How and Why to Litigate Foreclosure and Eviction Defenses

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Neil Garfield

Wall Street Transactions with Homeowners Are Not Loans

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I think the biggest problem for people understanding the strategies that I have set forth on this blog is that they don’t understand the underlying principles. It simply is incomprehensible to most people how they could get a “loan” and then not owe it. It is even more incomprehensible that there could be no creditor that could enforce any alleged obligation of the homeowner. After all, the homeowner signed a note which by itself creates an obligation.
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None of this seems to make sense. Yet on an intuitive level, most people understand that they got screwed in what they thought was a lending process.
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The reason for this disconnect between me and most of the rest of the world is that most people have no reason to know what happens in the world of investment banking. As a former investment banker, and as a direct witness to these seminal events that gave rise to the claims of “securitization” I do understand what happened.
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In this article, I will try to explain, from a different perspective, what really happened when most homeowners thought that they were closing a loan transaction. For this to be effective, the reader must be willing to put themselves in the shoes of an investment banker.
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First, you must realize that every investment banker is merely a stockbroker. They do business with investors and other investment bankers. They do not do business with consumers who purchase goods and services or loans. The investment banker is generally not in the business of lending money. The investment banker is in the business of creating capital for new and existing businesses. They make their money by brokering transactions. They make the most money by brokering the sales of new securities including stocks and bonds.
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The compensation received by the investment banker for brokering a transaction varied from as little as 1% or 2% to as much as 20%. The difference is whether they were brokering the sale of existing securities or underwriting new securities. Obviously, they had a very large incentive to broker the sale of new securities for which they would receive 7 to 10 times the compensation of brokering the sale of existing securities.
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But the Holy Grail of investment banking was devising some system in which the investment bank could issue a new security from a fictional entity and receive the entire proceeds of the offering. This is what happened in “residential lending.” And this way, they could receive 100% of the offering instead of a brokerage commission.
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But as you’ll see below, by disconnecting the issuance of securities from the ownership of any perceived obligation from consumers, investment bankers put themselves in a position in which they could issue securities indefinitely without limit and without regard to the amount of the transaction with consumers (homeowners) or investors.
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In short, the goal was to make it appear as though loans have been securitized even know they had not been securitized. In order for any asset to have been securitized it would need to have been sold off in parts to investors. What we see in the residential market is that no such sale ever occurred. Under modern law, a “sale” consists of offer, acceptance, payment, and delivery. So neither the investment bank nor any of the investors to whom they had sold securities, ever received a conveyance of any right, title, or interest to any debt, note, or mortgage from a homeowner.
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At the end of the day, the world was convinced that the homeowner had entered into a loan transaction while the investment banker had assured itself and its investors that it would be free from liability for violation of any lending laws — as a “lender.”
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Neither of them maintained a loan account receivable on their own ledgers even though the capital used to pay homeowners originated from banks who loaned money to investment bankers (based upon sales of “certificates” to investors), which was then used to pay homeowners as little as possible from the pool of capital generated by the loans and certificate sales of “mortgage-backed bonds.”
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From the perspective of the investment banker, payment was made to the homeowner in exchange for participation in creating the illusion of a loan transaction despite the fact that there was no lender and no loan account. This was covered up by having more intermediaries claim rights as servicers and the creation of “payment histories” that implied but never asserted the existence or establishment of a loan account. Of course, they would need to dodge any questions relating to the identification of a creditor. That could be no creditor if there was no loan account. This tactic avoided perjury.
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Of course, this could only be accomplished through deceit. The consumer or homeowner, government regulators, and the world at large, would need to be convinced that the homeowner had entered into a secured loan transaction, even though no such thing had occurred. From the investment bankers’ perspective, they were paying the homeowner as little money as possible in order to create the foundation for their illusion.
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By calling it “securitization of loans” and selling it that way, they were able to create the illusion successfully. They were able to maintain the illusion because only the investment bankers had the information that would show that there was no business entity that maintained a ledger entry showing ownership of any debt, note, or mortgage — against which losses and gains could or would be posted in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (and law). This is called asymmetry of information and a great deal has been written on these pages and by many other authors.
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Since the homeowner had asked for a loan and had received money, it never occurred to any homeowner that he/she was not being paid for a loan or loan documents, but rather was being paid for a service. In order for the transaction to be perceived as a loan obviously, the homeowner had to become obligated to repay the money that had been paid to the homeowner. While this probably negated the consideration paid for the services rendered by the homeowner, nobody was any the wiser.
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As shown below, the initial sale of the initial certificates was only the beginning of an infinite supply of capital flowing to the investment bank who only had to pay off intermediaries to keep them “in the fold.” By virtue of the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1998, none of the certificates were regulated as securities; so disclosure was a matter of proving fraud (without any information) in private actions rather than compliance with any statute. Further, the same investment banks were issuing and trading “hedge contracts” based upon the “performance” of the certificates — as reported by the investment bank in its sole discretion.
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It was a closed market, free from any free market forces. The theory under which Alan Greenspan, Fed Chairman, was operating was that free-market forces would make any necessary corrections, This blind assumption prevented any further analysis of the concealed business plan of the investment banks — a mistake that Greenspan later acknowledged.
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There was no free market. Neither homeowners nor investors knew what they were getting themselves into. And based upon the level of litigation that emerged after the crash of 2008, it is safe to say that the investors and homeowners were deprived of any bargaining position (because the main aspects fo their transition were being misrepresented and concealed), Both should have received substantially more compensation and would have bargained for it assuming they were willing to even enter into the transaction — highly doubtful assumption.
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The investment banks also purchased insurance contracts with extremely rare clauses basically awarding themselves payment for nonexistent losses upon their own declaration of an “event” relating to the “performance” of unregulated securities. So between the proceeds from the issuance of certificates and hedge contracts and the proceeds of insurance contracts investment bankers were generally able to generate at least $12 for each $1 that was paid to homeowners and around $8 for each $1 invested by investors in purchasing the certificates.
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So the end result was that the investment banker was able to pay homeowners without any risk of loss on that transaction while at the same time generating capital or revenue far in excess of any payment to the homeowner. Were it not for the need for maintaining the illusion of a loan transaction, the investment banks could’ve easily passed on the opportunity to enforce the “obligation” allegedly due from homeowners. They had already made their money.
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There was no loss to be posted against any account on any ledger of any company if any homeowner decided not to pay the alleged obligation (which was merely the return of the consideration paid for the homeowner’s services). But that did not stop the investment banks from making claims for a bailout and making deals for loss sharing on loans they did not own and never owned. No such losses ever existed.
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Investment bankers first started looking at the consumer lending market back in 1969, when I was literally working on Wall Street. Frankly, there was no bigger market in which they could participate. But there were huge obstacles in doing so. First of all none of them wanted the potential liability for violation of lending laws that had recently been passed on both local and Federal levels (Truth in Lending Act et al.)
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So they needed to avoid classification as a lender. They achieved this goal in 2 ways. First, they did not directly do business of any kind with any consumer or homeowner. They operated strictly through “intermediaries” that were either real or fictional. If the intermediary was real, it was a sham conduit — a company with virtually no balance sheet or income statement that could be collapsed and “disappeared” if the scheme ever collapsed or just hit a bump in the road.
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Either way, the intermediary was not really a party to the transaction with the consumer or homeowner. It did not pay the homeowner nor did it receive payments from the homeowner. It did not own any obligations from the homeowner, according to modern law, because it had never paid value for the obligation.
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Under modern law, the transfer or conveyance of an interest in a mortgage without a contemporaneous transfer of ownership of the underlying obligation is a legal nullity in all states of the union. So transfers from the originator who posed as a virtual creditor do not exist in the eyes of the law — if they are shown to be lacking in consideration paid for the underlying obligation, as per Article 9 §203 Uniform Commercial Code, adopted in all 50 states. The transfers were merely part of the illusion of maintaining the apparent existence of the loan transaction with homeowners.
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And this brings us to the strategies to be employed by homeowners in contesting foreclosures and evictions based on foreclosures. Based upon my participation in review of thousands of cases it is always true that any question regarding the existence and ownership of the alleged obligation is treated evasively because the obligation does not exist and cannot be owned.
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In court, the failure to respond to such questions that are posed in proper form and in a timely manner is the foundation for the victory of the homeowner. Although there is a presumption of ownership derived from claims of delivery and possession of the note, the proponent of that presumption may not avail itself of that presumption if it fails to answer questions relating to rebutting the presumption of existence and ownership of the underlying obligation. Such cases usually (not always) result in either judgment for the homeowner or settlement with the homeowner on very favorable terms.
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The homeowner is not getting away with anything or getting a free house as the investment banks have managed to insert into public discourse. They are receiving just compensation for their participation in this game in which they were drafted without their knowledge or consent. Considering the 1200% gain enjoyed by the investment banks which was enabled by the homeowners’ participation, the 8% payment to the homeowner seems only fair. Further, if somehow the homeowners’ apparent obligation to pay the investment bank survives, it is subject to reformation, accounting, and computation as to the true balance and whether it is secured or not. 
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The obligation to repay the consideration paid by the investment bank (through intermediaries) seems to be a negation of the consideration paid. If that is true, then there is neither a loan contract nor a securities contract. There is no contract because in all cases the offer and acceptance were based upon different terms ( and different deliveries) without either consideration or execution of the terns expected by the homeowner under the advertised “loan contract.”
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Payments By Homeowners Do Not Reduce Loan Accounts

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Each time that a homeowner makes a payment, he or she is perpetuating the myth that they are part of an enforceable loan agreement. There is no loan agreement if there was no intention for anyone to be a lender and if no loan account receivable was established on the books of any business. The same result applies when a loan is originated in the traditional way but then acquired by a successor. The funding is the same as what is described above. The loan account receivable in the acquisition scenario is eliminated.
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Once the transaction is entered as a reference data point for securitization it no longer exists in form or substance.

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For the past 20 years, most homeowners have been making payments to companies that said they were “servicers.” Even at the point of a judicial gun (court order) these companies will fail or refuse to disclose what they do with the money after “receipt.” Because of lockbox contracts, these companies rarely have any access to pools of money that were generated through payments from homeowners.
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Like their counterparts in the origination of transactions with homeowners, they are sham conduits. Like the originators, they are built to be thrown under the bus when the scheme implodes. They will not report to you the identity of the party to whom they forward payments that they have received from homeowners because they have not received the payments from homeowners and they don’t know where the money goes.
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As I have described in some detail in other articles on this blog, with the help of some contributors, the actual accounting for payments received from homeowners is performed by third-party vendors, mostly under the control of Black Knight. Through a series of sham conduit transfers, the pool of money ends up in companies controlled by the investment bank. Some of the money is retained domestically while some is recorded as an offshore off-balance-sheet transaction.
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In order to maintain an active market in which new certificates can be sold to investors, discretionary payments are made to investors who purchase the certificates. The money comes from two main sources.
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One source is payments made by homeowners and the other source is payments made by the investment bank regardless of whether or not they receive payments from the homeowners. The latter payments are referred to as “servicer advances.” Those payments come from a reserve pool established at the time of sale of the certificates to the investors, consisting of their own money, plus contributions from the investment bank funded by the sales of new certificates. They are not servicer advances. They are neither in advance nor did they come from a servicer.
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Since there is no loan account receivable owned by anyone, payments received from homeowners are not posted to such an account nor to the benefit of any owner of such an account (or the underlying obligation). Instead, accounting for such payments are either reported as “return of capital” or “trading profits.” In fact, such payments are neither return of capital nor trading profit. Since the investment bank has already zeroed out any potential loan account receivable, the only correct treatment of the payment for accounting purposes would be “revenue.” This includes the indirect receipt of proceeds from the forced sale of property in alleged “foreclosures.”
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By retaining total control over the accounting treatment for receipt of money from investors and homeowners, the investment bank retains total control over how much taxable income it reports. At present, most of the money that was received by the investment bank as part of this revenue scheme is still sitting offshore in various accounts and controlled companies. It is repatriated as needed for the purpose of reporting revenue and net income for investment banks whose stock is traded on the open market. By some fairly reliable estimates, the amount of money held by investment banks offshore is at least $3 trillion. In my opinion, the amount is much larger than that.
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As a baseline for corroboration of some of the estimates and projections contained in this article and many others, we should consider the difference between the current amount of all the fiat money in the world and the number and dollar amount of cash-equivalents in the shadow banking market. In 1983, the number and dollar amount of such cash equivalents was zero. Today it is $1.4 quadrillion — around 15-20 times the amount of currency.
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Success in Litigation Depends Upon Litigation Skills: FOCUS

