States negotiating immunity for banks over foreclosures

[Lionessa]

Source: Reuters

By Scot J. Paltrow

NEW YORK | Wed Jul 20, 2011 6:24pm EDT

(Reuters) - State attorneys general are negotiating to give major banks wide immunity over irregularities in handling foreclosures, even as evidence has emerged that banks are continuing to file questionable documents.

A coalition of all 50 states' attorneys general has been negotiating settlements with five of the biggest U.S. banks that would include payment of up to $25 billion in penalties and commitments to follow new rules. In exchange, the banks would get immunity from civil lawsuits by the states, as well as similar guarantees by the Justice Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development, which have participated in the talks.

State and federal officials declined to say if any form of immunity from criminal prosecution also is under discussion. The banks involved in the talks are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, CitiGroup, JPMorgan Chase and Ally Financial.

REUTERS REPORT PROMPTS LETTER...

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/us-foreclosure-banks-immunity-idUSTRE76J7J820110720

---

Not just states apparently with the Justice Dept and the DHUD involved too. So much for the middle class or the lower class or anyone but the corporate class.

[1monster]

1. No, Goddamit. NO!

[msongs]

2. one part of the criminal class covering for another part of the criminal class nt

[Orrex]

3. Reply to this post if you're surprised.

No one?


Me, neither.

[Lionessa]

4. Not anymore. I lost the "hope" about mid-2009.

[justabob]

5. NO! No No No No No!

ARRRGGGHH! Really... immunity. SO infuriating, I can barely string words together... even if it comes as no surprise. :banghead: :nuke:

[roxiejules]

6. And banks brazenly continuing to violate because it is

cheaper for them than tackling the chain of title disaster they have left behind.

They don't want to blow up the mortgage industrial complex.

[boppers]

15. Actually following the old rules was relatively insane.

" Nearly all borrowers facing foreclosure are delinquent, he said, but “the real question is whether the servicer complied with all legal requirements.” "

(From your link).

Yeah, sure, they're squatting in these places without paying for them, artificially inflating the market, but the *important* part is whether or not reams of paper are printed out, and each page is manually inspected?

[No Elephants]

20. "Nearly all," as in "some folks are getting royally screwed by this".

And if the folks who gave out this story said "nearly all," you know to take that term with a grain of salt. No one involved, not the banks or the governments shielding them, are going to say, "more than a minimal number." Or, what is probably a lot closer to the truth. "none of us bothered to find out how many non-delinquent borrowers will be screwed by this, and maybe there really is no way of knowing anyway, but we don't really care."



Passing that, why does tolerance for error go only one way? What would happen if a bank had no record of a cash payment of mine and I had lost my receipt? Which government would rescue me, state or federal? I'd be SOL, and I would not be able to pass that on to my customers in the form of still more stupid fees.

ETA: It's not necessarily page after page. Many NOTES are missing. That's the equivalent of losing a signed check. or the cash in my example above. MANY signed checks, in fact.

Why should we tell banks that is okay? Is there any likelihood that will lead to good behavior on the part of banks, or will it encourage abuses? Will it encourage consumer confidence in our banking system among the "little" guy and gal?

And what are these state and federal governments getting from banks in return for looking the other way about banks' having willfully violated laws and regulations that apply to them for the protection of their customers?

[KT2000]

25. Banks and credit card

companies are raking in billion with new fees they dream up to "punish" their customers. Late with your payment?? late fee and increased interest rates. Happens more than once or late more than 30 days?? Well then, they black mark goes on the credit rating and that affects insurance rates, employment, possible housing and again - higher interest rates.

I suspect they want to avoid civil litigation because if lawyers got into the records I am sure that they would find individuals who are culpable, more fraud and the poliitical connections of this whole thing.

This country is gone. There is no more trust.

[plumbob]

34. And by setting up MERS, there's no record at the local courthouse of any

kind, AND it screws those jurisdictions out of billion in filing fees.

It's like selling someone a car and putting the title in your own filing cabinet. Then when you get pulled over, you get arrested for car theft, because there is no legal paperwork proving your ownership.

We have got to outlaw the corporate form of business - it's a non-starter.

