“Lost notes” and the Sudden Appearance of “Original Notes.”

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Neil Garfield

Think of it this way: If someone wrote you a check for $100, which would you do? (1) make a digital copy of the check and then shred it or (2) take it to the bank? Starting with the era in which banks made what is abundantly clear as false claims of securitization the banks all chose option #1. And they collected incredible sums of money far exceeding the Madoff scam or anything like it.

Back in 2008 Katie Porter was a law professor and is now a member of the US House of  Representatives. For those of who don’t know her, you should follow her, even on C-Span. She nails it every time. She knows and other congressmen and women are following her lead. Back in 2008 she uncovered the fact that in her study of 1700 filings in US Bankruptcy court, 41% were missing even a copy of the note, much less the original note.

Around the same time, the Florida Bankers Association, dominated by the mega banks and who absorbed the Florida Community Bank Association, told the Florida Supreme Court that, after the purported “loan closing,” digital copies of the notes were made — and then the original notes were destroyed. FBA said it was “industry practice.” It wasn’t and it still isn’t — at least not for actual creditors who loan money. Out in the state of Washington on appeal, lawyers for the claimant in foreclosure admitted they had no clue as to the identity of the creditor. The state banned MERS foreclosures, along with Maine.

That admission, with full consent of the mega banks, raised the stakes from 41% to around 95% — a figure later confirmed in Senate Hearings by Elizabeth Warren. The other 5% are loans that were truly traditional — funded by the “lender” (no pretender lender) and still owned by the lender who had the original documents in their vault.

The law didn’t change. In order to enforce a note you needed the original. And in order to plead you “lost” the note, you had to allege and prove very specific things starting with the fact that it was lost and not destroyed. Then of course you had to prove that the original was delivered to you, which nobody could because the original was destroyed immediately after closing and a fax copy was the only thing used after that.

Typically destruction of the note means that the debt is discharged or forgiven — something that is actually a natural outgrowth of the same debt being sold dozens of times in varying pieces under various contracts, none of which give the buyer any direct right, title or interest in the “underlying” debt, note or mortgage. In short, neither the debt nor the note exist in most cases shortly after the alleged loan closing.

The representatives of the mega banks who started the illusion of securitization of mortgage debts could neither produce the original note (because it was destroyed) nor tell a credible story to explain its absence. So they did the next best thing. They recreated the note to make it appear like an original using advanced technology that could even mimic the use of a pen to sign it.

Some of us saw this early on when they failed to account for the color of the ink that was used at closing. Those were among the first cases involving a complete satisfaction of the alleged encumbrance, plus payment of damages and attorney fees, all papered over by a settlement agreement that was under seal of confidentiality.

While obviously presenting moral hazard, the process of recreation could have been legal if they had simply followed the protocols of the UCC and state law to reestablish a lost note. But they didn’t. The reason they didn’t is that they still had to prove that the note was a legal representation of a debt owed by the borrower to a creditor that they had to identify. But they couldn’t do that.

If they identified the creditor(s) they would admitting that they had no claim because a person or entity possessing a right, title or interest in the debt did not include the named claimant in the foreclosure. Naming a claimant does not create a claim. A real claim must be owned by a real claimant. That is the very essence of legal standing.

If they had no claim they would be admitting that the securitization certificates, swaps and other contracts were all bogus. That would tank the $1 quadrillion shadow banking market. That is where we see the evidence that for every $1 loaned more than $20 in revenue was produced and never allocated to either the debt of the borrower or the investment of the investors. The banks took it all. $45 trillion in loans and refi’s turned into $1 quadrillion in “nominal” value. Nice work if you can get it.

So then they did the next next best best thing thing. They simply presented the recreation of the note as the actual original and hoped that they could push it through and that has worked in many, probably most cases.

It works because most borrowers and their lawyers fail to heed my advice: admit nothing — make them prove everything. By giving testimony regarding the “original” note the borrower provides the foundation and the rest of the foreclosure is preordained.

For some reason, lawyers who are usually suspicious, refuse to acknowledge the basic fact that the entire process is a lie designed to take property, sell it and apply or allocate the sale proceeds to anyone except the owner(s) of the debt. They hear “free house” and get scared they will look foolish.

A free house to those persistent and enduring souls who finance the great fight is a small price to pay for the mountains of windfall profit of the banks and related parties. As for the banks, adding the proceeds of a house that should never have been sold is adding insult to injury not only to the homeowner but to the entire society.

If anyone wants to know why so many Americans are angry, look no further than the 40 million people were directly displaced by illegal foreclosure and the additional 70 million people who were affected by those dislocations. Voters know that if the many $trillions spent on bailouts had been used to level the playing field, 110 million Americans and millions more worldwide would have never faced the worst effects of the great recession.

And we will continue voting for disruptors until a level playing field re-emerges.

see Lost notes and Bad Servicing Practices and Incentives SSRN-id1027961

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: bankruptcy, boarding process, burden of pleading, BURDEN OF PROOF, CORRUPTION, discovery, escrow agent, evidence, Fabrication of documents, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, investment banking, Investor, legal standing, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, originator, Pleading, prima facie case, Servicer, sham transactions, standing, STATUTES, TRIAL OBJECTIONS | Tagged: , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

A Foreclosure Judgment and Sale is a Forced Assignment Against the Interests of Investors and For the Interests of the Bank Intermediaries

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Neil Garfield

For more information on foreclosure offense, expert witness consultations and foreclosure defense please call 954-495-9867 or 520-405-1688. We offer litigation support in all 50 states to attorneys. We refer new clients without a referral fee or co-counsel fee unless we are retained for litigation support. Bankruptcy lawyers take note: Don’t be too quick admit the loan exists nor that a default occurred and especially don’t admit the loan is secured. FREE INFORMATION, ARTICLES AND FORMS CAN BE FOUND ON LEFT SIDE OF THE BLOG. Consultations available by appointment in person, by Skype and by phone.

————————————

Successfully hoodwinking a Judge into entering a Judgment of Foreclosure and forcing the sale of a homeowner’s property has the effect of transferring the loss on that loan from the securities broker and its co-venturers to the Pension Fund that gave the money to the securities broker. Up until the moment of the foreclosure, the loss will fall on the securities brokers for damages, refunds etc. Once foreclosure is entered it sets in motion a legal cascade that protects the securities broker from further claims for fraud against the investors, insurers, and guarantors.

The securities broker was thought to be turning over the proceeds to the Trust which issued bonds in an IPO. Instead the securities broker used the money for purposes and in ways that were — according to the pleadings of the investors, the government, guarantors, and insurers — FRAUDULENT. Besides raising the issue of unclean hands, these facts eviscerate the legal enforcement of loan documents that were, according to those same parties, fraudulent, unenforceable and subject to claims for damages and punitive damages from borrowers.

There is a difference between documents that talk about a transaction and the transaction documents themselves. That is the essence of the fraud perpetrated by the banks in most of the foreclosure actions that I have reviewed. The documents that talk about a transaction are referring to a transaction that never existed. Documents that “talk about” a transaction include a note, mortgage, assignment, power of attorney etc. Documents that ARE the transaction documents include the actual evidence of actual payments like a wire transfer or canceled check and the actual evidence of delivery of the loan documents — like Fedex receipts or other form of correspondence showing that the recipient was (a) the right recipient and (b) actually received the documents.

The actual movement of the actual money and actual Transaction Documents has been shrouded in secrecy since this mortgage mess began. It is time to come clean.

THE REAL DEBT: The real debt does NOT arise unless someone gets something from someone else that is legally recognized as “value” or consideration. Upon receipt of that, the recipient now owes a duty to the party who gave that “something” to him or her. In this case, it is simple. If you give money to someone, it is presumed that a debt arises to pay it back — to the person who loaned it to you. What has happened here is that the real debt arose by operation of common law (and in some cases statutory law) when the borrower received the money or the money was used, with his consent, for his benefit. Now he owes the money back. And he owes it to the party whose money was used to fund the loan transaction — not the party on paperwork that “talks about” the transaction.

The implied ratification that is being used in the courts is wrong. The investors not only deny the validity of the loan transactions with homeowners, but they have sued the securities brokers for fraud (not just breach of contract) and they have received considerable sums of money in settlement of their claims. How those settlement effect the balance owed by the debtor is unclear — but it certainly introduces the concept that damages have been mitigated, and the predatory loan practices and appraisal fraud at closing might entitle the borrowers to a piece of those settlements — probably in the form of a credit against the amount owed.

Thus when demand is made to see the actual transaction documents, like a canceled check or wire transfer receipt, the banks fight it tooth and nail. When I represented banks and foreclosures, if the defendant challenged whether or not there was a transaction and if it was properly done, I would immediately submit the affidavits real witnesses with real knowledge of the transaction and absolute proof with a copy of a canceled check, wire transfer receipt or deposit into the borrowers account. The dispute would be over. There would be nothing to litigate.

