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News & ArtsFriday, February 3, 2012
Olympia While New York Sues Big Banks Over "Fraudulent" Mortgage Recording, Washington State Senators Say the Matter Needs More Study
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 3:16 PM
Remember those important home foreclosure bills (here, here, and here) that I've been following?
One of them, SB 6070, would shed light on the mysterious world of mortgage securitization by forcing big banks to record, in the county of the property in question, every selling and re-selling and re-packaging of a particular home's mortgage.
This would raise money for cash-strapped counties while also allowing home owners—including those facing foreclosure—to figure out who really owns their mortgage, all without the homeowner having to go to MERS.
You ask: What's MERS?
Take it away, New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman:
NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Friday accused three major U.S. banks of fraudulently using an electronic mortgage database to avoid the need for recording mortgage transfers...
"The mortgage industry created MERS to allow financial institutions to evade county recording fees, avoid the need to publicly record mortgage transfers and facilitate the rapid sale and securitization of mortgages en masse," Schneiderman said.
But down in Olympia, SB 6070—which addresses exactly the problem that the New York AG is now going to court about—won't be going anywhere except an extended study session that could last until December. Here's what went down when the bill was recently discussed at Sen. Steve Hobbs's Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance Committee:
1
In other words, why your Police and Jail services have to be cut.
Cause the County has about 40-50 percent of their budget go for that.
All so the CEO of a banking firm can avoid taxes here and in his Swiss account on a record payout of $150 million in a year when his bank lost money.
Ain't looting grand?
Cause the County has about 40-50 percent of their budget go for that.
All so the CEO of a banking firm can avoid taxes here and in his Swiss account on a record payout of $150 million in a year when his bank lost money.
Ain't looting grand?
2
Sure, but legislation to poke at MERS is no magic bullet. It's resonating with voters, but federal judges being asked to review MERS cases aren't seeing problems at a level that justifies the hype so far. Nothing wrong with AGs doing press conferences, and it's fun to jab at the financial system, for sure. If you're like me and wouldn't ordinarily know a MERS from a botnet, here's a pretty good summary of why one big MERS class action got dismissed a few months ago.
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/1…
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/1…
3
If you have a mortgage, you are not a homeowner. If you own your home outright, you are a homeowner.
4
I pay my mortgage regularly, but for all I know I could be paying the wrong bank.
With all this repackaging and reselling of mortgages, I wouldn't mind seeing proof that my bank actually owns mine, because otherwise, I could pay the house off, and then some other bank could come out of nowhere and claim THEY own it and weren't paid.
Is there a straightforward way of doing this? Also, is this a reasonable concern, or am I worried over nothing?
With all this repackaging and reselling of mortgages, I wouldn't mind seeing proof that my bank actually owns mine, because otherwise, I could pay the house off, and then some other bank could come out of nowhere and claim THEY own it and weren't paid.
Is there a straightforward way of doing this? Also, is this a reasonable concern, or am I worried over nothing?
5
There's just something deeply offensive to me about this business of exalted levels of finance that take place on a microsecond time scale, skirt all the paperwork rules the rest of us have to follow, involve no concentrated/sustained effort, make billions—and that none of us ordinary mortals have a chance to participate in. (The food was terrrrrrible, and so little of it!)
If my sweaty, grinning banker desires to make even more money on my mortgage by selling it to another entity, I want him forced to drive 45 miles to the county courthouse and wait while the little birdlike recorder writes out all the details in her loopy, arthritic cursive, dammit.
If my sweaty, grinning banker desires to make even more money on my mortgage by selling it to another entity, I want him forced to drive 45 miles to the county courthouse and wait while the little birdlike recorder writes out all the details in her loopy, arthritic cursive, dammit.
6
Authentic Democrat Sighting...Authentic Democrat Sighting...Authentic Democrat Sighting...
Official BOLO Warning: the following authentic democrats have been recently sighted.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley...
...is suing five major US banks for allegedly seizing properties unlawfully and failing to help struggling borrowers keep their homes by lowering mortgage payments.
The civil lawsuit — filed yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court — targets Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., and GMAC, a subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc. Also named are Mortgage Electronic Registration System Inc., a widely used mortgage recording firm, and its parent company.
http://bostonglobe.com/business/2011/12/…
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto...
..Learn the name Catherine Cortez Masto, because she just took a big leap in front of every public servant in the country in terms of restoring faith in government. As Nevada AG, she actually indicted someone for blowing up our housing system. Specifically, she handed down 606 counts of felony or gross misdemeanor indictments on robo-signing against two employees of big bank subcontractor Lender Processing Services.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/11/m…
And, of course, NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman...
...A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN ANNOUNCES MAJOR LAWSUIT AGAINST NATION’S LARGEST BANKS FOR DECEPTIVE & FRAUDULENT USE OF ELECTRONIC MORTGAGE REGISTRYComplaint Charges Use Of MERS By Bank Of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, And Wells Fargo Resulted In Fraudulent Foreclosure Filings
Be advised, these three rare authentic democrats are not covered under the Endangered Species Act, and they need all our support for the continued survival!
More...
Official BOLO Warning: the following authentic democrats have been recently sighted.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley...
...is suing five major US banks for allegedly seizing properties unlawfully and failing to help struggling borrowers keep their homes by lowering mortgage payments.
The civil lawsuit — filed yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court — targets Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., and GMAC, a subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc. Also named are Mortgage Electronic Registration System Inc., a widely used mortgage recording firm, and its parent company.
http://bostonglobe.com/business/2011/12/…
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto...