[roxiejules]

26. You are sadly misinformed

Reams of paper?

No, a chain of title properly recorded in the county where the property is located - like we have done for 100+ years in this country - until the mortgage industrial complex CEO's decided they were the Smartest Guys in the Room.



This is akin to you financing a car from ABC Auto Corp., then a month later receiving a letter to make your payments to XYZ Auto Corp., soon followed by another letter from QRS Inc. to now make payments to them.


You lose your job after the US Treasury is looted by the Banks and can't make the big payments anymore, so you call QRS (in India)to try and work out a temporary modification of the loan so you won't forfeit the car. They tell you no, while laughing.


Then NERS Inc. sends a certified letter which states you are delinquent and owe them and they are taking the car in 30 days. NERS? Hmmm..where did they come from?


Your State DMV still has ABC Auto listed as the lienholder on the title because NO assignments were ever filed with the State.


Secretly it turns out that none of the above finance companies have ANY documentation to prove they have the right to even collect a payment, much less repossess. The excuse is something about how they eliminated their paralegals in the Assignment Dept. after they offshored most of their labor force to India to save a boat load of money so the CEO's could buy their 3rd yacht and no one can seem to find stuff like promissory notes anymore.


But, NERS sends out Buster to get your car after suddenly 'finding' the missing notarized Assignments. Cause, don't forget....the guy who owes the money is just a 'loser' taking advantage of the system.


The car is then resold to Mary Smith.


Six months later it is discovered (by an astute blogger) that all the Assignments NERS has sent to the DMV for the past 10 years were forged and fabricated. The Assignments, which had been prepared by NERS partner, Guido Law were back-dated, signed by a 'pretend' Officer of the Corporations and all notarized by a woman in a cubicle in Florida who never met any of them.


There had been no reliable record keeping of the loans.


Oh, and as it turned out NERS was only a straw company to help cover up the mass confusion and never had the authority to take anyone's car. Their office is a PO Box and they don't actually have any employees.


QRS didn't own your loan either, they were servicers for XYZ and got paid an additional bonus if you went into default and so, of course they said NO to the modification.


And XYZ is now in Court claiming the paperwork was lost and if you hadn't been such a loser they wouldn't have had to commit fraud.



:shrug:


Mary Smith is wondering if she will ever have clear title to her car.

[ms.smiler]

29. I'll take a seat next to you roxiejules

The answer is Mary Smith will never get clear Title to her car.

Nor will the millions of homeowners with securitized mortgages. You appear to understand how both a public and private land records system can double the profits or better for the banks.

After the Promissory Note is signed, the loan originator quickly sells it off to Wall Street for supposed "securitization." The balance of the life of that loan is secret and privatized. With the failure of the MBS market, the buyers of last resort - the Federal Reserve and U.S. government purchased the failed securities from the banks.

What sits in our public land records though? Why it's the original mortgage lien and it requires only a fraudulent Assignment of Mortgage to steal the lien and claim supposed ownership. There are plenty of document mills that can prepare a fake Promissory Note and plenty of supposed MERS officers in the servicers employ to sign a Lost Note Affidavit if needed.

See how creative our banksters are? Why just collect once on a debt when you can collect multiple times?

This is not a foreclosure problem, it's really a homeowner problem. The banks have absolutely trashed our land records.

When a homeowner like myself comes to understand this long planned multi-trillion dollar scam, it begins to feel downright self abusive to write out a mortgage payment each month so I sought and found a fine attorney.

Now wouldn't it be absolutely divine if there was a means to short circuit this multi-trillion dollar scam? I'm happy to tell you that many good people are at work on that very means.


I recently sued my mortgage servicer on a new issue and am presently awaiting a default judgment. As expected, my servicer failed to Answer the suit but did phone to implore us to withdraw the suit. :rofl:

I look forward to the day when my attorney gives me permission to go public with our efforts.

[roxiejules]

32. Ms. Smiler you know what you are talking about!

and I enjoyed your post. I was employed in the industry for most of my life and was horrified when MERS came on the scene and we suddenly threw 'chain of title' out the door. The title insurance companies jumped right on the bandwagon, too. You may have noticed a couple of the biggest title companies are listed as partners on the MERS website. Course Fidelity (Title) is the owner of one of the robosigner companies, too.

