AP Exclusive: Mortgage 'robo-signing' goes on

Yahoo Finance ^ | 18 July 2011 | Michelle Conlin and Pallavi Gogoi

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Mortgage industry employees are still signing documents they haven't read and using fake signatures more than eight months after big banks and mortgage companies promised to stop the illegal practices that led to a nationwide halt of home foreclosures.

County officials in at least three states say they have received thousands of mortgage documents with questionable signatures since last fall, suggesting that the practices, known collectively as "robo-signing," remain widespread in the industry.

The documents have come from several companies that process mortgage paperwork, and have been filed on behalf of several major banks. One name, "Linda Green," was signed almost two dozen different ways.

Lenders say they are working with regulators to fix the problem but cannot explain why it has persisted.

Last fall, the nation's largest banks and mortgage lenders, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and an arm of Goldman Sachs, suspended foreclosures while they investigated how corners were cut to keep pace with the crush of foreclosure paperwork.

Critics say the new findings point to a systemic problem with the paperwork involved in home mortgages and titles. And they say it shows that banks and mortgage processors haven't acted aggressively enough to put an end to widespread document fraud in the mortgage industry.

"Robo-signing is not even close to over," says Curtis Hertel, the recorder of deeds in Ingham County, Mich., which includes Lansing. "It's still an epidemic."

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

But remember folks, this whole entire problem is all just about "people who want to get free houses."

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

They’re still at it PING!

[Kartographer]

If you or I comitted one percent of the illegal shenanigans that these banks, mortgage companies, lawyers and loan servicers have we would be in jail no matter why we did it or how strong our case was.

[Kartographer]

I especially like this:"My office is a crime scene," says John O'Brien, the registrar of deeds in Essex County, which is north of Boston and includes the city of Salem."

[Thane_Banquo]

Yeah, but the banks can do it because they’re run by liberal Democrats. The rules don’t apply to them.

[Kartographer]

"Most of the tainted mortgage documents in question last fall were related to homes in foreclosure. But much of the suspect paperwork that has been filed since then is for refinancing or for new purchases by people who are in good standing in the eyes of the bank. In addition, foreclosures are down 30 percent this year from last. Home sales have also fallen. So the new suspect documents come at a time when much less paperwork is streaming through the nation's mortgage machinery. None of the almost 1,300 suspect Linda Green-signed documents from O'Brien's office, for example, involve foreclosures. And Jeff Thigpen, the register of deeds in North Carolina's Guilford County, says fewer than 40 of the 456 suspect documents filed to his office since October involved foreclosures."

I wonder where or resident Mortgage 'Experts' and 'Dead Beat Beaters' are? May be they could explain this?

[Doctor 2Brains]

for later

[Texas Fossil]

The signature of a qualified bank or mortgage official on these legal documents is was supposed to guarantee that this information is accurate. The paper trail ensures a legal chain of title on a property and has been the backbone of U.S. property ownership for more than 300 years.

[Buckeye McFrog]

ahh, we just wanted to keep this one in the freezer a little while longer and thaw it out in time for the Dems to use in their William Jennings Bryan 2.0 campaign next fall.