“The practice calls into question the validity of thousands of mortgage foreclosures across the country. Filings with various Registers of Deeds provided to the Attorney General’s Office revealed the pervasive use of mortgage service employees to sign hundreds of affidavits and sworn statements without personal knowledge of the information contained in those affidavits.”
Kay saw the angel my sisters saw when they were 6 and ten years of age. If she is kin to Kay, then we are looking at profound prophecy, for I talk about the Coakleys in a chapter of my book. ‘Catching the Bad Guys’ talks about the predatory loan practices that permeated my family.
On Sat Feb 22, 2003 12:02 pm I posted the following;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Templar-de-Rosemont/message/776
The world now wishes they had read my prophecies regarding Loan Sharking. Too bad my kindred worked hard to shut me up – till this very day! How selfish of them!
Jon the Nazarite
Captain victim held court in his home, he sometimes closing the door
to his home office so no one could hear the conversations. Vic was
proud of his business, he inventing this default method, that others
wanted to be let in on. He was training Vicki to take it over when he
retired, he introducing her to his private lenders. I wanted no part
of it. One evening when I was over, Vic came out of meeting with this
guy and told me; “That guy scares me. He always packs a piece.”
My father started buying guns. He had a assault shotgun in the hall
closet ready for use. In the falling out we had, he went for a gun in
his drawer, after he had come at me, a force sending him reeling, a
force that confused and scared him, as I did not lay a hand on him. I
screamed at him; “Grow up!” as his hand went into the drawer, and
that froze him. I left, and did not to see him until after his
beautiful daughter was dead, and I did not own a picture of how, and
why?
My mother had been an executive secretary for Caldwell Bankers, and
knowing she was brilliant, and loved a intriguing tale, I lay this
one on her.
“Do you recall the Movie ‘Paint Your Wagon’ where Clint Eastwood is
underneath the saloons and gambling houses scooping up the gold dust
that has fallen between the cracks during a Gold Boom. Suppose you
found a way of doing this in the California Real-estate Boom, that
is, as the price of real-estate went through the roof, and thus the
number of defaults, if you could manipulate these defaults, then you
would be a rich man. Mother, I think Vic invented the Savings and
Loan Rip-off scam – by default!”
I went on to explain my theory. “If a lender approached free-lance
real-estate guys that were popping up all over the Golden State, and
set them up to make default loans for you, then, if you had enough of
these guys, the Feds would not know who much real-estate was
involved. When these default loans failed, they go up for auction. If
you knew when this was going to happen, like gold dust falling
through the cracks, and you bought these houses you held a secret
mortgage on through small-timers you made privte loans to, then this
is Big Time loan sharking – involving millions of dollars! One is in
affect, acquiring much valuable real-estate, for a song.”
After I gave same names of Vic’s business associates, and told her
one of them was known to haunt default real-estate auctions, my
mother gagged on her Vodka.
“Jesus Christ Greg. These are bad men. Stay away from them they will
kill you. Your own father will kill you! Bob Woodard took our house
in Concord.”
Tom McKinny, was dismissed as President of TransAmerica Title.
Attorney General Coakley Sues Banks Over Foreclosures: McGeough Lamacchia Realty Responds
Tags: coakley sues banks, foreclosure alternatives, loan modification, robo signing
Posted in Avoiding Foreclosure | 2 Comments
McGeough Lamacchia Realty issued the following statement in response to the lawsuit brought against 5 major banks by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley for illegal foreclosures and loan servicing practices:
Attorney General Coakley Sues Banks Over Foreclosures
“We’ve been saying this for years. Loan modifications have been the biggest creator of false hope by banks and the government since this foreclosure crisis began,” says John McGeough co-broker/owner of McGeough Lamacchia.
Coakley announced yesterday she is suing five national banks, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC), as well as Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc. (“MERS”) and its parent, MERSCORP Inc., in connection with their roles in allegedly pursuing illegal foreclosures on properties in Massachusetts as well as deceptive loan servicing including loan modifications. (the case is Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Bank of America N.A., 11-4363, Suffolk County Superior Court, Boston).
More than 45,000 Massachusetts homeowners have been foreclosed on since 2007.
What Are the Main Points of The Lawsuit?
According to release issued by the Attorney General’s office website, Coakley alleges the five banks named above engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices in violation of Massachusetts’ law by:
Pervasive use of fraudulent documentation in the foreclosure process, including so-called “robo-signing”
Foreclosing without holding the actual mortgage
Corrupting Massachusetts’ land recording system through the use of MERS
Failing to uphold loan modification promises to Massachusetts homeowners
What is “Robo-Signing”?