..Learn the name Catherine Cortez Masto, because she just took a big leap in front of every public servant in the country in terms of restoring faith in government. As Nevada AG, she actually indicted someone for blowing up our housing system. Specifically, she handed down 606 counts of felony or gross misdemeanor indictments on robo-signing against two employees of big bank subcontractor Lender Processing Services.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/11/m…
And, of course, NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman...
...A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN ANNOUNCES MAJOR LAWSUIT AGAINST NATION’S LARGEST BANKS FOR DECEPTIVE & FRAUDULENT USE OF ELECTRONIC MORTGAGE REGISTRYComplaint Charges Use Of MERS By Bank Of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, And Wells Fargo Resulted In Fraudulent Foreclosure Filings
Be advised, these three rare authentic democrats are not covered under the Endangered Species Act, and they need all our support for the continued survival!
7
Really excellent, and I believe one of the oldest existing sites on MERS:
http://www.chinkinthearmor.net/
MERS Directors
Ed Albrigo
Senior Vice President,
Enterprise Services Freddie Mac
McLean, VA
R.K. Arnold
President & CEO
MERSCORP, Inc.
Vienna, VA
Barry Bier
Executive Vice President (retired)
GMAC Residential Holding Corp.
Fort Washington, PA
John Courson
President and Chief Operating Officer
Mortgage Bankers Association
Washington, DC
Henry Cunningham
President
Cunningham & Company
Greensboro, NC
S.A. Ibrahim
CEO Radian Group
Philadelphia, PA
John Johnson
Chairman & CEO
MortgageAmerica, Inc.
Birmingham, AL
Leo Knight
CEO (retired)
National City Mortgage
Miamisburg, Ohio
Pat Lamb
President, Mortgage Division (retired)
1st National Bank of Arizona
Scottsdale, AZ
Ron McCord
Chairman & CEO
First Mortgage Company, LLC
Oklahoma City, OK
Michael Petrie
President P/R
Mortgage & Investment Corp.
Carmel, IN
Kurt Pfotenhauer
CEO
American Land Title Association
Washington, DC
Bruce Posey
(MERS Subsidiary Director)
President and CEO
Streeter Brothers Mortgage Corp.
Billings, Montana
John Robbins
Managing Director and Special Counsel (retired)
Vertice Lending
San Diego, CA
Deborah Schiavo
Senior Director
Marcus & Millichap
New York, NY
Marianne Sullivan
Senior Vice President
Fannie Mae
Washington, D.C
H.G. Waddell
Executive Vice President
United Guaranty Residential Insurance Co.
Greensboro, NC
Michael Young
Chairman of the Board
Cenlar
Ewing, NJ
More...
http://www.chinkinthearmor.net/
MERS Directors
Ed Albrigo
Senior Vice President,
Enterprise Services Freddie Mac
McLean, VA
R.K. Arnold
President & CEO
MERSCORP, Inc.
Vienna, VA
Barry Bier
Executive Vice President (retired)
GMAC Residential Holding Corp.
Fort Washington, PA
John Courson
President and Chief Operating Officer
Mortgage Bankers Association
Washington, DC
Henry Cunningham
President
Cunningham & Company
Greensboro, NC
S.A. Ibrahim
CEO Radian Group
Philadelphia, PA
John Johnson
Chairman & CEO
MortgageAmerica, Inc.
Birmingham, AL
Leo Knight
CEO (retired)
National City Mortgage
Miamisburg, Ohio
Pat Lamb
President, Mortgage Division (retired)
1st National Bank of Arizona
Scottsdale, AZ
Ron McCord
Chairman & CEO
First Mortgage Company, LLC
Oklahoma City, OK
Michael Petrie
President P/R
Mortgage & Investment Corp.
Carmel, IN
Kurt Pfotenhauer
CEO
American Land Title Association
Washington, DC
Bruce Posey
(MERS Subsidiary Director)
President and CEO
Streeter Brothers Mortgage Corp.
Billings, Montana
John Robbins
Managing Director and Special Counsel (retired)
Vertice Lending
San Diego, CA
Deborah Schiavo
Senior Director
Marcus & Millichap
New York, NY
Marianne Sullivan
Senior Vice President
Fannie Mae
Washington, D.C
H.G. Waddell
Executive Vice President
United Guaranty Residential Insurance Co.
Greensboro, NC
Michael Young
Chairman of the Board
Cenlar
Ewing, NJ
8
Note to useless professional salary-raising pols at the State Senate:
Here's all the information you should require in the following three reports:
(Just search under Washington Mutual, please?)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fcic/fcic.pdf
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/Fi…
(backgrounder:)
http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cd/d18a/d1…
And this most excellent timeline should anyone's memory require refreshing, from Nomi Prins:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/07/…
Here's all the information you should require in the following three reports:
(Just search under Washington Mutual, please?)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fcic/fcic.pdf
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/Fi…
(backgrounder:)
http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cd/d18a/d1…
And this most excellent timeline should anyone's memory require refreshing, from Nomi Prins:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/07/…
9
Sgt. Doom, I have my mortgage through:
Bruce Posey
(MERS Subsidiary Director)
President and CEO
Streeter Brothers Mortgage Corp.
Billings, Montana
what does that mean to me? These people have been real peckers over the last several years, can I nail them with something, maybe shed a little light on them? Thanks.
Bruce Posey
(MERS Subsidiary Director)
President and CEO
Streeter Brothers Mortgage Corp.
Billings, Montana
what does that mean to me? These people have been real peckers over the last several years, can I nail them with something, maybe shed a little light on them? Thanks.
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