November 2010

In hopes of keep the bank from taking their home, Groves residents Keith and Julia Keen have filed suit against Sun Trust Mortgage. The suit was filed Nov. 3 in Jefferson County District Court.

In Florida, a state-court judge has begun forcing lawyers to defend fees charged to borrowers by law firms. Maryland’s state appeals court told judges that they can hire experts to scrutinize paperwork filed in foreclosure proceedings—and make lawyers swear that [...]

PERVERSE incentives and dysfunctional corporate bureaucracies within the country’s largest banks have devastated the lives of Washingtonians. Often, foreclosure hurts the investors who own the loans as well as the homeowners. As an attorney working on the front lines of [...]

Union County homeowner Barry Lancett signed two agreements with Wells Fargo this year to modify the terms of his mortgage but still received a disturbing piece of paperwork: a foreclosure notice. “A deputy comes to your door and delivers it [...]

Union County homeowner Barry Lancett signed two agreements with Wells Fargo this year to modify the terms of his mortgage but still received a disturbing piece of paperwork: a foreclosure notice.

The compliance date is now February 28, 2011, instead of November 10, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a notice. While the rule took effect March 10, participants have until next February 28 to have all compliance systems [...]

So both: They appear to be ineffectual in general but also doing a better job for themselves than for the mortgages they service. Bad information and conflicts of interest.

The foreclosure mess that erupted about six weeks ago with evidence of widespread sloppiness in foreclosure paperwork is, by some accounts, nearing the beginning of the end. Still, the push by mortgage companies to accelerate the process is running into [...]

J.P. Morgan and its Washington Mutual Bank and Chase Home Finance LLC divisions are facing suits in Illinois and California that are seeking class-action status. The lawsuits allege “common law fraud and misrepresentation, as well as violations of state consumer [...]

The mortgage debacle in the United States has raised deep questions about “the rule of law,” the universally accepted hallmark of an advanced, civilized society. The rule of law is supposed to protect the weak against the strong, and ensure [...]

The investors said they were persuaded to refinance their homes to buy multiple investment properties, primarily in southwest Riverside County, with the guarantee their investment adviser, Pacific Wealth Management, would rent the properties and provide any additional money needed for [...]

“We’ve got barrages of people scamming people,” said Michael Monaco, the principal behind Investors Finance. “I am not one of those people … We’ve had enormous difficulty trying to purchase the notes.”

The judgment in favor of the homeowner, Diane Yano-Horoski, which is being appealed, has alarmed the nation’s biggest lenders, who say it could establish a dramatic new legal precedent and roil the nation’s foreclosure system.

DHUE: But she was rejected because her mortgage had been packaged and sold to investors. DIANE CIPOLLONE, ATTORNEY, CIVIL JUSTICE: There are many clients who appear to be eligible for HAMP loan modifications.

“We thought, ‘Why don’t we use a bit of ingenuity to find an affordable way to represent them?’ ” said Peter Ticktin of the Ticktin Law Group in Deerfield Beach, Fla. “It’s a new model, a new paradigm.”

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Moe – This happens all the time in jail and prison. It don’t matter if you are a former CEO or Wall Street tycoon. If you don’t play by the simple jail rules, you [...]

RICHMOND, Va. – Kicking someone when they’re already down – it’s happening all over the state to folks who are losing their homes when they probably shouldn’t be, according to Jay Speer with the Virginia Poverty Law Center. He says [...]