OCC Takes Enforcement Action Against Eight Servicers for Unsafe and Unsound, Including $hitiBank!!!

http://www.occ.treas.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47.html

Links to The Orders below

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 13, 2011

Contact: Robert Garsson

(202) 874-5770

OCC Takes Enforcement Action Against Eight Servicers for Unsafe and Unsound

Foreclosure Practices

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today announced formal enforcement actions against eight national bank mortgage servicers and two third-party servicer providers for unsafe and unsound practices related to residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing.

The eight servicers are Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. The two service providers are Lender Processing Services (LPS) and its subsidiaries DocX, LLC, and LPD Default Solutions, Inc.; and MERSCORP and its wholly owned subsidiary, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS).

"These comprehensive enforcement actions, coordinated among the federal banking regulators, require major reforms in mortgage servicing operations," said acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh. "These reforms will not only fix the problems we found in foreclosure processing, but will also correct failures in governance and the loan modification process and address financial harm to borrowers. Our enforcement actions are intended to fix what is broken, identify and compensate borrowers who suffered financial harm, and ensure a fair and orderly mortgage servicing process going forward."

The enforcement actions require the servicers to promptly correct deficiencies in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure practices that examiners identified in reviews conducted during the fourth quarter of 2010. The actions require the servicers to make significant improvements in practices for residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing, including communications with borrowers and dual-tracking, which occurs when servicers continue to pursue foreclosure during the loan modification process. The enforcement actions require the servicers to ensure that foreclosures are not pursued once a mortgage has been approved for modification and to establish a single point of contact for borrowers throughout the loan modification and foreclosure processes. In addition, the actions require servicers to establish robust oversight and controls pertaining to their third-party vendors, including outside legal counsel, that provide default management or foreclosure services.

The OCC's actions also require each servicer to engage an independent firm to conduct a multi-faceted review of foreclosure actions between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2010. This requirement includes a comprehensive "look back" to assess whether foreclosures complied with federal and state laws, whether foreclosures occurred when grounds for foreclosure were not present, such as when loans were performing, and whether any errors, misrepresentations or other deficiencies resulted in financial injury to borrowers. The actions also require each servicer to establish a process for borrowers who believe they have been financially harmed by such deficiencies to make submissions to be considered for remediation. Each servicer must also submit a plan to remediate all financial injury to borrowers caused by any errors, misrepresentations, or other deficiencies identified in the independent consultant's findings.

The OCC based its enforcement actions on the findings of examinations conducted as part of the interagency horizontal reviews undertaken by the federal banking regulators in the fourth quarter of 2010. Examinations of these eight national bank servicers identified significant weaknesses in mortgage servicing and foreclosure governance that resulted in unsafe and unsound practices. The scope and degree of these practices differed among the servicers; however, based on the sample of files reviewed by OCC examiners, borrowers in the sample were seriously delinquent at the time of foreclosures and servicers held the notes and documents required to foreclose. A summary of the findings of the interagency reviews is available in the Interagency Review of Foreclosure Policies and Practices, which was produced by the OCC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

The enforcement actions do not preclude determinations regarding assessment of civil money penalties, which the OCC is holding in abeyance.

Go here for Related Links as listed below; http://www.occ.treas.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47.html

Interagency Review of Foreclosure Policies and Practices (PDF)

Consent Order for Bank of America (PDF)

Consent Order for Citibank (PDF)

Consent Order for HSBC Bank (PDF)

Consent Order for JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (PDF)

Consent Order for LPS; DocX, LLC; and LPD Default Solutions, Inc. (PDF)

Consent Order for MetLife Bank, N.A. (PDF)

Consent Order for MERSCORP and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) (PDF)

Consent Order for PNC Bank, N.A. (PDF)

Consent Order for U.S. Bank National Association, U.S. Bank National Association ND (PDF)

Consent Order for Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (PDF)

Big Banks Sued for Fraud by Bankrupt Mortgage Co.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/business/03mortgage.html

JP Morgan v. Harp

Court finds bank improperly foreclosed on homeowner
http://tickerforum.org/akcs-www?post=177148

Home Values Drop for Sixth Consecutive Period, The Shameful Mortgage Paperwork Fiasco

