By Dave Krieger

It’s news that’s almost too good to be true for not only borrowers but also for 49 states attorneys general that have banded together to attack lenders for violation of state laws with the recording of documents that were improperly notarized and attested to by robo-signors, something I cover heavily in the book “Clouded Titles”.

The Joint Statement of the Mortgage Foreclosure Multistate Group was just issued by the National Association of Attorneys General; and as of this posting, President-Elect of that organization, AG Rob McKenna of Washington took to the media to explain his state’s position on the matter and the fact that his office (already known to this author beforehand) was going to launch an investigation into the organizations responsible for filing what are pretty much considered to be “bogus assignments” and conveyances by improper attestations.

The sequence of events leading up to this press release was not anticipated so suddenly …

On October 9, 2010, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. CEO R.K. Arnold caused to be issued a national press release, of which this author views as doublespeak and damage control, which was posted on major news sites all over America, espousing the value of MERS and its ability to track mortgages …. quoted in part:

“MERS is one important component of the complex infrastructure of America’s housing finance system. Billions of dollars of mortgage money flow through the financial system every year. It takes many, often-unseen mechanical processes to properly get those funds into the hands of qualified homebuyers. Technology designed to reduce paperwork has a very positive effect on families and communities. They may not see it, but these things save money and time, creating reliability and stability in the system.”

MERS is a bankruptcy remote entity that has no assets or liabilities, no income or expenses; and no employees. It does not cover the actions of its “certifying officers”, who are now being accused of playing a part in the robo-signing activities which is drawing fire from the attorneys general and further muddying up the recordation system with documents that could clearly be challenged as having clouded the title to a homeowner’s property.

This author suspects that the title companies are going to have something to say about their participation in anything involving MERS with the latest reports of JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon, announcing four days later that his bank has stopped using MERS, based on court arguments by Chase’s lawyers that the MERS system is unable to accurately prove ownership of mortgages. The repercussions of this announcement cut right to the core of MERS’s credibility; but there’s more to the eye to those who have been aggressively following this chain of unraveling events. The MERS press release came out four days before the Dimon announcement, thus it appears that MERS was trying to cover its own rear end, knowing that this announcement was pending.
Conversely, for those planning litigation against their lenders and their subordinate trustees in non-judicial foreclosure states to quiet title, the announcement by Chase not only bodes negatively on MERS’s credibility, it also sets new discovery parameters necessary to attack the rest of the electronic recordation system in the impeachment of recorded documentation by other lenders.

“There’s no qualitative difference between judicial and non-judicial foreclosure states; it’s a procedural difference. Fraud is fraud, no matter what state you’re in; if it’s front of the court, it’s in front of the court,” says Seattle attorney Jill Smith of Natural Resources Law Group PLLC.

“If participating MERS lenders think they’re going to ‘fix’ the broken chains of title they’ve created in courthouses all over America to millions of titles to property, they are woefully mistaken”, concludes Dallas attorney Wade Kricken, who is launching quiet title actions on behalf of north Texas homeowners.

With the release of this latest news comes the forethought that other major lenders may be contemplating similar actions; pulling away from MERS in an effort to further distance themselves from the robo-signors who may be coming under fire personally for their actions.

Some insiders the author is talking to are already speculating Chapter 11 filings by some of the major lenders before this mess gets completely out of hand. The author sees that as a potential for the lenders to further write down losses on loans that were actually investor-funded, in order to distance themselves from capital gains issues.

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”:

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!

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.”

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.

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…)

(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…)

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…)