Utah Foreclosure Defense - Confessions of an Attorney

Utah Foreclosure Defense - Confessions of an Attorney - Video

Utah Foreclosure Defense - Confessions of an Attorney - Blog Post

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Issues of Bank fraud: Keep rearing their heads in the foreclosure crisis.

I read an article from LoanSafe.org that has me thinking about loan fraud. They talk about foreclosed homeowners bring legal challenges to challenge the bank’s actions, and bring out the original documentation that proves the bank still has the paperwork and the right to foreclose on them. Not only have theses home owners faced foreclosure, but many of them are now facing deficiency collections, because the bank was not able to recapture the full amount owed when it sold the property.

Just one problem: They don’t have the paperwork.

Many of these loans have been bought and sold so many times the banks simply lost the paper trail. In some circumstances they try to recreate the trail by falsifying documents to show they have the right to collect on the note. One study the article sites suggests that irregularities have been found in 99% of the loans reviewed showed irregularities and 84% of them showed “suspicious activities indicative of potential fraud.”

I think what we can gather from this that there are numerous ways to challenge a foreclosure and you don’t need to just roll over and let the bank control the process. I have found that when I push back against a bank to show the paperwork that supports their ownership of the loan as well as the accounting of how they got to the number they claim is owed, there seems to be a significant delay. It’s almost like they don’t know how to answer those questions, and it takes them two or three times to even get me the complete documents. I have also found that the banks suddenly become more willing to talk about a settlement of some kind when this information is requested.

This is probably not a catch all defense for home owners, but it is good to put the bank “to their proof.” There was a movement couple of years ago to try and get houses free and clear because of the bank’s inability to produce the original mortgage. Although this idea produced less success then some might have hoped the same principal still applies. Show me that you own my mortgage.

Jonathan Jaussi is an attorney from Freedom Legal in Utah, and helps consumers with mortgage related issues and real estate law. FreedomLegal.com