Posted on 10/13/2010 8:44:15 PM PDT by Chunga85
More than a year before lenders, law firms and document companies began owning up to widespread paperwork problems with their foreclosure filings, Lisa Epstein and Michael Redman already knew that something was wrong — very wrong.
Redman, a former online automobile consultant, got his first taste of the problem in early 2008, when he tried to help a relative who was facing foreclosure.
As he tried to determine which of three or four supposed lenders held the note, Redman, 35, realized that not only did he not know the answer, neither did any of the companies that were asking for payment.
Epstein, a nurse who cares for cancer patients, also is going through foreclosure. She got her baptism in the world of shoddy foreclosure paperwork in the summer of 2009, however, when she tried to help a brain tumor patient keep her home.
Epstein helped draft a letter challenging the foreclosure because, as in Redman's case, it was unclear from court papers who owned the home's mortgage.
After arriving at the summary judgment hearing in her nurse's uniform, an emotional Epstein, 45, watched as the ill woman read their letter aloud in court. When the opposing attorneys never showed, the judge refused to finalize the foreclosure. The woman remains in her home as the legal wrangling continues.
"It was like something struck inside me, like this is what I'm compelled to do. I can be a nurse for people caught in this foreclosure crisis," Epstein said. "I remember thinking, 'I'm not an attorney, and there are definite obstacles, but maybe there's a role for me.' And I ran back to the hospital like I had wings. I felt like this is my purpose."
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Add me to the ping list I suppose. I didn’t mean to become obsessed with this issue, but you pay attention when a wildly swerving car is heading at you.
Related Might have already been posted in this thread.
The enormous mortgage-bond scandal
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2607229/posts
Interesting - I’ll have to go to the courthouse and check on my own property. They want a $50 fee to do it online, which is too much. Paid off the loan last year and have the documents to prove it. No issues with any mortgage companies but I want to be sure.
This entire foreclosure issue needs to be worked out. I’m hoping/planning to be in a position to buy some property next year but I can’t act if I don’t know the condition of the title.
Good idea. Our mortgage was owned by Countrywide at one point. The last time we re-fi’ed, the papers were signed in the presence of a part time retired attorney in a rent-a-office. I forget the name of the bank that handled it all. My husband handled all those negotiations.
The attorney was a very nice man and very accomplished at his work. I found out that he had been quite important at one time around here, and just likes to do this work in retirement to keep busy. He was in his 80s. But, it doesn’t seem quite ‘kosher’, does it?
I'm afraid it's probable and to think otherwise strains credulity.
The ingredients and preparations required to prepare this toxic stew are sufficient enough to challenge the skills of a Master Chef.
Below are two videos explaining the "microwavable" version...
Whew...got a heck of a pinglist going.
Our last re-fi was simliar. I was unimpressed. Since there was such a massive amount of re-financing going on, I just attributed it to volume getting ahead of the organization. I never thought they'd make a mess of our title. It seems naive now, but having grown up in a time when contracts were honored and strict procedures followed, I assumed they'd be doing the big things right even if it didn't look impressive.
Read this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2607008/posts
And then tell me if fraud is involved or not.
Have you added me to that pinglist? If not, please do.
Quite possible.
If that happens, though, and the lien is properly cleared, then you should be able to request a deed from your county (or whatever jurisdiction handles that).
I suspect there will be a sudden investment in paperwork tracking by banks and servicers, so that this shouldnt happen. In general, the people who work at servicers arent paid very well and their equipment is 3rd rate. I used to work at an I Bank whose servicer was based in Arlington, TX and they only bought 2nd hand servers!
Yes the Burger King kids & the folks who were the ones just shuffling papers but the bankers at Freddie & Fannie,Chase,GMAC etc & all the lawyers that hired the flunkies will never see the inside of a cell .
Good job
Please put me on the list. Thanks!
Excellent article and background. I didn't mean to imply there wasn't some degree of fraud, or more accurately chicanery involved in this whole stinking affair. It's truly PERVASIVE and truth be known, much of it actually begins at the street level. But more to your point with a simple analogy for my simple mind: I don't blame a fox for acting like a fox. He can usually be counted on to do what foxes do and will raid a henhouse at every opportunity. Where were those ostensibly guarding the henhouse at the numerous levels along the way? IMHO our watchdogs, or the ones that actually cared, were simply out of their league or thwarted by their superiors who were players in the larger game. I don't mean to diminish the participation of the fox in all this but there were countless opportunities to rein in the foolishness. Due diligence flew the coop{{snort}} at just about every level. Why?
In any case, if the intent was to defraud, WHO were the marks in all this "paperwork" chicanery? In the mean time, the environment in which these shenanigans were allowed to proliferate is what we should maybe be spending our time looking into. Did those guarding the henhouse decide there were enough chickens to go around thus enabling the fox to have his way? A tangled web to be sure and placing the blame would probably require fingering every player along the way-- some more than others.
And if more than one entity lays claim? What if they come saying hey we were never paid bcause the service agent didn’t know who to send the money to or if they did they didn’t note what mortgage it went against? I am not saying it can’t be cleaned-up but it could end-up costing you thousands of dollars and hours and hours of your time. Some are saying that there maybe no way to clean the deed up depending on how mired they become in various law suits which are bond to arise.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2607008/posts
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