I know, I know... file this under "Breaking: Water is Wet!"
Analysis: Doubts raised on OCC foreclosure estimateBy Scot J. Paltrow
WASHINGTON | Fri Mar 25, 2011 4:38pm EDT
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(Reuters) - A Reuters analysis raises doubts about a widely cited statement by U.S. Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh that only a "small number" of wrongful foreclosure sales have occurred despite widespread misdeeds by banks that are the leading mortgage loan servicers.
In a February appearance before the Senate Banking Committee, Walsh testified that formal examinations of 14 banks contradicted fears that many thousands of homeowners had been evicted erroneously because of mistakes and wrongdoing by the banks.
"Our work identified a small number of foreclosure sales that should not have proceeded," he said.
Yet...
Records examined by Reuters and interviews with legal aid lawyers indicate that many thousands of fraudulent mortgage assignments were used as evidence to justify foreclosures. These assignments, meant to prove transfer of ownership of a mortgage, were signed by individuals who had no relation to the banks that had issued the mortgages, and they were dated years after the legal deadlines for making such assignments.
Joe Klein, an attorney with Legal Aid of Collier County, Florida, who specializes in representing indigent homeowners in foreclosures, said that almost without exception the foreclosure cases filed against his clients contained false documents. "They're always frauds and forgeries," he contends.
Gardner said that in all of the cases he has handled, "I've never seen a complete chain of transfers and of the (mortgage promissory) note" to the trusts that had filed to foreclose.
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Link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/25/us-usa-foreclosures-occ-idUSTRE72N5H020110325:shrug: