Mortgage Fraud

Class Action Lawsuit Evidence Has Been Established

Class Action to Move Forward and Judges Give the Thumbs Up

For those that have been following the building of the Class Action Lawsuit against the Lenders below is the latest update!  If you still own your property, have been given the run around from the bank (who hasn’t!), and had got a restidential mortgage loan between 2000 and 2010, then this may be the remedy you are looking for. 

Call (831) 621-1149 for details and reference Troubled Property Solutions.

  •  60 Minutes has provided us with a informational documentary on the lender fraud.
  • Inside Job Film Documentary – Academy Award Winning Film – the Film Makers Wonders Why No Bank Executive Has Yet to Go to Jail
  • Foreclosure Fraud – A website dedicated to uncovering the dirty laundry of the lenders

After nearly two years of building evidence, and amassing the facts for the template for the cases the attorneys will be pursuing, the final template is complete. The first test file based on that template has been submitted to the court as an individual case.

This case has now been approved by the Federal Court for RICO FILING. What that means is that the court has reviewed the filing of the case and has found that it meets the test for bringing RICO FRAUD CHARGES against the defendants.

This is a complex and extensive test of the evidence which must meet the court standards to comply with Federal Rules of Evidence to be considered a valid RICO case. This is now completed.

Additionally, because of the massive amounts of evidence contained in the case, counsel has also expanded the case to include CRIMINAL CHARGES. This also has been accepted by the court.

Many attorneys will tell you that it is not possible to file criminal charges in a civil case; but this is not true.

Our message to you today is that our cases moving forward WILL contain RICO and CRIMINAL CHARGES. Additionally, we are telling you that the template upon which all the group cases will be based has been completed and the first case built on that template HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY FILED with BOTH RICO and CRIMINAL CHARGES.

That case is now filed and approved for motion forward in the Federal Court.

What does this mean to you?

First - it means the attorneys have accomplished the first major step in our process of bringing these issues to court in a Federal jurisdiction to achieve proper legal remedy for all of us.

Second – it means it’s now time to get off the fence and make a decision on whether you are going to participate or be left behind.  This is no ordinary Class Action – you assist in building further evidence and you will be receiving more of the benefits from the outcome of a successful case (unheard of for Class Actions).

Call (831) 621-1149 for details and reference Troubled Property Solutions.

Bank of America Lastest Mortgage Move – “Remove” It’s Bad [aka Fraudulent] Mortgages from the Books

Bank of America’s latest move to segregate the “good” mortgages from the “bad mortgages” may be their latest move to stave off all the lawsuits that are flooding into their doors.  Fraud on the alt-a mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages, and subprime loans by Countrywide has been problematic for Bank of America, who took over Countrywide after it fell apart.

But don’t be fooled, Bank of America’s latest move it to protect itself, and not to help homeowners.  Their objective is to write off as much bad debt as possible with these loans they took over, hence separating their assets.

If you’ve been given the run around from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citimortgage, or any other mortgage lender, and don’t know where to turn next, consider this legal option which many are turning to as an ultimate solution.

Call (831) 621-1149 for details and reference Troubled Property Solutions.

BofA Segregates Almost Half of its Mortgages Into ‘Bad Bank’
By Dawn Kopecki – Mar 8, 2011 11:43 AM PT  From: Bloomberg News

Bank of America Corp. is segregating almost half its 13.9 million mortgages into a “bad” bank comprised of its riskiest and worst-performing “legacy” loans.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the biggest U.S. lender by assets, is segregating almost half its 13.9 million mortgages into a “bad” bank comprised of its riskiest and worst-performing “legacy” loans, said Terry Laughlin, who is running the new unit.  “We are creating a classic good bank, bad bank structure,” Laughlin told investors at a meeting in New York today. He was promoted last month to manage the costs of resolving disputes stemming from the company’s 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. “We’re going to get after this, we’re going to do it the right way and we’re going to put it to bed in the next 36 months,” he said.

The legacy portfolio will hold 6.7 million loans with outstanding principal balance of about $1 trillion, according to a presentation to investors today. The split leaves home loan President Barbara Desoer with about half her previous portfolio, as well as new lending going forward.  Laughlin’s portfolio will include loans that are currently 60 or more days delinquent as well as riskier types of loans the bank no longer originates, such as subprime, Alt-A, interest- only and option adjustable-rate mortgages, he said. He said the portfolios will be completely split by March 31 and that his will be liquidated over time. Of the 13.9 million loans Bank of America services, about 3.5 million are held by the company on its balance sheet. The rest are owned by other investors.  “It’s a way to get investors focus on the good,” said Paul Miller, a former examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and analyst at FBR Capital Markets in Arlington, Virginia. “It’s a way to talk about good things and ignore the bad.”