There is no question in my mind that the banks are afraid of the question of payment and delivery. With increasing frequency, I am advised of confidential settlements where the homeowner’s attorney was relentless in pursuing the truth about the loan, the ownership (of the DEBT, not the “note” which is supposed to be ONLY evidence of the debt) and the balance. The problem is that none of the parties in the “chain” ever paid a dime (except in fees) and none of them ever received delivery of closing documents. This is corroborated by the absence of the Depositor and Custodian in the “chain”.

The plain truth is that the securities broker took money from the investor/lender and instead of of delivering the proceeds to the Trust (I.e, lending the money to the Trust), the securities broker set up an elaborate scheme of loaning the money directly to borrowers. So they diverted money from the Trust to the borrower’s closing table. Then they diverted title to the loan from the investor/lenders to a controlled entity of the securities broker.

The actual lender is left with virtually no proof of the loan. The note and mortgage is been made out in favor of an entity that was never disclosed to the investor and would never have been approved by the investor is the fund manager of the pension fund had been advised of the actual way in which the money of the pension fund had been channeled into mortgage originations and mortgage acquisitions.

Since the prospectus and the pooling and servicing agreement both rule out the right of the investors and the Trustee from inquiring into the status of the loans or the the “portfolio” (which is nonexistent),  it is a perfect storm for moral hazard.  The securities broker is left with unbridled ability to do anything it wants with the money received from the investor without the investor ever knowing what happened.

Hence the focal point for our purposes is the negligence or intentional act of the closing agent in receiving money from one actual lender who was undisclosed and then applying it to closing documents with a pretender lender who was a controlled entity of the securities broker.  So what you have here is an undisclosed lender who is involuntarily lending money directly a homeowner purchase or refinance a home. The trust is ignored  an obviously the terms of the trust are avoided and ignored. The REMIC Trust is unfunded and essentially without a trustee —  and none of the transactions contemplated in the prospectus and pooling and servicing agreement ever occurred.

The final judgment of foreclosure forces the “assignment” into a “trust” that was unfunded, didn’t have a Trustee with any real powers, and didn’t ever get delivery of the closing documents to the Depositor or Custodian. This results in forcing a bad loan into the trust, which presumably enables the broker to force the loss from the bad loans onto the investors. They also lose their REMIC status which means that the Trust is operating outside the 90 day cutoff period. So the Trust now has a taxable event instead of being treated as a conduit like a Subchapter S corporation. This creates double taxation for the investor/lenders.

The forced “purchase” of the REMIC Trust takes place without notice to the investors or the Trust as to the conflict of interest between the Servicers, securities brokers and other co-venturers. The foreclosure is pushed through even when there is a credible offer of modification from the borrower that would allow the investor to recover perhaps as much as 1000% of the amount reported as final proceeds on liquidation of the REO property.

So one of the big questions that goes unanswered as yet, is why are the investor/lenders not given notice and an opportunity to be heard when the real impact of the foreclosure only effects them and does not effect the intermediaries, whose interests are separate and apart from the debt that arose when the borrower received the money from the investor/lender?

The only parties that benefit from a foreclosure sale are the ones actively pursuing the foreclosure who of course receive fees that are disproportional to the effort, but more importantly the securities broker closes the door on potential liability for refunds, repurchases, damages to be paid from fraud claims from investors, guarantors and other parties and even punitive damages arising out of the multiple sales of the same asset to different parties.

If the current servicers were removed, since they have no actual authority anyway (The trust was ignored so the authority arising from the trust must be ignored), foreclosures would virtually end. Nearly all cases would be settled on one set of terms or another, enabling the investors to recover far more money (even though they are legally unsecured) than what the current “intermediaries” are giving them.

If this narrative gets out into the mainstream, the foreclosing parties would be screwed. It would show that they have no right to foreclosure based upon a voidable mortgage securing a void promissory note. I received many calls last week applauding the articles I wrote last week explaining the securitization process — in concept, as it was written and how it operated in the real world ignoring the REMIC Trust entity. This is an attack on any claim the forecloser makes to having the rights to enforce — which can only come from a party who does have the right to enforce.

see http://livinglies.me/2014/09/10/securitization-for-lawyers-conflicts-between-reality-the-documents-and-the-concept/

Filed under: AMGAR, CASES, CORRUPTION, discovery, evidence, expert witness, Fannie MAe, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, GTC | Honor, investment banking, Investor, MBS TRUSTEE, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motions, Neil Garfield Show, originator, Pleading, securities fraud, Servicer, Title, TRUST BENEFICIARIES, trustee | Tagged: , , , , , , | 124 Comments »

Loan Without Money

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Neil Garfield

For more information on foreclosure offense, expert witness consultations and foreclosure defense please call 954-495-9867 or 520-405-1688. We offer litigation support in all 50 states to attorneys. We refer new clients without a referral fee or co-counsel fee unless we are retained for litigation support. Bankruptcy lawyers take note: Don’t be too quick admit the loan exists nor that a default occurred and especially don’t admit the loan is secured. FREE INFORMATION, ARTICLES AND FORMS CAN BE FOUND ON LEFT SIDE OF THE BLOG. Consultations available by appointment in person, by Skype and by phone.

——————————–

If you went to the loan closing, signed the papers and then gave them to the closing agent and then the “lender” didn’t fund the loan, what would you do? If you ask an attorney he or she would probably demand the return of the closing papers. If the mortgage got recorded the attorney would threaten a variety of consequences unless the filing with the county recorder was nullified (because it can never be physically removed).

If you were then contacted by a mysterious stranger who said forget the loan papers, I’ll loan you the money, you might have accepted. This mysterious person sends the money to the closing agent who disperses it to the Seller of the property or pay off the prior mortgage etc.

Now imagine that the first “lender” ( the one who DIDN’T make the loan) has “assigned” the documents you executed to another party who also didn’t loan any money to you and who didn’t pay for the assignment because they knew full well that the loan papers were worthless. And the “lender” designated on the note and mortgage doesn’t ask for money because they know they didn’t loan a dime to you. But they gladly accept fees for “acting” as though they were the lender and renting their name out to be used as “lender.”

And finally imagine that the assignee of the worthless documentation you executed again assigns and endorses the note and mortgage to still another party, like a REMIC Trust. What did the REMIC Trust get? Nothing, right? Not so fast.

If this last transfer of the “loan” PAPERS (described as “documents” to make them sound more important) was purchased for value in good faith without knowledge of your defense that you never received the loan, you might still be liable on that note you executed even though you never received the loan. Yes you owe the holder in due course in addition to owing the money to the mystery stranger who wired the money to the closing agent. The Trust COULD enforce the loan or at least try to do so and it would be legal because they would be a HOLDER IN DUE COURSE (HDC). An HDC can enforce free from borrower’s defenses. That is the risk of signing documents and letting them get out of your hands before you receive what you expected as part of the deal.

Why then is there no evidence or allegation by any forecloser in the securitization schemes that they have HDC status? I represented hundreds of banks, lenders, and associations in foreclosures. If anyone was holding the paper as an HDC that is what I would have said in the pleading and then I would have proven it. end of story. The borrower might have a lawsuit against the third parties who tricked him but the HDC still has a good chance of prevailing despite grievous violations of lending laws and procedures at closing — including lack of consideration (they didn’t fund the loan for which you executed the closing documents).

The ILLUSION of a loan closing has been created because both “loan” scenarios in fact occurred AT THE SAME TIME at most “loan” closings. Two different deals — one where you didn’t get the money and the other where you did. One where you signed the closing documents but didn’t get the loan and the other where you signed nothing and got the money from the loan.  In other words, you signed documents, you delivered them to the closing agent and they were delivered and recorded. But the “lender” didn’t give you any money. Ground zero for the confusion and illusion is the receipt of money by the closing agent fro the mysterious stranger instead of the party in whose favor you executed the note and mortgage.

And here is the good news. The banks know full well they can’t win if they allege they have HDC status or even that the Trust has HDC status. So they allege that they are “holders” or they allege they are “holders with rights to enforce.” More often than not they simply allege either that they are simply a “holder” or that they have the “rights to enforce.” They let the court make the rest of the assumptions and essentially treated as though the party foreclosing on you had HDC status. That is ground zero for judicial error.

The Trust never issued payment to the assignor of the loan because the assignor didn’t ask for any money except for fees in “acting” its part in the scheme. The assignments and endorsements, the more powers of attorney, the higher the stack of paper. And the higher the stack of paper the more it looks like the the loan MUST be valid and enforceable, that you did stop paying on it, and that therefore you MUST be in default.

Meanwhile the mysterious stranger is getting paid by the people who entered into an agreement — a pooling and servicing agreement — under which the investors get paid from the Trust, Trustee or Master Servicer that issued bonds to the mysterious stranger. The terms of payment are very different than the terms of your note but that doesn’t matter because they never loaned you money anyway. The real basis of the ability of the servicer and trustee to see to it that you receive your expected payment is the ability of these brokers, conduits and sham corporate entities and trusts to get their hands on your money, and the money of investors in the Trust.