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I have either been lead counsel or legal consultant in thousands of successful cases defending Foreclosure. Thousands of others have been reported to me where they used my strategies to litigate. Many of them resulted in a judgment for the homeowner, but the majority were settled under the seal of confidentiality.
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Thousands more have reported failure. In reviewing those cases it was clear that they were either litigated pro se or by attorneys who were not skilled in trial practice and who had no idea of the principles contained in this article and my many other articles on this blog. I would describe the reason for these failures as “too little too late.” In some ways, the courts are designed more to be final than to be fair. There are specific ways that information becomes evidence. Most people in litigation do not understand the ways that information becomes evidence and therefore fail to object to the foundation, best evidence, hearsay etc.
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Even the people that submit wee phrased and timely discovery demands fail, more often than not, to move for an order to compel when the opposition fails or refuses to answer the simple questions bout the establishment, existence, and ownership of the underlying alleged obligation, debt, note or mortgage. Or they failed to ask for a hearing on the motion to compel, in which case the discovery is waived. Complaining about the failure to answer discovery during the trial when there was no effort to enforce discovery is both useless and an undermining of the credibility of the defense.
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Since I have been litigating cases for around 45 years, I don’t expect younger attorneys to be as well-versed and intuitive in a courtroom as I have been. It’s also true that many lawyers, both older and younger than me, have greater skills than I have. But it is a rare layperson that can win one of these cases without specific training knowledge and experience in motion practice and trial law.
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In the final analysis, if the truth was fully revealed, each foreclosure involves a foreclosure lawyer who does not have any idea whose interest he/she is representing. They may know that they are being paid from an account titled in the name of the self-proclaimed servicer. And because of that, they will often make the mistake of saying that they represent the servicer. They are pretty careful about not specifically saying that the named plaintiff in a judicial foreclosure or the named beneficiary in a nonjudicial foreclosure is their client. That is because they have no retainer agreement or even a relationship with the named plaintiff or the named beneficiary. Such lawyers have generally never spoken with anyone employed by the named plaintiff or the named beneficiary.
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When such lawyers and self-proclaimed servicers go to court-ordered mediation, neither one has the authority to do anything except show up. Proving that the lawyer does not actually represent the named trustee of the fictitious trust can be very challenging. But there are two possible strategies that definitely work.
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The first is to do your legal research and find the cases in which investors have sued the named trustee of the alleged REMIC trust for failure to take action that would’ve protected the interest of the investors.
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The outcome of all such cases is a finding by the court that the trustee does not represent the investors, the investors are not beneficiaries of the “Trust,” and that the trustee has no authority, right, title, or interest over any transaction with homeowners. Since the named trustee has no powers of a trustee to administer the affairs of any active trust with assets or a business operating, it is by definition not a trustee. For purposes of the foreclosure, it cannot be a named party either much less the client of the attorney, behind whom the securitization players are hiding because of a judicial doctrine called “judicial immunity.”
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The second thing you can do is to ask, probably during mediation at the start, whether the lawyer who shows up is representing for example “U.S. Bank.” Or you might ask whether US Bank is the client of the lawyer. The answer might surprise you. In some cases, the lawyer insisted that they represented “Ocwen” or some other self-proclaimed servicer.
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Keep in mind that when you go to mediation, frequently happens that it is attended by a “coverage lawyer” who might not even be employed by the Foreclosure bill. Such a lawyer clearly knows nothing about the parties or the case and will be confused even by the most basic questions. If they fail to affirm that they represent the named trustee of the named fictitious trust, that is the time to stop  the proceeding and file a motion for contempt for failure to appear (i.e., failure of the named plaintiff or beneficiary to appear since no employee or authorized representative appeared.)
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And the third thing that I have done with some success is to make an offer. You will find in most cases that they are unwilling and unable to accept or reject the offer. A substantial offer will put them in a very bad position. Remember you are dealing with a lawyer and a representative from the alleged servicer who actually don’t know what’s going on. Everyone is on a “need to know” footing.
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So if you make an offer that the lawyer thinks could possibly be reasonable and might be acceptable to an actual lender who was holding the loan account receivable, the lawyer might be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Rejection of an offer that the client might want to accept without notifying the client is contrary to bar rules.
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But both the lawyer and the representative of the alleged servicer know that they have no authority. So they will often ask for a continuance or adjournment of the mediation. At that point, the homeowner is well within their rights to file a motion for contempt. In most cases, the court order for mediation requires that both parties attend with full authority to settle the case. In plain language, there is no reason for the adjournment. But they need it because they know they have no authority contrary to the order mandating mediation. Many judges have partially caught on to this problem and instruct the foreclosure mill lawyer to make sure he doesn’t need to “make a call.”
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Every good trial lawyer knows that they must have a story to tell or else, even if the client is completely right, they are likely to lose. You must focus on the main issues.
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The main issue in foreclosure is the establishment, existence, and ownership of the alleged underlying obligation. All of that is going to be presumed unless you demonstrate to the court that you are seeking to rebut those presumptions. There can be no default and hence no remedy is there is either no obligation or no ownership of the obligation by the complaining party.
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Discovery demands should be drafted with an eye towards what will be a motion to compel and proposed order on the motion to compel. They should also be drafted with an eye toward filing a motion in limine. Having failed and refused to answer basic questions about the establishment, existence, and ownership of the alleged underlying obligation, the motion in limine would ask the court to limit the ability of the foreclosure mill to put on any evidence that the obligation exists or is owned by the named Plaintiff or beneficiary. They can’t have it both ways.
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Failure to follow up is the same thing as waiving your defenses or defense narrative.
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So that concludes my current attempt to explain how to win Foreclosure cases for the homeowner. I hope it helps.
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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.
  • But challenging the “servicers” and other claimants before they seek enforcement can delay action by them for as much as 12 years or more.
  • Yes you DO need a lawyer.
  • If you wish to retain me as a legal consultant please write to me at neilfgarfield@hotmail.com.
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Please visit www.lendinglies.com for more information.

Filed under: CORRUPTION, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, evidence, foreclosure mill, investment banking, Investor, legal standing, MBS TRUSTEE, MODIFICATION, Motions, originator, Presumptions, prima facie case, securities fraud, standing, TILA, TRIAL OBJECTIONS | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »

Watch that modification agreement. You are being forced to accept a virtual creditor instead of a real one.

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Neil Garfield

“Morality is an existential threat to commerce and politics. Although we legislate morality we refuse to enforce it. It is OK to lie to consumers or borrowers but not OK to lie to a financial institution who by the way is lying to you.” Neil F Garfield, October 2009 speech to regional bankruptcy conference in Phoenix Arizona.

The proposed modification agreement is an attempt to force or coerce the borrower into accepting a NEW term of the loan agreement that any attorney would advise against, to wit: acceptance of a designated creditor instead of a real one.  

The transmission of a proposed Modification Agreement by a “servicer” like Ocwen, PHH, SPS. SLS, Bayview etc. would be mail fraud if it was sent via USPS. It seeks to extort a signature from the borrower that directly acknowledges and accepts the existence of a virtual creditor.

The obligation was funded by a third party (investment bank) who did not take ownership of the debt, note or mortgage.

The reason the investment banks didn’t want ownership is that they were in the business of lending money without being subject (at least on the surface) to long standing federal and state statutes and common law restricting the behavior of lenders and requiring full and fair disclosure of the terms of the transaction. 

I recently received another modification agreement to review. The true nature of the agreement only appears when you read it carefully. If you do that, it is obvious.

In any normal circumstance where the lender existed and owned the underlying obligation because it had paid value for the note and mortgage, the lender, or its successor would be identified as such. And the Lender or Successor would insist on being named for its own protection, lest some third party claiming to be servicer runs off with the money.

This is not only custom and practice in the commercial banking and investment banking industry, it is also the only way, without committing legal malpractice, to draft such an agreement to protect the creditor from any intervention or claims.

But if you look carefully you will not see any reference like this: “Whereas, ABC was the owner of the loan account, note and mortgage and was succeeded by XYZ who purchased and paid value for said debt, note and mortgage on the __ day of ___, 2020,

Here is my recent analysis:

The modification agreement is very helpful because it corroborates what I have been saying.
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The agreement first states that the parties to the agreement are the debtor, xxxxx yyyyy, and then two other parties, to wit: New Residential Investment Corp., [NewRes] who is not identified as to its role or relationship to the yyyyyyy loan, and Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, [Ocwen] who is identified as the servicer or or agent for NewRes.
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NewRes asserts in the public domain that it is an REIT. But records show that it grew out of a loan servicing business, which I believe to still be the case. In any event there is no representation or warranty in the modification agreement that states or even implies that NewRes is a creditor or lender. That status is raised by implication for the benefit of Ocwen. And who Ocwen is really working for is left out of the agreement altogether.
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The statement that Ocwen is servicer for NewRes does not make Ocwen a servicer for the loan account. Unless NewRes is or was the owner of the account who paid value for the underlying debt, Ocwen’s agency might exist but it had nothing to do with the subject loan. This is why homeowners need lawyers arguing these points which, for most people, dulls the brain. “Because I said so” may work in the house with children but it was never intended to be accepted in courts of law.
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So far the banks have fooled courts, lawyers and homeowners into thinking that this type of legal gibberish can be used with impunity and  that this gives the lawyers free license to characterize it in any way that is convenient for the success of a false, illegal and fraudulent foreclosure case. And they can do so because the lawyers are protected by the overly broad doctrine of  litigation immunity.
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Authority is not magic. It can only occur if the loan account is owned by a creditor who paid value and authorized Ocwen to act as loan servicer or agent in their stead. Such a creditor would have the legal right to grant servicing rights to Ocwen in a servicing agreement (not a Power of Attorney).
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When challenged, Ocwen is obliged under law to answer simple questions: (1) from whom did you receive authority to administer, collect or enforce the debt, note or mortgage? Is the grantor of such authority a person or entity that has paid value for the underlying obligation? If not, is the grantor representing a person or entity that has paid value for the underlying obligation?
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Absent from the agreement is any reference or assertion or even implied assertion that NewRes paid value for the debt, or even the assertion that NewRes is the owner of the debt, note or mortgage.
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This absence, in my opinion, is evidence of absence, to wit: that NewRes is not the owner of the debt, note and mortgage and does not maintain any entry in its bookkeeping records reflecting a purchase of the subject loan or any loan — at least not from anyone who owned it.
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No such transaction could have occurred because the obligation was funded by a third party (investment bank) who did not take ownership of the debt, note or mortgage. In other words, there was nobody to pay and so payment was not made.

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Instead the agreement says that Ocwen will be called the “Lender/Servicer or agent for Lender/Servicer (Lender).”
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This statement corroborates my conclusion and factual findings that there is no loan account in existence, and therefore no creditor who possesses a legal claim for equitable or legal remedies to pay for losses attributed to the loan account as a result of the action or inaction of a homeowner.
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If there was a party who had the yyyyy loan on its bookkeeping or accounting ledgers as an asset receivable it would be there because that entity had paid value for the debt — the key element and condition precedent to both ownership of the debt and the authority to enforce the note or mortgage.

Without authority from the owner of the underlying debt there is no legal foundation supporting the allegation that the claimant is a holder with rights to enforce. The allegation may be enough for pleadings but it is not enough for trial. Further the court has no authority to apply any legal presumptions arising out of the possession of the note unless the creditor is identified.

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The agreement is clearly an attempt to insert Ocwen as the lender for purposes of the agreement. But Ocwen is not the lender nor a creditor nor even an authorized servicer on behalf of any party who has paid value for the underlying debt. NewRes appears to be yet another nominee in a long list of nominees and designees to shelter the investment banks from liability, even while they pursue profit by weaponizing administration, collection and enforcement of loans. 
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The modification agreement is an attempt to force or coerce the borrower into accepting a term of the loan agreement that any attorney would advise against, to wit: acceptance of a designated creditor instead of a real one.  

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This is further evidence of deceptive servicing and lending practices. They are evading the responsibility imposed by law to identify the creditor and the authority to represent the creditor. They are evading the responsibility imposed by law to provide an accurate accounting for the establishment and current status of the alleged obligation.
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The reason for this behavior is that there is no current obligation claimed by any company to be owed to them as a result of ownership of the loan account arising from a transaction in which value was paid for the underlying debt.
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Accordingly there can be no authority to act as servicer, agent, or “acting lender”, nominee or designee.
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Neil F Garfield, MBA, JD, 73, is a Florida licensed trial 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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CLICK HERE ORDER ADMINISTRATIVE STRATEGY, ANALYSIS AND NARRATIVE. This could be all you need to preserve your objections and defenses to administration, collection or enforcement of your obligation.
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CLICK HERE TO ORDER PRELIMINARY DOCUMENT REVIEW (PDR) (PDR PLUS or BASIC includes 30 minute recorded CONSULT)
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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.
  • But challenging the “servicers” and other claimants before they seek enforcement can delay action by them for as much as 12 years or more.
  • Yes you DO need a lawyer.
  • If you wish to retain me as a legal consultant please write to me at neilfgarfield@hotmail.com.
*
Please visit www.lendinglies.com for more information.

Filed under: burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, CORRUPTION, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, evidence, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure defenses, foreclosure mill, investment banking, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Pleading, Presumptions, prima facie case, Servicer, sham transactions, TILA, TILA rescission, TRIAL OBJECTIONS | 2 Comments »

Who is PennyMac and Why Was It Needed by Wall Street Banks?

Posted on July 17, 2020 by Neil Garfield

I received an email from one of my most prolific contributors that I am republishing here because virtually everything in it is entirely correct. I especially approve of her point about the fact that servicer advances are funded from proceeds of public offerings of stock that were all purchased by the Wall Street banks who did the underwriting.  Substance over form: the banks were giving PennyMac the money to make servicer advances. The banks were using the investor sourced money supply to buy the fake stock offering. None of it was real.

The end result is that all roads lead back to one thing, to wit: all of the money trail and all of the paper trails lead back to a handful of Wall Street banks who had “successfully” created a void between the real parties in interest — investors and homeowners — and the found a way to create the illusion of filling the void that cut out the financial interests of those real parties in interest. 

The banks were only intermediaries. They successfully posed as the real parties in interest when they were trading and issuing derivatives. But at the other end of the stick they maintained their position as intermediaries who had no interest in the debt and therefore could not be defined as lenders subject to the obligations and restrictions imposed by statutory and common law governing lending, consumer practices, servicing or anything else.

All of the fabricated documents that ensued were designed to cover up the fact that there was no person or entity that owned the underlying debt of any homeowner. Hence nobody could claim financial injury — a basic requirement for getting into court or making any claim.

who is PennyMac (PM) and why are they needed.
I think we need to look back at the PM history to answer this question.
PennyMac is a renamed Countrywide Financial which now operates at least 4 (four) known to me organizations.
1. PennyMac (one of most criminal, with Kurland and Spector)
2. Caliber Home Loan Inc, a middle-level intermediary, operated by Chris Mozilo who pass money from table pools to homebuyers via Black Knight (originator)  and smaller “Lenders”
3. BAC Home Loans
4. LandSafe Appraisal (purchased by CoreLogic) . In 2014 BOA sold a very similarly named system, LoanSafe to VA which is now handles all appraisals; plus CoreLogic gradually purchased most smaller appraisal companies*
Why Bank of America needed PennyMac to appear as a Large Lender and a Biggest servicer?
For the same reason why Countrywide needed American’s Wholesale Lender; and Fidelity National needed two (2) DocX,LLC and LPS – to create an additional corporate curtain to cover for the real parties.
Plus to use PennyMac and other “Servicers” as recipients for new bailouts.
If you take a closer look at PennyMac’s finances, here are nothing even close to $368+ billions worth of mortgages financed and 2 million homes serviced by PennyMac.
Moreover, if you see their Prospectuses, you will find out that the underwriters of PM securities (issued by PennyMac) are the same Stockbrokers who purchased PM’s securities, leaving about $29 million in fees to Penny Mac. I doubt is BOA or GS actually “purchased” anything from PM under this “offering” which they issued under glimpse of PennyMac.
But according to the legend, PennyMac now has to pay pay “servers’ advances” to “investors” for four months from their “own funds” until GSE’s (who sold their bonds to Fed. R. in advance) who cover these MBS, will step in and pick up the payments on “behalf of taxpayers  – while  GSE cannot even identify any Trusts where mortgages were pooled.
These GSE SOLD their unsecured bonds to Federal Reserve who buy about $30 Billion per WEEK from GSE beginning March 2020 to present time. Note that no Trusts were involved in these sales and no one homeowner was informed about the cage of ownership of their “debt”
I don’t know which “Servicers’ advances” and to whom PennyMac “pays” now, when the ownership of the “MBS” bonds was passed to Federal Reserve. At least Federal Reserve keeps it secret.
Apparently Kurland and know all risks involved and decided to steal some data from BK to create more money for themselves.
On May 2, 2019 they sent me a letter that “servicing” was transferred to them – but not mentioned by whom.
On May 3, 2019 PM sent a letter to BK informing them that PM is not going to extend their contract.
soon after Black Knight claimed that they “noticed some irregularities of use” their system by PM – apparently after I brought it to their attention. This is why no assignments were recorded reflecting the “sale” of my loan to PennyMac who cannot identify the Seller.
Since Oct. 31st  BK terminated PM as a client .
In Complaint  filed by PM against BK, they insist that the owner/investor is Ginnie Mae (who sold their MBS to Federal Reserve) – but continue to lie to me and DIFS that PennyMac is “owner/investor” in my loan.
The bottom line, as Neil said – these “servicers” and “lenders” are nothing. They are thin-capitalized clowns for hire and nobody sold any loans to GSEs because loans were destroyed at the beginning to create “manipulated data” in Black Knight system which Big Banks  sold as unsecured derivatives which GSE either sell to Federal Reserve or obtain payments from Stockbrokers directly, like FHFA v. Goldman Sachs
“GSE’s ownership” is the same myth to force people paying a long-time non existing “debt”.
So-called “universal income” proposed by Democrats is a camouflaged attempt to make Big Banks  pay royalties from trades to people .
Of course the Government cannot disclose the Truth since it will reveal that during last 40 years they allowed Stockbrokers to destroy property Titles to virtually ALL homes in America; plus create a slavery never existed before, where a small group of people enjoy tax-free profits from free servitude provided to them by the rest of the Country – plus income from stolen homes.
*Lagow worked at LandSafe, Inc., an appraisal company owned by Countrywide Financial and ultimately acquired by Bank of America, from 2004-2008. According to his unsealed complaint, Mr. Lagow observed widespread disregard for laws that regulate Federal Housing Administration (FHA) underwriting and home appraisals.

