10,000 GMAC Foreclosures Stopped in Maryland

[Trajan]

10,000, wow. This may be producing some of the "better rulings in this crisis" as the author says, but good for who? Okay the robo signing issue is a problem BUT these folks are not paying their mortgages and as long as this continues, the market doesn't clear and we are in stasis overall.


Oh and note, GMAC, the finance arm of GM ( yes they got greedy and started backing loans for homes)....we bailed that financial service out btw.




In a major ruling Friday, a coalition of nonprofit defense lawyers and consumer protection advocates in Maryland successfully got over 10,000 foreclosure cases managed by GMAC Mortgage tossed out, because affidavits in the cases were signed by Jeffrey Stephan, the infamous GMAC “robo-signer” who attested to the authenticity of foreclosure documents without any knowledge about them, as well as signing other false statements.

The University of Maryland Consumer Protection Clinic and Civil Justice, Inc., a nonprofit, filed the class action lawsuit, arguing that any case using Jeffrey Stephan as a signer was illegitimate and must be dismissed. In court Friday, GMAC agreed to dismiss every case in Maryland relying on a Stephan affidavit. They can refile foreclosure actions on the close to 10,000 homes, but only at their own expense, and subject to new Maryland regulations which require mandatory mediation between borrower and lender before moving to foreclosure. Civil Justice and the Consumer Protection Clinic also want any cases with affidavits from Xee Moua of Wells Fargo, who has also admitted to robo-signing, thrown out, but that case has not yet been settled.

This was not the plan of GMAC and other banks caught using robo-signers last year. They hoped to undergo a pause in proceedings, run a quick “double-check” and then issue substitute documents in the same cases. That would have been a much more rapid solution for the banks and would have resulted in many more foreclosures. Now GMAC has to go back and basically file the entire case all over again, meaning they have to give notice of foreclosure to the borrower, engage the borrower in modification options, and basically run through the whole process from the beginning. They cannot use the shortcut solution, thanks to the class action suit filed. GMAC’s dismissal of every foreclosure in Maryland shows their doubts they would have won the class action.


snip-
As I said, this doesn’t mean that GMAC cannot refile foreclosures in these cases. But they have to spend a lot of time and money to go back to the beginning and redo every case, and must adhere to Maryland law of allowing mediation.

Maryland is a judicial foreclosure state which has produced some of the better rulings during this crisis.


more at-
10,000 GMAC Foreclosures Stopped in Maryland | FDL News Desk

 

[Mad Scientist]

This is also an issue of Mortgage Securities Bundling. How can anyone, or any bank, foreclose if they don't have clear and free title?

When the mortgage was bundled and sold, in some cases multiple times, who really has the title? The paperwork isn't clear and may never be.

 

[blu]

MERS is a huge deal, if congress doesn't basically grant amnesty to every company involved in mortgage backed securities then no house can be foreclosed on. all of the major banks would go bankrupt overnight

 

[william the wie]

The question is whether further bailouts can make it through congress? I doubt it. Many TBTF bond holders will wake up to find themselves stock holders.

 

[Pepe]

The question is whether further bailouts can make it through congress? I doubt it.

I agree.

This would be an unprecedented agreement between Liberals and the Tea Party supported Pubs.

Many TBTF bond holders will wake up to find themselves stock holders.

I agree again.

Haircuts are a coming along with possible Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 Filings by the TBTF.

A Qui Tam lawsuit in Tennessee against MERS is seeking millions, if not tens or hundreds of millions, in "Damages" for the local governments defrauded by MERS in the collection of revenue from Property Transfers.

I'm gonna need a scorecard to keep track of the players.

 

[Trajan]

This is also an issue of Mortgage Securities Bundling. How can anyone, or any bank, foreclose if they don't have clear and free title?

When the mortgage was bundled and sold, in some cases multiple times, who really has the title? The paperwork isn't clear and may never be.

and that leaves us where? this another unintended consequence of the bubble....its all part and parcel on this huge scale and has to be settled and not in years either.

look, the mortgage holders or their agents are not going to file on a house ( unless its an egregious mistake , yes, which happens) IF they are being paid. These folks are not paying, they know they are not paying and the loan holder knows it too.

Frankly this paper chase may be legal BUT its also causing much damage and we don't even know how bad it truly is yet. At the end of the day if they cannot prove they are paying, then litigation can wait. let the market clear.

 

[JWBooth]

...show me the note....

 

[Pepe]

This is also an issue of Mortgage Securities Bundling. How can anyone, or any bank, foreclose if they don't have clear and free title?

When the mortgage was bundled and sold, in some cases multiple times, who really has the title? The paperwork isn't clear and may never be.

This is part and parcel of the problem.

These Mortgages have been sold, packaged, tranched, retranched, bundled into CDOs, SDOs, MBS, ad infintium that no one knows for sure where the mortgage payment is actually going and who it is going to!

You may find yourself unable to obtain "Clear Title" to your home after the 360th Payment because no one knows who holds the Title.

and that leaves us where? this another unintended consequence of the bubble....its all part and parcel on this huge scale and has to be settled and not in years either.

look, the mortgage holders or their agents are not going to file on a house ( unless its an egregious mistake , yes, which happens) IF they are being paid. These folks are not paying, they know they are not paying and the loan holder knows it too.

Frankly this paper chase may be legal BUT its also causing much damage and we don't even know how bad it truly is yet. At the end of the day if they cannot prove they are paying, then litigation can wait. let the market clear.

I will state that both Parties to the Contract have legal obligations and the Lien Holder has has additional fiduciary responsibilities to which many have failed to adhere.

This problem is huge and is going to get much worse.

If it is true that MERS has "shredded" millions of Original Notes and Deeds of Trust than there are going to be many people going to Court for a “quiet title action.”

Then there are millions who are going to ask "Where is my mortgage payment going and to whom"? Some will sue.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

You know guys...25 years from now when history reveals this mess, I don't know what will be more troubling - the corruption and complete lack of ethics among 100,000's of individuals, politicians and our most "trusted" entities that completely failed in their duties; or that they didn't stop, and caused the 2nd collapse.

 

[Trajan]

This is also an issue of Mortgage Securities Bundling. How can anyone, or any bank, foreclose if they don't have clear and free title?

When the mortgage was bundled and sold, in some cases multiple times, who really has the title? The paperwork isn't clear and may never be.

This is part and parcel of the problem.

These Mortgages have been sold, packaged, tranched, retranched, bundled into CDOs, SDOs, MBS, ad infintium that no one knows for sure where the mortgage payment is actually going and who it is going to!

hummmmm, so let me play devils advocate- I am paying b of a right now. IF I stop paying, and months down the road a foreclosure is filed, I say hey show me the deed of trust that proves you are the owner, they can't so, I stay if I go to court and they cannot produce the note?

Fine then my question as a judge if I were adjudicating here is; why were you paying them in the first place? You recognized their hold or authority over you to collect payment....now you ask to see the actual deed, to what end? Are you paying ? answer? No........but because they cannot prove they hold the deed .....what then? I don't have to pay and they will yet keep piling up late fees destroy my credit etc etc. can they sue me? ..if I get back on my feet I would start paying THEM again....

the law is labyrinthine granted, but its not stupid nor should it be a suicide pact.

IF they are not paying, they go. Argue later, its not the mortgage payer who's ownership is at stake.

 

[william the wie]

This is part and parcel of the problem.

These Mortgages have been sold, packaged, tranched, retranched, bundled into CDOs, SDOs, MBS, ad infintium that no one knows for sure where the mortgage payment is actually going and who it is going to!

hummmmm, so let me play devils advocate- I am paying b of a right now. IF I stop paying, and months down the road a foreclosure is filed, I say hey show me the deed of trust that proves you are the owner, they can't so, I stay if I go to court and they cannot produce the note?

Fine then my question as a judge if I were adjudicating here is; why were you paying them in the first place? You recognized their hold or authority over you to collect payment....now you ask to see the actual deed, to what end? Are you paying ? answer? No........but because they cannot prove they hold the deed .....what then? I don't have to pay and they will yet keep piling up late fees destroy my credit etc etc. can they sue me? ..if I get back on my feet I would start paying THEM again....

the law is labyrinthine granted, but its not stupid nor should it be a suicide pact.

IF they are not paying, they go. Argue later, its not the mortgage payer who's ownership is at stake.

If you sue now and ask that your payments be placed in escrow until such time as a note holder in due course can be determined you are generally cool, with BofA's record there is a presumption of incompetence on their part so the judge is unlikely to be hostile. If the statute of limitations runs out or BofA tries to jack the judge around rather than produce the required documentation you get your house free clear without blemishes on your credit report. The escrow account may be ceded to BofA, I have no idea how CA works, but odds are you will get the house free and clear. BofA has a fiduciary responsibility and a terrible reputation for screwing the pooch.