Why did the mysterious stranger send money for you? Was it a gift? Of course not. But without documentation the mysterious has exactly one legal right — to demand payment at any time for the entire balance of the loan plus reasonable interest. No foreclosure, because there is no mortgage. No acceleration necessary because you already owe the entire amount. Your homestead property is NOT at risk in Florida and many other states, because the mysterious stranger has no mortgage recorded. And the full balance of the loan to the mysterious stranger is completely dischargeable in a chapter 7 bankruptcy or can be reduced substantially in a Chapter 13 or chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Why did the mysterious stranger make the loan? Because the stranger was tricked by the same people who tricked you — under several layers of complicated relationships such that it is difficult to pin the blame on anyone. But this isn’t about blame. It is about money. Either they made a loan or they didn’t. And the answer is that nobody in their chain of “title” to the loan PAPERS ever paid one dime to loan you money or buy your loan. They are hiding that from both investors and you.

The mysterious stranger gave a broker money because he thought the broker was the intermediary between the mysterious stranger and a REMIC Trust that was issuing a semi-public offering of Mortgage Banked Securities (MBS). The stranger thinks he is an investor buying securities when in fact he has just opened the door for the broker to use his money in anyway the broker wanted, including lining the broker’s own pocket with the principal that should have loaned on good solid viable loans. The illusion is enhanced by the broker when the broker makes certain that the mysterious stranger is addressed as an “investor” or “trust beneficiary” of the REMIC trust.

The mysterious stranger who made the actual lender is tricked into believing that he has purchased a fractional ownership of thousands of mortgages including yours. That what the Prospectus and PSA seem to be saying. In reality the money that the mysterious stranger gave to the broker, stayed with the broker and that satisfied the feeding frenzy of sharks circulating around each dump of money from mysterious strangers.

“Bonuses” that were incomprehensible to the rest of the world were lavished upon the people who actually made this trick work. The  bonuses came from “profits” that were declared by the brokers from some incredibly lucky “trades” that never existed in which the Trust “bought” the loans at a price far higher than the principal balance of the loans, including yours.

AND THAT IS THE REASON FOR THE LOST, DESTROYED, FABRICATED LOAN AND TRANSFER DOCUMENTS. THE BANKS ARE CREATING THE APPEARANCE OF NEGLIGENCE THAT OVERRIDES THE TRUTH — IT WAS FRAUD. The only reason you would destroy a cash equivalent document is because you told someone it promised payment of $100, when in fact it promised only $60. The Banks can’t reveal the real money trail without revealing their vulnerability to criminal prosecution.

Of course the problem was that the broker didn’t loan you any money and either did the trust, the trustee, the servicer or any of the conduits or other intermediaries. And so none of them were entitled to have or do anything with the PAPER that had your signature on them — which contained one key term that they didn’t want anyone to see — the principal balance stated on the note.

If the mysterious stranger found out that for every dollar he paid the broker for a mortgage bond, only 60% was being used for loans, then the mysterious stranger would stop giving the broker money and would have demanded the return of all funds. But the mysterious strangers who in reality had given naked undocumented demand loans to homeowners had no idea that anything was wrong because the payments they were receiving were exactly what they expected.

So when the “borrower” is asked “did you get the loan.” His answer is “which one are you asking about?” Because no loan was ever made, directly or indirectly by the “lender” on the note and mortgage. Did you stop paying? Of course, why should I pay someone who I thought was my lender but isn’t.

All of that is the exact reason why the investor “mysterious stranger” lawsuits have all been settled for hundreds of billions of dollars. But in the end this is about the mysterious stranger and the lender designated on the note and mortgage. The fact that either way the mysterious stranger’s money was to be used for loans is not the point under our system of law. If anyone wants to enforce commercial paper based upon a loan that was never made, they lose if they are merely a “holder,” and “holder” status is all that the foreclosers have ever alleged. Their “right to enforce”comes from cyberspace rather than the owner of the loan. The owner of the loan, is in the final analysis a mysterious stranger to any of their PAPER.

The solution to our economic crisis that simply won;t end until this wrong is addressed is to stop rewarding bad behavior and let the mysterious strangers and the borrowers meet each other in the market place. Under threat of a demand loan due in full right now, nearly all homeowners would execute enforceable, clean notes and mortgages in favor of the mysterious strangers and then they could BOTH sue the intermediaries that corrupted the title and investments of the “mysterious strangers.”

Presented correctly by counsel for the homeowner, the men and women sitting on the bench will accept the truth as long as you exercise your rights to object to the use of presumptions instead of facts and demand your right to receive discovery that would disprove all the presumptions upon which the brokers and their nominees rely. Stop admitting things you know nothing about. Presume that there is a shady reason why the foreclosing party never asserts itself as an HDC. That is your clue to the truth.

 

Filed under: AMGAR, CORRUPTION, discovery, escrow agent, evidence, expert witness, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, forms, GTC | Honor, investment banking, Investor, MBS TRUSTEE, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motions, originator, Pleading, Servicer, STATUTES, Title, TRUST BENEFICIARIES, trustee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments »

Chase Slammed By CA Appellate Panel: Bank committed fraud in order to show ownership

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Neil Garfield

Housing Wire, Ben Lane (see link to article below): “Bank committed fraud in order to show ownership.”

We are entering the 6th inning of the game started by Wall Street when it created the smoke and mirrors game based upon false claims of successors and securitization. As lawyers actually do the work investigating and researching, they are getting results that come closer and closer to the reality that the whole thing was a sham.

For each Appellate decision, like this one, there are hundreds of rulings from Trial courts in which Orders were entered finding for the borrower and against the “lender” — simply because the pretender lender was identified as trying to foreclose on property to enforce a debt that was owed to somebody else. Either Judgment was entered for the borrower or, in thousands of cases, discovery orders were entered in which the pretender had to open its books, along with its co-venturers, to show the money trail, which almost never matches up with the paper trial submitted to the court.

But the problem remains that most Judges are still stuck on moving the burden of proof onto the borrower instead of the party seeking foreclosure. The lawyers say it doesn’t matter what the borrower is saying about the paper trail or the money trail or the so-called securitization of the loan.

It doesn’t matter, according to them, if the act of foreclosure itself is an act in furtherance of a fraudulent scheme that started when mortgage bonds were sold to investors and that the money was used in ways the investors could not have imagined. It doesn’t matter that the pretender lenders are taking money from the the real creditors, along with assets that should have collateralized the investment of the real lenders, and taking the homes of borrowers from them despite their entitlement to credits and opportunities to modify under law.

It doesn’t matter that the “lender” broke the law when they made the loan, broke the law when they transferred the the paperwork, and broke the law when they created paperwork that was NOT the outcome of any real transaction.

Attorneys for the banks are actually arguing that it doesn’t matter where the money came from. All that matters, according to them is that money was received by the borrower. The fact that it didn’t come from the lender identified in the closing documents is irrelevant. The consideration is present because the lender promised the loan, and even though they never made the loan or funded it, the lender managed to get somebody’s money on the closing table. That is consideration, according to them.

The danger of this argument, often readily accepted by trial judges, is that it opens the door to the moral hazard we see playing out in virtually all foreclosures. One attorney actually said that if our “theory” was right, then the whole foreclosure docket would be cleared, as though that would be a bad thing. Here’s our theory: “Follow the Law.” In other words stop the servicers and other intermediaries from pushing cases into foreclosure to the detriment of BOTH the creditor and the lender.

This is not one case involving moral turpitude by one Bank. Chase Bank has been involved in a pattern of behavior of falsifying facts and documents from the beginning in a coordinated effort with all the foreclosure players, to force as many foreclosures as possible, dual tracking innocent homeowners, luring them into default with false statements about how they needed to be 90 days behind to be considered for modification, and falsely claiming that the money on the loan was owed to the forecloser — or some unnamed creditor which gave them the right to enforce.

It is still counter-intuitive for most people in the system to confront the truth and believe it. These loans were mostly created pursuant to prior Assignment and Assumption Agreements that called for violations of Federal and State laws. Those agreements were void, as being against public law and public policy, and so were the acts emanating from those agreements. And the perjury, fabrication, robo-signing and unauthorized execution of false documents are the rule, not the exception. Why? Because it is a cover-up.

If banks (as the middlemen they are supposed to be) really did what the securitization documents said they should do, they wouldn’t need false documents, false facts, and false testimony. If the foreclosures were genuine they would not need to rely on false presumptions about holders, holders with rights to enforce and ignore differences and conflicts with holders in due course.

Falsification of facts and documents for closing of loans, collection of payments, and enforcement of false notes and mortgages, is now the rule. What are we going to do about it. Chase Bank didn’t do this by “accident.” It as intentional. Why would they ever need to do that if the loans were genuine, enforceable and being enforced by the real creditors?

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30540-chases-fraudulent-foreclosure-court-says-executive-falsified-documents

For further information call 954-494-6000 or 520-405-1688.

Filed under: AMGAR, CASES, CORRUPTION, escrow agent, evidence, expert witness, foreclosure, foreclosure defenses, foreclosure mill, GTC | Honor, investment banking, Investor, MBS TRUSTEE, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motions, Pleading, Servicer, STATUTES, Title, TRUST BENEFICIARIES, trustee | Tagged: , , , , , , | 23 Comments »

U.S. Attorney Continues to Prosecute Despite Settlements

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Neil Garfield

CHECK OUT OUR DECEMBER SPECIAL!