Good Luck with your lawsuit!



http://4closurefraud.org/

[hatrack]

31. No, it's about following the law as required to transfer interest in property

More fundamentally, it's about whether real estate contracts mean anything any more, and whether we're prepared to override the rules of property ownership.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/some-foreclosure-mills-disregarding-post-robo-signing-requirements.html

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/01/past-rulings-by-new-york-judge-schack-reached-ibanez-like-conclusions.html

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/04/aclu-taking-aim-at-floridas-kangaroo-foreclosure-courts.html

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/new-york-state-appellate-court-mers-smackdown-another-nail-in-the-coffin.html

[Dawson Leery]

7. This is why I find nothing honorable about

"law enforcement". In the end they will protect the powerful as they make the laws and own the most property.

[Proletariatprincess]

8. Do banks get immunity only from the State?

What about other private lawsuits? What about Tort Law?? ...... or have we already lost that civil right to what they called Tort Reform which would more properly called Tort Deform.

IS THERE A LAWYER IN THE HOUSE?
(I love lawyers....advocates for all sides of the equation...lol)

[Lionessa]

10. No, it looks like the feds are on-board too.

I don't know about your other questions, but I guess if a deal is made, then judges will be required to not let any civil trials go to court.

[No Elephants]

22. Lawyer not needed. Article says they are not discussing criminal liability....yet.

Ergo, they are talking civil liability, aka protecting mortgage lenders from mortgage borrowers.

Congratulations, this is your tax money--and their campaign donations, er, free corporate speech--at work.

[buckrogers1965]

9. How can they just give immunity?

I truly don't understand.

If the rule of law is be honored then everyone has to play by the same law. There can't be special sets of people who get to torture and another set of people who get to file papers and steal things that don't belong to them.

It's like they don't even care to keep up the illusion of fairness anymore.

What are we going to do?

That's right: nothing.

And like it. And they know it.

[Proletariatprincess]

11. torches and pitchforks anyone?

http://www.pbase.com/proletariatprincess/image/126201839

[defendandprotect]

12. It's like watching repeats of the "Sopranos" -- !!

[KT2000]

13. Any Washington DUers?

McKenna can kiss his governorship goodbye! That is the only upside of this criminal enterprise.

[ixion]

14. paving the way for neo-feudalism

it's like watching the mafia operate.

[grahamhgreen]

16. Corrupt to the marrow.

[Rex]

17. The working class doesn't matter. Simple as that.

The rich class matters. Obvious statement made by the JD and what was expected by most of us here. Immunity for those that do the most damage and suffering for the most vulnerable in our society is the New Amerian Way(tm).

[earcandle]

18. Cool! Admitting we can buy our way out of crimes now. If that isn't third world, what is?

[No Elephants]

19. Another bank bailout. Geez, if I ever messed up that badly at my job, thereby putting millions at

risk, would a state shield me and make sure my employer did not suffer the loss?

Main Street Wall Street

Anyone consumer of almost anything who expects much from government anymore may as well clap to stop Tinkerbell from disappearing.

[JDPriestly]

21. The three states designated to handle the negotiations are relatively

small or rural.

Illinois is the only state with a large population.

How can states like Florida or California or New York agree to have Iowa, Illinois and Connecticut handling these negotiations?

This does not sound fair to the homeowners in larger states. Illinois is not among the smallest states, but it has large rural areas. Connecticut is tiny and rather wealthy.

"Three states' attorneys general -- in Iowa, Illinois and Connecticut -- have been designated to handle the states' negotiations with the banks over protection from civil suits and other issues."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/us-foreclosure-banks-immunity-idUSTRE76J7J820110720

Still, I think there is a misunderstanding on DU about the nature of the problem.

The houses are in foreclosure because people did not pay their mortgages. I don't think this is about the fraud or misrepresentations that may have taken place in the selling of mortgages.

I think this may be about the avoidance by the banks and mortgage companies of the recording fees owed the governments of the states that were not paid because the recording of the deeds and other papers were not properly done by local recording documents.

