Posted on 05/25/2010 1:30:38 PM PDT by longtermmemmory
--SNIP--
Partly responsible: a new Florida Supreme Court rule that requires lenders to verify they are the actual owners of a home before making the initial case for foreclosure.
Show me the "note," in other words.
The problem is that the notes — legal promises from borrowers to repay a debt — have been sold and resold, bundled into securities, scanned into computers, sealed in unknown vaults and lost in other ways as homes got caught up in the puzzling markets of the real estate boom.
"The original note is something very significant, and they just seem to have lost thousands of them," said Boca Raton attorney Marlyn Wiener, who handles real estate cases. "Nobody knows where the stuff is."
The new rule was approved in February with the intention of unclogging the foreclosure courts, which have an estimated statewide backlog of 500,000 cases. It also gives judges power to sanction plaintiffs who make false accusations on the ownership of notes or missing notes.
"I believe it has affected the number of new filings," said Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Meenu Sasser, who handles the county's foreclosures. "It streamlines the process."
Law firms handling the foreclosure overload, sometimes called foreclosure mills, have routinely filed a "lost note" claim with the original default notice, regardless of whether they looked for the note, said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
The legal move gives lenders a statutory out if the original note truly can't be located. When asked what efforts were made to find the note, however, such statements as "searched file cabinet" and "searched fire proof safe" have appeared on several court records.
"It was very confusing. How can you foreclose on the note if the note is lost?" Bailey said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
How would you convince a judge/jury that you had been making mortgage payments to someone without reason?
I will give that a try, I wouldn’t even think that would help. But what do I know.
Had a similar discussion about one of my wife’s credit cards. I must admit I was much more vulgar after they blew me off when I asked for proof I’d ever signed anything agreeing to pay.
“We don’t have to prove anything to you” is what I was told. I told them to make sure to have a lawyer on hand if they called me again or attempted collection on me without proof.
FWIW many are online apps w/nothing but an electronic signature.
That said they should be able to at least show you evidence of that.
I had a minor dispute with a car dealer here (they were having a contest and the “prizes” were not as advertised...long story). I wrote to the BBB and the state Atty General. Several letters later... got a small settlement offer. Was worth the effort at least. But I think it is somewhat intimidating to get notices from the attorney general, SEC, etc. Call the bank and talk to a bank officer and ask them what agencies regulate them, because you are going to send off letters to all such agencies, due to their inability to keep your records straight. Be sure to take notes, and make sure whoever you talk to knows you are taking notes (ask how to spell their name, who is their immediate supervisor, etc.). It might resolve itself after a call or two and a couple of letters.
Exactly!
It always amazes me that the little people are expected to keep up with every signed document and produce copies of 10 year old checks on demand, but credit card comanies and banks 'too big to fail' can just do whatever they like, and we're supposed to just cough up the cash?
I don't THINK so! :-)
Reference bump! ;-)
Don’t counties also have copies of mortgage notes on file?
A COPY of the Note is not acceptable. IN FACT, it’s securities fraud.
WHERE did the original Note go? STRAIGHT to the Fed Discount Window (bundled with others) to go out and trade trade trade trade trade in the bond market.
Your signature on the Note CREATED the CREDIT for the bank. They “lent” you nothing.
I can’t tell you how this offends me. I used to work in a bank mortgage department. In those days, the “notes” were held under dual control (two people at a time) in a vault. We would pull them out only to stamp them paid-in-full or for very controlled loan sales. We treated them like gold.
Wasn’t this always the case? I had heard that if you are foreclosed on the first piece of advice you get is to demand a copy of the note. Since mortgages are sold off so many times now, the odds are pretty good it will have gotten lost or nobody will be able to locate it.
Bump
This doesn’t affect me (as I have no mortgage), but....it is somewhat disconcerting that some financial entity could foreclose without having the proper documentation. That being said, typically banks notify you when they have sold your mortgage. In short, only the company you’re making your payments to should be able to foreclose.
In the end, if banks have no collateral, they won’t lend. Unless Obama “compells” them to.
After all this, we are recording all the phone calls. The only issue is we can’t email them the recordings. Fax only.
I was thinking of posting to an Internet Site. But it has private info.
Until the communists pass the national property tax.
In the case of lost notes, I think the bank doing the foreclosure would have to trace the note back to the original lender, or start with the original lender and go forward.
Absent paperwork, it would not be unreasonable to argue that the last bank to whom payments were made (at least for a period of time) would have a suprerior claim on the property.
Banks could also pay a title company to do a title search, but that could get pretty expensive if there are a lot of foreclosures.
There have been cases where the home owner has came fome from work to find their homes boarded up with notices on them when the home didn’t even have a mortgage on it!
In order to have standing as a plaintiff in a lawsuit, they must produce the ORIGNAL promissory note BEFORE filing suit.
(remember the taxpayers have PAID these worthless mortgages/notes 80% on the dollar)
mortgages are on file, notes are note on file.
also the transfers of ownership of the notes are seriously flawed. Signatures in Ohio but notarization in texas?
Bank of America services notes they do not own.
Banks have now taken to not listing the trusts they represent because it is an automatic lost note dismissal in some courtrooms.
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