What’s the Next Step? Consult with Neil Garfield

For assistance with presenting a case for wrongful foreclosure, please call 520-405-1688, customer service, who will put you in touch with an attorney in the states of Florida, California, Ohio, and Nevada. (NOTE: Chapter 11 may be easier than you think).

Editor’s Note: Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He is unfazed by the tangle of “settlements” and will not let up on prosecuting Bank of America for fraud. He gets it and is methodically working his way through the maze set up by the mega banks.

BofA settled a civil claim that it had lied when they “sold” mortgages advertised as meeting government standards. We all know by now that the loans “lacked documentation and underwriting.” But what is still to come out is WHY they lacked documentation and WHY the loans lacked underwriting.

The documentation was absent simply to hide the fact that the bank was pretending to have ownership or an insurable interest in the loans and mortgage bonds. The true transaction was between the investor/lenders and the homeowner/borrowers. BofA stole or misused the identities of both the lender and the borrowers so that it could sell the loans many times under guise of exotic derivative instruments called mortgage backed bonds.

If fully documented, the lender would have shown up as the investors, which is as it should have been. BofA never put up a dime for the funding or acquisition of any of the loans. Its claim of ownership and an insurable interest was a blatant lie, inasmuch as they actually had no risk of loss, which is why there was no underwriting standards applied either.

I would suggest you track the pleadings of this U.S. Attorney and pick up some pointers along the way. He is definitely on the right track. As for now, the focus is on the bad mortgage bonds, bad loans, and lack of documentation up at the lender level.

Once that veil is penetrated it will be revealed that the borrower was defrauded using the same misdirected documentation using appraisal fraud as the principal leverage point.

But the real stuff is going to hit the fan as more and more people realize that this standard practice in the industry allegedly to “protect” the investors, invalidated the chain of title and there has been no effort to correct the problem. When it is revealed that the investors were cheated out of their money by a use of proceeds that crosses the borders of fraud, and that the terms of the bonds were never intended to be satisfied, just as the terms of the loan were never meant to be satisfied or secured, then we will have justice peeking its head out over the mess.

In the end, legally, there will be privity or a relationship only between the investor/lenders and the borrowers and that there transaction was supposed to be documented and recorded. Instead the banks documented and recorded a different transaction in which the intermediaries looked like the principals and were therefore able to do “proprietary trading” in which they took investor money from one pocket and put it into another.

That is what opened the door to huge “profits” (actually theft proceeds) on the way up and on the way down. These banks are now buying the same houses from themselves (using another affiliate entity) and then reporting the results to the investors so they can write off the loss. They are going to be the largest landowners in history as a result of this PONZI scheme.

The investors were duped into thinking that all the intermediary entities were being used to protect them from liability from claims of deceptive and predatory lending practices. In actuality the investors were already protected because their agents committed intentional acts of malfeasance and crimes that were specifically prohibited in the documents and other representations the investors received.

Just like the Too Big to Fail Myth, the investors are operating under the myth that if they assert themselves as lenders, they are going to get sued. That too is untrue. If they assert themselves as lenders, then they are going to show proof of payment, something the megabanks can’t do because they used investor money instead of their own.

If the investors assert themselves as lenders they will see that money is missing from the investment pools and that in fact the investment pools were never funded at all. They will realize that they have a legitimate claim for repayment of loans, and a legitimate claim for civil or criminal theft against the banks who intentionally diverted the documentation and the money from the investors and from the borrowers.

That will leave the investors and borrowers with (1) an obligation that is mostly undocumented and (2) unsecured. But the borrowers are more than happy to allow a mortgage if it reflects fair market value. This is what will give the investors far more than the current process in which the banks have a stranglehold on the mortgage modification process (for mortgages that are invalid from the start).

If you pierce through the veil of PR and utter nonsense flowing out of the banks and their planted articles in every periodical around the country, you will find your lender and you will find out the balance due because both of you (homeowner and investor) are going to want to know what happened to all the insurance money, credit default swaps and Federal bailouts that were promised, paid, but not delivered.

Because the mega banks were mere intermediaries pretending to be lenders the entire current scenario is going to turn upside down. Ultimately, the insurance, CDS and bailouts were in fact bailouts of the homeowners and investors. When they are applied correctly according to common sense and the contracts that were executed, practically none of the mortgages will have the balance demanded by the intermediary banks who claim but do not own the mortgages or rights to foreclose. Thus practically no foreclosure was correct by any standard, no credit bid was valid at auction, and no eviction was legal.

As these facts are revealed and accepted by a critical mass of people, the Too Big to Fail Myth will be put to the test. The nonexistent assets on their balance sheets will be reduced to zero. What will really happen is simply that the mega banks will collapse inward and the thousands of other banks that are unfairly under the thumb of the bank oligarchy will be able to pick up the pieces that are left and return to normal banking, with normal profits and normal bonuses.

Allowing the mega bank to retain the money they stole is like throwing a steak to a dog. Now that they have a taste of unlawful profits driving their profitability upward, they will only want more. Our job is to make sure they don’t get it. The Obama administration was surprised by the quick recovery by the banks. The truth, as it will be revealed in the coming months and years, is that there was no bank recovery because there were no bank losses. THAT is why the banks grew while the rest of the economy tanked.

Theoretically it is impossible for the bank profits to go up while the stock market and the economy is going down the drain. Their profits are supposed to come from being intermediaries in commerce, not principals.

Thus the higher the commercial activity, the better it is for the banks. But here, the relationship was twisted. The banks sucked the money out of the economy in “off balance sheet” transactions, secreted the money around the world, and are now able to report higher and higher profits every year simply because that is the way that they can repatriate their ill-gotten gains. By doing that they drive up the apparent value of their stocks and their stockholders are happy. What the stockholders do not realize is that this is a powder keg that will, at some point, implode. Yes, Warren Buffet is wrong.

See the story and Links Here

Despite a settlement with an alleged victim, U.S. District Attorney Preet Bharara will continue to prosecute Bank of America for selling allegedly fraudulent loans to Fannie Mae and other government-sponsored enterprises, his office told the Charlotte Business Journal.

Bharara, U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, charged BofA with fraud in a $1 billion federal lawsuit in October. He alleged in court documents that BofA had sold government agencies such as Fannie Mae billions of dollars in mortgages that were advertised as meeting government standards. However, the suit contends the loans actually lacked proper documentation and underwriting.

Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, currency, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor, Mortgage, securities fraud | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 67 Comments »

Renters and Owners: Beware of Craig’s List

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Neil Garfield

The marketplace is filled with “listings” on Craig’s List for rental of properties at prices that are too good to be true. The scammers are posing as local property owners who actually are out of town. They change the locks, enter the house, and prepare it for sale or rent. The owner comes back and finds a renter who demands that the lease be enforced as to possession, because the scammers were either apparent agents or actual agents of the owners. Suddenly the owner of a parcel becomes embroiled in litigation that takes their home off the market and possibly forces them into foreclosure or bankruptcy.

Prospective renters are taking a risk if they do not confirm the title of the property, the status of the property with respect to foreclosure, and the actual identity of the “broker” and the “owner” demanding proof thereof. If you put down first and last month rent, plus security of whatever, you could be kicked out in a matter of days unless you can show that the owner received some portion of those funds. The funds will never be recovered from thieves who are spending the money as they get it.

More sophisticated scammers are sending deposit checks to the real owner to have them cash it. When that happens, the law enforcement people might have no choice but to call it a civil matter. It is not inconceivable for the renter to challenge the title of the owner in such a situation although the law states otherwise.

The acceptance of the money (consideration) is one thing. But if the complaint says that a stranger stole their identity and then sold or rented the house, they might be opening the door for a challenge to that owner if defective title was acquired in a foreclosure sale that was faked by the banks, or where title was obtained from someone who obtained defective title.There is an open question about the right to challenge title where the sole reason for the eviction alleged is that the title is in the hands of the Plaintiff. Under the rules, a simple denial of that fact is a question of fact that must be heard by the court.

If it stays in a summary eviction proceeding the trial could be in a matter of days. But if the renter files in a higher court using causes of action challenging the right of the present “owner” to challenge the executed transaction because they didn’t suffer any damage (i.e., they didn’t own the house anyway and therefore were not entitled to proceeds of sale or rental)

That being the case, the argument could be made that the “strangers” had as much right to pose as the owners and agents of the named owners with or without their knowledge. Unlikely any renter would win on such an issue but possible that it could get by a motion to dismiss and tie up the property in litigation for months plus appeals.

This is the problem (see Grethen Morgneson’s article in New York Times about MERS) caused by MERS and pretender lenders, none of whom handle any money, accept any payments, or engage in any financial transactions with the homeowner who thinks they are getting a loan from the named payee. They are ALL naked nominees without a stake in the transaction.

