS is the registered owner of the ‘security interest’ in 60 Million properties — or about 60% of the Mortgages in the United States. In fact 97% of the Loans originated between 2005 and 2008 are in the MERS System.

It appears on a widespread and probably pervasive basis, they did not take the steps necessary to ‘Own the Note’ — a borrower IOU — which means that in 45 out of the 50 States, they lack the legal right to foreclose. Thus every Trust now has questionable ‘legal standing’ in foreclosures, in the overwhelming majority of States.

In addition their records were poorly kept, so Servicers are basically guessing, that they have the right to foreclose, when they do foreclose.

Obviously the banks do want to grapple with the consequences of Trillions of Dollars of Securitized Mortgages — having no ‘legal standing’ to foreclose.  So they have simply created a system where Servicers hire ‘Foreclosure Mill’ law firms, who’s business is to forge documents, showing or proporting to show, that they have a legal right to foreclose. Some of these ‘Foreclosure Mills’ have been featured in the New York Times.

And so-called ‘Robo-Signers‘ —  people who’s names appear on 1000’s of affidavits;  these appear, despite obvious forgeries and overt omissions; and in cases, where these people admit, that they had no knowledge of what they were signing.

The system is so organized that there is a company called ‘Lending Processing Services‘ which allegedly has created the means to systematize this fraud. Lawyers use the LPS system to request which affidavits and documents they need. LPS then has ‘Document Mills’ where they can magically make an authorized Vice President of ‘who ever you need’.  And send you back-dated, signed Documents saying that ‘you have the right to foreclose’.

Courts at first refused to believe that this level of rampant Fraud, even exists.  But more recently, they started to sanction Fraud against Loan services.

Here are some examples of signature Forgeries used on Documents, filed with the courts.

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Finally this a Mortgage Assignment filed with the Recorder’s Office, in which the foreclosing firm forgot to put the Name of the Assignee.  So they instead put ‘Bogus Assignee‘.

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The filing firm, simply forgot to change the Template — for Who’s Home, which Family’s Home, they wanted to take.

This is a Factory of Fraud!

[…]

Fraud is now Big Business, and sanctioned in part, through the Goverment, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are both shareholders in MERS.

We are approaching a point where the easiest way to make a buck — is to steal it.

The only way to end the plague of Foreclosure Fraud, is to make sure — that Crime does NOT pay.

I’m Congressman Alan Grayson, Thank you.

And Thank you, Congressman Grayson, for speaking the truth, about this Plague of Greed, which if left unchecked, will ultimately destroy this country.

The Damage that this institutionalized greed has caused —

is far too real, for far too many.  Whether the “Boiler Plate”, has been filled in ‘completely’, or not …

NBC Nightly News (03-09-09) Tent Cities of Homeless Springing Up In Bad Times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F94f_Ycsjs

The Damage is already done, for far too many.  The Banksters will no doubt, blame it on their “Document Mills’ … … as I wrote about a few days ago.

Where is the Justice?  Where is the outcry for economic equity and fairness.  Where are the Consumer Advocates?

Citibank fails to prove Mortgage Ownership, in Foreclosure Suit

by jamess — Oct 01, 2010

Thank you for taking the time.