So called “robo-signing” is the practice of a bank employee signing thousands of documents and affidavits without verifying the information contained in the document or affidavit. The practice calls into question the validity of thousands of mortgage foreclosures across the country. Filings with various Registers of Deeds provided to the Attorney General’s Office revealed the pervasive use of mortgage service employees to sign hundreds of affidavits and sworn statements without personal knowledge of the information contained in those affidavits.
Evidence also suggests these practices were not confined to the foreclosure process, but also used in the assignment, transfer and modification of mortgages secured by property in Massachusetts.(1)
Banks Allegedly Participated in Unlawful Foreclosures
According to the claim these five banks allegedly participated in unlawful foreclosures when they began foreclosures on mortgages where they were not the holders of those mortgages.
The complaint alleges that the banks falsely claimed to be the holder of a mortgage in several foreclosure documents even though they failed to obtain a valid assignment of the mortgage. Therefore each foreclosure initiated or advanced by one of the banks when it was not the current holder of the mortgage was unlawful and is void.(1)
What is MERS?
Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS, is a private company owned by banks and mortgage processors. MERS, on behalf of the banks that own the mortgage loans, has initiated thousands of foreclosure actions around the country, as the “mortgagee of record” listed on homeowners’ mortgages.
According to the complaint, the creation and use of MERS was adopted by the banks primarily to avoid land registration and recording requirements, including payment of recording and registration fees, and to facilitate sales of mortgage loans.(1)
A borrower whose mortgage is held by MERS cannot readily identify the investor who owns their promissory note, impairing the borrower’s ability to deal directly with the holder of the note.
Misrepresenting Loan Modification Programs:
Finally, Coakley alleges each of the Bank Defendants deceived Massachusetts borrowers about loan modification requirements resulting in increased and unnecessary defaults.
For instance, the lawsuit alleges the Bank Defendants deceived Massachusetts borrowers by informing them they have to be over 60 days delinquent to get a loan modification, when delinquency is not always required. In fact, if default is imminent borrowers are supposed to be considered. Borrowers who otherwise may qualify for a loan modification were being improperly denied or dissuaded from applying.(1)
“I applaud the Massachusetts Attorney General for including these loan modification practices in their suit. We have seen hundreds of homeowners over the last three years that stopped paying their mortgage because they were told they had to be late in order to be considered for a loan modification. Then after waiting months they would get denied for the loan modification. By this time they are at least six months behind with no possibility of catching up,” says Anthony Lamacchia, co-broker/owner of McGeough Lamacchia Realty.
Trial modifications were found to be deceptive as well. Prior to June 2010, Bank of America converted only approximately 30% of trial modifications to permanent modifications. Wells Fargo reported a similar conversion rate for that time period while Citi and Chase hovered at approximately 40%.(1)
Borrowers were strung along in trial modifications for 9 months or longer, subjecting them to plummeting credit scores and mounting delinquency amounts.(1)
Loan Modifications Didn’t Prevent Foreclosure
Certain borrowers received loan modifications, but even after months of accepting borrowers’ payments pursuant to the very loan modifications the banks approved, these banks informed the borrowers that in fact their loan modifications were rejected, were never accepted by investors, were never in place, and that foreclosure auctions were scheduled imminently.(1)
The Bank Defendants routinely made misrepresentations to borrowers regarding pending foreclosure proceedings, including that while loan modification negotiations were occurring, foreclosure proceedings wouldn’t continue or foreclosure auctions would be postponed. As negotiations progressed, however borrowers learned that the foreclosure auctions were continuing as scheduled.(1)
The Bank Defendants’ modification efforts have been so poor that, for the first quarter of 2011, the United States Treasury Department withheld payment of the HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) Servicer Incentives to Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo, noting they were in “need of substantial improvement.”(1)
They have also been accused of writing loans and modifications they knew their clients could not afford and foreclosing on homes they didn’t even own the mortgages to.(1)
“We have been saying all along that distressed homeowners want the truth more than anything. If they do not qualify for a long term loan modification they deserve to know and to know quickly so they have enough time to explore other foreclosure alternatives such as short sales which provide a graceful exit from a home if they are underwater and can no longer afford their home,” stated McGeough.
Rosamond Press 
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