When deeds and and documents related to the ownership of a property from say the original lender to subsequent entities (especially those involved in the bundling of bits of mortgages for the purpose of buying and selling derivatives) were done, they were recorded by a private company, not as required by state laws.

I'm tired. What I am trying to say is that this just may be a settlement to reimburse state governments for their losses due to the failure of the banks to follow state laws re recording.

It may not affect the lawsuits or claims of the few homeowners, the exceptional cases, in which homeowners paid their mortgages or did not have mortgages or did not owe the money the bank claimed they owed. I'm not sure.

[Rex]

23. I hope you are right.

[No Elephants]

24. The article does not say all borrowers affected by this are delinquent. Please see Reply 20.

Also, it's not as simple as the lender did everything correctly, except relatively meaningless technicalities.
From the OP:

Reuters reported Monday that major banks and other loan servicers have continued to file questionable documents in foreclosure cases. These include false mortgage assignments, and "promissory notes with suspect or missing "endorsements," which prove ownership.

The Reuters report also showed continued "robo-signing," in which lenders' employees or outside contractors churn out reams of documents without fully understanding their content. The report turned up several cases involving individuals who were publicly identified as robo-signers months ago."

(I added bolding and, for readability, a paragraph break.)

Again, please refer to Reply 20. In a mortgage, the originally signed (endoresed) promissory note is pretty much the ballgame, the only thing that proves the borrower actually got the money the lender claims they got.

If it is missing, the borrower should, at a minimum, get a shot at negotiating a new deal with the bank since our foreclosure relief programs don't work.

Am I for people who can afford to pay willfully defaulting and getting a free home? No. But I am for a fair shake, given jobs are just not out there and lenders are not voluntarily doing anything the bailout was supposed to enable them to do.


If this is how they handled things in which they actually had an interest in doing right, why should we assume they made all the proper disclosures, as and when they were supposed to? (Disclosure is about the only protection government gives financial services consumers, or ever will.)

[goforit]

27. Immunity from fraud? WTF!!!!

[DirkGently]

28. Probably explains why FL's AG just fired its two top mortgage fraud investigators.

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/lead-foreclosure-fraud-investigators-

[roxiejules]

33. The owner of Lender Processing (LPS) , the robo signing company

is Fidelity National Financial (Title), a Fortune 500 company and they are based in Florida. Am just guessing...but one could probably safely bet they have enormous influence.


Fidelity CEO William Foley was listed in Forbes as #4 in CEO compensation in 2007 at $179.56 million


2010 Compensation: $10,858,964




Watch the 60 Minutes Report on Foreclosure Fraud

[chill_wind]

30. Bloomberg in January- 50 State AG’s Ready To Settle Foreclosure Fraud: "Not Criminal".

The five largest loan servicers, including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., may be the first to settle with the 50 state attorneys general probing foreclosure practices, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said.

No settlements have been reached yet, Miller said yesterday in a phone interview. The other three are Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and Ally Financial Inc., said Miller, the leader of the 50-state investigation. The five have 59 percent of the U.S. market, Miller said.

Jan 3 2011

http://stopforeclosurefraud.com/2011/01/03/bloomberg-50-state-ags-ready-to-settle-foreclosure-fraud-not-criminal/



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-03/state-foreclosure-settlements-to-start-with-biggest-banks-iowa-ag-says.html

‘Not Criminal’

The group isn’t pursuing a criminal investigation, Miller said. “Our focus is to reform the servicing process and that’s inherently civil, not criminal,” he said.

In an interview last week, Miller said the group might consider matters including whether servicers are charging borrowers appropriate fees.

----

Cordray was replaced by DeWine, by January. I absolutely **refuse** to believe he would have signed on. Then where would their posse be?

(VIDEO) OHIO AG CORDRAY “BANKS OPERATING ON A BUSINESS MODEL BUILT ON FRAUD”

http://stopforeclosurefraud.com/2010/10/28/video-ohio-ag-cordray-banks-operating-on-a-business-model-built-on-fraud/

New Gang of 50. WTF!!