Specifically, he claimed that Countrywide conspired with LandSafe and homebuilder KB Homes to inflate the appraised value of homes, boosting the size of the lending giant’s loans to homebuyers. In order to accomplish this, the lending giant allegedly used a number of strong-arm tactics to pressure appraisers to report favorable home values.
Neil F Garfield, MBA, JD, 73, is a Florida licensed trial 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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Filed under: CORRUPTION, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, evidence, expert witness, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, foreclosure mill, forensic investigation, forgery, investment banking, Investor, jurisdiction, legal standing, Mortgage, originator, Pleading, Presumptions, prima facie case, securities fraud, Servicer, sham transactions, standing, TILA, TRIAL OBJECTIONS | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Are Lawyers Missing the Boat Again on Foreclosure Defense?

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Neil Garfield
The problem is that while most people think everyone has been bought off, and to a certain extent that is true, the real problem is that the clever plan of securitization is so counter-intuitive that nobody believes the truth that is in plain sight. The reason for fabricated documents is that there were no transactions, so the documents had to be fabricated to fit facially with the requirements of law for administration, collection and enforcement.
To anyone who is not conversant in the language of finance, that seems impossible, unlikely, or just plain wrong. So rather than keeping an open mind about it, they react to such assertions with aggression and incredulity.

I recently received a question from a fairly knowledgeable reader. Why are lawyers dropping the ball on foreclosure defense? His specific question, along with similar questions from other readers is where are the trust lawyers, the securities lawyers, the property lawyers, the civil litigations lawyers, the personal injury lawyers (emotional distress etc), etc.?

Here was my answer with some edits for typos which all of you know I am prone to make and miss on edits.

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The question you posed is the million-dollar question. I think you are correct in your analysis. I have attempted to enlist attorneys who specialize in those areas but I have failed.
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The only explanation that I can give you that has any truth to it is that lawyers, despite their reputation, are easily intimidated, lazy and greedy. I surveyed hundreds of lawyers over a two-year period In 2008–2009.
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The proposition was simple. assuming a client with sufficient financial resources to pay any reasonable fee, were they willing to represent homeowners in distress?
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The fact that the answer was in the negative was frustrating enough. But the reason most often cited was that they would rather represent “the bank.” And when I pointed out that they did not represent any banks nor did they have any prospects for doing so, that’s when they said that it didn’t matter.
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Some did express reservation about the assumption that the client could pay. I pointed it out that if they were not making a monthly payment for housing, they could easily pay. That made no difference. They saw the entire endeavor as futile and unprofitable — but in reality I could tell, like any trial lawyer could detect, that I was dealing with raw unbridled fear.
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So I attacked it with seminars on foreclosure defense that highlighted business strategies in which the lawyer could become rich, and some of the attendees did. Others made a good living.
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But it was based on lowering of expectations. By adopting a hub-and-spoke strategy some lawyers, adopting the business plan that I proposed, began servicing hundreds of homeowners at a time. But like all such practices, their business success depended upon settlement of the cases, which meant modifications. This resulted in adding to the illusion that the servicer had any right to be in the picture.
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My latest plan is that I am working on potential pleadings for a case in Reformation in which the investment banks are literally drafted into the litigation. The Court decides whether the homeowner received consideration for issuing the documents (note and mortgage) that enabled the securitization plan, and whether the homeowner received or should receive adequate or additional consideration that could offset the claim. (There is a lot more to this but for purposes of this article I simply state in brief form).
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I have no doubt that there is an opportunity to achieve immense wealth simply by pursuing the obvious. But it appears that the General Public, law enforcement, the Judiciary, and most lawyers have succumbed to the party line that enables the Investment Bank to sit in the shadows and designate names of irrelevant parties with no stake and the outcome to administer, collect and enforce obligations that were long ago retired through securitization, proof of which is easy to obtain, to wit: is there any company showing the existence of the debt as an asset on their balance sheet and a loss from nonpayment? 
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I definitely know the answer to that question. Current law therefore does not allow the current scheme of securitization to exist nor should it. It depends entirely upon concealment of the most relevant data in any transaction — the terms and conditions under which each party intends to serve the other and the terms and conditions under which each party might profit from the transaction.
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Most of all under the federal and state lending and securities laws (and general laws requiring fair dealing) the identity of the counterparty must be included in order to make the agreement an enforceable contract.
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This concealment allows investment banks to act illegally and against the idea of free markets or capitalism. It prevents both investors and homeowners from bargaining for adequate consideration based upon the true nature of the transaction. 
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The problem is that while most people think everyone has been bought off, and to a certain extent that is true, the real problem is that the clever plan of securitization is so counter-intuitive that nobody believes the truth that is in plain sight. The reason for fabricated documents is that there were no transactions, so the documents had to be fabricated to fit facially with the requirements of law for administration, collection and enforcement.
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To anyone who is not conversant in the language of finance, that seems impossible, unlikely, or just plain wrong. So rather than keeping an open mind about it, they react to such assertions with aggression and incredulity.
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Some lawyers do get it and they win their cases most of the time. Everyone else seems to argue for their own weaknesses (See Steven Covey’s Book) without looking to actual information or data. They insist that the foreclosure cases are both unwinnable and are morally unconscionable if they give the homeowner a free house.
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I insist that there is no debt because the investment bank was never depending upon the economics of a loan to make money. Foreclosures are gravy. They made all their money creating, selling, issuing, trading, and hedging securities. The labelling of the homeowner transaction as a loan was a false representation. The investment bank, who never appeared on any of the paperwork, was the real party in interest and at the end of the day there was no person or company who owned the so-called debt from the homeowner. 
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If that plan had been disclosed — as it was required to be disclosed under both “lending” laws and “securities” laws — both investors and homeowners would have had the opportunity to bargain for more more compensation and better terms — because they would have known they were taking a much larger risk than the one that was actually presented.
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Indeed, investors that were pension or other types of “stable managed funds” would not have been able to invest at all had they known the true nature of the certificate scheme into which they they were investing the futures of workers and companies that had contributed to the fund.
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Such funds, as investors, were critical to the success of the securitization scheme. Investment banks would have been legally required to present additional safeguards to the fund managers such as participation in the trading profits, hedge contracts and insurance contracts in order to make the sale of certificates to stable managed fund investors. 
The same logic holds true for homeowners.
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They were making the largest investments of their lives based upon their reasonable belief that the apprasial was real and the loan was viable — all resposnibilities imposed on the “lender” by law (see TILA).
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Had they known the true incentives and motives and existence of the investment bank they would have understood that this was no loan. It was a service they were performing and an investment — for which they were being paid to issue documents that required them to pay money over time in order to enable the securitization scheme.
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If the true profits of the securitization scheme were disclosed as as required by law, homeowners and originators would have been able to compete for a greater share of the securitization pie or they would have had the opportunity to choose not to do business in such a hazy scheme. 
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Neil F Garfield, MBA, JD, 73, is a Florida licensed trial 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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Filed under: AMGAR, boarding process, burden of persuasion, burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, CORRUPTION, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, evidence, expert witness, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, investment banking, jurisdiction, legal standing, originator, Pleading, securities fraud, Servicer, sham transactions, standing, TILA | 2 Comments »

Transactions with Homeowners Are Part of Securitization Scheme: Why don’t homeowners and their lawyers use this fact?

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Neil Garfield

So the “RMBS” industry is pushing for “economic relief” in the Pandemic. If they get it, it will be another windfall for Wall Street and investment bankers will go from laughing to convulsing in the privacy of their board rooms.

The Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday on how the mortgage market is not behaving “as expected.” With interest rates down so low there should be a flood of refinancing. And there is plenty demand to do just that. But, as the article points out, there might be demand but there is no supply. There is no supply because investors are not buying certificates issued as RMBS (Real Estate Mortgage Backed Securities). https://www.wsj.com/articles/mortgage-credit-tightens-creating-drag-on-any-economic-recovery-11590431459

The reason they are not buying RMBS is simple. They don’t trust the economy and all of the investors have growing doubts about the valuation and risk assessment associated with RMBS. Investors see mortgage default risks as being associated with safety of their investment because the certificates state that one of the discretionary reasons why investment banks don’t need to pay them is if there are declared defaults on certain specified loans — whether or not they are owned by the investment bank or anyone else.

And since securitization is in essence a Ponzi scheme, the more difficult it is to sell new certificates, the more difficult it is to pay investors. That part admittedly is counterintuitive but nonetheless true. While homeowner’s payments actually do cover the liability of the investment bank to investors, the reality is that the investment bank continues ot make payments to investors regardless fo receipt of money from homeowners IF they are continuing to make sales of new certificates.

The practical effect of all this for homeowners is to realize that if they sign on any dotted line they are pulling the trigger on a securitization scheme, of which their receipt of money is a tiny fraction. At the end of the day there is no person, company, business entity or trust that maintains any books and records showing the homeowner’s promise to pay as an asset on their balance sheet. In plain words, the role fo the creditor has been eliminated to avoid lender and servicer liability imposed by federal and state laws.

This fact — the absence of a creditor — has been the topic of discussion for two decades. And it is has never been addressed because the investment banks, who have the greatest amount of influence over politicians, don’t want it addressed. They don’t want it addressed because if it was addressed then the role of investment banks AS LENDERS would be revealed along with their gargantuan profits from “securitization” in which the obligations of homeowners are NOT sold to anyone, much less securitized.

In practice this means that homeowners can and probably should dispute their obligation to make payments before, during and after any false declaration of default. A declaration of default is a legal nullity if it isn’t declared by or on behalf of a creditor. If there is no creditor then there can be no default. Yes it is that simple.

So that is why I have been a broken record. Criminal lawyers tell their clients to keep their mouths shut because 80% of all criminal convictions are the direct result of what comes from the mouth of the defendants. That’s why I tell professionals with grievances filed against them the same thing.

And that is why I tell homeowners the same thing —- admit NOTHING. The reason is simple — your opposition is an investment bank regardless of who is named as claimant or plaintiff. If you admit any part of what they are saying they will argue that you admitted all of it. And they may be right under current rules.

Force them to the PROOF and they will fail the test every time.

Nothing they are saying is true and none of their documents are anything more than pure fiction. Don’t admit that the transaction was a loan, that there is an obligation, that the obligation is secured by a mortgage, that the obligation is set forth in the note, that the note or mortgage has been transferred, that the default ever occurred, or that the action is a foreclosure.

Don’t admit the trust or that a bank is a trustee or that the bank has any authority to represent a trust or the holders of certificates. None of it is true. Don’t even think that the action is for the benefit of investors. It isn’t.

And don’t think that you are cheating someone out of money by not making the payments you promised to make. Anyone who was legally entitled to receive a payment from you has already been paid. It is not your doing or your fault they got paid without your money. And it isn’t your responsibility to pay them again.

If investment banks want to change this analysis and return to the world where we are a nation of laws and not a nation where men make up their own rules and go to illegal or extra-legal schemes then they must seek to legally reform (see reformation) their schemes to protect all the stakeholders and not just themselves as intermediaries with the most to gain and the least to lose.

Your position is that you entered into a transaction in which you knew only a small part of the whole transaction and that you were entitled to know about the rest of it. Your intent was to establish a loan transaction. their intent was to start a securitization scheme in which the role of lender was eliminated.

So your intent was a loan and theirs was the creation, issuance, sale, trading and hedging of securities. Without your signature the securitization would not exist. Without securitization your homeowner transaction would not exist.

You got a payment for issuance of the note and mortgage and for a disguised and unintended license to resell personal data. That part of the consideration was offset by your required (see adherence contract) promise to make payments far in excess of the transaction payment received by the homeowner.

So was there any net consideration paid to the homeowner for issuance of the note, issuance of the mortgage and license to resell personal data? Auditors might vary in their opinions on that.

And given the requirements under all lending and securities laws to disclose the whole transaction — and not just the part of it called a “loan” — how much money should the homeowner have received for triggering a profit firestorm?

We won’t know because in a free market the homeowner would have been able to bargain for greater incentives if he/she knew about the entirety of the transaction. We won’t know because in a free market competitors for homeowners’ signatures would have offered more incentives. We won’t know because in a free market, investors would have asked for much greater incentives since, besides the homeowner, they were the only real player in the securitization scheme.

And THAT is what quasi contract law and the law of quantum meruit is all about. Use it or lose it.

*Neil F Garfield, MBA, JD, 73, is a Florida licensed trial 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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Filed under: CORRUPTION, evidence, expert witness, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, jurisdiction, legal standing, securities fraud, Servicer, sham transactions, standing, TILA, TRIAL OBJECTIONS | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

About those tax statements you have seen or received on home “loans”

Posted on May 25, 2020 by Neil Garfield

Answering your question requires tracing the convoluted strategy of the investment banks. 


Start with the proposition that each player is one of the separate business entities involved in the securities plan that claimed to “have” your loan in some manner, shape or form.

Next go to the fact that the creditor role was extinguished in the plan. That leaves the debt with nobody to pay (no creditor). Nobody has an asset on their balance sheet corresponding to your transaction that was originated as a “loan.” 


BUT you are making payments as directed by people whom you think are actually authorized to tell you where to make your payments. Those payments are sent to a company claiming to be a servicer. I’ll simply call them a receiver. So the receiver accepts the payments and then forwards money to someone (Investment Bank) who is the party from whom they accept instructions (although the instructions are actually received semi-anonymously from a third party intermediary). It’s like organized crime. The receiver keeps a portion of the payment as fees and turns over the balance. 


So the investment bank has received a payment from the receiver. It does not book the receipt of money from the servicer as interest income, return of principal or anything like that because the investment bank has no asset against which it could post such entries. So it posts it to a suspense account (with the label of the implied trust, which actually does not exist and therefore has no tax liability) that is neither income nor a reported asset, although it should be reporting the asset and an equal liability to pay it out if that was the case. This is simple double entry bookkeeping. But because of changes in GAAP that started in the 1960’s (See Unaccountable Accounting by Abraham Briloff) and were then accepted by both the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the SEC and therefore  by the IRS, these transactions are considered “off balance sheet” which is a fancy way of saying that they don’t actually report it even though it happened. 


Since there is no  bookkeeping entry as to income or expense there is no taxable event and nothing is reported to the IRS. And while payments are being made to investors (holders of certificates) by the investment bank (as “Master Servicer” on behalf of the implied “trust”) all of those payments are discretionary. 


And here is another place where it gets really complicated. Payments received from the servicer do account for most of the payments made to investors who bought certificates. But factually and legally those payments continue only as long as the investment bank wants to make them. The investment bank wants to make them only as long as it is selling certificates. (See Ponzi scheme). And in actuality the investment banks DO continue to make payments without regard to payments received from homeowners as long as they are keeping up the pretense that those payments are actually tied to the receipt of payments from “borrowers.” The goal is to sell more certificates. 


