It’s not difficult to identify the beneficiary of this phenomenon: it’s the Wall Street investment banks that are falsely claiming to have securitized transactions with homeowners that are falsely represented and labeled as loans. They get the money proceeds from forced sales of homesteads and they don’t distribute it to anyone who paid value for entry into the securitization scheme. It is pure profit.
We are talking about the most serious subject relating to illegal foreclosures. The ability to hire an attorney. Mortgages are very complex instruments and securitization claims make it worse.
65% of those who persist in litigation succeed as long as they remain focused on the evidentiary requirements for proving the existence, ownership and authority over the debt. You might think the debt exists and so you might be afraid to ask for evidence supporting the existence of the debt. But I will tell you that most lawyers who are unafraid to test every aspect of the case against their client homeowner are successful.
The problem, as most people have come to realize, is that finding a lawyer willing to accept that engagement is getting harder and harder. Foreclosure defense attorneys are literally an endangered species.
65% is a great statistic for many trial lawyers who like to have a track record of winning. And there are plenty of homeowners who sufficient cash resources to pay for an attorney.
So why is it so hard to find a lawyer willing to take the case? Where are the lawyers who once flooded the marketplace offering foreclosure defense services? Why are most of the successful ones gone? What happened to them?
In 2008 I presented my first Garfield Continuum seminar and around 150 lawyers from all over the country showed up, paying about $1,000 each for entry into the seminar. About a dozen of them went out and became millionaires when I outlined the hub and spoke business plan of servicing homeowners in this dress.
I presented many other more detailed seminars on evidence and expert witnesses, and discovery attended by lawyers who were paying top dollar and most of them went out and started winning cases about 80% of the time. The pro se litigants who attended didn’t fare as well but most of them were able to position themselves for a modification that was satisfactory to them even if it was giving up a lot of equity.
The crazy thing is that one by one the lawyers who were truly successful in court and who forced settlements that were highly beneficial to homeowners were gradually weeded out by targeted disciplinary actions by bar associations and by targeted legal actions by the Federal Trade Commission and state AG offices. And they were subjected to intense hostility from the bench.
Many of those lawyers are gone and most other lawyers are afraid to take such cases because they know they will be targeted by unwarranted disciplinary actions and punishment or overextended civil actions brought by the FTC and state AG’s.
With my retirement from active court appearances for health reasons, there is virtually nobody who is willing to take up these cases, actively litigate them and successfully challenge the ability of the designated creditor to prove with evidence that the loan account exists on an accounting ledger, that it is owned by the designated claimant and that the designated claimant had the authority to grant servicing or agency powers to anyone for administration, collection or enforcement of scheduled payments.
It’s not just that the deck is stacked against the merits of the defense. Lawyers take cases like that all the time. It’s that lawyers are risking their career if they are successful in litigating a foreclosure case for the homeowner. As a result, homeowners are denied due process, access to courts, and the continued peaceful enjoyment and title to their property. They and their lawyers are forced into doing modifications instead of litigating the case to a successful conclusion. Sometimes they are forced to accept cash for keys.
It is now extremely difficult to find a lawyer who will accept an engagement to defend a foreclosure regardless of the financial ability of the prospective client to pay fees. The unconstitutional chilling effect on lawyers and homeowners is obvious. Lawyers and homeowners have been chased away from defending foreclosure claims that are unfounded, illegal, and fraudulent. The investment banks are winning by attrition, not merit.
And the reason is simple: lawyers who are consistently successful at defending foreclosures are targeted with disciplinary actions, punishments and civil actions that either directly or indirectly bar them from ever representing or soliciting a client for foreclosure defense litigation.
It’s not difficult to identify the beneficiary of this phenomenon: it’s the Wall Street investment banks that are falsely claiming to have securitized transactions with homeowners that are falsely represented and labeled as loans. They get the money proceeds from forced sales of homesteads and they don’t distribute it to anyone who paid value for entry into the securitization scheme. It is pure profit.
I have been a litigator for 45 years. During that time I have also written workbooks on and given CLE seminars to lawyers across the country on various topics relating to business litigation foreclosure, evidence, discovery and expert testimony.
