Tag Archives: Bank of America

Evidence of major servicers mishandling foreclosure paperwork has cast a cloud of doubt over the entire industry and servicing procedures across the board. Consumer advocacy groups and a number of state attorneys general have demanded a nationwide moratorium on foreclosures. But two senior White House officials have indicated that the Obama administration will not support an all-out foreclosure freeze. So far, five companies have announced voluntary foreclosure suspensions because of potential deficiencies in the legal paperwork.

Litton Loan Servicing LP, the Houston-based mortgage servicing unit of Goldman Sachs has joined the ranks of mortgage firms issuing a voluntarily foreclosure moratorium. The company has declined to release details of which states the suspension encompasses or how many loans it might affect.

PNC Financial Services Group is the fourth large lender to suspend foreclosures within the past three weeks because of potential deficiencies in the legal paperwork. The bank has reportedly notified its industry partners that it is holding up sales of foreclosed homes in judicial states for 30 days while the company reviews its internal servicing procedures.

Bank of America is expanding its foreclosure freeze from the 23 judicial states to include all 50 states. Consumer advocacy groups, state attorneys general, and federal lawmakers are all calling for GMAC Mortgage and JPMorgan Chase to also extend their foreclosure moratoriums nationwide. PNC Financial has reportedly become the fourth major lender to institute a foreclosure suspension in the judicial states. An announcement is expected to come as early as Tuesday of a joint investigation by attorney general offices in as many as 40 states.

The foreclosure paperwork gaffe at GMAC Mortgage has garnered heavy attention from the highest legal counsels in states across the country, and at least one attorney general is pressing charges. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday against GMAC Mortgage and Ally Financial, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray accuses the loan servicer and its agents of filing fraudulent affidavits in an attempt to mislead Ohio's courts. He is seeking a preliminary foreclosure injunction, $25,000 for every violation, and consumer restitution.

The head of one of the nation's largest nonprofit housing and foreclosure counseling organizations is leaving his post for a job in the private sector. Kenneth Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America, has announced his plan to resign at the end of the calendar year after six years at the organization's helm. Beginning in January, Wade will join the nation's largest mortgage lender, Bank of America, as senior community affairs executive, where he will be responsible for furthering BofA's relationships with key organizations in community development, neighborhood stabilization, and consumer policy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation are petitioning federal regulators and the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a formal investigation into servicers' foreclosure practices. The request was prompted by the recent reports of systemic mishandling of foreclosure affidavits by three major mortgage servicers. Delegation members say they have received thousands of complaints from their constituents, which ""appear to outline a clear pattern of misconduct on the part of lenders and servicers.""

Three major mortgage lenders have halted foreclosures in states where the process is handled through the court system after suspicions surfaced that employees did not follow legal procedures in preparing the required documentation. These paperwork problems are widely expected to draw out the already devastating foreclosure crisis in the affected areas. We've dug a little deeper to provide a list of the states where judicial foreclosures are the standard and that are most likely impacted by the foreclosure suspensions announced.

The nation's largest bank has halted foreclosures in certain states after evidence was disclosed that it too had ill-famed ""robo-signers"" rubber-stamping approvals of foreclosure cases without verifying their validity. Bank of America has placed foreclosure actions in 23 judicial states on hold while it determines if the paperwork was processed correctly and affidavits by staff members were indeed legitimate. BofA is the third major mortgage lender in two weeks to call for a foreclosure freeze.

One of the nation's foremost banking regulators has issued a directive to large mortgage servicers, ordering them to reassess their procedures for foreclosing on defaulted borrowers. John Walsh, head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) told lawmakers that he contacted seven institutions his agency supervises, after several large lenders announced a halt on foreclosures in states where filings might contain erroneous paperwork and preparers may have broken the law in their haste to process large volumes of cases.