The situation gets thick with fog as documents are piled on documents each one reciting that the previous document was valid even though the original document at the base of the pile was invalid, unenforceable and lacked the essential attributes of a valid contract — offer, acceptance of the same terms as the offer, and consideration (funding).

Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, currency, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor, Mortgage, securities fraud | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

OK LAWYERS, STEP UP TO THIS ONE — It is literally a no- brainer

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Neil Garfield

Featured Products and Services by The Garfield Firm

LivingLies Membership – Get Discounts and Free Access to Experts

Editor’s Comment: The very same people who so ardently want us to remain strong and fight wars of dubious foundation are the ones who vote against those who serve our country. Here is a story of a guy who was being shot at and foreclosed at the same time — a blatant violation of Federal Law and good sense. When I practiced in Florida, it was standard procedure if we filed suit to state that the defendant is not a member of the armed forces of the United States. Why? Because we don’t sue people that are protecting our country with their life and limb.

It IS that simple, and if the banks are still doing this after having been caught several times, fined a number of times and sanctioned and number of times, then it is time to take the Bank’s charter away. Nothing could undermine the defense and sovereignty of our country more than to have soldiers on the battlefield worrying about their families being thrown out onto the street.

One woman’s story:

My husband was on active duty predeployment training orders from 29 May 2011 to 28 August 2011 and again 15 October 2011 to 22 November 2011. He was pulled off the actual deployment roster for the deployment date of 6 December 2011 due to the suspension of his security clearance because of the servicer reporting derogatory to his credit bureau (after stating they would make the correction). We spoke with the JAG and they stated those periods of service are protected as well as nine months after per the SCRA 50 USC section 533.

We have been advised that a foreclosure proceeding initiated within that 9 month period is not valid per the SCRA. I have informed the servicer via phone and they stated their legal department is saying they are permitted to foreclose. They sent a letter stating the same. I am currently working on an Emergency Ex Parte Application for TRO and Preliminary Injunction to file in federal court within the next week. It is a complicated process.

The servicer has never reported this VA loan in default and the VA has no information. That is in Violation of VA guidelines and title 38. They have additionally violated Ca Civil Code 2323.5. They NEVER sent a single written document prior to filing NOD 2/3/2012. They never made a phone call. They ignored all our previous calls and letter. All contact with the servicer has been initiated by us, never by them. This was a brokered deal. We dealt with Golden Empire Mortgage. They offered the CalHFA down payment assistance program in conjunction with their “loan” (and I use that term loosely). What we did not know was that on the backside of the deal they were fishing for an investor.

Over the past two years CalHFA has stated on numerous occasions they do not own the 1st trust deed. Guild (the servicer) says they do. I have a letter dated two weeks after closing of the loan saying the “servicing” was sold to CalHFA. Then a week later another letter stating the “servicing” was sold to Guild. Two conflicting letters saying two different things. The DOT and Note are filed with the county listing Golden Empire Mortgage as the Lender, North American Title as the Trustee and good old MERS as the Nominee beneficiary.

There is no endorsement or alonge anywhere in the filing of the county records. We signed documents 5/8/2008 and filings were made 5/13/2008. After two years of circles with Guild and CalHFA two RESPA requests were denied and I was constantly being told “the investor, the VA and our legal department” are reviewing the file to see how to apply the deferrment as allowed by California law and to compute taxes and impound we would need to pay during that period. Months of communications back in forth in 2009 and they never did a thing. Many calls to CalHFA with the same result. We don;t own it, call Guild, we only have interest in the silent 2nd.

All of a sudden in December 2011 an Assignment of DOT was filed by Guild from Golden Empire to CalHFA signed by Phona Kaninau, Asst Secretary MERS, filed 12/13/2011. om 2/3/2012 Guild filed a Cancellation of NOD from the filing they made in 2009 signed by Rhona Kaninau, Sr. VP of Guild. on the same date Guild filed a substitution of trustee naming Guild Admin Corp as the new trustee and Golden Empire as the old trustee, but on out DOT filed 5/13/2008 it lists North American Title as the Trustee. First off how can Rhona work for two different companies.

Essentially there is no fair dealing in any of this. Guild is acting on behalf of MERS, the servicing side of their company, and now as the trustee. How is that allowed? Doesn;t a trustee exist to ensure all parties interests are looked out for? It makes no sense to me how that can be happening. On the assignment I believe there is a HUGE flaw… it states ….assigns, and transfers to: CalHFA all beneficial interest…..executed by Joshua as Trustor, to Golden Empire as Trustee, and Recordeed….. how can you have two “to’s” .. shouldn’t after Trustor it say FROM???? Is that a fatal flaw???

And then looking at the Substitution it states “Whereas the undersigned present Beneficiary under said Deed of Trust” (which on the DOT at that time would show MERS but on the flawed assignment says Golden Empire was the trustee), it then goes on the say “Therefore the undersigned hereby substitutes GUILD ADMIN CORP” and it is signed “Guild Mortgage Company, as agent for CalHFA”, signed by Rhona Kaninau (same person who signed the assignment as a MERS Asst Secretary). I mean is this seriously legal??? Would a federal judge look at this and see how convoluted it all is?

I appreciate the offer of the securitization discount but in out current economic situation and having to pay $350 to file a federal case we just can’t afford it right now. I hope you will keep that offer open. Will this report cover tracking down a mortgage allegedly backed by CalHFA bonds? This is their claim.

Thank you so much for your assistance. This is overwhelming. Do you have any attorneys here in Southern California you world with I might be able to talk to about what they would charge us for a case like this?

Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, currency, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor, Mortgage, securities fraud | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 78 Comments »

Now They See the Light — 40% of Homes Underwater

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Neil Garfield

Featured Products and Services by The Garfield Firm

LivingLies Membership – Get Discounts and Free Access to Experts
For Customer Service call 1-520-405-1688

Editor’s Comment:

They were using figures like 12% or 18% but I kept saying that when you take all the figures together and just add them up, the number is much higher than that. So as it turns out, it is even higher than I thought because they are still not taking into consideration ALL the factors and expenses involved in selling a home, not the least of which is the vast discount one must endure from the intentionally inflated appraisals.

With this number of people whose homes are worth far less than the loans that were underwritten and supposedly approved using industry standards by “lenders” who weren’t lenders but who the FCPB now says will be treated as lenders, the biggest problem facing the marketplace is how are we going to keep these people in their homes — not how do we do a short-sale. And the seconcd biggest problem, which dovetails with Brown’s push for legislation to break up the large banks, is how can we permit these banks to maintain figures on the balance sheet that shows assets based upon completely unrealistic figures on homes where they do not even own the loan?

Or to put it another way. How crazy is this going to get before someone hits the reset the button and says OK from now on we are going to deal with truth, justice and the American way?

With no demographic challenges driving up prices or demand for new housing, and with no demand from homeowners seeking refinancing, why were there so many loans? The answer is easy if you look at the facts. Wall Street had come up with a way to get trillions of dollars in investment capital from the biggest managed funds in the world — the mortgage bond and all the derivatives and exotic baggage that went with it. 

So they put the money in Superfund accounts and funded loans taking care of that pesky paperwork later. They funded loans and approved loans from non-existent borrowers who had not even applied yet. As soon as the application was filled out, the wire transfer to the closing agent occurred (ever wonder why they were so reluctant to change closing agents for the convenience of the parties?).

The instructions were clear — get the signature on some paperwork even if it is faked, fraudulent, forged and completely outside industry standards but make it look right. I have this information from insiders who were directly involved in the structuring and handling of the money and the false securitization chain that was used to cover up illegal lending and the huge fees that were taken out of the superfund before any lending took place. THAT explains how these banks are bigger than ever while the world’s economies are shrinking.

The money came straight down from the investor pool that included ALL the investors over a period of time that were later broker up into groups and the  issued digital or paper certificates of mortgage bonds. So the money came from a trust-type account for the investors, making the investors the actual lenders and the investors collectively part of a huge partnership dwarfing the size of any “trust” or “REMIC”. At one point there was over $2 trillion in unallocated funds looking for a loan to be attached to the money. They couldn’t do it legally or practically.

The only way this could be accomplished is if the borrowers thought the deal was so cheap that they were giving the money away and that the value of their home had so increased in value that it was safe to use some of the equity for investment purposes of other expenses. So they invented more than 400 loans products successfully misrepresenting and obscuring the fact that the resets on loans went to monthly payments that exceeded the gross income of the household based upon a loan that was funded based upon a false and inflated appraisal that could not and did not sustain itself even for a period of weeks in many cases. The banks were supposedly too big to fail. The loans were realistically too big to succeed.

Now Wall Street is threatening to foreclose on anyone who walks from this deal. I say that anyone who doesn’t walk from that deal is putting their future at risk. So the big shadow inventory that will keep prices below home values and drive them still further into the abyss is from those private owners who will either walk away, do a short-sale or fight it out with the pretender lenders. When these people realize that there are ways to reacquire their property in foreclosure with cash bids that are valid while the credit bid of the pretender lender is invlaid, they will have achieved the only logical answer to the nation’s problems — principal correction and the benefit of the bargain they were promised, with the banks — not the taxpayers — taking the loss.

