TIC-TOC…

SFGATE-

Chain of title – proof of who really owns a house – underpins the entire U.S. system of real estate.

Broken chain of title due to slipshod paperwork was a serious issue uncovered in the nationwide robosigning scandal and again last month in a city report that found San Francisco foreclosure paperwork riddled with errors.

Those revelations draw new attention to title companies, which insure a home’s clear title for both buyers and lenders.

“If there is not a clear chain of title in the foreclosure process, how can there be a clear chain of title for the person buying foreclosed property?” said San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting, who commissioned the audit. “Given our report, it calls into question whether entities selling a foreclosure really have the right to transfer that property to somebody else.”

Read more: [SFGATE]

Credit Slips-

The first attack is on the credentials and former activities of the auditors. Given the deeply compromised background of the OCC foreclosure review auditors, this is a chutzpadik attack. The sad truth is that there isn’t a huge pool of people who can do this sort of audit. (Yes, takes it takes a thief and all that…) 

[CREDIT SLIPS]

This is an explosive video and the AG’s better listen carefully because titles are in serious jeopardy. Forget the settlement… HOW do they prepare to correct the DEFECTS in YOUR TITLE?

Watch the video and listen to how the “New Lender” is stealing assigning Your Home to themselves… I hope AG Kamala Harris follows up and why haven’t the AG’s conducted these investigations? Truly sad.

58% of conflicts with MERS.

by SFAssessoron Feb 15, 2012

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Jackie Speier sent a letter today to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting he direct the Justice Department’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to examine whether any violations of Federal law occurred in the processing of foreclosures in San Francisco. 

The County of San Francisco’s Office of the Assessor-Recorder recently commissioned a report assessing compliance with applicable foreclosure laws by certain entities in the mortgage industry operating in San Francisco.

Below is the full text of the letter. 

February 17, 2012

The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Holder:

We are writing to request that you direct the Justice Department’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to examine whether any violations of Federal law occurred in the processing of foreclosures in San Francisco.

The County of San Francisco’s Office of the Assessor-Recorder recently commissioned a report, which is enclosed, assessing compliance with applicable foreclosure laws by certain entities in the mortgage industry operating in San Francisco. The report, based on a review of a random sample of mortgage loans that entered into foreclosure between January 2009 and October 2011, found that 99 percent of the San Francisco mortgages reviewed showed irregularities in the foreclosure process, and 84 percent showed potential violations of California non-judicial foreclosure laws.  In addition, foreclosures involving mortgages that were part of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS), which are more likely to have been securitized, showed a high rate of conflicting information regarding the actual beneficiary, which raises questions about whether homeowners were denied their due process rights.  We find these findings very troubling. 

Because the report does not specify the mortgage servicers involved, it is not possible to determine whether affected borrowers can seek remedies under provisions in the multi-state mortgage settlement. However, even if some borrowers can seek redress through the settlement process, or through private rights of action, the irregularities and violations cited in the report convince us that further investigation at the Federal level is warranted to determine whether any violations of Federal civil and criminal laws might have occurred.

The Assessor-Recorder has already referred the report’s findings to California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, for her review.  We believe the severity of the report’s conclusions also warrant a thorough review at the Federal level by the Task Force. 

We appreciate the hard work of the Obama Administration and the state Attorneys General, including the helpful protections for borrowers secured by California Attorney General Kamala Harris, in achieving a multi-state mortgage settlement. We are hopeful that preserving the ability of the states and the Federal government to continue to pursue actions not covered by the terms of the settlement will ensure that homeowners who experienced losses unfairly, particularly where abusive practices were the cause, will be able to seek a remedy.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

best regards,

Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader

Jackie Speier
Member of Congress

Cc:           The Honorable Kamala Harris, Attorney General, State of California
                The Honorable Edwin M. Lee, Mayor, San Francisco, California
                The Honorable Phil Ting, Assessor-Recorder, City & County of San Francisco

The robosigning itself and similar lack of internal controls are the small potatoes. There are much more serious things in the SF City Assessor report.

