Keep paperwork in mortgages
Mortgage companies “invented” a new method to transfer the all-important note electronically, bypassing state and local transfer fees. In many cases, the “note” which details the mortgage terms like property location, interest terms, etc., was lost or deliberately or accidentally destroyed.
Without this all-important note, banks have no standing in court because they cannot prove they own the mortgage. Because of this, bank lobbyists are climbing all over both houses of our government, trying to secure a deal whereby a federal law is crafted to make what they have done legal and give them standing in foreclosure courts without the paperwork that has been required for more than a century of land/property law.
Now that we know that the banks must find a way to get Congress to craft such a law in order for their sloppy paperwork to pass muster in foreclosure courts, we should warn our politicians and lawmakers of the dangers to the economy and to their careers if such a law is passed. Only if the banks are forced to the negotiating table with mortgage holders will there be fewer and fairer foreclosures and only if the banks are forced to acknowledge their missteps, and in some cases, fraudulent actions in mortgage note transfers and subsequent foreclosures, will there be justice and housing market recovery.
We know that lobbyist pressure will try to spin this proposed federal law making it legal to foreclose without the required note as “good for the housing market” and “the only thing that will push these foreclosures to completion and allow the market to recover.”
Baloney. Banks screwed up and only if they are made to pay the price of their incompetence and illegal machinations, will the market regain confidence. Be it known to all that the investment funds that bought “mortgage backed securities” from these banks are now suing to have the banks buy the bonds back. Why? No notes! The AAA-rated mortgage-backed securities are in many cases up to 40 percent empty of notes.
Anita Mitchell
Sugar Grove