The easiest way to move these tremendous sums of money was to make it look like it was cheap and at the same time make certain that they had an arguable claim to enforce the debt when the fake payments turned into real payments. SO they created false and frauduelnt paperwork at closing stating that the payee on teh note was the lender and that the secured party was somehow invovled in the transaction when there was no transaction with the payee at all and the security instrumente was securing the faithful performance of a false document — the note. Meanwhile the investor lenders were left without any documentation with the borrowers leaving them with only common law claims that were unsecured. That is when the robosigning and forgery and fraudulent declarations with false attestations from notaries came into play. They had to make it look like there was a real deal, knowing that if everything “looked” in order most judges would let it pass and it worked.

Now we have (courtesy of the cloak of MERS and robosigning, forgery etc.) a completely corrupted and suspect chain of title on over 20 million homes half of which are underwater — meaning that unless the owner expects the market to rise substantially within a reasonable period of time, they will walk. And we all know how much effort the banks and realtors are putting into telling us that the market has bottomed out and is now headed up. It’s a lie. It’s a damned living lie.

One in Three Mortgage Holders Still Underwater

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

Got that sinking feeling? Amid signs that the U.S. housing market is finally rising from a long slumber, real estate Web site Zillow reports that homeowners are still under water.

Nearly 16 million homeowners owed more on their mortgages than their home was worth in the first quarter, or nearly one-third of U.S. homeowners with mortgages. That’s a $1.2 trillion hole in the collective home equity of American households.

Despite the temptation to just walk away and mail back the keys, nine of 10 underwater borrowers are making their mortgage and home loan payments on time. Only 10 percent are more than 90 days delinquent.

Still, “negative equity” will continue to weigh on the housing market – and the broader economy – because it sidelines so many potential home buyers. It also puts millions of owners at greater risk of losing their home if the economic recovery stalls, according to Zillow’s chief economist, Stan Humphries.

“If economic growth slows and unemployment rises, more homeowners will be unable to make timely mortgage payments, increasing delinquency rates and eventually foreclosures,” he said.

For now, the recent bottoming out in home prices seems to be stabilizing the impact of negative equity; the number of underwater homeowners held steady from the fourth quarter of last year and fell slightly from a year ago.

Real estate market conditions vary widely across the country, as does the depth of trouble homeowners find themselves in. Nearly 40 percent of homeowners with a mortgage owe between 1 and 20 percent more than their home is worth. But 15 percent – approximately 2.4 million – owe more than double their home’s market value.

Nevada homeowners have been hardest hit, where two-thirds of all homeowners with a mortgage are underwater. Arizona, with 52 percent, Georgia (46.8 percent), Florida (46.3 percent) and Michigan (41.7 percent) also have high percentages of homeowners with negative equity.

Turnabout is Fair Play:

The Depressing Rise of People Robbing Banks to Pay the Bills

Despite inflation decreasing their value, bank robberies are on the rise in the United States. According to the FBI, in the third quarter of 2010, banks reported 1,325 bank robberies, burglaries, or other larcenies, an increase of more than 200 crimes from the same quarter in 2009. America isn’t the easiest place to succeed financially these days, a predicament that’s finding more and more people doing desperate things to obtain money. Robbing banks is nothing new, of course; it’s been a popular crime for anyone looking to get quick cash practically since America began. But the face and nature of robbers is changing. These days, the once glamorous sheen of bank robberies is wearing away, exposing a far sadder and ugly reality: Today’s bank robbers are just trying to keep their heads above water.

Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson—time was that bank robbers had cool names and widespread celebrity. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jesse James, and John Dillinger were even the subjects of big, fawning Hollywood films glorifying their thievery. But times have changed.

In Mississippi this week, a man walked into a bank and handed a teller a note demanding money, according to broadcast news reporter Brittany Weiss. The man got away with a paltry $1,600 before proceeding to run errands around town to pay his bills and write checks to people to whom he owed money. He was hanging out with his mom when police finally found him. Three weeks before the Mississippi fiasco, a woman named Gwendolyn Cunningham robbed a bank in Fresno and fled in her car. Minutes later, police spotted Cunningham’s car in front of downtown Fresno’s Pacific Gas and Electric Building. Inside, she was trying to pay her gas bill.

The list goes on: In October 2011, a Phoenix-area man stole $2,300 to pay bills and make his alimony payments. In early 2010, an elderly man on Social Security started robbing banks in an effort to avoid foreclosure on the house he and his wife had lived in for two decades. In January 2011, a 46-year-old Ohio woman robbed a bank to pay past-due bills. And in February of this year, a  Pennsylvania woman with no teeth confessed to robbing a bank to pay for dentures. “I’m very sorry for what I did and I know God is going to punish me for it,” she said at her arraignment. Yet perhaps none of this compares to the man who, in June 2011, robbed a bank of $1 just so he could be taken to prison and get medical care he couldn’t afford.

None of this is to say that a life of crime is admirable or courageous, and though there is no way to accurately quantify it, there are probably still many bank robbers who steal just because they like the thrill of money for nothing. But there’s quite a dichotomy between the bank robbers of early America, with their romantic escapades and exciting lifestyles, and the people following in their footsteps today: broke citizens with no jobs, no savings, no teeth, and few options.

The stealing rebel types we all came to love after reading the Robin Hood story are gone. Today the robbers are just trying to pay their gas bills. There will be no movies for them.

Filed under: foreclosure | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments »

Florida 6th District Strikes at Heart of Pretender Lenders

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Neil Garfield

5 08 10 Florida mediationorder

The main message is that what we have here is a legal obligation in search of a creditor and that the opposition is trying to use the court as a vehicle to steal the house and run with it while the whole securitization mess is scrutinized.

I think this Order is far more significant than it might seem both statewide in Florida and nationally. This Order, as I read it, requires (1) verification of the Lender’s status and (2) the ACTUAL authority of a designated person in writing, as a decision-maker; in plain language it asks whether the note is actually legally payable to the (pretender) Lender that wishes to foreclose and whether they have an actual live person who has the authority to mediate, execute a satisfaction of mortgage and otherwise make any final decisions on the settlement of the matter. That eliminates virtually 100% of all pretender lenders, which in turn eliminates virtually 100% of all foreclosures.

This Order should be used as persuasive argument that an entire district has found the need to do this, which combined with the other Supreme Court and trial decisions we have reported here, should be persuasive enough to give the Judge pause about who is the REAL party trying to get a FREE HOUSE.

In the Motion Practice Workshop, an underlying theme is that you should not be arguing in the abstract or the nuances. In one hearing after another your objective is to get the Judge to agree to at least one thing that is OBVIOUS procedurally and gradually get to the next hearing and then the next, in a process of education that gives the Judge time to process and absorb the reality of the situation.

The main message is that what we have here is a legal obligation in search of a creditor and that the opposition is trying to use the court as a vehicle to steal the house and run with it while the whole securitization mess is scrutinized.

Filed under: CASES, CORRUPTION, Eviction, expert witness, Fannie MAe, foreclosure, foreclosure mill, Forensic Analysis Workshop, GTC | Honor, HERS, investment banking, Investor, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motion Practice and Discovery, securities fraud, Securitization Survey, Servicer, trustee, workshop | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Investors Settle for $600 million — so which loans get credit for that payment?

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Neil Garfield

Editor’s Note: This is what we are hearing about. What about the settlements that go unreported? The number of settlements that are off-record (unreported) is unknown but suspected to be very high. [One of the reasons why it is SO important to get the true CURRENT status of the SPV and the true FULL accounting of payments to the investors because THEY are the creditors.] You might be sitting on a loan where the principal balance has been paid in whole or in part, which makes those monthly statements wrong, along with notices of delinquency, notices of default, notices of sale and foreclosure suits.

These lawsuits and settlements are DIRECTLY related to the balance due on homeowner loans. The investors were the ONLY source of capital. That capital was pooled and channeled through SPV’s. It was from the pool that loans were funded. Don’t get confused by mistakes in the media. The securities were FIRST sold to investors and THEN they went looking for people to loan the money.

So each time that a payment has been made on behalf of any pool from any source there should be an allocation to the borrower’s principal balance for each of the loans in that pool. Instead, the game is on: credit the investors but don’t tell the borrowers anything. That enables the PRETENDER LENDERS to grab houses for nothing and to collect monthly payments on loans that are already paid in full, unknown to the borrower. It’s the perfect crime: the borrower knows he has missed payments. What he/she doesn’t know is that someone made the payments already.  Worst case scenario for the pretender lenders is that they collect twice (collectively as a group).

By Jef Feeley and Edvard Pettersson

April 23 (Bloomberg) — Countrywide Financial Corp. investors, led by a group of New York retirement funds, have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit for more than $600 million, a person familiar with the case said.

U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer in Los Angeles in December certified a class of investors who bought Countrywide shares or certain debt securities from March 12, 2004, to March 7, 2008. The U.S. appeals court in San Francisco on April 19 denied the defendants permission to appeal that ruling. No settlement papers have been filed.