Credit Slips-

* Report found 84 pct of San Francisco disclosures illegal

* High levels found across the country, experts say

REUTERS-

A report this week showing rampant foreclosure abuse in San Francisco reflects similar levels of lender fraud and faulty documentation across the United States, say experts and officials who have done studies in other parts of the country.

The audit of almost 400 foreclosures in San Francisco found that 84 percent of them appeared to be illegal, according to the study released by the California city on Wednesday.

“The audit in San Francisco is the most detailed and comprehensive that has been done – but it’s likely those numbers are comparable nationally,” Diane Thompson, an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, told Reuters.

Across the country from California, Jeff Thingpen, register of deeds in Guildford County, North Carolina, examined 6,100 mortgage documents last year, from loan notes to foreclosure paperwork.

[REUTERS]

1. Introduction

The City and County of San Francisco’s Office of the Assessor-Recorder retained Aequitas Compliance Solutions, Inc. to review 382 residential mortgage loan transactions (the “subject loans”) that resulted in foreclosure sales that occurred from January 2009 through October 2011.1 Over this period, there were 2,405 foreclosure sales. The subject loans thus represent approximately 16% of the total. (See Appendix B – Methodology.)

We analyzed the subject loans to determine the mortgage industry’s compliance with applicable laws. Specifically, we focused our analysis on important topics relating to six Subject Areas:

• Assignments
• Notice of Default
• Substitution of Trustee
• Notice of Trustee Sale
• Suspicious Activities Indicative of
Potential Fraud
• Conflicts Relating to MERS

[ipaper docId=81783176 access_key=key-23u7jv139fdxzsk3ytub height=600 width=600 /]

“Almost all involved either legal violations or suspicious documentation”

Gretchen Morgenson-

An audit by San Francisco county officials of about 400 recent foreclosures there determined that almost all involved either legal violations or suspicious documentation, according to a report released Wednesday.

Commissioned by Phil Ting, the San Francisco assessor-recorder, the report examined files of properties subject to foreclosure sales in the county from January 2009 to November 2011. About 84 percent of the files contained what appear to be clear violations of law, it said, and fully two-thirds had at least four violations or irregularities.

The report comes just days after the $26 billion settlement over foreclosure improprieties between five major banks and 49 state attorneys general, including California’s. Among other things, that settlement requires participating banks to reduce mortgage amounts outstanding on a wide array of loans and provide $1.5 billion in reparations for borrowers who were improperly removed from their homes.

[NEW YORK TIMES]

This part of the article doesn’t settle well for me:

The hearing in a state traditionally friendly to banks and home to U.S. industry leader Bank of America comes as paperwork problems have gummed up foreclosures nationwide.

Boston Herald-

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s Supreme Court heard arguments today in a case that could decide whether mortgage lenders can foreclose on a home without producing original documents that prove they’re owed the money.

The hearing in a state traditionally friendly to banks and home to U.S. industry leader Bank of America comes as paperwork problems have gummed up foreclosures nationwide.

Those problems include missing documents validating a mortgage transaction and unqualified employees “robo-signing” affidavits improperly swearing to the accuracy of overdue mortgage debts. The problem of suspect documents could create legal trouble for homeowners and mortgage lenders for years.

[BOSTON HERALD]

SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA

LINDA G. DOBSON,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE SERVICES, 
INC., Substitute Trustee and WELLS
FARGO BANK MINNESOTA, N.A.
as Trustee for Equivantage Home Equity
Loan Trust, 1996-4, Note Holder,
EQUVANTAGE, INC., and AMERICA‘S
SERVICING COMPANY,

Defendants-Appellees.

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PROPOSED BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE NORTH CAROLINA JUSTICE CENTER, NORTH CAROLINA ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE, CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE LENDING, MAINE ATTORNEYS SAVING HOMES, THE FINANCIAL PROTECTION LAW CENTER, AARP, AND THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSUMER ADVOCATES IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT
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