Monday, December 11, 2006

National Housing Forum

The Office of Thrift Supervision will sponsor the National Housing Forum today, to be held at the Press Club in Washington DC.  I am scheduled to speak on a panel entitled “Mortgage Fraud” moderated by Robert Russell, Esq., General Counsel to the Director of the OTS.  My fellow panelists are John D. Arterberry, Executive Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division Fraud Section for the US Department of Justice; Scott Husted, First Vice President of IndyMac Bank on behalf of America’s Community Bankers; and William Brewster, Director of Anti-Fraud Initiatives for Fannie Mae (I don’t expect any of these gentlemen ever expected to see their names in blue on THIS website!)

The event will be carried live on C-SPAN and on the OTS website (www.ots.gov.)

Other notable speakers include John M. Reich, Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision; Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury; Representative Michael G. Oxley, Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services and Representative Barney Frank, Ranking Member, Committee on Financial Services. The entire agenda can be viewed at the OTS Website. 

mortgage fraud

1. I have been swindled out of my home by a group of Equity Skimmers in Redding California.

   My home went into foreclosure.  Then a man identifying himself as the owner of a bank came to my home and sold me on a “foreclosure recovery program”, making me all sorts of promises if I deed my home over to him.

   Being desperate, I did deed my home over to him - and now he has come across on none of the promises - but has gotten a loan on the property, jacking up the appraised value so he just made over $200,000.00 on the ransaction (financed through his own bank).

   What are my channels of recourse to get my home back and perhaps punitive damages?

   Posted by  on  12/12  at  06:11 AM

2. Remember that lawyers have also participated in these scams. It is critical that people check the background of the lawyer that they are conducting legal business with. Our lawyer got my family and many other people in my town and his license was suspended for an indefinite amount of time for doing nothing after we paid him over 10,000.00 to save our home. It is on the Ohio Supreme Court Records and he really hurt many people. It would not have gotten to this place if the mortgage company would have responded to our numerous phone calls to them during a period of six months. It took another financial firm to contact them and inform them of their wrongdoings toward us and this is when they spoke to us. Six months later, which meant higher fees and more money to be paid back. How do you send someone a tape to tell them how to avoid foreclosure and then you do not respond to their numerous telephone calls? Their lawyer was not even aware of the tape. Our payments were horrendous and it took one time to be late, and the procedures started all over again. It was a nightmare and my heart bleeds for those who have to face these dire circumstances. There has to fairer laws in place to protect the consumer. I was mocked and teased by the mortgage company’s law firm for a long time. It was humiliating, but I dealt with their cruel humor while I was fighting for my home because my lawyer was doing nothing. He possibly had made a bargain with the mortgage company. Whatever the scheme was could have been fought by a competent lawyer, which I originally spoke to, but he was not willing to wait for the money and I needed someone to respond to court documents immediately. The lawyer hired was willing to wait for the initial 5,000 that had to be paid. I paid it all at once and paid him 5,000 more for the next year. I pleaded to the judge about his misconduct when he did not show up for court and the judge informed us that our lawyer was not working for us. The lawyer did not save our home, but our Bar Association in our city helped us get some relief from his fraudulent acts. I miss my house and I did stayed in it for two years before he failed us in the end. My perception of the American Dream of being a homeowner died twice- the day that the mortgage company did not respond to the tape that they sent me and the day that the lawyer stopped working to save my home. I was vulnerable and they treated me no less than a vulcher would treat their prey.

   Posted by  on  12/12  at  02:53 PM

3. Too bad you couldn’t get good old Casey S. on the docket!  (Was he mentioned?)

   Would be good if Henry Paulson talked to his buddies in the banking industry and at The Fed about how the credit system is creating bubble after bubble and wasting the economy with decades of compounding dislocations.

   Posted by J. C. Ernharth  on  12/13  at  12:45 PM

4. Where J. C. Ernharth wrote:

   >>Too bad you couldn’t get good old Casey S. on the docket!  (Was he mentioned?<<

   Who is Casey S.?  What docket?
   

   >>Would be good if Henry Paulson talked to his buddies in the banking industry and at The Fed about how the credit system is creating bubble after bubble and wasting the economy with decades of compounding dislocations.<<

   Should I look up Henry Paulson?  What branch of The Fed are you referring to?

   This entry doesn’t sound like an address of my inquiry or an offering of information particularly useful to me in my situation - but more of acadamia for the casual reader.

   I was hoping to glean some useful information through this entry of mine that might shed light on my situation.

   I am still in my home and fighting to regain ownership perhaps through pertinant civil code sections, etc.

   I know this is not a place to find legal advice, but I had hoped to have found information like the following:

   ***************************************

   I have attached below the definition of “equity skimming” along with a few articles.
   
   I would recommend one to organize all of his paperwork; outline what happened; file a police report; speak with the District Attorney; and file a complaint to the Attorney General.
   
   Better yet, if one knows of other homeowners who have been victimized, they should take the above steps together collectively AND speak with an investigative reporter about handling the story.
   
   The Federal Trade Commission has this type of scam HIGH on their radar list, so a complaint should be filed with the FBI and FTC as well.
   
   I hope this helps.
   
   Marie McDonnell
   THE MORTGAGE COUNSELOR
   Raising the Standard of Truth in Lending through Auditing, Education and Advocacy

   ***************************************

   Posted by  on  12/15  at  07:56 PM

5. My first instinct would be to find an attorney familiar with litigation, consumer protection and possibly banking law.

   The next call would be to local police in order to start the paper trail if/when you need it down the road. Don’t expect much, if anything, from the FBI or FTC but again the paper trail will be important later on.

   Having said that, there does seem to be a bit of interest these days in “foreclosure rescue scams”. It might be beneficial to contact your state AG and let them know what happened.

   For what it’s worth, I hired Ms. McDonnell several years ago when I first realized that I was being set up for Mortgage Servicing Fraud by Fairbanks Capital Corp. n/k/a Select Portfolio Servicing.

   Posted by  on  04/18  at  09:10 PM

6. Is anyone in the governmant doing anything about the practices of “Select Portfolio” They are as crooked as the day is long and it seem there is nothing to stop them. Anyone?

   Posted by  on  06/15  at  11:43 AM

7. As far as I know, Paul, no. And at this point, the FTC has already had one crack at them and, to the best of my knowledge, USA/Curry did absolutely zero to change the manner in which the company does business. Granted I say that partially because my problems with them began before USA/Curry and continue even today, three years after USA/Curry settled. Somehow, I doubt that any federal action will be taken anytime soon with regard to Fairbanks/SPS specifically or Predatory Mortgage Servicing in general although Congressman Barney Frank has been holding fairly consistent hearings on various consumer-related issues with the House Finance Committee as of late.

   Feel free to drop by my site if you like. My litigation is beginning to work it’s way through federal court now since Fairbanks/SPS thought it prudent to remove it from the Superior court level.

   Posted by  on  06/20  at  04:03 AM

8. I’ll be watching closely on C-Span!

   Posted by  on  04/29  at  08:56 AM