IT PAYS TO PLAY

By Dave Krieger

It never ceases to amaze me exactly what a company will do to make a lender look noteworthy. And by that I mean exactly what I say when I refer to the Florida Attorney General’s investigation into Lender Processing Service (LPS) aka DOCX’s apparent “manufacturing” of documents use to “prove” that a lender actually owns the note (the unsigned lottery ticket).

A lot of attorneys are waking up to the fact (as the author has known for quite some time) that when you see these documents, they aren’t always real as they seem.

I put together a list of 40 items with Section 7 of my book “Clouded Titles” on what to look for in these apparently-fraudulent documents. To let you know that several of the major law firms in Florida that are being taken to task for using LPS, they had to pay a price for this stuff. Here’s just a sample that was pulled off of their “price list”:

  • IA03 Create Missing Intervening Assignment $35.00 + TPC
  • IA04 Record Prepared Assignments $12.95 + TPC
  • IA05 Cure Defective Assignment $12.95 + TPC
  • IS01 FHA and VA Mortgage Insurance Submission $95.00 + TPC
  • UC01 Retrieving a UCC Package $15.95 + TPC
  • CF01 Recreate Entire Collateral File $95.00 + TPC
  • Can you imagine “creating” a missing assignment that would virtually prove the lender that’s foreclosing on you “really owns the note”? And they’re spending $35.00 and some change to virtually steal your home whether they really own it or not. There are title companies that will charge you a fee to do what is known as “corrective action” on a chain of title, wherein a missing quit claim deed or release of lien might be called for; however, something this barbaric?

    As I point out in the book, “Clouded Titles”, every single document produced is under scrutiny. That’s what I look for when I work with attorneys on these very exacting challenges. It’s all about the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where and why). When you find someone wearing two hats, the judge needs to know, because someone is going to have to crank out an affidavit. Don’t be fooled by affidavits either, because they’re supposed to reflect personal, first-hand knowledge of the actual drafting and execution of the documents.

    This reflects back on the Robo-Mills … where just last week, the author uncovered a purported Wells Fargo robo-mill in Eagan, Minnesota, wherein the robo-signors were alternating notarial signatures with each other. These documents were filed in the Maricopa County Recorder’s office; commingled with a host of other assignments by alleged “Vice Presidents of Loan Documentation” for Ashton Woods Mortgage LLC (a table-funding lender owned by Wells Fargo Bank). This frankly will not stop until a bunch of these folks get put in prison orange and a case in East Texas is coming close to doing just that!

    WHEN THE FRAUD HITS HOME … IT HITS BIG!

    By Dave Krieger

    The super sleuths in the network (as published on 4closureFraud) have managed to uncover and publish what is deemed to be a reliable Release of Mortgage for real property belonging to none other than Barack and Michelle Obama and it appears they’ve got a cloud on their title with the robo-signatures of one Marshe Craine who claims to be a “Vice President” of Chase Home Finance LLC. Let’s see what else she’s a “Vice President” for:

    But wait … it gets better!   Compare the two signatures! The top signature is the signature that appeared on the Obama paperwork. The bottom one is the signature that appeared on a random search for Marshe Craine’s signature.
    Do they look even remotely similar to you?  Now let’s get the notary that notarized BOTH of these documents and check out their signatures.  First, the Obama paperwork notary:

    Now the random signature notary:

    Notice the signatures appear to be the same, yet the notary witnessed two totally different signatures of Marshe Craine?  This is why H.B. 3808 didn’t pass the President’s desk.  It appears that Mr. Obama isn’t going to be able to quiet his title by Executive Order, does it?

    He’ll have to do what all other similarly-affected homeowners are going to have to do … file a quiet title suit.  And let’s not forget the consequences of a notary signing for a “Vice President” when there may have been two totally different people signing for the same person.

    An attorney at Lathrop & Gage (a firm of about 300 attorneys that represent the banks) told me that there is no legal way to reconstruct a chain of title.

    This is the kind of stuff that “clouded titles” are made of!   Now, let’s throw MERS into the mix:

    After reading this … aren’t you the least bit concerned about what might be filed on your documents at the county courthouse?  In anyone’s view, “This ain’t really legal.”

    BANK OF AMERICA HALTS FORECLOSURES IN ALL 50 STATES!

    It should come as no surprise that B of A would impose such a moratorium by halting all of its foreclosure actions in light of the scrutiny of its documents that are being filed in courthouses all over the country. Just because Bank of America, along with PNC Bank, Ally Financial (formerly GMAC Mortgage), JPMorgan Chase and others are allegedly examining their foreclosure paperwork for flaws doesn’t mean they don’t know what’s really going on. And while Wells Fargo Bank N.A. isn’t admitting to any of this alleged fraudulent paperwork, this author has uncovered at least one foreclosure paper mill network in Eagan, Minnesota, full of the robosignors that all of the other lenders are accused of utilizing.

    All of this is called damage control but it’s a far cry from the damage that all of these foreclosure actions have done in creating the real estate chaos in the nation’s county courthouses with the clouds on title. Despite the efforts of MERS, an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., a Delaware corporation whose parent MERSCORP, Inc., operates as a stock company with 17 known employees out of Reston, Virginia, the mess that MERS has made utilizing “authorized signers” on documents has still not been fully investigated. This author is seeing robosignor activity wherein the trustee will sign for the lender as a ìVice President for MERSî and appoint himself as a trustee so he can foreclose. In virtually all states, the trustee and beneficiary (the holder of the note) must be two separate entities.

