83 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 26 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing Summarizing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 1/19/11

Foreclosures Stymied in Maryland

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   No comments

Dave Lefcourt
Message Dave Lefcourt
Become a Fan
  (21 fans)

It isn't often the case when reading the local newspaper (in this instance the Baltimore Sun) the headline article, "Second chance to save their homes, GMAC pressed to dismiss "robo-signed' foreclosures, is dropping 250 cases", resounded with good news.

As we have known since the fall of last year, mortgage servicers (such as GMAC) all over the country were dabbling in suspicious practices like "robo-signing", the improper signing of mortgage affidavits by an employee of a law firm without knowing the accuracy of the information he was signing. These affidavits then were notarized (often by someone other than the legal notary) making the process "appear" to be legal.

The proverbial s___ hit the fan when early in 2010 a Maine attorney Thomas Cox, a former foreclosure attorney, while volunteering to review foreclosures, noticed what he saw as a "red flag", the same signing officer's name to numerous foreclosures. In a deposition hearing conducted by Cox with this signing officer, the latter revealed he had no knowledge of what was in the affidavits he was signing (which is clearly illegal). With this evidence in hand, Cox then sent the case to Maine District Court which agreed to hear Cox' revelations against the mortgage servicer GMAC. Subsequent to say, Cox' case blew the lid off the unscrupulous practices conducted by other mortgage servicers like GMAC, i.e., Wells Fargo, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase et al. all illegally expediting mortgage foreclosures and getting people tossed out of their homes

As this avalanche of impropriety grew by leaps and bounds the attorney general's in all 50 states are now pursuing a joint action into foreclosure practices.

In Maryland, the "state court system approved an emergency update of its rules in October to make clear that courts can conduct audits for problematic foreclosure paperwork and toss cases if documents were robo-signed."

The impact of the Maryland court system's ruling was not lost on GMAC which in December started to ask Maryland to dismiss cases in which it submitted were "potentially defective affidavits." GMAC has said it will re-file the cases "to assure that all home preservation options were exhausted".

What this means in practical terms is "GMAC must now show in its new filings that it considered the homeowners for foreclosure alternatives and the borrowers will be eligible to pursue court-supervised mediation" i.e. it gives homeowners the opportunity for "sit down mediation sessions" for them to get real "loan modification" on their mortgages rather than get the typical runaround by mortgage servicers who often refrained from reworking mortgage terms who pursued foreclosure with a vengeance   and in many instances without "voluntarily" trying to rework mortgage terms.

But without the revelations coming to light of mortgage servicers engaging in unlawful practices and now being held to account would we hear GMAC say it wants "to assure that all preservation were exhausted"? Not on your life!

Predators, like the current crop of mortgage servicers, can only be reined in by exposing their greed and disregard for following the law by holding them to account.

It is a travesty that the banksters on Wall Street and other financial and insurance behemoths "too big to fail" have been allowed to go free or when caught been allowed to get off with fines and no jail time while admitting no wrong doing in creating the financial meltdown and "great recession". That disaster dwarfs what is now happening with mortgage servicers.

But in America today we must take heart where we can and not disparage the small successes such as currently happening in Maryland. We can only hope those small successes can multiply and grow into larger successes nation wide.        

Rate It | View Ratings

Dave Lefcourt Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Retired. The author of "DECEIT AND EXCESS IN AMERICA, HOW THE MONEYED INTERESTS HAVE STOLEN AMERICA AND HOW WE CAN GET IT BACK", Authorhouse, 2009
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

An Ominous Foreboding, Israel vs Iran

The Evolving Populist Political Rebellion in the Arab World

A Nuclear War Would Be Insane

The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Get Poorer, While the Middle Class Gets Decimated

CIA in the Crosshairs

Iran Offers 9 Point Plan to end Nuclear Crisis, U.S. "No thanks".

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend