When the state tightened its foreclosure rules in response to the document crisis, it ordered the six largest servicers to explain why they should be allowed to continue foreclosing on homes. In effect, their response went something like this: "Trust us, everything's fine now."
One major battleground over how robo-signed documents will be treated is the courtroom of Ohio state court judge Nancy Margaret Russo. She had ordered GMAC to appear before her on Monday to provide her with "proof of integrity of all documents submitted" in a foreclosure case. The proof was needed because GMAC filed the case against James Renfro using documents executed by the infamous robo-signer Jeffrey Stephan. Since the issues weren't resolved on Monday, Russo ordered swift but significant discovery and scheduled a full hearing on February 17, 2011.
After a 16-day review of its foreclosures, Bank of America says it found no problems with any of them, and now it's ready to resume processing the paperwork. But that's a claim so unbelievable it doesn't pass the straight-face test. Here's why.
An Obama Administration housing official said mortgage lenders such as Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. could legally resume foreclosures on homes, while a New York judge is forcing lawyers handling foreclosures to verify paperwork accuracy, the Associated Press reported.
Bank of America (BAC) is preparing to resume foreclosures in 23 states, just 10 days after halting the foreclosure process on properties in all 50 states. The foreclosure halt came amid concerns that company executives may have signed documents without properly verifying them.
GMAC, which is a unit of Ally Bank, has hired a number of accounting and legal firms to go over its foreclosure procedures.
The government is looking into allegations that mortgage lenders in the foreclosure crisis have been evicting homeowners using flawed court papers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday.
Wells Fargo still won't admit it, but its employees' testimony makes it clear that, like GMAC, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and OneWest Bank, they have a problem with their foreclosure documents. But the solution isn't just a better documentation process: It's time to bring back cram downs.
Several big banks have admitted that their employees routinely sign scads of foreclosure documents without verifying their information. Wells Fargo and CitiMortgage have denied engaging in similar practices. Yet new evidence shows they do.
General Motors will once again have its own in-house financing unit starting Friday, when the auto giant closes on its $3.5 billion purchase of AmeriCredit. The new unit, to be renamed General Motors Financial, will allow GM to offer consumers more financing and leasing options.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. will delay foreclosing on some properties in order to review affidavits that were signed by employees who didn't verify related files, making the company at least the second bank in recent weeks to suspend the foreclosure process on properties in order to better examine documents.
The problem of faulty foreclosure documents isn't limited to GMAC: A JPMorgan Chase employee has testified that she was one of eight managers who combined to sign some 18,000 documents a month without the personal knowledge of the facts that the documents claimed they had.
In Friday's legal news, the timing of the SEC's suit against Goldman Sachs may have had more to do publicity than with advancing the Democrat's agenda; the delinquent Harrisburg Authority tries to make good on its debts; and the justice department wants to determine policy regarding gays in the military.