I have never seen a situation like this, created entirely by overreaching of state bar grievance procedures and civil actions brought by the Federal Trade Commission and State AG offices under cover of preventing fraudulent “foreclosure rescue” scams. They have even come after me, repeatedly in multiple states but because of my experience in defending administrative actions, they were largely unsuccessful.
The establishment is firmly committed to policies that chase away any lawyers who seek to win foreclosure cases, if they represent homeowners \. They are equally firmly committed to supporting the foreclosure attorneys who are representing nonexistent clients with whom they have no contact, on nonexistent claims.
I personally know of dozens of lawyers who were making a name for themselves winning one case after another for homeowners, only to be swept off the field by one of these targeted administrative or civil actions. And yet I have seen not one such action directed at one lawyer or law firm where the final judgment specifically stated there was no claim. I personally was lead counsel in two of those cases.
We have had a 50 state settlement in which there was either direct or tacit admission that the documents being used were fake. forged and contained false information, even though they were recorded.
We have had hundreds of settlements with “investors” who thought they were buying shares of loan portfolios that never existed. And yet the lawyers who are hired to enforce scheduled payments from those nonexistent loan portfolios are “protected” by the doctrine of litigation immunity.
But when some lawyer starts winning cases on mostly the same premises as the investor lawsuits — challenging the very nature of the transaction that is presented by investment banks, he or she finds themselves in a maelstrom of threats, warnings, disciplinary charges, punishments that far exceed anything relevant to their supposed offense. And they face threats from the bench because the trial judge is unaware that the entire foreclosure scheme is a ruse.
Those lawyers are the heroes of the judicial system. They took on the defense of homeowners who were bewildered by what happened to their huge (and sometimes only) investment. Many lawyers racked up multiple victories not only in trial courts but in appellate courts. Still, they were treated as some sort of threat to society.
THE ASTEROID LIE: What was the real threat? The real threat was not real. It is a threat from the investment banks that if homeowners defeat foreclosures, the entire securitization infrastructure collapses thereby freezing lending and all commercial activity. This, they threatened, would end modern civilization.
The translation of that is that even if the scheme is not legal, it must be maintained or else. So instead of securitization players and foreclosure players being threatened with prosecutions for creating, promoting, and enforcing illegal activity, it is the homeowner and the homeowner’s attorney that is threatened with prosecution — all as part of a witting or unwitting participation in the PR machine created by the Wall Street investment banks.
The losers are millions of homeowners denied adequate disclosure as to their rights, denied due process, denied access of courts, denied equal protection, and the same for the foreclosure defense attorneys who simply used their skills in court to defeat the claim because there was no claim.
So here is my ten-point plan for the things you can personally do about this situation.
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File complaints with and write to the CFPB to encourage them to get involved in the disclosure that most of the claims are illegal, fraudulent foreclosures based upon nonexistent loan accounts on behalf of nonexistent entities.
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File complaints with and write to the State AG to encourage them to get involved in the disclosure that most of the claims are illegal, fraudulent foreclosures based upon nonexistent loan accounts on behalf of nonexistent entities. AG is an elected office. Get together with other homeowners and file petitions.
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Pepper the press with your own releases and questions and pleas for help.
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Walk into a lawyer’s office fully prepared to present a coherent defensive strategy that is backed by fact and law. Pay for the initial consult.
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Don’t ask any lawyer to take your case on contingency. It is counterproductive to even ask.
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Get involved with political and legal action groups. But be aware of scams. If they are asking for a lot of money upfront to join and it isn’t a lawyer, it is probably a scam.
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Get involved in mass joinder efforts and class action lawsuits.
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If you are pro se get help even from a lawyer who doesn’t think you can win. Don’t ask for proof in discovery. Decide for yourself what is proof and then ask for that thing specifically, like the wire transfer receipt. That means that you have to know what you are talking about and not expect the judge to fill in the blanks that you create. As the lawyer sees you progressing in litigation he or she might take another look.