    The challenges to slanders and clouds on titles are only the beginning and title companies are starting to get nervous. The people who think they are getting a great deal on buying foreclosures may find themselves in more trouble than they bargained for when the evicted families find out that the bank that foreclosed on them used fraudulent paperwork and their titles were clouded and now these investors are going to have to spend money quieting their titles, not to mention being caught in a legal crossfire between the foreclosed homeowner and the lender that sold them the foreclosed home. The author predicted in 2007 that this would start happening after the foreclosure meltdown. The frauds are now starting to come to light with the whistleblower activity surrounding Florida attorney David J. Stern. Florida AG Bill McCollum is getting closer to hitting the mark in demonstrating that the banks haven’t been totally honest with the judges there.

    OHIO’S SECRETARY OF STATE HAS REFERRED FRAUD TO THE DOJ!

    excerpted from the news release

    REFERRAL OF CHASE HOME MORTGAGE AND MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. TO FEDERAL PROSECUTOR:

    Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, in two letters dated Aug. 11, 2010 and Sept. 1, 2010, referred matters of alleged notary abuse in thousands of home mortgage foreclosures by Chase Home Mortgage and the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. to U.S. District Attorney Steven Dettelbach in Cleveland. Citing two depositions, (one & two) of Chase employee Beth Cottrell, taken in Columbus in May of 2010, and a deposition of MERS Secretary and Treasurer, William Hultman taken in New Jersey in April of 2010. These depositions contain sworn testimony that at Chase Home Mortgage, 18,000 documents per month are executed and notarized per month by eight people, with admissions that: It is the notary and not the document signer who gives an oath who fills in numbers in the affidavits used in court ordered foreclosures; no oath is administered for the signing of each document; notarized documents are not verified by the person signing and giving oath that they have personal knowledge of the contents of the documents, but rather, signers are relying on verification by others; documents are signed in bulk and notarized in bulk separately; notaries know this at the time they notarize documents in this process.

    [This is part of what my book CLOUDED TITLES analyzes in Chapter 7.] (more…)

    2017-03-18T22:56:50+00:00By |News|Comments Off on OHIO’S SECRETARY OF STATE HAS REFERRED FRAUD TO THE DOJ!

    FAULTY ADMISSIONS WORK WELL IN QUIET TITLE ACTIONS

    By Dave Krieger

    There may have been a halt to the foreclosure actions in 23 states by Ally Financial (formerly GMAC), JP Morgan Chase Bank and Bank of America but it ís not the end of the line.

    Those 23 states customarily represent the judicial states, where most of the dirty laundry gets aired with the pleadings that are filed against foreclosed homeowners by their lenders but I am sure you are asking yourself, what about the non-judicial states? Unfortunately for them, it is business as usual. Homeowners in those states get a notice in the mail; and in the 90-day window prior to the trustees sale, they will generally see a complete slander of the titles to their properties in some way, shape or form. However, they remain ignorant by choice because they are convinced that all of this mess is their fault. They are so focused on the debt … they can’t see the forest for the trees. (more…)

    WASHINGTON STATE TRUSTEE ADMITS TO SLANDERING TITLE

    (Seattle) An attorney for Quality Loan Service has admitted in writing to slandering the title to property of Karen & Barry Nilsen of Tacoma, following receipt of a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order from Seattle attorney Jill Smith, one of the frontrunner attorneys in quiet title actions in the state.

    QLS Default Resolution Manager Daniel J. Goulding issued an email to Ms. Smith, stating: I have reviewed our file and would agree that the 10/8/10 sale needs to be cancelled.  I say this based on the recorded Assignment having been executed prior to the recorded Substitution of Trustee. Because of this Quality has not been properly appointed and could not have properly issued the Notice of Sale. (more…)

    2017-03-18T22:56:50+00:00By |News|Comments Off on WASHINGTON STATE TRUSTEE ADMITS TO SLANDERING TITLE

    TITLE COMPANIES START REJECTING COVERAGE

    Mortgaged homeowners using Old Republic Title are starting to receive notices which state:  The Company will not insure title to any property which has been foreclosed by Ally Financial, Ally Bank or GMAC until further notice.

    The title companies are now very much aware (as some of us legal eagles have discovered behind the scenes), of their exposure to the frauds committed by the lenders and their foreclosure mill attorneys in the process of foreclosing on borrowers who they claim are in default. At issue are the affidavits and assignments that claim proof of ownership of the note on the part of the foreclosing lender.  

    Attorney depositions from an Ally Financial employee, Jeffrey Stephan, show that Stephan admitted signing these types of documents without having first-hand knowledge of their contents. Stephan is alleged to have signed thousands of these documents. There are also alleged violations of notarization procedure also coming to light, wherein the persons notarizing these assignments and affidavits were not present at the time of signature. These procedures not only bring fraud on the court but also give rise to wrongful foreclosure actions by ejected homeowners. (more…)

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