Shirley Norton, a spokeswoman for Bank of America Corp., which acquired Countrywide in 2008, declined to comment. Jennifer Bankston, a spokeswoman for Labaton Sucharow LLP, the firm representing the pension funds, said mediation between the parties took place this month and declined to comment on the settlement.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund and five New York City pension funds claimed former Countrywide Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo and other executives hid from them that the company was fueling its growth by letting underwriting standards deteriorate. Bank of America acquired Calabasas, California-based Countrywide, which was the biggest U.S. home lender, in July of 2008.

The Daily Journal, a Los Angeles legal newspaper, first reported the settlement.

SEC Lawsuit

Mozilo, 71, is also a defendant, together with two other former Countrywide executives, in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit alleging he publicly reassured investors about the quality of the company’s home loans while he issued “dire” internal warnings and sold about $140 million of his own Countrywide shares.

He wrote in an e-mail in September 2006 that Countrywide was “flying blind” and had “no way” to determine the risks of some adjustable-rate mortgages, according to the SEC complaint filed in June.

David Siegel, a lawyer for Mozilo, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

The class-action lawsuit names 50 defendants, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and 23 other Countrywide underwriters. It also named the auditing firm KPMG LLP. The underwriters and KPMG are accused of securities-law violations and not fraud.

Dean Kitchens, a lawyer representing the underwriters, and Todd Gordinier, a lawyer representing KPMG, didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.

The case is In re Countrywide Financial Corp. Securities Litigation, 07-05295, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).

–Editor: Michael Hytha, Peter Blumberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware, at jfeeley@bloomberg.net; Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net.

Filed under: bubble, CASES, CDO, CORRUPTION, Eviction, expert witness, Fannie MAe, foreclosure, foreclosure mill, Forensic Analysis Workshop, GTC | Honor, HERS, investment banking, Investor, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motion Practice and Discovery, securities fraud, Securitization Survey, Servicer, STATUTES, trustee, workshop | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

TILA Statute of Limitations — No Limit

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Neil Garfield

Editor’s Note: Judges are quick to jump on the TILA Statute of Limitations by imposing the one year rule for rescission and damages. But there is more to it than that.

First the statute does NOT cut off at one year except for items that are apparent on the face of the closing documentation; so for MOST claims arising under securitization where almost every real detail of the transaction was hidden and intentionally withheld, the one year rule does not apply.

Second, the statute of limitations does not BEGIN to run until the date that the violation is revealed. In most cases this will be when the homeowner knows or should have known that the loan was securitized. Since the pretender lenders are so strong on the point that securitization does not affect enforcement, the best point in time for the statute to run is when a forensic analyst or expert tells the homeowner that TILA violations exist.

And THEN, in those cases where the information was hidden, the statute of limitations is three years from the date the information was revealed.

So when you go after undisclosed fees, profits and other compensation of any kind, you are not cut off by one year because — by definition they were not disclosed. The only way the other side can get out of that is by admitting the existence of the fee, and then showing that it WAS disclosed — presumably through yet another fabricated document, signed by a non-existent person with non existent authroity with non- existent witnesses and notarized by someone three thousand miles away (whose notary stamp and forged signature was applied to hundreds of pages of blank documents for later use). [Brad Keiser was the one who discovered this tactic by doing what most forensic analysts don’t do — actually reading every piece of paper sent by the pretender lender and every piece of paper provided by the homeowner. Case law shows that where the notary was improperly applied — and there are many ways for it to be improperly applied, the notary is void. If the statute requires recording the document in the public records, then the document so notarized shall be considered as NOT being in the public records and is ordered expunged from those records].

This comment from Rob elaborates:

Regarding the TILA Statute of Limitations:

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
When a violation of TILA occurs, the one-year limitations period applicable to actions for statutory and actual damages begins to run. U.S.C. § 1641(e).
A TILA violation may occur at the consummation of the transaction between a creditor and its consumer if the transaction is made without the required disclosures.
A creditor may also violate TILA by engaging in fraudulent, misleading, and deceptive practices that conceal the TILA violation occurring at the time of closing. Often consumers do not discover any violation until after they have paid excessive charges imposed by their creditors. Consumers who later learn of the creditor’s TILA violations can allege an equitable tolling of the statute of limitations. When the consumer has an extended right to rescind or
pursue other statutory remedies because a violation occurs, the statute of limitations for all the damages the consumers seek extends to three years from the date the violation is revealed.
McIntosh v. Irwin Union Bank & Trust Co., 215 F.R.D. 26, 30 (D. Mass. 2003).

Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, Eviction, expert witness, foreclosure, Forensic Analysis Workshop, GTC | Honor, HERS, Investor, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motion Practice and Discovery, securities fraud, Securitization Survey, Servicer, workshop | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments »

The Narrative Has Shifted: Take Advantage of it

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Neil Garfield

Your allegations of intentional misdeeds, fabricated documents and forgeries have new life now that the SEC is hot on the trail of the wrongdoers in a very public way. As the news sinks in more and more Judges, lawyers and experts and forensic analysts will see their role more as a commitment to justice than just helping out a homeowner in distress.

It just didn’t make sense that anyone would loan money in a deal where they knew there would be no payback. My allegations rang hollow to many people, who felt that despite the many distractions and defects contained in the paperwork behind the foreclosure glut, it was the borrowers who made the financial crisis happen. Now we see more and more people taking another look.

For those of us who serve the judicial branch of government, it is no longer a dance to delay the inevitable. It is, as it has always been, a confrontation with giant corporations whose reach into the corridors of powers enabled them to suck the life out of an ailing economy.

No society has ever persisted without a vibrant growing middle class. It will be a very long time before we succeed in reversing the damage wreaked by Goldman Sachs and other investment banking houses who acted without any sense of conscience, morality or even compliance with laws that society passed to enable their existence. But now, we have a chance. Let’s not waste this opportunity. Don’t let the pretender lenders get control of the narrative again.

The reality is that many, perhaps most loans were created according to specifications set by Wall Street, not by industry underwriting standards. The reality is that people were hired to lie and cheat and deceive homeowners into investing their homes into this salacious scheme. The reality is that the appraisals were false, and were given greater credibility by the reasonable borrower assumption that no lender would lend money on a bad deal where the property value was intentionally overstated, and that lenders would and did strive to comply with the requirements of the Truth in Lending Law, where the responsibility for appraisal verification, income verification, quality, viability, and affordability are BY LAW the responsibility of the Lender. Little did these hapless homeowners know, TILA was a joke to these players.

So now reality sets in. securities that were rated investment grade were junk and are worth far less than their sale price. Homes that were rated as high value were really still the same value as the market had shown before the flood of money and bird dogs looking for signatures on documents, even if the signatures were forged and even if the borrower was dead.

The finance system depends upon confidence. Confidence is based upon belief in the market values and practices in the marketplace. There is only one correction that is viable now. It is the simple recognition that neither the securities nor the properties they were based upon, had any new “value added.” It is the simple recognition that we had to accept when the NASDAQ that flew near 5,000 is really worth only 2,000, long after the boom and bust of that era. Any attempt to saddle the homeowners, the taxpayers or the investors with anything other than the reality of fair market value will undermine our financial system, and ultimately our future and the future of generations to come.

Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor, Mortgage, securities fraud | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

Profits Surge as Declared Losses Vanish: Are the defaults real?

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Neil Garfield

And THAT is why you are entitled to compel discovery, compel answers to your QWR, DVL and other requests. If the losses were not real, if the pools were marked down solely on the say-so of the financial institutions that created them, if the default rate was really much lower than the declared defaults, if AMBAC, AIG and others made payments on those pools, and if the investors, as the creditors in the loan transactions received payments directly or indirectly (through their agents) then some part of those payments were allocatable and should be allocated to your loan. Thus all loans in the pool should be credited pro rata with the amounts received from third party payments. Homeowner obligations declared in default would then be either premature or incorrectly stated in the amount due. Other loans that were not delinquent should have had the principal reduced — none of which was accounted for because the intermediary pretender lenders kept the money for themselves.

Editor’s Note: Ambac’s Profit Surge is the result of illusory losses that are now being recaptured. The “game” was to declare huge losses, take in taxpayer dollars and then gradually filter the money back into the company thus creating guaranteed earnings rising steadily and thus providing an increase in the price-earnings ratio. The investment houses are doing the same thing. They made trillions of dollars is cash profits, declared trillions in paper losses and scared the public and government into giving them money to prevent the collapse of the financial system.

Since trust and confidence in the system is the foundation, it didn’t matter whether they were telling the truth as long as most people believed the lie. The taxpayer bailout was necessary as a symbolic gesture to assure the world that there was always backing by the U.S. Federal government.

The question for these institutions is whether the defaults in home loans were declared prematurely (or falsely) or even caused by policies designed to give credence to the big lie and to provide them with yet another source of windfall profits by picking up homes that are sold in foreclosure at a fraction of the original loan amount. As stated in numerous articles before on this blog, the ONLY people who actually lost money are the investors who advanced the real money into a pool that was used to fund mortgage closings (and also used to fund absurd profits on fees, yield spread premiums etc.) and the homeowners who advanced their homes as collateral on loan products that were sold to them under false pretenses. Both the mortgage backed securities and the loans were sham financial transactions.

