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U.S. CITIES:
Banks Need to Pay for Foreclosure Shenanigans
Robyn Blumner
Servicing a mortgage that's in default is expensive. So banks left the work to people barely trained and undereducated -- cheap -- who were directed to lie in thousands of fraudulent foreclosure documents. Bankers must believe that following the law is for everyone else.
"It's like I told you that the president of
But sometimes things this big are also true.
Ticktin claims that the mortgage service divisions of some of the nation's biggest banks, including
The fraud these banks perpetrated on the courts, Ticktin says, is like a legitimate business that's "extorting protection money on the side." The banks used lackeys to perform their illegal functions -- including former hair stylists and assembly-line workers -- people whose jobs depended upon them falsely swearing to knowledge they didn't have, over and over again.
Let's take
In a deposition taken earlier this year, Moua said her bank title is "Work Director," and a big part of her job is to sign 300 to 500 foreclosure-related affidavits per day. She said the only parts of the affidavits she verified were that her name and title were correct.
In foreclosing on a
She was asked whether she even knew what books, records and documents the statement pertained to. She had no idea.
Moua also swore that she had "personal knowledge" of the sums of money the Stipek's owed
The whole thing was a fraud. And just for added comic value, Moua was listed as "Vice President of Loan Documentation" in the affidavit, which she says is a title the company doles out to people who spend their days signing affidavits.
One more thing this scandal demonstrates is that loan servicers, contrary to their claims, are not working with homeowners toward reasonable loan modifications. They are just churning out foreclosures as fast and cheaply as possible. No wonder desperate homeowners give up and walk away.
So what should happen? No way should the banks get to say "our bad" and re-file fraud-free documents, as if this was a minor lapse in supervision. The banks should forfeit the loans. They committed these lies in order to move foreclosures on the cheap. Let's make it a very expensive decision. It's the only thing they seem to understand.
If the extent of the problem is as small as the banks are claiming, they'll hardly feel it. On the other hand, if the fraud is as massive as Ticktin suggests, it is going to hurt. But hey, this is how it works in court. If some little-guy litigant did something dishonestly, he'd lose. If he filed false documents, he'd lose.
The big banks need to lose, too.
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Banks Need to Pay for Foreclosure Shenanigans
(c) 2010 Robyn Blumner