CK Hunter April 11, 2011 at 9:55 am URL: http://wp.me/pzpRW-2O0 Copyright 2011-3011 Alternative News Forum, All Rights Reserved. I cannot promise you that you won't be infuriated when you watch this clip from CBS "60 Minutes." What has been done to American home owners is criminal beyond description. It is my most urgent desire to see these crooks working in banks, in mortgage brokerages, on Wall Street and in any profession that has contributed to the fleecing of US home owners get theirs in court and spend the rest of their days confined in prison. I was speechless when I watched this video. I never thought that business people in America were able to stoop this low. More and more it appears we no longer have an actual banking and mortgage industry. Instead we have some sort of crime cabal of corrupt mafia men masquerading as Wall Street investment houses, banks and mortgage brokers. If these people are not identified, located, and finally prosecuted then what hope of any kind of justice do we have for any crime commited, whether it's a crime of hidden high finance, or an open heist. A heist is a heist is a heist. And what these people have done to American home owners is an all out heist. My heart really goes out to people who are going through this kind of agony trying to stay in their homes. If we create enough outrage, hopefully the criminal justice system will swing into gear and begin prosecuting these rotten bankers and Wall Street paper pushers who not only devastated the mortgage market with their criminal back room deals, buying and selling mortgages, but then added the final injustice by losing the original mortgage papers and forging copies instead. Share this video with those you know and love. Chase Kyla Hunter http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf

NY S. Ct. Upholds MERS Standing to Foreclose

New York Supreme Court upholds MERS ability to foreclose
by JON PRIOR ·
*Ongoing MERS lawsuits may hurt current RMBS; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/03/28/ongoing-mers-lawsuits-may-hurt-current-rmbs

*MERS to members: Don’t foreclose in our name; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/17/mers-to-members-don%e2%80%99t-foreclose-in-our-name
*New Hampshire court latest to uphold MERS right to transfer mortgage; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/25/new-hampshire-court-latest-to-uphold-mers-right-to-transfer-mortgage

*Lost in New York, MERS claims victory in Kansas; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/16/lost-in-new-york-mers-claims-victory-in-kansas

*Alabama judge denies securitization trustee standing to foreclose; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/04/01/alabama-judge-denies-securitization-trustee-standing-to-foreclose

Monday, March 14th, 2011, 10:43 am

The Supreme Court of the State of New York ruled in favor of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems last week, validating the company's ability to foreclose on a mortgage and assign it. Judge Lucindo Suarez found in the case Bank of New York v. Sachar the Bank of New York Mellon has standing to foreclose based on a MERS assignment and the delivery of the note. Suarez said in his ruling the bank showed enough documentation to do so. "Plaintiff has shown that the assignment of the mortgage was not made retroactively," Suarez wrote. "Although the assignment refers only to an assignment of the mortgage, physical delivery of the note is sufficient to transfer the obligation, and plaintiff has established that the note was delivered to it prior to the commencement of this action." Adam Levitin, associate professor of law at Georgetown University, said the case could still go to the Court of Appeals, the top court in the state. "This ruling muddies the waters, but doesn’t really change things," Levitin said. A judge in a lower New York bankruptcy court ruled in February that MERS had no right to transfer the mortgage and thus no right to foreclose on the loan; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/14/merscorp-lacks-right-to-transfer-mortgages-judge-says In the middle of February, MERS told its members not to foreclose on residential mortgages in its name; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/17/mers-to-members-don%E2%80%99t-foreclose-in-our-name Consumer attorneys across the country continue to challenge this ability, but victories for MERS continue to emerge. MERS has already won cases in New Hampshire; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/25/new-hampshire-court-latest-to-uphold-mers-right-to-transfer-mortgage California; http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/23/mers-rights-upheld-in-largest-foreclosure-state and Kansas http://www.housingwire.com/2011/02/16/lost-in-new-york-mers-claims-victory-in-kansas However, Virginia legislators are pushing to phase out the company and its role in tracking Ginnie Mae guaranteed mortgages; http://www.housingwire.com/2010/12/16/bill-aims-to-end-gse-affiliation-with-mers Email author @ jon DOT prior@housingwire.com

Criminal Law & Subprime Mortgages

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/LawandS

House votes to kill Obama mortgage plan

House votes to kill Obama mortgage plan