Category: News

Georgia Supreme Court – Aurora vs. Veatch

Georgia Supreme Court – Aurora vs. Veatch

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

Title does not pass with a forged deed, even to a bona fide purchaser for value without notice of the forgery .  Affirmed unanimously.

View the ruling: http://dtc-systems.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Aurora-v-Veatch-forged-deed-and-bona-fide-purchaser.pdf

View Video of Appellant Aurora Loan Services: http://multimedia.dailyreportonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Weber_Kimberly_101810.mp4

View Video of Appellee John Macelray Veatch: http://multimedia.dailyreportonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Robinson_John_101810.mp4

Internal Revenue Service Publication 938 – REMICs Reporting Information

Internal Revenue Service Publication 938 – REMICs Reporting Information

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

Publication 938 contains a directory listing of REMICs and CDOs.  It contains newly created REMICs and CDOs as well as amended listings to existing REMICs and CDOs.  Interestingly the IRS did not publish this publication for 2008.  Why is this interesting?  It is the peak of the meltdown with the failure of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.  Why is the IRS keeping this information a secret?  I have heard many interesting conspiracy theories, but my guess is “they” feel “we” can’t handle the truth.   From my review of these documents, I only have more questions.  Why are some REMICs not listed?  If Wells Fargo claims that World Savings Bank loans were held in house and not securitized, why are so many World Savings REMICs reported to the IRS?  Why is the REMIC claiming to hold my loan not listed in any of these documents?  Is it a law that all REMICs have to report themselves to the IRS for publication?

The Introduction to Publication 938 for 1996 states:

This publication contains directories relating to real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs) and collaterized debt obligations (CDO’s). The directory for each calendar quarter is based on information submitted to the Internal Revenue Service during that quarter. This publication is only available on the IRS electronic bulletin board and the Internet.
For each quarter, there is:
• A directory of new REMICs and CDOs,
and
• A section containing amended listings.
You can use the directory to find the representative of the REMIC or the issuer of the CDO from whom you can request tax information. The amended listing section shows changes to previously listed REMICs and CDOs.
The directory for each calendar quarter will be added to this publication approximately six weeks after the end of the quarter. Continue reading “Internal Revenue Service Publication 938 – REMICs Reporting Information”

L. Randall Wray does it again – Requiem For MERS

L. Randall Wray does it again – Requiem For MERS

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

L. Randall Wray, Professor of Economics and Research Director for the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability, University of Missouri-Kansas City posted an article on the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com) that I somehow missed.  The MERS design was woven in fraud.  Professor Wray points out the two main issues with MERS.  The first is that most foreclosures are illegal because those doing the foreclosing do not have legal standing.  Second the practices that create the foreclosure problems also mean that the mortgage backed securities are actually unsecured debt.  Professor Wray says that this means the banks must take them back, so they are toast.  He also states that it all comes back to MERS business model: it destroyed the chain of title.

Continue reading “L. Randall Wray does it again – Requiem For MERS”

Lawyers CLE Workshop On Foreclosure Defense and Offense in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Lawyers CLE Workshop On Foreclosure Defense and Offense in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

LAWYERS CLE WORKSHOP ON FORECLOSURE DEFENSE AND OFFENSE

SEE LIVINGLIES BLOG FOR DETAILS ON THIS EXCITING REVISION AND IN-DEPTH UPDATE OF GARFIELD CONTINUUM

EARLY BIRD ($995) FOR AN ATTENDANCE PASS TO THE GARFIELD CONTINUUM CLE SEMINAR, 2 DAYS, CLE CREDITS VARY FROM STATE TO STATE, ESTIMATED AT 16 TOTAL CREDITS, 2.5 CREDITS ETHICS.

The PRESENTERS are Neil F Garfield, Esq., Jon Lindeman, Esq., Alex Goldovsky, Dan Edstrom, Lori Enriquez, James Macklin, and Beth Findsen, Esq..

Conference Pass – for Attorneys, includes lunch and seminar materials in digital format .
JUNE 25-26 – in FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA

Retail $1495, EARLY BIRD $995 UNTIL JUNE 15, RESERVE SEATING NOW, SPACE LIMITED

Membership $1395, EARLY BIRD $895 UNTIL JUNE 15, RESERVE SEATING NOW, SPACE LIMITED, Go to livinglies.wordpress.com for membership pricing

Continue reading “Lawyers CLE Workshop On Foreclosure Defense and Offense in Ft. Lauderdale, FL”

Oregon Does it to MERS Again

Oregon Does it to MERS Again

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

Once again MERS is hammered, this time in Federal District Court by the Honorable Owen M. Panner.  This judge understands clearly what is going on and has some serious questions.  Read this case to understand securitization and foreclosures.  Here are some highlights (there are many others):

Should the beneficiary choose to initiate non-judicial foreclosure proceedings, the Act’s recording requirements mandate the recording of any assignments of the beneficial interest in the trust deed.

Nobody held a gun to the head of the servicers and required them to use non-judicial foreclosure.  They have the right to choose which action they wish to use – non-judicial or judicial.  The problem in this case (and almost all other cases), is that the servicers are making the wrong choices.  Why?  Money, what else?.  It is not their concern that they don’t qualify to use non-judicial foreclosures.  It is not their concern that they have to strictly comply with statutes.  In 90% or more of all cases the homeowners are walking away so nobody will know anyway right?  Oops, now the titles have to be cleaned up because of the mess left behind by the servicers, which have all but destroyed the title records for foreclosed properties.  This means that in the future, somebody else will have to file a judicial lawsuit to clean up the title for a property because the servicer made the wrong choice and failed to strictly comply with non-judicial statutes.  By the way this problem is understated and far worse than anyone actually imagines or understands at this point.

Continue reading “Oregon Does it to MERS Again”

Bankruptcy Cram-Downs Being Used on Primary Residences

Bankruptcy Cram-Downs Being Used on Primary Residences

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

A “cram-down” is where the principal balance is reduced, usually to fair market value.  DSNews.com is reporting that the research firm and ratings agency DBRS has learned from various servicers that cram-downs are being done in some bankruptcy courts.  We have seen the occasional cram-down but this shows that it is far more prevalent then most people realize.  The effect of a cram-down is that the loan principal balance is reduced to fair market value and all amounts over that are “unsecured”, meaning they could be fully discharged.  For example if a homeowner owes $750,000.00 on their primary residence, but the actual market value is $440,000.00,  the bankruptcy court could cram-down the loan so that the actual principal balance is $440,000.00 and the rest ($310,000.00) is unsecured debt.

For more, read the DSNews.com article here: http://www.dsnews.com/articles/mortgage-cram-downs-by-bankruptcy-judges-are-taking-place-dbrs-2011-05-02

You can view more about DBRS here: http://dbrs.com/

The Internal Revenue Service is Investigating the Tax-Exempt Status of REMICs

The Internal Revenue Service is investigating the Tax-Exempt Status of REMICs

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

Reuters has announced that “The Internal Revenue Service has launched a review of the tax-exempt status of a widely-held form of mortgage-backed securities called REMICs.”  This comes after many years of homeowners, lawyers and securitization experts having discussed the shenanigans of Wall Street.  The standard industry practice is that loans were never perfected into these REMICs, which required the loans as “qualified mortgages” to be in the REMIC within 90 days of the “startup day”, which corresponds with the trust “closing date”.  However, in nearly every case we have seen, the REMIC servicers are doing an assignment of the security instrument into the trust after the loan is in foreclosure in order that whoever is foreclosing has the right to foreclose.  Unfortunately once a loan is in default it is no longer a “qualified mortgage” under REMIC laws, not to mention that it is years past the REMIC “startup day”.  Nor as Judge Arthur Schack puts it in New York, why is the trustee accepting the conveyance of a non-performing loan into the trust?

Specifically the article says “These banks’ transgressions, confirmed in court decisions and through recent action by federal bank regulators, include the failure to formally transfer ownership of mortgages to the trusts that invested in them and the subsequent creation of fraudulent mortgage assignments and other false documents.”  Cease and Desist Consent Orders were just issued against Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Aurora Bank, EverBank, EverBank Financial Corporation, IMB HoldCo LLC, OneWest, Sovereign Bank, DocX, LPS Default and MERS.  Just wait until the Securities and Exchange Commission decides to investigate Sarbanes-Oxley legislation against the statements these entities have made under oath with what the bank regulators found actually happened with them. Continue reading “The Internal Revenue Service is Investigating the Tax-Exempt Status of REMICs”

Bankruptcy Judge Margaret M. Mann Strikes Down Deutsche

Bankruptcy Judge Margaret M. Mann Strikes Down Deutsche

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

The Honorable Judge Mann in Southern California brings the MERS issue up hard against Deutsche Bank National Trust Company.

Read the ruling – in re: Doble, Doble v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company as Trustee: http://dtc-systems.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Doble-v-Deutsche-Bank.pdf

Appeals Court Ruling Against MERS in Michigan Reverses District Court Non-Judicial Proceedings

Appeals Court Ruling Against MERS in Michigan Reverses District Court Non-Judicial Proceedings

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

Selected excerpts:

These consolidated cases each involve a foreclosure instituted by Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS), the mortgagee in both cases. The sole question presented is whether MERS is an entity that qualifies under MCL 600.3204(1)(d) to foreclose by advertisement on the subject properties, or if it must instead seek to foreclose by judicial process. We hold that MERS does not meet the requirements of MCL 600.3204(1)(d) and, therefore, may not foreclose by advertisement. 

MERS would purportedly track the mortgage sales internally so as to know for which entity it was holding the mortgage at any given time and, if foreclosure was necessary, after foreclosing on the property, would quit claim the property to whatever lender owned the loan at the time of foreclosure.

Continue reading “Appeals Court Ruling Against MERS in Michigan Reverses District Court Non-Judicial Proceedings”

Cease and Desist Consent Order Issued Against DocX and LPS Default Solutions

Cease and Desist Consent Order Issued Against DocX and LPS Default Solutions

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

These consent orders are coming out of the woodwork.  Here is an excerpt:

WHEREAS, in providing document execution services to Examined Servicers, including
services that facilitated completing foreclosures, LPS and its employees allegedly:

(a) Executed numerous affidavits and similar sworn statements (collectively,
“Affidavits”) making various assertions, such as the ownership of the mortgage note and
mortgage (or deed of trust), the amount of principal and interest due, and the fees and expenses
chargeable to the borrower, in which the affiant represented that the assertions in the Affidavit
were made based on personal knowledge or based on a review by the affiant of the relevant
books and records, when, in many cases, they were not based on such knowledge or review.
LPS executed these Affidavits on behalf of Examined Servicers knowing they would be filed in
state courts and in connection with bankruptcy proceedings in federal courts;

Continue reading “Cease and Desist Consent Order Issued Against DocX and LPS Default Solutions”