BofA Mortgage Morass Deepens on Promissory Notes Issues

BofA Mortgage Morass Deepens on Promissory Notes Issues

By Prashant Gopal and Jody Shenn – Nov 30, 2010

Testimony by a Bank of America Corp. employee in a New Jersey personal bankruptcy case may give more ammunition to homeowners and investors in their legal battles over defaulted mortgages.

Linda DeMartini, a team leader in the company’s mortgage- litigation management division, said during a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing in Camden last year that it was routine for the lender to keep mortgage promissory notes even after loans were bundled by the thousands into bonds and sold to investors, according to a transcript. Contracts for such securitizations usually require the documents to be transferred to the trustee for mortgage bondholders.

In the case, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith H. Wizmur on Nov. 16 rejected a claim on the home of John T. Kemp, ruling his mortgage company, now owned by Bank of America, had failed to deliver the note to the trustee. That could leave the trustee with no standing to take the property, and raises the question of whether other foreclosures could similarly be blocked.

Following the decision, the bank disavowed the statements by DeMartini, whom it had flown in from California to testify. It was the policy of Countrywide Financial Corp., acquired by Bank of America in July 2008, to deliver notes as called for in its securitization contracts, according to Larry Platt, an attorney at K&L Gates LLP in Washington designated by the bank to answer questions about the case. Continue reading “BofA Mortgage Morass Deepens on Promissory Notes Issues”

Quantitative Easing Explained

What the Federal Reserve is up to, and how we got here.

Financial Control Fraud

Financial Control Fraud

By Jim Macklin
Secure Document Research

When a person or persons who own or oversee the operations of a seemingly legitimate business or Governmental Agency uses that business or agency as a “weapon”, it is known as a control fraud. The term was coined by UMKC Professor William Black (The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One, Black, 2005). The “weapon of choice” in a financial control fraud is accounting. More losses occur in financial control frauds than any other form of property crimes …combined!

In the early stages of our most recent financial crisis, the FBI had correctly identified the presence of the type of fraud, yet, the Bush administration failed to effect any real consequences, and so the fraud was swept under the rugs of the administrations’ offices. De-regulation and the advent of hyper-bonuses helped to encourage the practices of the ratings agencies, hedge fund managers, and CEO’s of the Wall Street elite, while the AAA rated “junk bonds” went out for sale with a frenzied push for more paper. Never before, in the history of Wall Street, had a AAA rated bond gone into a default. Remember, these ratings agencies hadn’t even bothered to sample the veracity or viability of the loan files upon which these ratings were issued. This is a control fraud in its’ simplest and purest form, with all of the key players indemnified against losses through trust agreements. This is the smoking gun.

Continue reading “Financial Control Fraud”

A Shot at the Title

The Title Companies are scrambling right now to try to verify the ability to have issued title insurance. After all, they sent the Notes and Deeds (allegedly) to the “lender” with a stamp of approval and clear title…right?

A Shot at the Title

By James Macklin
Secure Document Research

The Title Companies are scrambling right now to try to verify the ability to have issued title insurance.  After all, they sent the Notes and Deeds (allegedly) to the “lender” with a stamp of approval and clear title…right?

Along with the original mortgage loan file, these critical documents may evidence the beginning of the lack of disclosure that occurred in most of the loans written between 1999 and 2009.

Borrowers may want to contact the original title Company that handled their transaction and request a copy of the wire transfer of funds as received by the Title Company. Continue reading “A Shot at the Title”

Split: The Note and the Deed of Trust (Redux)

The Note and Mortgage are split in judicial states the same as the Note and Deed of Trust in non-judicial states.

Split: The Note and the Deed of Trust (Redux)

by Daniel Edstrom

The Note and Mortgage are split in judicial states the same as the Note and Deed of Trust in non-judicial states.

The first issue is that the note was sold in 2005 but the Deed of Trust appears to have been left behind.  For the uninitiated, if the Note and Deed of Trust are split, this causes a nullity.  A nullity means the security interest is lost and the debt becomes unsecured.  In securitization this is standard operating procedure and is one of the issues that we are left to face.  Upwards of 60,000,000 homes may be unencumbered leaving those who own the notes on these houses with no power of sale.  And more considering MERS wasn’t the only party involved in splitting the note from the security instrument.

Who owns these loans if they are unsecured?  That was the whole purpose of creating the securitization diagram in the first place.

The result?  More questions, few answers. Continue reading “Split: The Note and the Deed of Trust (Redux)”

CNBC Mortgage Meltdown

Homeowner Dan Edstrom spent one year trying to find out who owned his mortgage. He describes his quest to CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.

Homeowner Dan Edstrom spent one year trying to find out who owned his mortgage. He describes his quest to CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.

source http://classic.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1653356156&play=1

Obligations and Defaults

We now jump ahead in the story and skip all the details of securitization including when, if and how your loan was allegedly transferred into the mortgage loan pool (the securitization trust).

If you haven’t heard of John Courson,

I want to change that.

John is the President and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

by Daniel Edstrom

Mr. Courson believes that it is a moral imperative to keep your financial obligations.  If you haven’t seen the video here http://www.thedailyshow.com/, you should.

Now let’s look at the alleged obligations and who is actually obligated.  This will lead us down the road to defaults and who is actually in default.  If you have a mortgage, you by default are the obligor because you are the one with the “obligation” to repay.  The note you signed is not the obligation but is evidence of the obligation.  The obligation arose when money was advanced by a “creditor” and you accepted the money.  So even if the note doesn’t exist there is still an obligation.  A default occurs when you fail to meet the terms of your obligation.  In days gone by this would be the end of the story, but thanks to Wall Street financial engineering we haven’t even reached the beginning yet.

We now jump ahead in the story and skip all the details of securitization including when, if and how your loan was allegedly transferred into the mortgage loan pool (the securitization trust).  We will just assume for the sake of argument that your loan is in the pool and that everything is A-OK, which is what the big banks with the robo-signing blues are saying anyway.  The SEC Filings are the governing documents and because they are typically a thousand pages of legal gibberish, you have to understand what words mean, such as “obligation” and “default”.  Let’s start with default.  Here is what US Bank, N.A., which acts as Trustee on thousands of securitized trusts says a default is (from http://www.usbank.com/cgi_w/cfm/commercial_business/products_and_services/corp_trust/terms_ps.cfm#d): Continue reading “Obligations and Defaults”

Rigging the Bids at Foreclosure Sales

United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner and Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced today that Anthony B. Ghio, 43, of Stockton, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Edward J. Garcia to conspiring to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County.

Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release
April 16, 2010 United States Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of California
Contact: (916) 554-2700
Stockton Real Estate Executive Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging at Auctions of Foreclosed Properties

SACRAMENTO, CA—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner and Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced today that Anthony B. Ghio, 43, of Stockton, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Edward J. Garcia to conspiring to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County.

These charges arose from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation of fraud and bidding irregularities in certain real estate auctions in San Joaquin County. The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.

Continue reading “Rigging the Bids at Foreclosure Sales”