Foreclosure alarms rang months ago

[Joanne98]

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 9, 2010

Consumer advocates and lawyers warned federal officials in recent years that the U.S. foreclosure system was designed to seize people's homes as fast as possible, often without regard to the rights of homeowners.

In recent days, amid reports that major lenders have used improper procedures and fraudulent paperwork to seize properties, some Obama administration officials have acknowledged they had been aware of flaws in how the mortgage industry pursues foreclosures.

But the officials said they could take only limited action to address the danger. In part, this was because they wanted lenders' help carrying out federal programs to modify mortgages that had fallen into default or were poised to do so.

New concerns about improper practices - such as those involving faked documents or "robo-signers" who signed tens of thousands of documents without reviewing them - have prompted the mortgage servicing arms of the country's largest banks to freeze millions of foreclosures. As momentum builds for a national moratorium, the administration has begun assessing the potential impact, examining the threat it could pose for the ailing housing market and the wider financial system.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/09/AR2010100904237.html

[Warpy]

1. It rang for me a long time ago, the first time I read about somebody

in Florida who was going through hell because some foreclosure mill was trying to get them out of a house they'd paid for in full. That told me there were major screwups in paperwork all along the line and we were heading for a major disaster at some point.

If you think the CDS and CDO mess was bad, wait until this one really hits hard. In the meantime, it's probably why Republicans are so desperate to get back in this time, they want to cover it up.