Even though banks piously insist that every one of their foreclosure actions is fully justified, evidence in the court system continues to prove that claim to be false. We pointed out this sorry development in October, that of banks entering and changing the locks on homes they had not foreclosed upon. Per a report from the Sarasota Herald Tribune:
The process of banks hiring people to break into homes, even when occupied, is just the latest oddity of the messy foreclosure crisis in Florida.
Some property owners are reporting the break-ins to law enforcement as burglaries. Yet investigators consider the disputes a civil matter because the contractors do not display criminal intent.
That essentially leaves the property owners without recourse…
“It is vastly underreported; it is happening in counties all across the state,” said St. Petersburg foreclosure defense attorney Matt Weidner. “The more this occurs, the more prevalent it’s going to become.”
The lack of willingness of the local police to deem destroying property and unauthorized entry as criminal acts leaves wronged parties with litigation as their only recourse. And some are filing suits.
Note that these suits likely represent only a small fraction of the actual cases of bank miscreance, since few of the victims are likely to have the financial wherewithall and intestinal fortitude to sue a bank. Per the New York Times:
When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a weekend ski trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and changed the locks.
When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son’s ski medals, winter clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the words “Together Forever,” that contained the ashes of her late husband, Robert.
The culprit, Ms. Ash soon learned, was not a burglar but her bank. According to a federal lawsuit filed in October by Ms. Ash, Bank of America had wrongfully foreclosed on her house and thrown out her belongings, without alerting Ms. Ash beforehand….
Identifying the number of homeowners who were locked out illegally is difficult. But banks and their representatives insist that situations like Ms. Ash’s represent just a tiny percentage of foreclosures.
This, as the British would say, is bollocks. The traditional procedures around the transfer of title made the old system virtually fail-safe. Any number above zero is unacceptably high. And “a tiny percentage” across the huge numbers of foreclosures happening across the US adds up to meaningful numbers in real terms.
The examples in the NY Times story are all from middle to upper income homeowners. For someone of lesser means, the consequences of wrongful action can be devastating. If possessions are removed, or worse, put out on the street, the losses can be significant.
This is the banks’ excuse:
A clause in most mortgages allows banks that service the loan to enter a home and secure it if it is in default, meaning if the mortgage payment is 45 to 60 days late, and if the house has been abandoned, authorities said.
First, some of the homes broken into have been current on payments. Second, “abandoned” seems to be interpreted as “no one at home when the contractor showed up” which would be true during the business day for most working families.
This pattern again proves what we know all two well, namely, that we have a two-tier system of law in the US: one for the banks, one for the rest of us.
This searing photo essay show in stark relief the landscape of the foreclosure crisis, in this case in Florida. By now we all know the details. Foreclosures are continuing at a reord pace, three years after the beginning of the recession. This massive turnover of property has turned entire neighborhoods into ghost towns and continued to be a drag on the economy. While there are higher incidences in “sand states” where the housing bubble inflated larger than elsewhere, this crisis is far from being localized to one region, and is prevalent all over the country. The potential damage over the next few years is even greater, as one out of every three homes in cities like Boise, Idaho are underwater.
We know that banks and loan servicers have massive incentives to foreclose, and then in many cases keep the homes off the market and in shadow inventory, avoiding the realization of a loss on their books. Banks who made crucial errors in the origination and securitization stages don’t want to be held responsible for those mistakes, and think the best way to go about that is by burying the evidence. So they have rushed to foreclose on borrowers who could have handled a loan modification, in many cases illegally so. And the stories keep getting tallied up day by day. Banks are foreclosing on the wrong homes, ones that don’t even have mortgages. Homeowners who are current on their loans are getting thrown out of their homes. Banks are faking summons, faking documents, faking notarizations, even faking lawyers, all in a desperate and chaotic effort to foreclose.
Amidst this chaos, some heroes have really stepped up. There are foreclosure mediation groups and activists, like NACA, who are setting up face-to-face meetings between lenders and borrowers. There are successful advocacy groups like ESOP in Cleveland, also mediating on behalf of homeowners. And there are the lawyers, foreclosure defense attorneys who have uncovered virtually every seedy game the servicers and the banks have been playing, who have effectively represented their clients.
If anything, the government should strongly support these efforts. The status quo is hopelessly broken, and it threatens economic recovery. The Treasury Department should demand that banks stop the rush to foreclose, and having effective representation for borrowers goes a long way toward that. But when given the option to allow TARP funds to be used for legal aid for foreclosure victims, the Treasury blocked it.
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surface encounters macomb miABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
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Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters macomb mi
surface encounters noblesvilleABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
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Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
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surface encounters macomb miABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
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Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
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surface encountersABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
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surface encounters michiganABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
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Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
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surface encounters macomb miABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters macomb
surface encounters michiganABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
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Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters macomb mi
surface encounters macombABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters macomb mi
surface encounters macomb miABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters rock topsABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
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surface encounters macombABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters macomb
surface encounters michiganABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters michigan
surface encounters macombABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters
surface encounters macombABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters macomb
surface encounters macombABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
surface encounters michigan
surface encountersABC <b>News</b>: Michele Bachmann Considering Presidential Bid : Roll Call
Tea party darling isn t ruling out 2012 challenge to President Barack Obama.
Climate <b>News</b> Snooze? - NYTimes.com
Coverage of human-driven climate change implodes. And so?
<b>News</b> - New Details on Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Spinoff <b>...</b>
After Us Weekly first reported the couple earned their own show, E! confirms shooting will begin in early 2011.
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