Every day, mortgage companies attempt to foreclose on homeowners using false documents.
It’s a byproduct of the mortgage securitization craze during the housing bubble, when loans were sliced and diced so haphazardly that the actual ownership was confused.
When the bubble burst, lenders foreclosing on properties needed paperwork to prove their standing, but didn’t have it — leading mortgage industry employees to forge, fabricate and backdate millions of mortgage documents. This foreclosure fraud scandal was exposed in 2010, and acquired a name: “robo-signing.”
But while some of the offenders paid fines over the past few years, nobody cleaned up the documents. This rot still exists inside the property records system all over the country, and those in a position of authority appear determined to pretend it doesn’t exist.…Clouded titles?
The Intercept
Officials Cover Up Housing Bubble’s Scummy Residue: Fraudulent Foreclosure Documents
David Dayan
The MERS issue is overblown. Local jurisdictions probably don't want to go down that path because since most mortgages are completely, 100% done across state lines, they are interstate commerce and the Federal Govertment gets the final word on rule making. If certain jurisdictions begin to claim that government issued mortgages from Fannie and Freddie are not valid, it will take congress 3 seconds to fix the law. The best case for local governments is to leave well enough alone so that they can continue to pretend that all real estate transactions are local because the real estate is in their jurisdiction even though they clearly are not. If all corn grown in my backyard is "interstate commerce" then surely a mortgage loan that is funded across state lines is too, Wray has overstated the case on MERS.
ReplyDeleteIf I were a homeowner, I'd get a lawyer and insist that the letter of the law be followed. I'd also sue the lawyer or notary who drafted the purchase agreement.
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