And in fact the structure of securitization in practice is such that if all homeowners stopped making payments, the investment banks would and do continue making payments — if they were still selling certificates. This actually happens where most of the loans were toxic assets. But in reality the investment banks could not continue to sell certificates if homeowners refused to pay. That would break the illusion of loan portfolios and it would be easy to see that the transactions with homeowners were not really loans because nobody ended up being a “lender” as defined under Federal and State lending laws. 


So what happens when a debt is discharged by bankruptcy? Answer nothing because nobody has it as an asset. It continues to get reported as if nothing had happened. the goal is maintain the pretense that the “loan portfolio” is operating and that “borrowers”. 
What happens when the trustee sale occurs? Answer nothing because nobody has it as an asset. It continues to get reported as if nothing had happened. the goal is maintain the pretense that the “loan portfolio” is operating and that “borrowers”. 


What happens when they sell the property using third party names? Answer nothing because nobody has it as an asset. It continues to get reported as if nothing had happened. the goal is maintain the pretense that the “loan portfolio” is operating and that “borrowers”. 

What happens with payments from homeowners that are reported as “interest” by the receiver/servicer? Answer nothing because nobody has it as an asset. It continues to get reported as if nothing had happened. the goal is maintain the pretense that the “loan portfolio” is operating and that “borrowers”. 


What happens with payments from homeowners that are reported as “principal” by the receiver/servicer? Answer nothing because nobody has it as an asset. It continues to get reported as if nothing had happened. the goal is maintain the pretense that the “loan portfolio” is operating and that “borrowers”. 


Having created a complex design that to most people is impenetrable the investment banks are now able to report anything they want for their own purposes. 


It doesn’t matter what the homeowner pays or doesn’t pay.
But they have algorithms to keep up appearances. Since those programs do not have access to any actual database, they create one what assumes, from the face value and terms of the origination loan documents, that you are paying and they send out a statement that says you paid interest on your loan. This provides the foot prints for tax evasion or avoidance. Having established nonexistent transactions as at least “reported” they can now write off the loan, take a loss and reduce their taxes. 


The interesting academic question that rises from all of this is that the whole thing is “tubular,” in my view. From the perspective the homeowner intended to make payments of interest when the homeowner was actually making payments on what the homeowner thought was a loan. It was certainly an obligation even if it wasn’t a loan, even if it might have been an unenforceable obligation for lack of consideration.

[More legal analysis: If it wasn’t a loan then the payment was in exchange for something from the homeowner — i.e., initiating and issuing instruments that started (or completed) the securitization process. If that was the consideration then was the consideration cancelled out by the homeowner/issuer’s required promise to make a payment that was more (with “interest”) than what the homeowner received?]


So from the homeowner’s perspective the payment was interest on an obligation and was not deductible unless it was an obligation arising from a homeowner “loan.” But from the investment bank’s perspective there is no interest, there is no principal. There is only cash flow to which they attach any label they want. It is my opinion that this is a major potential source of revenue for Federal and state governments who have income taxes. Because the investment banks are taking deductions without reporting the income. 


So all of this adds up to a very solid qui tam action under state and federal false claims act that cost governments money. The problem is political. Under direction from the executive branches, most dominated by politicians who have received vast amounts of money from investment banks who received vast amounts of money from investors and homeowners, so when qui tam actions are filed, the agency steps in and says “it’s ok, we were not defrauded. This is public policy to allow this.” End of Qui Tam. 

*Neil F Garfield, MBA, JD, 73, is a Florida licensed trial 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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Filed under: boarding process, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, forensic investigation, investment banking, Investor, legal standing, Mortgage, sham transactions, tax cases, taxes, TILA | 1 Comment »

Wait! Somebody must have paid something right?

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Neil Garfield
How do you know what was paid by whom and when and what terms applied? The whole point here is that money was paid by investors who did not receive ownership to the debt, note or mortgage. Nor did they assign any equitable right to the debt, note or mortgage. Since the value was paid by a party who never received ownership, no “successor” would have any reason to pay value for ownership nor did they do so.
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And before you decide to shift gears, the investment bank took in money from investors as a commercial deposit — i.e. a  third party loan — as part of purchase of promissory note (certificate) to make payments to the buyers. While that COULD have resulted in the vinestment bank becoming the owner of the debt, note and mortgage on loans granted to borrowers, it didn’t. Like the investors who bought certificates, they paid for it but not in exchange for ownership of the debt, note or mortgage.
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Not one note or mortgage was made payable to the investment bank and not one “Loan” transaction was funded directly by the investment bank who channeled funds through several existing legal business entities. This was done to evade liability for lending law violations and as Chase found out you can’t have it both ways. You either were the lender or you were not. You either “succeeded” to the position of the predecessor or you didn’t.
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The media gets it wrong because they cannot conceive of a scheme that simply isn’t allowed under existing law and if it was allowed there would be changes in all affiliated laws as well — this giving investors the real scoop on what was being done with their money and the borrowers the real scoop on how much revenue was being generated from the origination or acquisition of their loan. In the current custom and practice of securitization of residential debt, the certificates and possibly the promissory notes would be regulated as securities.
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The key change in the law that is needed for securitization to be allowed as practiced and for title to be cleared is the designation of a non-owner who didn’t pay value for the debt to be the creditor. This is a massive paradigm shift, but one which is probably needed. But right now the ONLY way we can acquire a debt is through payment of value for it in exchange for rights of ownership of the debt.
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That is precisely where the media, attempting to report on the facts, gets it wrong. they simply cannot conceive of a scenario where all this paperwork would be flying around and that such instruments would be meaningless, without value and legal nullities — except for erroneous legal presumptions arising from the erroneous conclusions that the instruments have facial validity. So you see court decisions and article referring to sales that never occurred. They also report loans that never occurred.
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And so we have a huge body of law allowing foreclosure rewarding people and business entities who receive the proceeds of forced sale as revenue instead of payment on a debt they never owned or paid for. And that is required change in the law that is needed. Upon revision of all relevant statutes, once a business entity is “designated” as creditor all efforts by anyone else must stop as to collection, processing, administering, or enforcement of any debt, note or mortgage. The game of musical chairs played by investments banks, servicers, “trustees” etc. must stop if we are to make sense out of any of this.
*
In most cases loans were originated from non capitalized brokers or sellers of loan products, not lenders or were creditors. This information is withheld from borrowers contrary to the requirements of Federal and state disclosure requirements to consumer borrowers.
*
Also withheld from borrowers is the fact that their signature, name, reputation and home is being used as part of a securitization scheme in which the loan labeling is misleading because neither the originator nor even the “warehouse lender” has any risk of loss. The entire transaction is different from what the borrower thought and different from what the borrower had a right to think as per common law, Federal and state lending statutes.
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Borrowers are not required to understand that the “loan” is no longer part of the system in which money supply increases (because that already happened when investors purchased certificates from investment banks).  But under current law lender s ARE required to know that and do know that and they further know that their incentive is to get the signature of a consumer for fees not interest income.
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The entire burden of viability of any consumer loan is not on the borrower (Caveat emptor) but on the lender who knows better. That is the law. AND the law presumes that the risk of loss is a self-regulating market force that forces lenders to make good loans. But what happens when there is no such risk? The transaction is changed and the transaction is no longer within the boundaries of the existing lending laws.
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In short, such transactions are either not legal or carry heavy penalties for violations. If banks avoid such liabilities by intentional concealment of the true facts and thus produce catastrophic anomalies in the marketplace (see 2008) displacing tens of millions of people from their homes, why should those homeowners bear the full burden of such a catastrophe? Both policy and law agree on this. They shouldn’t.
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The counterpart in what was labeled as a loan agreement was in actuality a vendor to the investment banking industry who didn’t receive interest as revenue for making a loan and who had no risk of loss. It was a scheme where all participants received fees, commissions, bonuses trading profits and other compensation arising from the origination of the transaction intentionally mislabeled as a loan in which the mislabeled “lender” was seen as seeking interest income on principal when in fact the interest payments and even the payments on principal were completely irrelevant to the originators and the “warehouse” lenders.
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“Successors” under current law are merely designees not successors because they have not contributed any money toward payment of value for the debt — a basic black letter requirement under current law.
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All of this is very counterintuitive and it is meant to be. The more complicated the banks make it the more everyone relies on the banks to tell them what these paper instruments mean and what events are memorialized in those paper instruments. But the plain fact is that there are no events memorialized in the paper instruments. There were no transactions. Why would anyone pay value for a debt that is not owned by the “seller?”
*

Filed under: Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, investment banking, Investor, legal standing, Pleading, sham transactions, standing, STATUTES, TILA, Title, Trail Objections, trial strategy, trustee, Unlawful Detainer | Tagged: | 7 Comments »

Rescission and Burden of Proof

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Neil Garfield

There are winners and losers in every courtroom. When dealing with TILA Rescission under 15 USC §1635 you must go the extra mile in not merely showing the court why you should win, but also revealing that the opposition is not actually losing anything. The same logic applies to every foreclosure where securitization is either obvious or lurking in the background.

The bottom line is that no payment of value has ever been paid or retained as a financial interest in the debt by the named claimant nor anyone in privity with the named claimant. Once you can show the court the possibility or probability that the foreclosure is simply a ruse to generate revenue then it is easier for the court to side with you. Once you show the court that your opposition refuses to disclose simple basic questions about ownership of the debt then you have the upper hand. Use it or lose it.

======================================

GET FREE HELP: Just click here and submit  the confidential, free, no obligation, private REGISTRATION FORM. The key to victory lies in understanding your own case.
Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 954-451-1230. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM 
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
========================

Another analysis just completed for a client: The situation is that the homeowner sent a notice of rescission under the TILA REscission Statute 15 U.S.C. §1635 within days of having “consummated” the loan agreement. By statute that notice of rescission canceled the loan agreement and substituted in place of the loan agreement a statutory scheme for repayment of the debt which is NOT void. The notice of rescission only voids the written note and mortgage, it does not void the debt. The free house argument is pure myth.

The client goes on to ask how we can prove when the transactions occurred and who were the parties to those transactions and when they occurred. The answer is that you will never prove that. But you can raise an inference that the claimant is not the owner of the debt who has paid and retains value in the debt such that a successful foreclosure will not be used for restitution of an unpaid debt.

By undermining the presumptions arising from possession of facially valid and recorded documents you eliminate the ability of your opposition to use legal presumptions and thus require them to prove their case without those presumptions. The simple truth is that generally speaking they can never prove a case without legal presumptions. Once the presumptions are gone there is no case.

Here is my response:

It sounds like you are on solid ground. But as you probably know trial judges and even appellate judges and justices bend over backwards to either ignore or rule against the notice of rescission and its effect. For a long time, the bench has rebelled against the Truth in Lending Act generally. They rebelled against TILA rescission viscerally. Despite the unanimous SCOTUS decision in Jesinoski both the trial and lower appellate courts are unanimous in opposition to following the dictates of the statute and following the rule of law enunciated by SCOTUS.

You must be extremely aggressive and confrontative in standing your ground.
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As for the “free house”  argument the answer is simple. There is no free house. unless you are seeking to quiet title, which I think is an unproductive strategy if you not on solid ground with TILA Rescission. You are only seeking to eliminate the current people from attempting to enforce the mortgage, collect on the note or enforce the note. The last point might be your weakest point (without rescission). Enforcement of the note under Article 3 of The Uniform Commercial Code is much more liberal the enforcement of the security instrument under Article 9.
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It is actually possible that they could get a judgement on the note for monetary damages but not a judgment on the mortgage (without rescission in play). They can only get a judgment on the mortgage if the claimant has paid value for the debt. of course all of this should be irrelevant in view of the rescission which completely nullifies the note and mortgage.
Education of the court is extremely important. There is no free house in rescission. The obligation to repay remains the same. That obligation is not secured by the mortgage which has been rendered void nor is it payable pursuant to the terms of the promissory note which was also rendered void by the rescission. the obligation under contract (loan agreement)is simply replaced buy a statutory obligation to repay the debt.
They had ample opportunity to comply with the statute and get repaid. They didn’t. That is no fault of the homeowner.
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If they want repayment of the debt they might be able to still get it. If they produce a claimant who has paid value for the debt and had no notice of the rescission and who regarded your current claimants as unlawful intervenors, the same as you, then it is possible but the court might allow the actual owner of the debt to comply with the statute and seek repayment of the debt.
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At least that is what you will argue. You probably know that no such person exists. The ownership of the debt has been split from the party who paid value for it. So they probably don’t have anyone who qualifies.
*
As for your last question about discovering the actual dates on which the debt was purchased pursuant to Article 9 § 203 of the Uniform Commercial Code, as a condition precedent to enforcement of the security instrument (mortgage or deed of trust), the answer is that neither the debt nor the note were ever purchased for value. The whole point is that they’re saying that these transactions occurred when in fact they did not.
*

The only transaction that actually took place in which money exchanged hands is the one in which the certificates were sold to the investors. It might be successfully argued that the Investment Bank had paid the value for the debt so that is another possibility. If that argument succeeds then for a brief moment in time the Investment Bank was both the owner of the debt and the party who had paid value for it. But then it subsequently sold all attributes of the debt to the investors. the investors did not acquire any right title or interest directly in the subject debt, note or mortgage the only correct legal analysis would be that the Investment Bank retained bare naked title to the debt but had divested itself of any Financial interest in the debt. That divestiture generally occurred within 30 days from the date of funding the origination or acquisition of the loan.

*

So if you are looking for the dates of transactions in which money exchanged hands in exchange for ownership of the note you are not going to find them. but strategically you want to engage in exactly that investigation as you have indicated. there’s no need to hire a private investigator who will never have access to the money Trail starting with the investors in the Investment Bank. So your investigation would be limited to aggressive discovery. Your goal in discovery is to reveal the fact that they refuse to answer basic questions about the identity of the party who currently owns the debt by reason of having paid for it as required by article 9 section 203 of the Uniform Commercial Code as adopted by state statute.

*
This requires properly worded Discovery demands and aggressive efforts to compel Discovery, followed by motions for sanctions and probably a motion in limine.
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Since you have a notice of rescission within the 3-year time period, what you are actually revealing is that your opposition has no legal standing. Their claims to have legal standing are entirely dependent upon the loan agreement which has been cancelled by your notice of rescission. Unless they can now also state that they are the owners of the debt by reason of having paid for it, they are not a creditor or a lender. therefore they have no legal standing to challenge legal sufficiency of the notice of rescission nor any standing to seek collection on the debt. And they certainly have no legal standing to enforce the note and mortgage which have been rendered void according to 15 USC 1635.
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Their problem now is that their only claim now arises from the TILA rescission statute — and all such claims are barred by the statute of limitations on claims arising from the Truth in Lending Act. That time has long since expired.

*

It appears that no judge is going to like this argument even if it is completely logical and valid according to all generally accepted standards for legal analysis.