And THAT is why you are entitled to compel discovery, compel answers to your QWR, DVL and other requests. If the losses were not real, if the pools were marked down solely on the say-so of the financial institutions that created them, if the default rate was really much lower than the declared defaults, if AMBAC, AIG and others made payments on those pools, and if the investors, as the creditors in the loan transactions received payments directly or indirectly (through their agents) then some part of those payments were allocatable and should be allocated to your loan. Thus all loans in the pool should be credited pro rata with the amounts received from third party payments. Homeowner obligations declared in default would then be either premature or incorrectly stated in the amount due. Other loans that were not delinquent should have had the principal reduced — none of which was accounted for because the intermediary pretender lenders kept the money for themselves.

By Alistair Barr & John Spence, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Ambac Financial Group Inc. shares surged 71% on heavy volume Friday, after the bond insurer said it swung to a fourth-quarter net profit.

Ambac (ABK 1.10, +0.46, +71.47%) said late Thursday that quarterly net income was $558.1 million, or $1.93 a share. That compares with a net loss of $2.34 billion or $8.14 a share in the same period a year earlier.

The improvement was mainly driven by a $472 million tax benefit, the company said, as well as by lower expenses from losses in its main financial-guarantee business.

Total net loss and loss expenses were $385.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, down from $916.4 million in the final quarter of 2008, Ambac reported.

Ambac, one of the world’s largest bond insurers, has been hit hard by losses from mortgage-related guarantees it sold during the housing-market boom of the last decade. When the real-estate market collapsed, Ambac was left paying big claims on those guarantees.

Last month, the regulator of Ambac’s main bond-insurance subsidiary, Wisconsin’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, seized a big chunk of its business to protect hundreds of billions of dollars in guarantees on municipal bonds. See Read about Ambac “amputation.”

Ambac also has been settling some of its obligations at large discounts, partly because counterparties worry that the bond insurer is too financially precarious to pay anywhere near 100 cents on the dollar on its guarantees.

//

“The transfer of structured finance obligations to the state regulator and the subsequent payment at a discounted rate is a de-facto default,” said Egan-Jones Ratings, a rating agency that’s paid by investors rather than issuers, on Friday. “However, credit quality of the remaining corpus is enhanced.”

Egan-Jones affirmed its rating on Ambac at BB+, but noted this rating only applies to the business units that aren’t seized by the Wisconsin regulator.

Shares of Ambac dropped after the seizure was announced, and recently traded near 50 cents. The company’s stock traded close to $100 before the financial crisis.

On Friday, the stock surged 71% to close at $1.10 as almost 200 million shares changed hands. The average weekly trading volume is 72 million shares, according to FactSet data.

Still, Jim Ryan, an equity analyst at Morningstar, said Ambac’s quarterly results weren’t as strong as suggested by the company’s reported net income of $1.93 a share.

“For all the favorable accounting benefits, the fact remains that Ambac has not written any new business in more than a year and continues to exist in runoff mode,” Ryan wrote in a note to investors on Friday.

When analyzing insurers in “runoff,” investors should try to work out whether there are enough reserves to settle claims on existing policies, Ryan explained.

Ambac’s qualified statutory capital fell almost 70% in 2009 while total claims paying resources dropped 20% for the year, he noted.

“With little improvement in the housing market (Ambac’s primary source of claims) and the potential for a double dip in housing prices on the horizon, which could contribute to the growing inventory of potential foreclosures, we think the future remains opaque, to say the least,” Ryan wrote.

Alistair Barr is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco. John Spence is a reporter for MarketWatch in Boston.

Filed under: CDO, CORRUPTION, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor, Mortgage, securities fraud | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

Lawsuits Against Pretender Lenders Skyrocket

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Neil Garfield

In the last five years, the number of foreclosure lawsuits filed in federal court in California has ballooned — like an exploding adjustable-rate mortgage — from only 29 statewide in 2005 to nearly 1,400 last year.

Increasing numbers of Californians are suing lenders to avoid foreclosures

By Tracey Kaplan and Maria J. Ávila López, http://www.mercurynews.com

Two weeks before their Sunnyvale home was to be auctioned off on the courthouse steps, Sonia Leverman and her sons seized on a desperate David-vs.-Goliath strategy: They sued their lender.

Everything else the Levermans tried had already failed. By turning to the courts, they joined a fast-growing number of fearful and frustrated California home- owners who hope litigation will allow them to hold onto the American dream — maybe at a lower monthly mortgage cost, maybe just for a while longer until the inevitable foreclosure.

In the last five years, the number of foreclosure lawsuits filed in federal court in California has ballooned — like an exploding adjustable-rate mortgage — from only 29 statewide in 2005 to nearly 1,400 last year.

Many such lawsuits also are filed in state courts, which don’t track the numbers or the outcomes.

The striking increase in suits against lenders reflects the difficulty many with underwater mortgages are having in getting loan modifications, either through the government program or the banks themselves.

But some experts say the lawsuits don’t work as well as they did 18 months ago, and never were an easy bet in California.

Even if a lawsuit doesn’t ultimately succeed, it can sometimes significantly delay the loss of a home. Some suits contend the lender reneged on a promise of a loan modification, as in the Levermans’ case. Others argue lenders screwed up the foreclosure process. Among the most frequent claims: During the overheated housing boom, the bank did not properly disclose the terms of the loan, the borrower never really qualified, but got a loan anyhow.

If there are grounds for a lawsuit, “it definitely buys time,” said Hayward attorney Glen L. Moss.

Yet judges are quicker to dismiss cases as they get more familiar with the complex laws, banks are more reluctant to settle them, and the federal court here is the only one in the nation that requires some homeowners to put up a portion of what they borrowed before certain lawsuits can be heard.

Attorneys familiar with the 4-inch-thick set of federal rules on lending also warn that fragile homeowners are easy prey for unscrupulous or ill-informed lawyers. California enacted an emergency law in October preventing attorneys from taking advance fees for loan modifications, but the State Bar is investigating more than 500 lawyers for loan modification fraud.

Some California Democratic legislators are trying to get a law passed that probably would reduce the number of lawsuits by requiring mediation between borrowers and lenders before a foreclosure can proceed.

California has the nation’s fourth-highest foreclosure rate after Florida, Nevada and Arizona. Several other states have passed similar programs, including Nevada. But the bill faces strong opposition from mortgage bankers.

Legal battles

On a street of bland ranch houses just west of Highway 101, the Levermans’ three-bedroom, $655,000 home stands out with its jaunty orange and terra cotta paint job and immaculate yard studded with animal figurines.

“For me, it’s my palace even though it’s old,” said Leverman, who speaks little English.

To make the initial monthly payments of about $2,500, her husband and sons worked long hours as cooks. But in 2008, her husband lost his job and her sons’ hours were cut back, just as the variable-rate mortgage payment shot up to $4,353.

The increase shocked Leverman, who’d signed the English-only documents without understanding the terms. The family then wasted $6,500 on three loan modification “experts” who didn’t accomplish anything.

The last straw was when Litton Loan Servicing refused to grant them a permanent loan modification, claiming their third trial payment was late — even though they had a Western Union receipt showing it arrived on time. An attorney for Litton did not respond to requests for comment.

The Levermans’ frustrating experience is not unique, though banks insist they have modified thousands of loans. The latest data on Obama’s loan modification program does show improvement. But Alan M. White, a professor at Valparaiso University School of Law, who specializes in foreclosures, said tough enforcement action is needed to spur more modifications.

The Levermans finally hired Los Gatos lawyer Wendell J. Jones, who filed suit in state court against Litton, alleging breach of contract. As a result, the family is back on track for a permanent modification, though they still will owe more than the house is now worth. If everything works out, Jones’ services will cost $5,000. “Only when I got involved and filed a lawsuit did the lender come to the table,” Jones said.

But even Jones warns the Levermans’ success may be the exception, not the rule. Many homeowners who’ve filed suit remain in limbo.

Move delayed

To Aaron Liebelt, one of Moss’ clients, that’s enough for now. Liebelt, 36, and his girlfriend, Jessica Taylor, bought their four-bedroom house with a swimming pool in West San Jose in 2006 for $815,000. They made interest-only payments of $3,500 for two years, and were hoping to refinance, until he lost his job at a music store and his recording studio foundered.

Liebelt, who now works from 3 a.m. to 1 p.m. delivering bread, was about to be evicted when he hired Moss. The lender claimed he had defaulted on a repayment plan they negotiated, which the suit claims is not true. Now, the couple and Taylor’s teenage children get to stay in the same house and school district until the matter is litigated — which Moss says could take anywhere from six months to two years. The couple is paying Moss about $3,000 a month.

“What is the worst that could happen — I’ll lose the house?” Liebelt said. “I’m already in that position.”

Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, currency, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor, Mortgage, securities fraud | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »

%d bloggers like this: