Posted on Saturday, 3rd December 2011 by Blake James
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is suing five of the nation’s largest banks over alleged “unlawful and deceptive conduct” in the foreclosure process.
Coakley today filed what she’s calling the “nation’s first comprehensive lawsuit” against Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Ally Financial over alleged unlawful foreclosures and other supposed wrongdoing.
The Suffolk Superior Court lawsuit also names the industry’s Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, as a defendant.
Coakley and her counterparts in other states around the country have been probing the banking industry for more than a year over allegations of major problems with mortgage and foreclosure paperwork.
While the two sides had been negotiating a possible multibillion-dollar, out-of-court settlement, Coakley announced in August that she had lost confidence the talks would resolve the issue.
Critics claim lenders failed to file paperwork, forged signatures on documents and otherwise broke states’ real estate transaction rules during the housing boom.
Later, firms allegedly backdated filings and engaged in other questionable practices to foreclose on properties once the market went bust.
“I am greatly pleased that Attorney General Coakley is taking on MERS and the big banks and holding them accountable,” said John O’Brien, the Southern Essex County register of deeds.
O’Brien has long claimed that banks avoided millions of dollars in filing fees by failing to submit proper paperwork to county registries of deeds.
Bank of America and other lenders temporarily halted foreclosure proceedings last year after lawsuits by homeowners uncovered a pattern of so-called “robo-signing.”
That’s where low-paid employees signed hundreds or even thousands of mortgage and foreclosure documents per day — sometimes using other people’s names and titles.
Many of the documents stated that the person signing swore under penalties and pains of perjury that the bank had the right to foreclose on a property.
However, some robo-signers later admitted in court depositions that they barely knew what they were signing.
The banking industry has generally denied any wrongdoing. Lenders argue that any paperwork fl
Full story…
Tags: Banks, Banks Foreclosure
Comments (0)