*
So you’re going to have to address the elephant in the living room. The fact remains that if you are successful, as you should be, you will end up with a windfall gain. The judge knows that and denying it will only undermine your credibility. The Counterpoint is that if your opposition does not own the debt by virtue of having paid for it pursuant to the requirements of statute then their attempt at foreclosure is really an attempt to generate Revenue. If the Foreclosure is not going to provide money for restitution of an unpaid debt it can’t be anything else other than Revenue.
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In order to drill that point home you are going to need to argue, contrary to the judge’s bias, that not only is the current claimant not the owner of the debt by reason of having paid for it, but that the current claimant is not an authorized representative of any party who paid for the debt by reason of having paid for it and that the proceeds of foreclosure, if allowed, will never be used to pay down the debt. Again the only way you’re going to accomplish this is through very aggressive Discovery and motions.
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Don’t attempt to prove the dates of transactions, the data for which is within the sole care custody and control of your opposition, and can be easily manipulated, if you only focus only on the paperwork.
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Don’t accept that burden of proof. The only way your opposition has gotten this far is because of legal presumptions arising from that claimed possession of the original note. you need to research those legal presumptions. Generally speaking the legal presumption of fact must include the conclusion that the claimant is the owner of the debt by reason of having paid for it. Possession of the note is considered the same as title to the debt, The presumption arises therefore that possession of the note is ownership of the debt and the further presumption is that ownership of the debt is not likely to have been transferred without payment of value.

Legal presumptions are subject to rebuttal. the way to rebut the presumption is not by proving a particular fact but raising an inference that destroys the presumption. And the way to do that is by asking questions about payment to value for the debt (not just a note on mortgage) and pointing to the refusal of your opposition to give you an answer and to produce documents corroborating their answer.

After the appropriate motions, you will be able to legally require an inference that they are not the owner of the debt by reason of having paid for it and that they don’t represent anyone who does own the debt by reason of having paid for it. Once the presumption is rebutted, the burden of proof falls back onto your opposition. and because they violated the rules of discovery, your motion should demand that they be prohibited from introducing evidence to the contrary of your inference that they don’t own the debt by reason of having paid for it and they don’t represent anyone who owns the debt and who paid for it.

Filed under: burden of persuasion, burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, evidence, expert witness, foreclosure, forensic investigation, investment banking, Investor, jurisdiction, legal standing, Motions, prima facie case, quiet title, sham transactions, TILA, TILA rescission, Title, trial strategy | 9 Comments »

Finally a Judge Asks the right Questions about TILA Rescission and Invites Briefs

Posted on August 5, 2019 by Neil Garfield

The time may now be coming where the court systems and Federal and State legislatures must come to terms with two inescapable legal facts:

(1) That borrowers who sent TILA rescission notices — and particularly those who sent them within 3 years of consummation of the mortgage — still own the land that was deemed “lost” in foreclosure.

(2) That such borrowers possess valid claims to recover title. possession and money damages. 

It was bound to happen and now it has. In one case, a judge is asking the following questions and inviting briefs on the following subjects:

  1. What is the effect of the failure to return consideration upon an attempt to exercise the right of TILA Rescission?  
  2. What is the effect on rescission if the borrower continues to pay? 
  3. Does TILA pertain to refinancing?

See HOW TO FRAME TILA RESCISSION IN YOUR PLEADINGS

=======================================

GET FREE HELP: Just click here and submit  the confidential, free, no obligation, private REGISTRATION FORM. The key to victory lies in understanding your own case.
Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 954-451-1230. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM 
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
========================
The Tila Rescission Statute 15 USC §1635 requires, as a condition precedent to demanding payment of the borrower’s debt, that the parties who received money from the borrower arising out of the loan agreement return all such money to the borrower first before anyone can make a claim for repayment. This is why bank lawyers have long advised their arrogant bank clients that failure to follow the rules set forth in the TILA Rescission statute could not only result in loss of enforcement of the mortgage which is automatic, but also loss of the right to enforce the debt.
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The investment houses, who were the real parties in interest behind the origination or acquisition of residential loans, have long been bullying their way through the TILA Rescission statute since it undermines the value of the derivative infrastructure built and sold over every loan. Thus far they have succeeded in getting virtually all courts. except the Supreme Court of the United States, to go along with the bank narrative regarding 15 USC §1635. In plain terms they got what they wanted: judges ignored TILA rescission and entered orders as though it didn’t exist. But it did exist by operation of law and the US SUpreme Court said so.
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Failure to return consideration bars collection of the debt. And there are two other things that the “lenders” are required to do as conditions precedent (return cancelled original note, which we all know they don’t have, and file a satisfaction and release of the mortgage in the county records so that the world will know that rescission has occurred. This is the replacement for cancellation of the loan agreement. The new “agreement” is set forth by the statute.
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The judge doesn’t ask “effect on what?” The mortgage in all events is void, by operation of law. Neither the borrower nor the  creditor can effectively take any out of court action that changes that.
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There is no unilateral or bilateral action that can be taken by either or both parties to change something that is effective “by operation of law.” The only exception MIGHT be (and probably WILL be) that rescissions sent outside the 3 year period of expiration could conceivably be ignored, but if they are recorded in county records only a party with legal standing could have the rescission notice removed from the chain of title with a court order.
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And the problem for the banks is that they have no party who could be defined as a creditor — a party who had paid value for the debt and owns the debt, to wit: a party to whom the debt is currently owed. Another way of saying it, if you were listening to to the forensic auditor seminar last Friday, is that only a party who was carrying the borrower’s debt as an asset on its balance sheet as a loan receivable could claim the status of owner of the debt i.e., creditor.
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The genius of the way securitization has been practiced with respect to residential loans, is that there is nobody who takes a loss from nonpayment of any debt. Nobody is entitled to actually receives the borrower’s payments or the proceeds from a foreclosure or other sale. The money that is received therefore, is revenue upon which they pay no tax because they report it as repayment of debt rather than income. This explains why you can’t get a straight answer on “who owns my debt.” The answer is nobody. But that answer is counter intuitive which is another way of saying nobody wants to actually believe that.
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The issue is whether the borrower’s should forfeit their homes on a scheme that was based upon receipt of revenue rather than repayment of debt?
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TILA Rescission highlights this problem because it cuts down the veil or curtain behind which the banks hide. There is no more loan agreement and there is no more note or mortgage from which all sorts of legal presumptions can arise. While I would have thought this day would come sooner we finally have our first judge asking the right questions. Thus the hard “talk” begins.
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  • What is worrisome is the Judge’s use of the word “attempt.” He phrases the questions in the context of an “attempt at rescission” rather than the event of rescission. Either the rescission was sent or it wasn’t. In Jesinoski v Countrywide that is the end of the issue. If it was sent then TILA rescission is effective by operation of law. There is no attempt which insinuates that TILA rescission is a claim rather than an action with legal consequence. There is no attempt and there is no claim.
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Paying on the mortgage is only to protect the borrower’s credit rating and prevent action to foreclose on the mortgage that does not exist but will obviously be treated as existing in the current judicial climate. It does nothing to effect what has already occurred by operation of law. The loan agreement is cancelled and with it the note and mortgage became void. The only consequence, rather than effect, is such payments increase the amount of money due back from the parties to whom the money was given or from  parties who originated the loan agreement under TILA or unjust enrichment. No person, whether borrower or lender, can “waive” a legal event that occurred by operation of law any more than they can ignore a court order without being in contempt of court.
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TILA does pertain to refinancing. I don’t know what is meant by instant “circumstances.” Many “modifications” are actually refinancing. The creditor has changed and remains concealed. The entire purpose of the banks in modification is to validate what is otherwise a void or unenforceable loan agreement using undue duress or even extortion to get the borrower to sign away rights.

Filed under: foreclosure, investment banking, Investor, jurisdiction, legal standing, Pleading, prima facie case, quiet title, sham transactions, standing, STATUTES, TILA, TILA rescission | 13 Comments »

Tonight! How to Use TILA Rescission in Court! The Neil Garfield Show 6PM EDT

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Neil Garfield

FORENSIC AUDITORS TAKE NOTE

Thursdays LIVE!

The Neil Garfield Show

or prior episodes

Or call in at (347) 850-1260, 6pm Eastern Thursdays

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There are many potential claims arising out of attempted foreclosure after TILA rescission is effective.
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But one of them is not a violation of your rescission rights. By pleading that you are putting into play the burden of proving the effectiveness of rescission which has already occurred by operation of law.
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By pleading or arguing such a notion you are inviting interpretation form a court that is only too happy to reject your claim. In most cases your right to enforce the duties of a lender under the TILA Rescission statute, 15 USC §1635 has long since expired under TILA so you have no claim to violation of your rescission rights. You are making a claim that does not exist.
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Nearly all successful foreclosure defenses are based upon the defense narrative that the party bringing the foreclosure action has no right to bring it. In the case where rescission has been effected, there is no claim for foreclosure anymore. The debt remains but there is a new way to collect it under the TILA Rescission statute.
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You do have claims for violations of other statutes that protect consumers against fraudulent or wrongful claims and provide damages and the basis for declaratory, injunctive and supplemental relief. So you probably have a claim under the FDCPA in addition to other statutes. And you have claims under common law.

Filed under: foreclosure, Pleading, prima facie case, quiet title, standing, STATUTES, TILA, TILA rescission | Leave a comment »

Just to be clear, MERS is absolutely nothing.

Posted on July 16, 2019 by Neil Garfield

For some reason I have been getting more questions about MERS lately. My analogy has always been that MERS is like a holograph of an empty paper bag. So here are some basic factors for the checklist and analysis:

  1. MERS never signed any contract with any borrower.
  2. MERS never has any contractual or other legal relationship with investors (certificate holders) or Government Sponsored Entities (GSEs) like Fannie, Freddie or Sallie.
  3. MERS never signed any agreement or contract with most named “lenders.”
  4. MERS never signed any agreement or contract with respect to any specific loan transaction or acquisition.
  5. MERS was never the Payee on any note from a borrower.
  6. MERS never loaned any money in any residential loan transaction.
  7. MERS never paid any money for the acquisition of any residential loan agreement, debt, note or mortgage.
  8. MERS never handled any money arising from the origination of the loan.
  9. MERS never handled any money raising from administration of the loan.
  10. MERS never received a loan payment.
  11. MERS never disbursed any money to any creditor of a debt created by a loan.
  12. MERS does not conduct meeting of its board of directors to authorize any officer to sign any document.
  13. MERS never asserts warrants that the information maintained on its platform is true, correct or even secure from manipulation.
  14. MERS’ members can enter the system to insert any data  they want to insert, delete, or change.
  15. MERS never claims any right, title or interest in any debt, note or mortgage. In fact, its website disclaims such an interest.
  16. MERS never maintains any agency relationship with any actual lenders.
  17. MERS never retains any agency relationship with any named lenders who are creditors after the loan is consummated.
  18. MERS has no successors.
  19. MERS never has power on its own to assign any right, title or interest to any debt, note or mortgage.
  20. MERS never has power as an agent to assign any right, title or interest  to any debt, note or mortgage except for a principal who does have a right, title or interest to whatever is assigned.
  21. MERS never warrants that it has any agency relationship or power of attorney on behalf of any party whom it warrants is its principal and who owns the right, title or interest to any debt, note  or mortgage.
  22. MERS never has any legal relationship or retainer with any lawyer seeking to enforce the note or mortgage in any transaction or court proceeding.
  23. MERS never has any legal relationship or agreement with any company asserted to be an administrator or servicer of a residential loan.
  24. MERS never has any legal relationship or agreement with any trustee of any REMIC trust.
  25. MERS has been sanctioned, banned and fined in many states along with the parties who claim rights through the use of MERS. Despite that MERS has never changed its practices or procedures.
  26. Any document of transfer of rights to a security instrument that shows a signature of a person who is identified as an officer or employee of MERS is a false document, with a false signature containing one or more false utterances.
  27. MERS is always a naked nominee possessed with no powers, rights or obligations and possessed with no rights, title or interests in any loans originated or acquired by third parties; however the courts have held that if a new party had paid for the debt, then it may instruct MERS to execute an assignment even if the original principal no longer exists.
  28. MERS is never party to any part of any loan transaction or loan acquisition in which consideration is paid.
  29. MERS is always a diversion from the true facts. In 2008 16 banks took my deposition for 5 1/2 days straight regarding the status of MERS. I said then and I say now that the use of MERS is less meaningful than using the name of a fictional character like Donald Duck.
  30. Despite thousands of attacks on me and my work over 12 years, not one memo, treatise or article has ever been published that said otherwise.
  31. No expert opinion has ever been given by affidavit or in live testimony to the contrary.
  32. In fact, not even a blog article or fake news article has ever said MERS is either a legitimate alternative to tracing title through county recording or a legitimate beneficiary under a deed of trust or a legitimate mortgagee under a mortgage. 
  33. The asserted presence of MERS on any document or pleading or notice always means that the lawyers, servicers and other third parties are seeking to conceal material facts from the borrower and from the courts.

Filed under: evidence, expert witness, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure mill, forensic investigation, legal standing, quiet title, securities fraud, standing, TILA | Tagged: | 11 Comments »

What is Fair?

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Neil Garfield

The question should not be the bipolar question of who gets a “free house,” with the answer being the borrower or a party claiming entitlement to enforce. The question should be how to create a new equitable and legal infrastructure to clean up the mess that the banks created without unnecessarily penalizing either the investors who put up the money in the first place and the borrowers who put up their lives.

This is a question that BOTH the courts and the legislatures must face for failure to do so compounds the already compounding chaos and tragedy that befell our nation when the scheme initially collapsed in 2008.