JPMorgan, Wells Fargo

Laughlin’s portfolio includes loans the company originated in addition to Countrywide mortgages. That differs from practices at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), whose legacy books include only loans they acquired through their respective purchases of Washington Mutual and Wachovia.  “Many of the assets that are coming over into the legacy asset-servicing portfolio are delinquent or are expected to go delinquent over the next three years,” Laughlin said. “As borrowers default, we’ll evaluate them for a loan modification.” Laughlin is also responsible for overseeing foreclosure processes as well as negotiations with investor groups that are demanding the bank buy back faulty loans.

State Probes

State and federal law enforcement agencies are pushing lenders to cut outstanding loan balances as part of a proposed settlement they hope to reach with banks over their mortgage- servicing and foreclosure practices. State attorneys general and federal agencies sent a 27-page settlement proposal last week to Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Ally Financial Inc. and Citigroup Inc. (C), the five largest mortgage services, which process 59 percent of all U.S. home loans. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said regulators and law enforcement agencies want an agreement that leads to more loan modifications for struggling homeowners. Laughlin said regulators have reviewed the bank’s foreclosure processes and “no findings came out of those exams that basically said the foreclosure process was fundamentally flawed.” He said the bank was instituting a standardized affidavit form and providing better oversight of third-party attorneys and vendors. “Certainly there’s always room for improvement in process,” he said.

Bondholder Group

Bank of America may face “material fines” from government probes into possible irregularities in foreclosure processes, it said in its annual earnings report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 25. The firm also said that a bondholder group including Pacific Investment Management Co. has almost doubled the number of mortgage deals on which it’s challenging the bank. Bank of America set aside about $3 billion late last year to settle certain demands from U.S.-controlled mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bank said other claims on so- called private label mortgages could cost an additional $7 billion to $10 billion.

From: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-08/bofa-segregates-almost-half-its-mortgages-into-bad-bank-under-laughlin.html

Contact Dawn Kopecki in Washington at dkopecki@bloomberg.net

The editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Why Bank of America Hates WikiLeaks

by Fred on February 26, 2011

Bank of America and Countrywide wishes WikiLeaks never existed.

For millions of Americans that had Countrywide Loans, now serviced by Bank of America, and realized the loans they were given are – to put it nicely – not the best loans in the world, or to put it not so nicely – a piece of crap, at least we can rest assured that Bank of America is on the defense.  Bank of America is being sued left and right after they took over Countrywide.  Fraud is everywhere in these loans, and most Americans that have Countrywide loans know that is a fact.   The article below provides a good summary why we need WikiLeaks, and why banks, including Bank of America, Citimortgage, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and other lenders are on the defense.

The question is what can the average American do about all this fraud against homeowners like us?  If you have a lot of money  you can file your own lawsuit against your lender, but just one person against these large powerful banks is a huge uphill battle.  Or you can join the masses and be part of a Class Action Lawsuit.  Watch the video for details.

The Voice of the White House
TBR News February 20, 2011

Washington, D.C., February 20, 2011: “The most hated person today in Washington is Julian Assange, head of the WikiLeaks. An overall view of the Bank of America material now held by WikiLeaks reveals that starting in 2008, the Bank of America acquired Countrywide Mortgage, a very aggressive mortgage company that specialized in creating fraudulent loans to individuals that were unable to make continuing payments on their mortgages. Countrywide then sold these fraudulent mortgages to larger banking houses like Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and others.  The results of this takeover of Countrywide? Bank of America now has over 1.3 mortgage holders in foreclosure.  Bank of America was subsequently sued by California, Illinois and eight other states over its predatory lending policies. The bank was forced to produce a settlement of over $8.4 billion in loan relief plans for those victims holding Countrywide mortgages.

  • In June of 2010, Bank of America had to pay out $108 million because of a suit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for “having extracted excessive fees” from their borrowers facing foreclosure.
  • In August of 2010, Bank of America was forced to pay out $600 million to settle shareholder lawsuits which claimed that Bank of America’s Countrywide Mortgage had “concealed the riskiness” of its lending standards.
  • In June of 2010, the State of Illinois once more had to sue the Bank of America for “racial discrimination” in its lending practices.

The WikiLeaks documentation shows thousands of in-house emails circulating among top Bank of American personnel showing with shocking clarity that the bank was not only fully cognizant of the illegality of their actions but were, in fact, continuing these actions because of the assurance of protection by “senior American legislators and officials.”

Additional material in the WikiLeaks found concerns the brokerage house of Merrill Lynch which Bank of America acquired for $50 billion in January of 2009. The aforesaid “senior American legislators and officials: quickly loaned the Bank of America $20 billion in loans to facilitate this purchase. Subsequently, it was revealed that Merrill Lynch had lost over $16 billion at the end of 2008 but had paid out over $4 billion in bonuses to all the top Merrill Lynch personnel. In sum, the Merrill Lynch people, secure in the knowledge of a connived Federal bailout, took the funds for personal gain. The WikiLeaks documents clearly show all of this in detail, complete with boasting emails on the part of the recipients of the monies.

As another aspect of this enormous financial scandal furthered purely for gain, corporate and personal, the Bank of America has been the instigator of the so-called “robo-signing” scanda.l As a single example of this illegal conduct, in February of 2010, a Bank of American employee testified on deposition that they had personally signed over 8,000 official foreclosure documents without ever reading any of them. This is a clearcut violation of the law but there are so many such examples of this, not limited to the Bank of America alone, that there is not sufficient space to list them all. The WikiLeaks documents clearly show that these illegal actions were fully known to senior Bank of America officials and that extensive cover-ups were ordered from the very top levels of that bank.

WikiLeaks documentation shows clearly that the “senior American legislators and officials.” Who connived with the Bank of America include the leadership of the Federal Reserve, top Congressional leaders (mostly Republican) and even senior members of the White House staff, both in the Bush and Obama administrations. With this pending dam collapse release to the public, it is no wonder that the government itself, the officials of the Bank of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the most powerful, arch-conservative business cabal would all join forces in an attempt to discredit or permanently silence Assange and his organization.

The front organization, HBGary Federal, a specialist in computer manipulations, was hired by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Bank of America to attempt to plant false information with WikiLeaks, double-heading frantic government attempts to get Assange physically into their hands. When WiliLeaks struck back and, in turn, infiltrated the government and private sector’s attempts to infiltrate them, it was discovered that HBGary Federal was involved with Stuxtnet, a very sophisticated computer virus developed by Israeli and American experts and designed to infiltrate and destroy computer systems deemed “unacceptable” to Washington.

Bank of America officials have been warning Washington that if they crash, the damage to the American ecnomoy wouild be catastrophic because of their size and pervasiveness and this message has resonated very clearly in official circles, prompting frantic but clumsy attacks on Assdange and his organization.”

Mortgage Giant Found Guilty of Mortgage Fraud

by julie on February 23, 2011

Major Mortgage Giant Found Guilty of Defrauding Borrower – $2.7 Million in Punative Damages Awarded

A West Virginia court found the major mortgage giant Quicken Loans Inc guilty of defrauding a homeowner and was ordered to pay $2.17 million dollars in damage plus $600,000 in legal fees.  Judges are beginning to wake up that the lenders have not necessarily been above reproach when it comes to homeowners and loans that were orginated between 2000 and 2008.  A recent conversation with a forensic loan auditors, said that most of the loans have major violations in them, where a homeowner can seek legal means to get justice.

To find out if your loan has violations in them, a Forensic Loan Audit is a smart place to start.

Many are joining a Class Action Lawsuit, to get justice in a cost-effective manor.

Once your house has been foreclosed upon it is likely too late to get legal justice, so don’t wait!

