Boy, if Fitch thinks servicer problems are limited to affidavits, it is gonna learn a lot more in the coming weeks and months. This report comes via BusinessWeek: Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it’s asking mortgage servicers about their foreclosure practices in the wake of GMAC Mortgage LLC’s recent disclosure of procedural errors. The agency believes […]
Read more...See this video ofthe deposition of GMAC’s famed robo signer, Jeffrey Stephan, who estimates that he signs 10,000 documents a month. If nothing else, you need to watch from 5:00 to the end of the first segment. Hat tip reader Barbara W, from 4closureFraud.org. I wish the sound quality were better; you can also read […]
Read more...More shoes are dropping on the foreclosure improprieties front. Let’s not forget the throughline: the parties in the securitization pipeline were so keen to rip out fees and maximize profits that they allotted too little in the way of expense dollars to executing tasks required both by statue and contractual agreements. The result was that […]
Read more...Let’s be clear: there are plenty of bad guys, chumps, and people who should have known better in the subprime mess. High on the list for well deserved scorn are the ratings agencies, who still retain a central role in structured credit. Well, now, come to think of it, the mortgage securities business is now […]
Read more...Florida is ground zero of the foreclosure crisis. In addition to being one of the epicenters of the housing meltdown, it has also become the jurisdiction where local lawyers have been the most effective overall in unearthing how servicers and foreclosure mills have engaged in widespread document fabrications and use of improper affidavits to foreclose. […]
Read more...Before we get to the meat of the post, I have a fun project for readers. Just as “whocoulddanode” has become inextricably linked to the excuses for the failure to see the housing crisis coming, we need a new tag phase for the hopeless tangled mess that the folks who screwed up mortgage securitizations have […]
Read more...The spin-meisters continue to package things that ought to incite outrage in anodyne wrappers in the hope no one will look inside. “The new normal” and “structural unemployment” join the universe inhabited by such gems as “extraordinary rendition” and “pre-emptive strike”. “New normal” is particularly insidious, since it implies that we must accept current conditions, […]
Read more...Per the Sacremento Bee, hat tip Foghorn Leghorn and Brian: California officials today demanded that Ally Financial Inc. stop foreclosing on homes in the state, citing reports indicating the big mortgage lender is violating the law. The cease-and-desist letter, issued by Attorney General Jerry Brown, came as officials in several other states began investigating Ally’s […]
Read more...It isn’t surprising that given the potential consequences (revelation of widespread fraud, improper foreclosures, and big time difficulties straightening out the mess revealed), GMAC and other servicers have taken the “nothing to see here, drive on by” approach to reports that they forged affidavits and fabricated documents in order to be able to show courts […]
Read more...Ah, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive, said the bard. And the web emanating from the GMAC affidavit improprieties extend much further than most may realize. Although GMAC continues to maintain that having its “robot signor” officers like Jeffrey Stephan provide affidavits on matters they know nothing about is […]
Read more...The news reports on GMAC Mortgage’s decision to halt evictions and foreclosure sales in 23 states, as originally reported by Bloomberg News, has generated keen interest in the mortgage and securitizaion communities. One reason is the oddly abrupt and broad nature of GMAC Mortgage’s action. GMAC Mortgage subsequently issued a rebuttal of sorts to the […]
Read more...Representative Alan Grayson of Florida has asked the Florida Supreme Court to halt all foreclosures in the state in light of an investigation by its attorney general into allegations of pervasive foreclosure fraud by so-called “foreclosure mills”. Text below: September 20, 2010 Chief Justice Charles T. Canady Florida Supreme Court 500 South Duval Street Tallahassee, […]
Read more...Various updates on the possible drivers of the GMAC announcement suspending its foreclosures in 23 states. Max Gardner, a North Carolina bankruptcy attorney who is held in high esteem and is playing a leading role in legal efforts against foreclosure fraud, provided this comment on our earlier post on the GMAC bombshell: I believe this […]
Read more...In one trial I’m familiar with, but not one of these 23 states listed, the GMAC guy was on the stand twice, and the second time, it was pretty clearly established that he had perjured himself in his initial testimony. But I doubt the mother ship took note of that trial (no verdict rendered yet). […]
Read more...Another ticking time bomb in the realm of real estate bad behavior is bound to go off sooner rather than later, and it is likely to impede normalization of values of residential property. As readers no doubt know, there is a lot of actual and shadow residential real estate inventory in the US. The time […]
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