=======================================

GET FREE HELP: Just click here and submit  the confidential, free, no obligation, private REGISTRATION FORM. The key to victory lies in understanding your own case.
Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 954-451-1230. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM 
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
========================
The borrower was lured into a loan contract in which she thought that the named lender had a financial interest in the outcome of the contract. The actual lender was a remote investment bank about whom she had received no disclosure and, as an average person of ordinary knowledge and means, had no access to information that would revealed the true nature of the contract.
*
Rather than seeking to conform to law in selling such loan products the real lender sought to avoid the law.
*
Rather than making money through the receipt of interest payments, the real lender intended and quickly divested itself of any interest or expectation of receiving interest or principal payments. The real lender also divested itself all of all risk of loss associated with payments. In short, the real purpose of the loan was to create multiple vehicles that could be sold as private contracts, resulting in the receipt of money that far exceeded the principal amount of the loan made to the borrower.
*
While ordinary residential homeowners normally rely on the premise that the loan’s purpose was to generate revenue and profit for the lender through the receipt of interest payments, her named lender would not and did not receive interest payments and had no profit except from fees paid by the remote investment bank through conduits.
*
Thus the actual lender entered into a loan arrangement without contract for the sole purpose of selling various attributes of the loan to as many investors as possible using as many complex financial instruments as they could conjure. The borrower had entered the arrangement believing that the named lender was the actual lender and that all compensation arising from the consummation of the loan was disclosed.
*
The actual lender retained no direct interest in the performance or outcome of the loan. The borrower was unaware that they had signed up for an arrangement in which the other side of the equation would create millions of dollars in “trading profits” arising from the declared existence of the loan, along with her name, reputation, signature and the collateral of her home.
*
Hence the goal of the lender was to create such loans regardless of quality. In fact, the lower the quality the more profit they made. And foreclosures became the vehicle by which the actual lender (investment bank) covered up the violation of federal and state lending statutes and common law doctrines of fair dealing and public policy.
*
Since judges thought that the proceeds of a foreclosure sale would go to the owner of the debt, and thus pay down the debt, they thought that there was little harm in granting foreclosures even if the paperwork was somewhat “dodgy.” But an increasing number of judges are questioning two main issues.
*
The first issue, which has been repeatedly voiced by hundreds of judges since 2008, is why there have been so many changes in the name of the servicer who supposedly was authorized to administer the loan and whether the servicer was actually administering the loan for or on behalf of an owner of the debt as required by law. Because without that its records would not  be allowed in as an exception to the hearsay rule. (The claimed “servicer” would just be a company that had intervened for its own financial interest which included fees for enabling a successful foreclosure. Hence their records would not have intrinsic credibility of a third party who had no interest in the outcome of litigation).
*
The second issue which is being raised with increasing frequency is why it was necessary to create documents of dubious origin and authenticity? In an industry that created virtually all the paperwork required for closing loan transactions, and created the industry standards for maintenance of such documents how and why did they manage to lose or destroy the original promissory note so often? (And why was it necessary to fabricate any documents?)
*
And a third issue which is only now being discussed with some earnest, is whether the right to resell the loan automatically includes the the right to use the personal data of the borrower for many sales of many of the loan attributes that were not contemplated by the borrower because they were hidden from the borrower.
*
Europe is ahead of the U.S. in understanding that personal data is a property right. But laws in the U.S. do answer the question. Where the contract in known by only one side to have attributes that are withheld from the other side it is subject to the doctrine of implied contract (assumpsit) in which the party discovering the true nature of the contract may enforce a right to receive compensation for the attributes that were previously unknown.
*
There can be little doubt that nearly all loan arrangements for residential property as collateral since 1996 have all the elements of an implied contract that is far beyond the scope of the written contract. Hence there can be no doubt that the borrowers are entitled to some form of compensation or damages arising from the implied contract and/or the violation of disclosure requirements in the Truth in Lending Act and state lending laws.
*
The scope of this issue is a fact. In 1983 there was zero in nominal or actual value of instruments deriving their value from debt. Today there is over 1 quadrillion ($1,000,000,000,000,000) dollars in the shadow banking market. The total amount of fiat (actual) currency in the world is only 85 trillion ($85,000,000,000,000) dollars.
*
The meaning is clear: for every dollar ($1.00) in real transactions of fiat currency there is, on average, $11.75 in trading profits for the banks and investors who trade in that market. That means that for the average of loan of $200,000 it is almost certain that the profits generated from the origination or acquisitions that loans was on average $2,352,941. In other words, payoff on the loan was incidental to the loan transaction — not the point of the loan arrangement.
*
The current claim by the banks is that this enormous profit from lending is the result of separate contracts and transactions that should not be included as part of the original contract with borrowers.
*
The claim by borrowers, while phrased in different ways, is that somehow the borrowers should be receiving some compensation or allowance as part of the package since the base transactions from which all value was derived for further instruments or agreements was their own signature, name, reputation and home as at least apparent collateral. Borrowers consider the non disclosure of the actual intention of the actual lender to be base violations of TILA and state lending laws.
*
In addition, with the proceeds of foreclosure sale being distributed as revenue rather than the payoff of a loan receivable, existing law is insufficient to deal with the crisis of nonpayment by borrowers most of whom have been paying servicers who have been feeding such payments into large pools of cash from which payments are made to the holders of “certificates” who only have a right to receive payments from the investment banker who was doing  business under the name of a nonexistent trust.
*
In some sense the holders of such certificates are the ones most likely to be considered owners of the debt. But the certificates themselves and the accompanying contracts (prospectus) clearly state that the certificates convey no right, title or interest in the borrower’s debt, note or mortgage.
*
There is no right of investors to enforce the certificates against borrowers and the certificates are not “mortgage backed” despite claims to the contrary. This has already been decided in several tax cases. Their exemption from securities regulation is therefore unfounded.
*
This has resulted in various parties posing as authorized enforcers of the debt and the security instrument ( mortgage or deed of trust). Regardless of their claimed title or status, all such entities share one controlling characteristic: they all initially or eventually claim to be acting in a representative capacity even when they present themselves as the “holder” of the note or any other claim to rights to enforce the note or mortgage.
*
The evolution of such claims lends some perspective. Initially foreclosures were brought in the name of “servicers” and when challenged the servicing claims were then accompanied by an denial of securitization or the existence of any trust that owned the debt, note or mortgage. As it turned out the lawyers for such entities were telling the truth — there was no such trust nor would it have been the owner of the debt, note or mortgage even it had existed.
*
In addition foreclosures were brought in the name of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS).
*
Neither the servicers nor MERS ever could assert or allege that they had any right, title or interest in debt, note or mortgage. In the case of MERS it could not even alleged possession of the note or mortgage and had handled no money whatsoever in relation to any loan.
*
And in all cases the proceeds of foreclosure sales permitted by the courts were distributed as revenue to several participant claiming authority to act, including the lawyers, servicers, master servicers, and the investment bank. In no case were such proceeds distributed to the owners of certificates issued in the name of a “trust.” Several forensic analysts tracked the “credit bids” and quickly discovered that those bids were not submitted by a creditor.
*
The existence of the actual debt from the borrower has been converted from actual to theoretical; this explains the lack of any identified party who is the owner of the debt. This is not a problem created by borrowers who knew nothing of this scheme nor do they now understand it.
*
This all results in the posing of three issues that need to be addressed head on if this crisis is to end.
  • The first which everyone has voiced since the beginning of the crisis is whether the homeowner should get a “free house” merely because the paperwork is now out of order.
  • The second is whether the current parties receiving revenue from the sale of foreclosed homes should be allowed to receive a “free house.”
  • The third is whether the borrowers have always been entitled to receive compensation for the larger implied contract in which compensation and revenue was generated from the origination or acquisition of their loan.
*
Since this is a pervasive issue occurring through tens of millions of loan contracts, the best possible vehicle for addressing a remedy is through government action that goes far beyond the nominal settlements that have been announced thus far.
*
All stakeholders should be given a voice at this table. Any approach that is punitive only to one particular class of stakeholders should be rejected. Laws need to be changed to reflect the modernization of financial instruments, only after consideration of the effects of such changes. Any law that simply makes it easier to foreclose or to merely cover up the title and legal errors that have been occurring for 20 years should also be rejected.
*
If we are to make sense out of this chaos that was in fact conjured and created by investment banks, then we need changes in our property laws, contract laws, securities laws, lending laws, laws of civil procedure and due process, and laws of evidence. If the banks have put themselves in a position where they cannot foreclose on mortgages, that should not be the end of the inquiry.
*
The question should not be the bipolar question of who gets a “free house,” with the answer being the borrower or a party claiming entitlement to enforce. The question should be how to create a new equitable and legal infrastructure to clean up the mess that the banks created without unnecessarily penalizing either the investors who put up the money in the first place and the borrowers who put up their lives. 

Filed under: boarding process, BURDEN OF PROOF, CORRUPTION, evidence, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure mill, forgery, Investor, securities fraud, Servicer, sham transactions, STATUTES, TILA | 7 Comments »

Stop Feeling Guilty — Be A Warrior

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Neil Garfield

Shame is the reason why most borrowers don’t contest foreclosures. That shame turns to intense anger when they realize that they were used, screwed, abused and now they are targets in a continuing blitz to embezzle much needed money from their lives and from the financial system generally.

The genius behind companies like Citi is… Deception by Branding.  “Citi” is not a company, it’s a brand of a conglomerate of companies.  Even its subsidiary “Citibank N.A.” is deceptive.  First let’s dispel the myth that subsidiaries are equal to their parents.  Not true, not even when they are wholly-owned subsidiaries.  They are separate companies, albeit owned by a common parent. —- From Anonymous Writer
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Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 202-838-6345. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
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Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 202-838-6345 or 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
========================

Probably the biggest goof of the court system in foreclosure litigation (and in business litigation) is mistaking a brand for a company and not realizing that there is both a business and legal distinction between even a wholly owned subsidiary and another subsidiary or parent company.

The reason that is such a big goof is that the actual transaction is being ignored while a small part of the transaction is being treated as the entire matter. That is like taking the spark plug out of car and then selling it to someone as though it was the whole car. It doesn’t work that way.

In conglomerates like “Citi” the brand intentionally blurs the factual and legal distinctions. And these distinctions make a difference precisely because the debt, note and mortgage are split and transferred multiple times between subsidiaries wherein each one is either moved off the books entirely or each subsidiary is showing an “asset” that it sells into the shadow banking market.

These practices results in a ten-fold increase in the apparent size of the asset, which is then owned by dozens, perhaps hundreds of different unrelated investors. And that enabled the banks siphon literally trillions of dollars out of the US economy and trillions more out of the world economy.

Through the devices of branding and “off balance sheet transactions” this wealth is controlled by handful of people; but this wealth is directly derived from one simple plan — to market the signature, reputation and identity of borrowers who were led to believe that they were executing loan documents. In fact they were executing the foundation documents for a string of transactions and book entries that would result in profits far beyond the amount of the loan.

These unsuspecting consumers had become ISSUERS without ever knowing it and they still don’t know it or understand it. So they still believe that somehow the investment bank behind the scheme is actually entitled to collect on a debt that the bank sold multiple times through multiple affiliates and subsidiaries in transactions that were often “off balance sheet.” And the fact that in virtually all cases the proceeds of foreclosure sales are not applied to reduce the debt owed to the owner of the debt is completely overlooked.

The clear issue that investment banks have been avoiding is that every one of their originated loans is part of a larger intended transaction, and that the homeowner gets absolutely no clue or disclosure that the bulk of the transaction is actually very different from a loan and actually the antithesis of a loan. Clearly the two were both unrelated and related.

The borrower thought it was a loan and it was a loan but the loan was a part of a larger transaction in which the attributes of a loan were shredded. So the loan was essentially a sham entry to allow the investment banks to profit regardless of the performance of the loan. Hence the transaction was not really a loan anymore. This is true even for loans acquired after origination by an actual lender.

Risk underwriting, the most basic part of lending, was thrown to the winds because it was irrelevant. And legally required disclosures were also thrown to the winds because lending laws (TILA) clearly state that compensation received after the loan closing must be disclosed.

What would have happened if the borrowers knew their signatures, reputation and identity were the real subject of the transaction and that they would be sold in a myriad of way producing compensation far beyond the amount of the loan. How would bargaining have changed? It’s obvious.

Even the most unsophisticated homeowner would have gone shopping for someone who would offer a share of the bounty. And that is why the “free house” PR gimmick is a myth. If the investment banks had not concealed the major attributes of the transaction, the mortgage meltdown would never have occurred.

And if “securitization” had proceeded anyway then homeowners would have received immediate and possibly total reductions in the amount due. Yes I recognize that this is a contradiction because if there is no loan then there are no derivatives to be sold. But that is not a problem created by homeowners or borrowers or consumers. It is a problem created by fraud and deceit by the investment banks.

In the final analysis the investment banks used homeowners and investors to issue unregulated securities and instead of turning the proceeds over to the issuers they kept the money. In any world of law enforcement they should have been jailed for that.

The goal was to get the signature and then sell it. That is not a loan. And the failure to disclose it violated everything about Federal  and State lending laws that require disclosure of identities of the real parties in interest and the amount of money they are getting as compensation for their role in “the transaction.”

The investment banks chose to unilaterally define “the transaction” as just the part dealing with the origination of the debt, note and mortgage. That was a lie. It concealed the fact that the borrower was in fact a real party in interest in a much larger transaction in which at each step profits, fees, and other compensation would be distributed in amounts vastly exceeding the amount that was disclosed to the borrower as the value of the transaction. For each $1 “loaned” there was $20 in profit.

By concealing this information the investment banks took all of the profit, fees and compensation without allowing the homeowner to participate in what amounted to a monetization of their signature, reputation and identity.

Thus the most essential part of the Federal and State lending laws was thwarted: that the “borrower” must know the identity of the parties with whom he/she is dealing and the “borrower” must know the amount of compensation being earned as result of the “borrower” signing documents at loan closing.

Instead the homeowner had become the issuer of unregulated securities, the proceeds of which were largely concealed and withheld from the homeowner. No lawyer would have permitted their client to enter into such a scheme — if the facts were known.

Borrowers get lost in the weeds when they make these allegations because they can’t prove them. Truth be told, even the bank could not prove them because of the number of transactions that occur “off balance sheet.” Abraham Briloff (in his book Unaccountable Accounting) first observed over 50 years ago, the invention of this ploy of “off balance sheet” transactions was an open door to fraud that would likely occur but might never be proven.

We are a nation of laws not opinions. Our laws depend upon findings of fact, not opinions or political views. That is the only control we have to prevent fraud or at least bring fraudsters to justice, or at the very least prevent them from continuing to reap the rewards of their multiple violations of statutory laws, common law  and the duty of good faith, honesty and fair dealing.

So when the robowitness signs affidavits, certifications or other documents or testifies at deposition or in court, be aware that in nearly all cases, he/she is either an independent contractor with absolutely no knowledge or authority concerning the subject transaction (as a have defined it herein) or an employee of a subsidiary with no connection to any transaction involving the homeowner or both.

You can reveal the lack of actual personal knowledge and thus then lack of foundation for evidence proffered in a foreclosure by discovery, motions to enforce discovery, motions in limine and good cross examination which always depends upon one single attribute to be successful: follow-up.

And in many cases the robowitness is not nearly as stupid as his/her script makes him out to be. The  robowintess often knows everything that is contained in this article. Good cross examination can frequently reveal that — that is where the case turns from enforcement of a legitimate debt to a case in which both the claim and the claimant have not been proven by any standard.

That is all you need to win. You don’t need to prove how they did it. You only need to reveal the gaps that exist because the substance is not there — the claiming parties have all long since divested themselves, at a profit,of any interest in the debt, note or mortgage. There is no debt left to pay, at least not to them. Stop feeling guilty and be a warrior.

Filed under: burden of persuasion, burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, CORRUPTION, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, evidence, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, foreclosure mill, forensic investigation, forgery, investment banking, Investor, jurisdiction, legal standing, MBS TRUSTEE, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motions, originator, Pleading, prima facie case, Servicer, sham transactions, standing, STATUTES, TILA, TRIAL OBJECTIONS, trial strategy | 6 Comments »

Unworthy Trusts

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Neil Garfield

The simple fact is that the REMIC trusts do not exist in the real world. The parties named as trustees — e.g. US Bank, Deutsch, BONY/Mellon — are trust names that are used by permission through what is essentially a royalty agreement. If you are dealing with a trust then you are dealing with a ghost.

Discovery is the way to reveal the absence of any knowledge, activity or reports ever conducted, issued or published by the named Trustee on behalf of the “trust” or the alleged “beneficiaries.” Take deposition of officers of the named Trustee. Your opposition will try to insert a representative of the servicer. Don’t accept that.

Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 202-838-6345. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
A few hundred dollars well spent is worth a lifetime of financial ruin.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM WITHOUT ANY OBLIGATION. OUR PRIVACY POLICY IS THAT WE DON’T USE THE FORM EXCEPT TO SPEAK WITH YOU OR PERFORM WORK FOR YOU. THE INFORMATION ON THE FORMS ARE NOT SOLD NOR LICENSED IN ANY MANNER, SHAPE OR FORM. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 202-838-6345 or 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
========================
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For purposes of clarity I am using US Bank as an example. It is the most common.
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US Bank has NO information about the trust, the servicer or the account for the borrower. Thus the purpose of any deposition of any officer of US Bank should be solely to establish the absence of events and data that should otherwise be present.
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This is why as counsel for the lender, lawyers will not recommend going forward with the refinancing. Your opposition is asking you to accept their word for the “fact” that they represent a creditor who is entitled to payment not just because there is paperwork indicating that, but because they are really owed the money.
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Knowing the truth is a basis for establishing gaps and revealing it to the trier of fact but should NOT be a basis of making allegations that you will be required to prove. It’s a thin line and the lawyer needs to be aware of this division, or else you will end up with a burden of proof you cannot sustain and unanswered questions that prevent the closing of refinancing — unless the “source” of refinancing is from another player in the world of securitization.
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The fact that securitization players would accept the paperwork is only testament to the willingness of all securitization players to engage in such conduct as to maintain an illusion of legitimacy. Other lenders rely on such conduct at their peril. Other lenders do not receive the reward from multiple resales of the same debt.
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So in your inquiries to officers of US Bank you want to establish the following, in order to force the true creditor to come forward (if there is one):
    1. US Bank has no duties normally attributed to a trustee.
    2. The “US Bank” name is basically a royalty arrangement in which the name can be used but there is no further substance to its “role” as trustee.
    3. There is no bank account established or maintained by US Bank for the alleged Trust.
    4. US Bank has never received any money through any means in connection with the subject debt. The borrower’s payments to the servicer have never been received by US Bank on its own behalf, as conduit or as trustee for any trust.
    5. In prior foreclosures involving the same trust, US Bank did not receive the proceeds of the foreclosure sale.
    6. US Bank has no reason to expect that it would receive the proceeds of a foreclosure sale involving the subject debt.
    7. US Bank has no mechanism in place where the payment of money to satisfy the claimed debt would be actually deposited into a bank account for the trust that is controlled by US Bank.
    8. The beneficiaries of the trust do not receive any money from borrower payments, foreclosure sales, or prepayments, refinancing or any other monetary transactions. US Bank probably does not know if this is true or not. US Bank has nothing to do with what, if anything, the “beneficiaries” of the “trust” receive or don’t receive.
    9. US bank has no information regarding the identity of the beneficiaries of the “trust.”
    10. US Bank has no information regarding whether any party is a beneficiary of the “trust”.
    11. US Bank has no information regarding the existence of the trust other than the documents forwarded to it for purposes of the deposition.
    12. US Bank does not keep or maintain accounting records pertaining to the trust.
    13. US Bank does not keep or maintain any records or documents pertaining to the trust.
    14. US Bank does not issue reports to anyone regarding the trust or the subject debt, note or mortgage.
    15. US Bank does not include information relative to the business activity of the “trust” or the subject debt, note or mortgage in any report to any regulatory authority, Federal or State.
    16. Except for fee income, US Bank does not include information relative to the business activity of the “trust” or the subject debt, note or mortgage in any financial report published to the public or to any regulatory authority, Federal or State.
    17. There is no “trust officer” appointed by US Bank to actively manage the affairs of the “trust.”There is no “trust officer” appointed by US Bank to actively manage the affairs of the subject debt.
    18. US Bank neither accepts nor gives any instructions to anyone regarding the affairs of the “trust.”
    19. US Bank neither accepts not gives any instructions to anyone regarding the subject debt, note or mortgage.
    20. US Bank has no power to either accept or give instructions regarding the trust or the subject debt.


Keep in mind that there are experts who believe that the debt no longer exists, and that you are dealing with the ghost of a creditor and the ghost of a debt. This is because the debt was resold multiple times and redistributed to multiple parties (new investors) under the guise of different instruments in which the value of the instrument was ultimately derived not from the debt, in actuality, but from the marketplace where such isntruments are traded. This is an ornate interpretation that has the ring of truth when you examine what the banks did, but this theory will not likely be accepted by any court.

*
That theory explains why when appellate and trial courts asked the direct question of whether the creditor can be identified the answer was no. The response was that the courts stopped asking.
*
But the issue at hand is whether, pursuant to state law governing foreclosures, a creditor is before the court possessing a valid claim to collect on a debt. If there is, then that creditor is entitled to payment. If there is not, then the claimed “creditor” is not entitled to either payment or foreclosure. 

Filed under: burden of persuasion, burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, CORRUPTION, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, evidence, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure mill, investment banking, Investor, legal standing, MBS TRUSTEE, Mortgage, prima facie case, Servicer, standing, STATUTES, TILA, TRUST BENEFICIARIES | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

TILA Rescission and Bankruptcy: What Happens When the Bankruptcy Court Gets it Wrong

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Neil Garfield

When TILA rescission has occurred the encumbrance is eliminated and the debt converts from one arising from a promissory note to one arising from a statute — 15 USC §1635. The debt then becomes subject to the statute of limitations for claims under TILA because the debt now arises under TILA. If the statute has run the debt is barred. Thus when the court gets it wrong and ignores the TILA Rescission it is warping the value of the bankruptcy estate as well as allowing secured status to unsecured creditors.

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Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 202-838-6345. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
A few hundred dollars well spent is worth a lifetime of financial ruin.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM WITHOUT ANY OBLIGATION. OUR PRIVACY POLICY IS THAT WE DON’T USE THE FORM EXCEPT TO SPEAK WITH YOU OR PERFORM WORK FOR YOU. THE INFORMATION ON THE FORMS ARE NOT SOLD NOR LICENSED IN ANY MANNER, SHAPE OR FORM. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 202-838-6345 or 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
========================

The motions for reopening cases in bankruptcy based upon error in ignoring TILA Rescission generally fail to drill home the fact that the error causes the entire bankruptcy estate to be valued incorrectly.

I think the motion is missing something — the effect on the BKR estate that has been overlooked. By virtue of 15 USC §1635 the original loan contract has, by operation of law, been replaced with a statutorily imposed new agreement, the terms of which are spelled out in the statute.

*
This means, as per the statute and REG Z which must be read along with the statute, that the note is replaced by a new obligation and the mortgage has been eliminated — all by the express wording of the statute “by operation of law.” Hence the obligation to repay continues as an enforceable liability provided that the claimant satisfies the conditions precedent set forth in the statute. But that obligation is no longer secured — for the express purposes of allowing the borrower to seek new financing from which the obligation could be repaid.
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The parties claiming to be owners of the debt or claiming to be representatives of the owner of the debt failed to comply with their obligations under the new agreement. Hence any right to enforce the obligation became inchoate. That failure was not in any way caused by the borrower.
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The obligation arises not from the original loan agreement but from the statutorily imposed obligation that replaced the original loan agreement. The statute is part of the Federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA). Claims under TILA are barred by the statute of limitations contained within that act.
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Hence the obligation was wrongfully treated as secured when it had been converted to unsecured by the statute. And the obligation itself is now barred by the statute of limitations.
*
The effect on the bankruptcy estate is obvious — any claimants under the original loan agreement are moved from secured to unsecured and, since they no longer have the benefit of the written instruments (the void note and mortgage) they must establish their claim by filing a proof of claim in which they establish ownership of the obligation and thereby establish that the they hold the risk of pecuniary loss, without which they cannot be paid.
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No party has established ownership of the statutorily imposed obligation. The time for pressing such a claim is now barred by the statute of limitations.
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Hence the value of the estate that was overlooked is understated by the fair market value of the property that is now unsecured and the liabilities of the petitioner are overstated by whatever amount was erroneously claimed by the claimants.
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These effects change the entire picture of the estate having an undeniable effect on all creditors and the petitioner. The court erred in ignoring these indisputable facts and laws thus casting the estate in an entirely erroneous light. This can only be corrected by re-opening the case and entering orders consistent with the true facts and applicable laws.

Filed under: bankruptcy, foreclosure, TILA, TILA rescission, Title | Tagged: | 5 Comments »

The Facts Behind Smoke and Mirrors

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Neil Garfield

Nearly everyone is confused as to the identity of the real holder in due course, or the “creditor,” or the owner of the debt. Nearly everyone thinks that ultimate it is investors who purchased certificates.

In fact there is no holder in due course and there never will be in most instances. There was never any possibility for a holder in course claim because in most cases the origination of the loan took place in what is called a table funded loan, which is against public policy as a matter of law (as expressed in the Truth in Lending Act).

The creditor or owner of the debt is actually a party who was never disclosed in any of the dealings with borrowers and is not adequately disclosed in the secondary market or pretend underwritings and sales of certificates.

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Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 202-838-6345. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
A few hundred dollars well spent is worth a lifetime of financial ruin.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM WITHOUT ANY OBLIGATION. OUR PRIVACY POLICY IS THAT WE DON’T USE THE FORM EXCEPT TO SPEAK WITH YOU OR PERFORM WORK FOR YOU. THE INFORMATION ON THE FORMS ARE NOT SOLD NOR LICENSED IN ANY MANNER, SHAPE OR FORM. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 202-838-6345 or 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
==========================

A Client just asked me if we should consider all the disclosed players as a single entity. Here is what I replied:

You could take that position but in reality they are all taking orders from a single entity that does not appear anywhere in the paper trail.

But it’s not like they are receiving orders on specific cases or events. They have standing orders to which they have agreed.

The party from whom they are receiving instructions is an investment bank who posed as an underwriter for the issuance and sale of bogus certificates from a nonexistent trust. The investment bank used money obtained under false pretenses from investors.

The investment bank might, under law, be considered a creditor — but it can’t assert that without opening itself up to a myriad of liabilities. In fact the investment will move heaven and Earth to avoid the revelation that the only financial transaction that means anything as a basis for foreclosure involves the investment bank and NOT any of the other disclosed parties with whom you are in litigation.

So in the end, the bottom line is that there is party who is willing to step up and claim status as creditor or owner of the debt — ever.

If you push this to the extreme in litigation you get some interesting results. Instead of being afraid that they will pop out a real creditor or owner of the debt, you should know that that in the end they will refuse to produce any such party.

And you will know that when they do assert or imply that this is the creditor you should look carefully at their wording and realize they are using a sham entity to cover up the fact that the investment bank who started it all is the real party in interest.

It is the investment banks’ unwillingness (for good reason) to be revealed as having anything to do with the loan, foreclosure or any other transactions that can be used as leverage if you push hard enough.

Filed under: burden of persuasion, burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, CORRUPTION, discovery, Discovery -Subpoena, evidence, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, foreclosure mill, forensic investigation, investment banking, Investor, legal standing, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, originator, Pleading, Servicer, TILA, TILA rescission, TRIAL OBJECTIONS, trial strategy | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Tolling the Statute of Limitations by Initiating Administrative Processes

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Neil Garfield

A recent case brought to mind a possible argument for tolling the applicable statute of limitations (SOL) on certain claims. By submission of complaints to the CFPB (TILA, RESPA, FDCPA etc) you are starting an administrative process. It might even be true that by submitting a QWR (under RESPA) or DVL (under FDCPA) you are starting an administrative process. One could argue that while you were in that process the statute of limitations on certain claims should be tolled.

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Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 202-838-6345. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document. LendingLies provides forms and services regarding initiating administrative processes including Qualified Written request, Debt validation Letter, Complaint to State Attorney General and Complaint to Consumer Financial Protection Board.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
A few hundred dollars well spent is worth avoiding a lifetime of financial ruin.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM WITHOUT ANY OBLIGATION. OUR PRIVACY POLICY IS THAT WE DON’T USE THE FORM EXCEPT TO SPEAK WITH YOU OR PERFORM WORK FOR YOU. THE INFORMATION ON THE FORMS ARE NOT SOLD NOR LICENSED IN ANY MANNER, SHAPE OR FORM. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 202-838-6345 or 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
==========================

The argument would be that you were exhausting your administrative remedies and that therefore the statute of limitations barring your claim should be tolled (extended). The argument against that position is usually that you didn’t need to exhaust your administrative remedies and therefore there should be no tolling of the statute. General doctrine and decisions weigh the balance of the goal of finality of claims and the desire to see all meritorious claims be litigated in pursuit of justice. The courts vary so do your legal research.

Your position is obviously strongest where you MUST exhaust administrative remedies BEFORE filing a claim, as provided by a statute. Your position is weakest where you didn’t need to exhaust administrative remedies. But equitable arguments often prevail.

Remember that if you are successful the statute of limitations will only be tolled during the period that you were pursuing administrative remedies so the filing of complaint with the CFPB and the AG office in your state is probably a good idea if it’s done sooner rather than later. The fact that administrative remedies were available for a time does not seem to advance your position unless you started some procedure invoking administrative action.

And remember that while you can’t bring a claim for remedies under a tort of statutory violation that is barred by the statute of limitations you CAN raise the same issues as an defense under the doctrine of recoupment. Procedurally recoupment only applies if you are sued. State laws and common law vary so again be careful to do your legal research.

If the foreclosure is contested I believe that under the US Constitution, this requires the foreclosure to become judicial — something that every judicial state has in fact made provision for.

As I have insisted for 12 years, the fact that nonjudicial foreclosure is available for uncontested foreclosures should not be an excuse for changing the burden of proof in contested foreclosures.

Hence the proper (constitutional) procedure would be realignment of the parties to where the claimant for foreclosure must judicially claim foreclosure and prove it while the homeowner merely defends with an answer and affirmative defenses and/or counterclaim.

As it stands, courts resist this approach and that gives the claimants in unlawful and wrongful foreclosures the ability to skip proof and go straight to foreclosure. In my opinion that reveals  an unconstitutional application of an otherwise valid statutory scheme for disposing of uncontested foreclosures.

Unlawful detainer or eviction is an attempt to eat fruit from a poisoned tree if in a nonjudicial foreclosure state a contested foreclosure did not require the claimant to assert and prove its claim for foreclosure.

 

Filed under: burden of persuasion, burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, evidence, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, foreclosure mill, legal standing, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Pleading, STATUTES, TILA, TILA rescission | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

“True Lender” Lawsuits Causing Business and Legal Headaches for Banks

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Neil Garfield

hat tip Bill Paatalo

You can’t pick up one end of the stick without picking up the other end as well. Or, if you like, you can’t eat your cake and still have it.

Banks used third party intermediaries all the time, and in non-mortgage loans they are considered as the real lender for purposes of being able to charge the interest rate stated in the consumer loan agreement.

But the situation is quite different and maybe the reverse in most alleged mortgage loans for the past 20 years. Usually a non-bank funding source was using a third party intermediary to originate the loan. Hence the term “originator” which in reality means nothing more than “salesman.”

The actual party funding the loan is not disclosed at all, ever. In most cases it is an investment bank which is different from a commercial bank, but the investment bank is not funding the loan with its own money but rather using money diverted from the advances of investors who thought they were purchasing mortgage backed securities.

In other words the investors think they are getting certificates that are backed by mortgage loans when in fact, in most cases, the certificate holders have no claim on any debt, note or mortgage executed or incurred by a borrower.

Since the loans are mostly originated rather than purchased by a Trust as advertised to investors, the actual ledner is neither disclosed nor shown on any of the closing documents possibly because it is impossible to determine the identity of a “Lender” whose money was  used from an undifferentiated slush fund in which money from investors is intermingled. Information ascertained thus far indicates that the slush fund includes money from the sale of certificates in the name of multiple nonexistent trusts.

Hence the issue of who is the “true lender.” But the Bank’s position in court in unsecured loans may be its undoing when it pretends to litigate a loan in which it was never actually a party to the loan transaction or the loan documents.

