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The Big Fail by Adam Levitin

The Big Fail by Adam Levitin


posted by Adam Levitin
.

Last week the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey issued an opinion in a case captioned Kemp v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. This case looks like the first piece of evidence in what might turn out to be the Securitization Fail or, in homage to Michael Lewis, The Big Fail.

Briefly, Countrywide as servicer filed a proof of claim for a mortgage in a bankruptcy case on behalf of Bank of New York as trustee for a securitization trust.  The bankruptcy court denied the claim because there was no evidence that Bank of New York ever owned the mortgage. The mortgage note had never been negotiated or delivered to Bank of New York, despite the requirement to do so in the Pooling and Servicing Agreement (PSA) that governed the securitization of the loan.  That meant that Bank of New York as trustee had no interest in the loan, so the proof of claim filed on its behalf was disallowed.

This opinion could turn out to be incredibly important.  It provides a critical evidence for the argument that many securitization transactions simply failed to be effective because non-compliance with the terms of the transaction:  failure to properly transfer the mortgage meant that the mortgages were never actually securitized.  The rest of this post explains the chain of title issue in mortgage securitizations and how Kemp fits into the issue.

Note and Mortgage Transfers in Securitizations

A residential mortgage securitization is a transaction that involves a series of transfers of two types of documents:  mortgage notes (the IOUs made by mortgage borrowers) and mortgages (the security instrument that says the lender may foreclose on the house if the borrower defaults on the note).   Ultimately, both the notes and mortgages need to be properly transferred to a trust that will pay for them by issuing securities (backed by the mortgages and notes, hence residential mortgage-backed securities or RMBS). If the notes and mortgages aren’t properly transferred to the trust, then the securities that the trust issues aren’t mortgage-backed and are worthless.

So the critical issue here is whether the notes and mortgages were properly transferred to the securitization trusts.  To determine this, we need to figure out two things.  First, what is the proper method for transferring the notes and mortgages, and second, whether that method was followed. For this post, I’m going to focus solely on the notes. There are issues with the mortgages too, but that gets much, more complicated and doesn’t directly connect with Kemp.

1.  How Do You Transfer a Note?


© 2010-19 FORECLOSURE FRAUD | by DinSFLA. All rights reserved.



Posted in STOP FORECLOSURE FRAUDComments (1)

EXPLOSIVE |CASE FILE New Jersey Admissions In Testimony NOTES NEVER SENT to Trusts KEMP v. Countrywide

EXPLOSIVE |CASE FILE New Jersey Admissions In Testimony NOTES NEVER SENT to Trusts KEMP v. Countrywide


Mark my words …this is one you’re going to hear of over and over again. It’s beginning to appear … what we’ve been trying hard to break is cracking before our eyes and ears. This should raise concerns about the MERS System as well since the assignments clause states “together with the note(s) and documents therein described”.

Humpty Dumpty does indeed exist!


UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

In the Matter of John T. Kemp

John T. Kemp
v.

Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.

Case No. 08-18700-JHW

APPEARANCES:

Bruce H. Levitt, Esq.
Levitt & Slafkes, PC
76 South Orange Avenue, Suite 305
South Orange, New Jersey 07079
Counsel for the Debtor

Harold Kaplan, Esq.
Dori 1. Scovish, Esq.
Frenkel, Lambert, Weiss, Weisman & Gordon, LLP
80 Main Street, Suite 460
West Orange, New Jersey 07052
Counsel for the Defendant

EXCERPT:

The new allonge was signed by Sharon Mason,
Vice President of Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., in the Bankruptcy Risk
Litigation Management Department. Linda DeMartini, a supervisor and
operational team leader for the Litigation Management Department for BAC
Home Loans Servicing L.P. (“BAC Servicing”V testified that the new allonge
was prepared in anticipation of this litigation, and that it was signed several
weeks before the trial by Sharon Mason.

As to the location of the note, Ms. DeMartini testified that to her
knowledge, the original note never left the possession of Countrywide, and that
the original note appears to have been transferred to Countrywide’s foreclosure
unit, as evidenced by internal FedEx tracking numbers. She also confirmed
that the new allonge had not been attached or otherwise affIXed to the note.
She testified further that it was customary for Countrywide to maintain possession of
the original note and related loan documents.

In a supplemental submission dated September 9,2009, the defendant
asserted that “the Defendant/Secured Creditor located the original Note. The
original Note with allonge and Pooling and Servicing Agreement are available
for inspection.,,7 When the matter returned to the court on September 24,
2009, counsel for the defendant represented to the court that he had the
original note, with the new allonge now attached, in his possession. No
additional information was presented regarding the chain of possession of the
note from its origination until counsel acquired possession.

Continue reading below…

CASE FILE New Jersey Admissions In Testimony Notes Never Sent to Trusts Kemp v Countrywide

[ipaper docId=43537304 access_key=key-282sqkqnzukrmkam934g height=600 width=600 /]

© 2010-19 FORECLOSURE FRAUD | by DinSFLA. All rights reserved.



Posted in STOP FORECLOSURE FRAUDComments (12)

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