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Always focus on the three elements of every foreclosure case: the existence of the loan account at the time of foreclosure, ownership of that account, and the authority as the grantor, to grant agency powers over the account by the owner of the loan receivable account — if it exists.
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GET TOGETHER WITH OTHER HOMEOWNERS AND PETITION THE SUPREME COURT OF YOUR STATE TO CHANGE BOTH THE CURRENT RULES AND THE WAY THE CURRENT RULES ARE APPLIED.
The more attention you bring to this, the more likely it is that someone will take another look at their assumptions. If you don’t bring attention to it, they have no reason to change.
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Neil F Garfield, MBA, JD, 73, is a Florida licensed trial and appellate attorney since 1977. He has received multiple academic and achievement awards in business and law. He is a former investment banker, securities broker, securities analyst, and financial analyst.
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FORECLOSURE DEFENSE IS NOT SIMPLE. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE OF A FAVORABLE RESULT. THE FORECLOSURE MILLS WILL DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO WEAR YOU DOWN AND UNDERMINE YOUR CONFIDENCE. ALL EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT NO MEANINGFUL SETTLEMENT OCCURS UNTIL THE 11TH HOUR OF LITIGATION.
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Filed under: foreclosure |
Javagold, just because the contract says what it says, by no means that I believe homeowners are”deadbeats”, only that homeowners NEED to attack the transaction—PERIOD!
We analyze homeowners mortgage transactions, to glean evidence to use against the bank, that’s how we help people.
As to your modification agreement, in most instances the only way the Servicer can breach is to fail to give you the mod IF they agreed to give you one in the 1st place. I never analyzed your case, and without ALL of the facts and the arguments you made surrounding your mod, I can’t comment. Furthermore, without knowing the court’s facts/reasoning for ruling against you, I can’t comment on that either. However, I’ve reviewed hundreds of cases where the homeowner claimed the court got it wrong, and almost 100% of the time the court factually and legally got it right.
Moreover, all of this crap the courts are corrupt is just that crap. I’ve seen a judge throw a homeowner and their clown atty. out of court for making useless arguments; and the same judge throw the bank out. The problem is when anyone loses they want to blame someone, in foreclosure cases the incompetent hacks, and/or audit scammers convince homeowners that the courts are corrupt, not that their stupid arguments were worthless.
I agree with legisman, as far as the “contract” having flaws-abnormalities-errors-fraud in some cases. My file is wrought, like most with “chain of custody” issues [down right counterfeiting, forgery], from the “alleged” REMIC plaintiff, suing me. No oversight with regard to their contract breaches of these original agreement(s). My well-read investigation tells me, a chain of custody “MUST” be maintained to garner rights to foreclose, under the REMIC Rules, if that’s who they claim to be [if they are suing me from an assignment, and a proper chain of custody,..this is treated differently-should be].
Judges “never” follow chain of custody, ensuring the proper party is before before the court and whether they actually have the documentation or “possession” of what they need to institute the proceedings. [big issue here, I failed to understand that originally]…then the “standing” issue. How can a party who is a “vital, individual and inseparable” part of the production of a debt-note not have standing? These guys convert these notes, mortgages into commercial paper, selling our payment streams as investments [MBS, Bonds] to investors-certificate holders. Hence the reason for the protective REMIC provisions. If they violate their contract to the investors-it directly affects us to. If and when problems arise, we are left with no recourse. [side note: the certificate investors, on the back end, sued to the tune of Billions, for bogus paper and their losses, homeowners got chewed up, while lenders got a bailout from the same destitute homeowners, taxpayers]
Right now we are watching similar behavior…inflated appraisals [prices are unsustainable], real estate is still being sold with questionable titles, marginal loans are being moved through the system [I have never seen so much lending going on], at warp speed. Recipe for more devastation….IMHO
PS. I did all of these things – Petitions, letters, complaints, ect.
Every Judge before whom I appeared in Crooked County Circus Court ignored all my evidence and mercilessly threatened me from the bench, verbally; with sheriffs, clown impersonators, ect. EVERY single one.
