Tag Archives: JPMorgan Chase

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a lawsuit against the nation's top three mortgage lenders charging that their use of the electronic registry system MERS has resulted in deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings throughout New York's state and federal courts. The lawsuit alleges that employees of Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, acting as ""MERS certifying officers,"" submitted court documents containing false information. MERS is also named as a defendant.

It will be at least three more days before the industry learns how many and which states have agreed to the robo-signing settlement that was proposed last week. The deadline for state attorneys general to opt in has been pushed from February 3 to February 6. A spokesperson for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says at least one state requested an additional business day to come to a decision, so Miller, who is head of the states' negotiating committee, moved the cut-off date to Monday.

State attorneys general have until Friday to sign on to a settlement that would resolve claims against the nation's top five mortgage servicers surrounding documentation errors in foreclosure processing, according to a widely circulated media report. The year-long back-and-forth between state counsels and the largest servicers may be in its final days ... possibly. Attorneys general in Delaware and California have already rejected the proposal, and some say without California, in particular, the settlement may not be of interest to the banks.

ISGN Corporation has obtained a $20 million secured line of credit from JPMorgan Chase, the company announced Wednesday. The line of credit from JPMorgan is available through November 21, 2012, subject to certain conditions. ISGN says the terms allow the company to utilize the entire $20 million immediately to take advantage of market opportunities in the first half of 2012.

As robo-signing reviews reach completion, servicers are beginning to work through some of their foreclosure backlogs, according to a third-quarter report from Moody's Investors Service. At the same time, the ratings agency found that loan modifications are on the decline. Servicers are now turning to loss mitigation alternatives such as short sales and deeds in lieu, Moody's says. The agency is also forecasting longer timelines this year to move properties from foreclosure sale to REO liquidation.

JPMorgan Chase kicked off the earnings reporting season for major U.S. lenders on Friday with its announcement that the company earned a record profit of $19 billion for the 2011 fiscal year. The numbers still failed to meet analysts' expectations, and details of the earnings data show the company continues to struggle with legacy issues stemming from the housing downturn. The company doled out more than $3 billion in 2011 to cover legal proceedings related to its mortgage business.

JPMorgan Chase may soon be hit with a barrage of mortgage repurchase demands from investors, largely stemming from the lender's acquisitions of Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns. The Texas-based law firm of Gibbs & Bruns LLP says its investor clients have instructed the trustees of $95 billion in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued by JPMorgan to open investigations in order to determine if the mortgage bonds are secured by ineligible loans.

Fannie Mae has released the third-quarter results of its Servicer Total Achievement Rewards (STAR) Program, which grades servicers on foreclosure prevention performance. The GSE says three companies - JPMorgan Chase, PHH Mortgage, and U.S. Bank - demonstrated improvements in scorecard metrics measuring the volume of foreclosure alternatives provided to borrowers. All three raised their scores to a 3-STAR rating, which means they are at or above the median performance level.

The U.S. Treasury said Wednesday that it will continue to withhold incentives from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America for modifications, short sales, and deeds-in-lieu completed through government programs. JPMorgan is the only servicer participating in Treasury's Making Home Affordable program that was determined to need ""substantial improvement"" in complying with program guidelines during the third quarter. Bank of America moved up a notch on the assessment scorecard to needing only ""moderate improvement.""

Disenchanted with the lack of progress made after a year of negotiations between state attorneys general and the nation's five largest mortgage servicers, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has split from the pack and filed her own individual lawsuit. Coakley is suing Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, and GMAC for what she says were ""illegal foreclosures."" The suit also names Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc. (MERS) and its parent company as defendants.