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Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 202-838-6345. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
A few hundred dollars well spent is worth a lifetime of financial ruin.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM WITHOUT ANY OBLIGATION. OUR PRIVACY POLICY IS THAT WE DON’T USE THE FORM EXCEPT TO SPEAK WITH YOU OR PERFORM WORK FOR YOU. THE INFORMATION ON THE FORMS ARE NOT SOLD NOR LICENSED IN ANY MANNER, SHAPE OR FORM. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 202-838-6345 or 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
==========================

see https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/a-remedy-for-true-lender-lawsuits-already-exists

So if you think about it, you can explain why most documents in foreclosures are pure fabrications reflecting nonexistent transactions. If you look closely at these documents you will nearly always be able to ascertain a gap which makes the documents NOT FACIALLY VALID. Or, in the alternative, if the documents are facially valid, it is because of forgery, robosigning and fabrication.

Such a gap might be the oft-used “attorney-in-fact” designation. Without reference to a specific power of attorney and a warranty that it has not been revoked and that it covers the execution of the proffered document, the reference to “attorney-in-fact” is meaningless. Hence the document signed by Ocwen as attorney in fact, is really just a signature by Ocwen who is not in the chain of title, making the document facially invalid. In most cases Ocwen (or whoever is the claimed “servicer” is executing as attorney in fact for a real entity (like US Bank) with a nonexistent role — trustee of a nonexistent trust. Remember that US Bank is a real bank but is not acting in a real role. 

By attacking the facial validity of such false documents you are also attacking jurisdiction, which is a deal killer for the banks. Bank lawyers are coming to their own conclusions — independently of their arrogant bank clients and independently of the foreclosure mills who blindly follow whatever instructions they receive electronically. Bank lawyers see trouble on the horizon coming from TILA REscission, and the lack of REAL facial validity of the documents being used in foreclosure which are at odds with the documents used to sell derivatives, synthetic derivatives and hedge products all based upon the same loans.

Here is a quote from the above-referenced article on “true lender lawsuits” brought by borrowers who seek to avoid interest from a non-bank as being  contrary to state law:

As a general rule, the fact that a bank subcontracts marketing, loan servicing or other “ministerial,” or nonessential, lending activities to third-party service providers has no effect on the bank’s ability to export its home state’s interest rate under federal law. To this end, the Bank Service Company Act expressly authorizes banks to utilize the services of third-parties. In short, under the federal banking laws, there is no “tipping point” beyond which a servicer becomes the lender in lieu of the bank — so long as the bank remains the party that is performing the primary, or “non-ministerial,” lending activities laid out in the three-part test, the bank is the only lender.

Yet federal bank agency guidance is silent regarding true lender risk, despite the growing number of states in which such lawsuits have arisen. The FDIC published draft third-party lending guidance in July 2016 that had the potential to provide some clarity, but it is still pending. Moreover, the guidance merely observes in a footnote that “courts are divided on whether third-parties may avail themselves of such preemption.”

As to whether a bank’s status as the lender could be undermined by its use of agents, the guidance says nothing. This silence is problematic because, as things stand, one could evaluate the facts of the same loan program and reach opposite conclusions with respect to the program’s status under usury laws depending on whether federal interest rate preemption rules or judge-made, state true lender rules are applied.

Filed under: CORRUPTION, discovery, evidence, Fabrication of documents, FDIC, foreclosure, foreclosure mill, forensic investigation, Investor, jurisdiction, legal standing, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, originator, prima facie case, Servicer, TILA, TILA rescission, TRUST BENEFICIARIES | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Solving the Puzzle: Settlements with Homeowners Are Rising

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Neil Garfield

Hat tip Michael Bazemore

It’s not easy to see but if you look at the court docket after a ruling against the parties designated as “foreclosing parties” you can see that these cases are often dismissed with reference to an agreement or settlement between the parties.

The typical pleading asking the court to dismiss the case will read as follows:

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between Plaintiff X and Defendant Y that pursuant to [Federal][State] Rule of Civil Procedure (41(a)(2) [Federal] this action and all causes of action contained therein shall be dismissed with prejudice.

It is further Stipulated by and between Plaintiff and Defendant that each party shall bear their own costs and attorney fees associated with this action.

The parties are submitting a proposed order of dismissal concurrently with this Stipulation.

I took that wording from a case involving a homeowner asserting rights, among other things, that focussed on TILA Rescission. We all know that the consensus is that no court will rule in favor of homeowners. But here you have a settlement that the bank considered too risky to bet on — a case that could have served as precedent for the proposition that there is no note, there is no mortgage and the debt that could have been pursued under 15 USC §1635 (TILA Rescission) is now barred by Statute of Limitations (often stated as “SOT).

I am seeing more of these of late indicating that homeowners who fight aggressively are winning their case and forcing the banks to settle.

PRACTICE NOTE: I think it is error to predicate your thinking about settlement value on the value of the case as it is conventionally determined. The banks are not evaluating cases for settlement based upon what a particular homeowner might gain from a particular verdict. They are evaluating the case based upon potential exposure of the entire fraudulent scheme of foreclosure and the liability associated with false claims of securitization, dubbed “securitization fail” by Adam Levitin.

The threshold question of whether they will settle at all is answered by their evaluation of exposure. The amount of money damages paid is based upon the likely verdict in the case. But it remains to be seen as to whether those with an appetite for risk might bargain based upon the exposure in all cases rather than the risk of a negative verdict in this one particular case.

The index for such valuation could be based upon the amount of gain realized by the investment bank who posed as underwriter and perhaps Master Servicer of a nonexistent trust. Through sales and trading of derivatives based upon the signature of the borrower the investment bank collects as much as 40 times the principal due on the note without any allocation to the benefit of the investors or the borrowers. My opinion is that both investors and borrowers should share in the bounty of $10 million taken in on a $250,000 loan. My opinion has always been that the notion of a default or even a loss should be off the table. The question should not be one of foreclosure but of disgorgement of ill-gotten gains.

Litigating foreclosure defense in this context requires the mindset of a solving a puzzle. Like any word puzzle or video game you need to stare at it for a while. At first you see nothing there. It’s like a painting that upon longer viewing reveals a face. After awhile of looking at the names of parties or their purported roles your mind will kick in and you will see the gaps in their asserted roles.

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Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 202-838-6345. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
A few hundred dollars well spent is worth a lifetime of financial ruin.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM WITHOUT ANY OBLIGATION. OUR PRIVACY POLICY IS THAT WE DON’T USE THE FORM EXCEPT TO SPEAK WITH YOU OR PERFORM WORK FOR YOU. THE INFORMATION ON THE FORMS ARE NOT SOLD NOR LICENSED IN ANY MANNER, SHAPE OR FORM. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 202-838-6345 or 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
==========================

 

Filed under: CASES, CORRUPTION, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, jurisdiction, legal standing, Mortgage, Servicer, TILA, TILA rescission | Tagged: | 16 Comments »

Distilling the 20 Points of TILA Rescission: 9th Circuit Allows “Claim” for Rescission Under WA Statute of Limitations

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Neil Garfield

I have distilled the legal points and procedure of TILA Rescission down to their essentials and specifics as you can see below. In the case presented the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of the homeowner but in so doing continued to violate the law of the land enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States and Congress.

Yes the homeowner should win but no, the homeowner should not be treated as having any burden of proof as to effectiveness of the TILA Rescission because the TILA Rescission statute is a self-executing statute that is effective by operation of law. It is not and never was a claim.

Astonishing. The 9th Circuit is drilling down on the premise that TILA Rescission is a claim rather than a self executing statutory event. This decision, favorable to the homeowner, not only engraves the “claim” theory in concrete, it applies a 6 year statute of limitations in Washington State.

The fact that the statute says the rescission is effective “by operation of law” is once again ignored. This may cause the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to finally accept certiorari in cases involving TILA Rescission and to once again (See Jesinoski v Countrywide 135 S. Ct. 790, 792 (2015) scold all the lower courts for their excess in reading into the statute what is either not there at all or which is in direct contradiction to what the TILA rescission statute says. 15 U.S.C. §1635(f).

The message from SCOTUS should be clear: Just because you don’t like the result doesn’t mean you can reinvent the statute to say what you think it should have said. Both the trial court and the 9th Circuit were massively wrong, and eventually that will be made clear — but not until considerably more damage is done to American homeowners, the real estate market, our society, and the financial system generally. If you really want to see a correction to bad bank behavior this is the tool.

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Let us help you plan for trial and draft your foreclosure defense strategy, discovery requests and defense narrative: 202-838-6345. Ask for a Consult or check us out on www.lendinglies.com. Order a PDR BASIC to have us review and comment on your notice of TILA Rescission or similar document.
I provide advice and consultation to many people and lawyers so they can spot the key required elements of a scam — in and out of court. If you have a deal you want skimmed for red flags order the Consult and fill out the REGISTRATION FORM.
A few hundred dollars well spent is worth a lifetime of financial ruin.
PLEASE FILL OUT AND SUBMIT OUR FREE REGISTRATION FORM WITHOUT ANY OBLIGATION. OUR PRIVACY POLICY IS THAT WE DON’T USE THE FORM EXCEPT TO SPEAK WITH YOU OR PERFORM WORK FOR YOU. THE INFORMATION ON THE FORMS ARE NOT SOLD NOR LICENSED IN ANY MANNER, SHAPE OR FORM. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Get a Consult and TERA (Title & Encumbrances Analysis and & Report) 202-838-6345 or 954-451-1230. The TERA replaces and greatly enhances the former COTA (Chain of Title Analysis, including a one page summary of Title History and Gaps).
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
==========================

see 9th cir hoang v bank of america 17-35993

Had they accepted the simple wording of the statute and the wording of the SCOTUS decision in Jesinoski, the decision of the 9th Circuit would have been on target. As it is, they have muddied the waters even further.

They continue to regard TILA Rescission as a claim, thus applying the statute of limitations and avoiding the distasteful issues (for the courts) that would be raised by recognizing what SCOTUS and the TILA Rescission statute have already said: the TILA Rescission statute is procedural.

Upon sending the required notice the claim of the creditor is changed from the note and mortgage to a claim under the statute. The note and mortgage vanish just like the debt vanishes and when the note is executed (assuming the Payee is the same party to whom the debt is owed). The purpose both the TILA Rescission statute and the merger doctrine is to to bar two claims on the same debt.

The problem that the courts have manufactured is based upon the premise of “I don’t’ like that statute.” But if the statute is to be changed it MUST be done ONLY by Congress. SCOTUS (Jesinoski) has already pronounced the TILA Rescission statute clear and unambiguous permitting no interpretation based upon any perceived “ambiguity.” The courts hands are legally tied but they continue to operate in derogation of the statute and SCOTUS.

Here is the ONLY correct application of the statute — according to 15 USC §1635 and SCOTUS in Jesinoski v Countrywide 135 S. Ct. 790, 792 (2015):

  1. Upon sending a clear notice of a desire or intent to cancel the loan contract, and either its actual or presumed receipt (i.e. US Mail) by the owner of the debt or the owner’s authorized representative (or agent with apparent authority) the loan contract is canceled “by operation of law”.
  2. This renders the note and mortgage void. There is no “but”.
  3. The statute substitutes a different creditor claim for what was the note and mortgage, to wit:  a statutory obligation to pay the debt after the owner complies with three conditions: (a) payment of money to the borrower (b) cancellation of note and sending it to borrower and (c) satisfaction of mortgage filed in the county records.
  4. The three duties are conditions precedent to demanding tender of property or money to pay off the debt.
  5. The fact that the three duties MAY be subject to an enforcement action by the borrower does nothing to change the effect of the cancelation of the loan contract by notice of TILA Rescission.
  6. There is no claim for enforcement of the three duties if the TILA statute of limitations has run.
  7. There is no claim for TILA Rescission. Either it was mailed or it wasn’t. There is no case or prima facie case except in enforcement of the three duties.
  8. There is no lawsuit required or even applicable to demand a court declare that the Rescission was effective. It is already effective simply by mailing. It already happened by operation of law. All decisions by all courts to the contrary are wrong. SCOTUS already said that.
  9. If the owner of the debt fails to either sue to vacate the rescission and/or follow the statutory duties, the statute of limitations under TILA is running and they may lose their right to demand payment of the debt completely. Once the TILA SOL runs out the right to collect the debt is dead after TILA Rescission.
  10. If the borrower fails to sue to enforce the three creditor duties, he/she is gambling on the TILA SOL cutting off the debt. The same statute of limitations cuts off the right of the borrower to sue based upon TILA claims.
  11. If the borrower does sue to enforce the three statutory Rescission duties the ONLY thing he/she should be claiming is that the statutory duties exist by virtue of 15 USC §1735 and that the Defendants failed to comply. Such an action could be after the SOL has run out seeking a declaration that the debt is dead (depending upon how SOL is treated).
  12. Neither the borrower nor the owner of the debt can reverse the effect of the TILA Rescission law. It is effective by operation of law and self-executing.
  13. Whether the notice is sent within 3 years or outside of the 3 years could be grounds to vacate the rescission which was already effective by operation of law. But that creditor lawsuit must be brought within the 20 days due for compliance with the three statutory duties. Minutes of the congressional discussion on this statute are quite clear — there should be no possibility at all for the presumed creditor to stonewall the borrower. SCOTUS said as much in Jesinoski, when it declared that no further action is required from the borrower other than the sending of the notice.
  14. The notice of rescission is facially valid if it declares the intention or desire to cancel the loan contract. There are dozens of cases saying exactly that. But it might be facially invalid if it expressly states that the contract it seeks to eliminate is outside of the three year limitation of “Consummation” (otherwise the 3 year limitation requires parole or extrinsic facts and requires finding of facts). This admission on the face of the instrument used to declare TILA Rescission MIGHT enable the presumed creditor to ignore it and ask the court to ignore it, at their own peril.
  15. If the creditor’s claim is that the rescission should be vacated (especially if it is recorded) or ignored because of the three year limitation or for any other reason, that is a lawsuit or an affirmative defense requiring allegation and proof of facts that are parole or extrinsic to the fact of the notice of TILA Rescission.
  16. There is no statute of limitation on anything that is effective by operation of law. It is an event, not a claim. Hence notice of TILA Rescission cannot be subject to interpretation as a claim and therefore cannot be subject to any statute of limitations.
  17. Thus all claims upon which courts took action or are taking action or will take any action based upon a loan contract that was canceled are VOID and completely undermine judicial standing and jurisdiction of the court. Subject matter jurisdiction is absent because the loan contract no longer exists. The creditor may either sue to revoke the rescission and cancel the instrument of rescission if recorded or make a claim based upon the statutory debt created by 15 USC §1635.
  18. The ONLY thing that could make void “sales” (of title to real property) final is Adverse Possession which typically takes around 20 years to establish. Check state statutes. The elements of adverse possession include but are not limited to continuous, open, notorious, peaceful, hostile (to actual owner), actual, visible, exclusive, and adverse. This is the “reset” that I forecasted 12 years ago. State legislatures are being lobbied to make such sales final even though they are legally void.
  19. All attorneys for the financial industry are in agreement with this analysis. The industry rejects the analysis because they correctly believe that they can persuade judges to act and rule opposite to the express provisions of the statute. So far they are right — except for the the  Supreme Court of the United States who is the sole source of a final definition of the law in this country.
  20. Anyone who seeks a change from the the current statute or the Supreme Court decision must do so through efforts to have Congress change the law.  If the rule of law is to prevail, the above procedural analysis must be followed in every instance.

Filed under: burden of persuasion, burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, evidence, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, legal standing, Mortgage, Pleading, prima facie case, TILA, TILA rescission | Tagged: , , , | 29 Comments »

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