Judge Orders Quicken Loans to Pay $2.7 Million Award in West Virginia Fraud Case
By Michael Hudson | February 22, 2011, 5:57 pm
Updated: 2/23/2011, 12:43 pm | A West Virginia judge has slapped online mortgage giant Quicken Loans Inc. with more than $2.7 million in punitive damages and legal costs after finding the lender had defrauded a borrower by misleading her about her loan and using an inflated property appraisal.
Ohio County (W.Va.) Circuit Judge Arthur Recht awarded the borrower just under $2.17 million in punitive damages. He also ordered that Quicken pay her attorneys nearly $600,000 in legal fees and costs. In a ruling last year, Recht had called Quicken’s conduct “unconscionable.” James Bordas, one of the attorneys who represented the borrower, said he hoped the award would send a message to struggling homeowners that “big companies can’t just come in and cheat them.” Dan Gilbert, Quicken’s founder and chairman, told the Center for Public Integrity that the judge’s fraud finding and damages award were “irrational and incomprehensible.” “If there was any injustice here,” Gilbert said, “it’s the other way around.” Quicken, he said, was the victim in this case rather than the borrower.
Detroit-based Quicken, the nation’s largest online home lender and fifth largest retail mortgage lender, has come under fire in a variety of legal forums. A Center investigation published earlier this month detailed claims from borrowers and ex-employees who accuse the company of taking advantage of vulnerable homeowners and using bogus appraisals and other falsified information to push through bad deals.
Quicken denies the allegations.
“We always try to do the right thing,” Gilbert said in a telephone interview. “If we truly make an honest mistake, it usually doesn’t even get to court—if we discover it, we make things right.” In the West Virginia case, the judge last year found that Quicken had put 45-year-old Lourie Jefferson, a licensed practical nurse, into a complex mortgage product that would have required her to come up with a $107,000 “balloon payment” at the end of 30 years to finish paying off a loan of just under $145,000. Quicken misled Jefferson about the loan and used an appraisal that inflated the value of her home by nearly 300 percent, according to that decision. The judge followed up that ruling last week with a Feb. 17 opinion ordering Quicken to pay punitive damages and legal fees in the case.
The company said there’s no evidence that Quicken colluded with the appraiser or “did anything usual or anything inconsistent with industry practice.” In court papers, Quicken described the problems with the loan as an “isolated incident” created by “mere excess of zeal by a poorly supervised, low level, former employee.”  In a separate written statement on Tuesday, Gilbert also said the mortgage had been a good deal for Jefferson because it reduced her interest rate and monthly payments and gave her more than $40,000 in cash.
In his statement, Gilbert said the company would “be appealing this wanton injustice and is independently conducting its own investigation as well as be requesting that federal authorities also investigate the shocking and incomprehensible circumstances surrounding this scheme carried out by an unknown amount of people in West Virginia.” In the phone interview, Gilbert said he could not elaborate on the scheme against Quicken.
In another case, now being tried in federal court in Detroit, a group of former Quicken employees seeking overtime pay claim that company executives managed by bullying and intimidation, in some instances pushing them to exaggerate borrowers’ incomes on loan applications and sell overpriced deals to desperate or unwary homeowners.
The company argues that its “mortgage consultants” don’t qualify for overtime pay because they provide expert financial advice to borrowers in much the same way that stock brokers advise investors. In an effort to rebut this argument, the ex-employees’ attorneys contend that the company’s loan consultants aren’t trained to provide advice, but rather to manipulate and mislead.Michael Hudson is a staff writer at the Center for Public Integrity and author of THE MONSTER: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America – And Spawned a Global Crisis.  Full article is found at http://www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/2933/

In Ohio, and increasingly other states, judges are stepping up to the plate and questioning the lender’s right to foreclose.  After all the fraud, including “robo signing” state and federal courts are now looking much closer at the documents and the lender’s ability to foreclose.   This is particularly encouraging, but for many who are in states where there is no judge to rule over foreclosure proceedings, it’s still a fight.   Ohio residence are lucky enought to have a judge question the documents. 

Still for many, banks are unwilling to help homeowners, and the only way to force their hands is to take legal action.  For more details on the fraud, and what you can do about it click here watch these videos:  Lender Fraud.

Ohio Judges Halt Foreclosure Proceedings In Fraud Search
The Huffington Post Yepoka Yeebo First Posted: 01/31/11 11:09 AM Updated: 02/ 1/11 03:52 PM

Three Ohio judges are forcing lawyers to double-check foreclosure documents.  Judges in Franklin County, Ohio, are making lawyers verify documents for residential foreclosures, and asking lawyers to sign certifications that verify that clients said the documents were accurate. The Columbus Dispatch reports:

The judges told the lawyers that they must “personally certify the authenticity and accuracy of all documents” in support of a residential-foreclosure filing. If a lawyer doesn’t comply, the judge will not grant a motion for default or summary judgment, but will instead schedule the case for trial. Lawyers are arguing that the order forces them to reveal communications protected by attorney-client privilege, and are fighting the order, the paper said. “Before we sign off on foreclosures, we want to make sure we are diligent in confirming the accuracy of those filings,” judge Kimberly Cocroft told the Dispatch. “It’s a life-changing event.”

The move is a response to families being fraudulently foreclosed on, after it was revealed that mortgage providers and law firms failed to follow procedures. Bank employees in mortgage departments inundated with foreclosures say they signed foreclosure affidavits without reviewing the cases, or in some cases, without even looking at the documents — earning the label “robo-signers.”

In October, regulators from all 50 states launched an investigation into possibly deceptive foreclosure practices that may have illegally evicted families from their homes. The investigation has found families who were not in default foreclosed on, and lenders foreclosing on loans they did not hold.

Lawyers in New York State have been required to check that foreclosure documents are accurate since October. In Nevada, judges are blocking foreclosures by Bank of America-owned companies after complaints that homes are being fraudulently foreclosed on.