And all of these Judges are closely related to Big Banks, either by family or donations.
HUD gave no absurd runarounds; AG ignores all complaints; CFPB ignores and closes all complaints.
IL Supreme Court does not care that lower Courts do, they are more concerned about sales of judicial jobs to banks cronies (for the record, every judicial opening in IL attracts about 300 applications from lawyers. The minimum spent by each lawyer on judicial “election” is $100,000. So, 300 x100,000 = 30 million per judicial seat which usually goes to the most connected lawyer, sometimes without any election.
Foreclosures filing fees is another great source of revenue for Court system. Chicago Circus Court charged at some point about $900 per filing, plus appearances, so all together very hefty profits.
Do Courts report revenues from filing fees? I doubt even though Chicago Court alone makes more money than Boeing,
2.5 million various cases per year, by about $500 (filing plus appearances) – over $1.3 billion per year in revenue, a big part of it coming from illegal foreclosures and evictions.
Do you think judges will give up these profits from foreclosures and evictions? as well as donations from banks and their lawyers and personal investments in Banks’ scheme?
I agree with Java. The SYSTEM is a lie. And Legisman acts like he is hired by Big Banks to act as their zealous advocate.
This is the Government who KNOWS about this lie and who allowed it to proceed.
Judges not only enabled but accelerated this LIE above the sky
Now they don’t know that to do about it and hope to keep it under the rug – but people will learn about it anyway.
New home buying stampede with 2% “interest mortgages” from Federal Reserve is another scam.
Who would lend money below regular inflation rate to buy bigger homes with higher taxes and maintenance (which was artificially ballooned by Wall Street Banks) – all during uncertainty and pandemic?
And Black Knight has many tricks to create fake defaults and blame homeowners for it, Artificial “deficiencies” of non-existing debt and bogus insurances are just some of them
Wall Street Banks again pushed home PRICES above the sky, induced people to buy “more home” with “lower interest” – all to create another foreclosures Tzunami of robbery bigger than in 2006-2012
Legisman.
If the system is not a Lie. It’s definitely incompetent.
I showed you the modification contract was breached from Day 1. I showed you (and more) my objection to FJ balance was SUSTAINED. Something I was told by many legal professionals (I believe including yourself) they’ve never seen happen at that stage and how I did an incredible job as a pro se in oral arguments. (I don’t say this to brag, just to state the scenario).
And Yet, you still say (or at a minimum agree with the judge) I’m the one who is wrong because I did not pay the INCORRECT monthly amount, even though the same judge just sustained that I was correct and totally contradicts their SJ decision.
So if I do not have the standing to win this on appeal, a breach of contract , I honestly don’t know who out there does in your eyes and how/why you can be in the business of helping homeowners.
You definitely know what you are talking about. I do believe you are honest and I even agree with a majority of your conclusions, but it still Seems like you think every homeowner is a deadbeat and deserve Fraudclosure and I just don’t see where you are helping. And thus I have no choice but to continue fighting pro se. That’s my 100% honest assessment.
There is SOL. I had one attorney who would not continue case unless i took a bogus loan modification. That is a TRAP. Whatever way you go, if you settle for a loan mod, make sure you know WHO it is really with, or – you are never “settled.”
The majority of lawyers that were laughed at, disbarred, & sanctioned were the ones that either took Garfield’s courses or used the same arguments he promulgated. Like he said many became millionaires. Why? Because they learned how to stall, they never learned how to attack the mortgage transaction. NO attorneys that attack the transaction ever ever met the same fate as the other incompetent stall hacks.
Javagold, the system is not a lie, its the incompetent lawyers and other audit scammers that have caused the problems. As I’ve continually proved, the contract is unambiguous, the homeowner agreed that if they failed to make timely payments it was ok if the bank and or its assigns could take the property. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together understands that in order to prevail they would need to attack said transaction; those that do are successful almost 100% of the time. This is isn’t high math!!!
Pretty much sums up in a 1000 words , what I (and others) have said these past 10 years. The System is a Lie!!!
Go Pro-Se. And fight the bastards until the very end…