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  • New York State Appeals Panel Reinstates Foreclosure Action, Reversing Justice Known for Tossing Out Foreclosure Motions

    Lending

    On February 14, a panel of judges in the Appellate Division, Second Department of the New York State Supreme Court reinstated the foreclosure action at issue in Aurora Loan Services, LLC v. Sookoo, 2012 WL 503663 (N.Y. App. Div. Feb. 14, 2012). The borrower defaulted on her mortgage loan and did not later appear in the foreclosure action or answer the complaint. The plaintiff, the holder of the mortgage and note, moved for an order of reference appointing a referee to compute the amount due. Brooklyn New York State Supreme Court Justice Aaron Schack, sua sponte, directed the dismissal of the complaint with prejudice and cancelled the notice of pendency based upon the plaintiff’s failure to provide the loan origination documents as required by the judge’s earlier order dated March 31, 2009. Reversing the decision, the unanimous panel wrote that Justice Schack "erred in, sua sponte, directing the dismissal of the complaint with prejudice and the cancellation of the notice of pendency.”  The panel remitted the matter for proceedings before a different justice, deeming it “appropriate” “under the circumstances of this case.” Justice Schack is known for his staunch stance against banks pursuing foreclosure actions and this is not the first instance in which he has been reversed in a foreclosure action (see, for example, US Bank, N.A. v. Guichardo, 90 A.D.3d 1032 (N.Y. App. Div. 2011)).

    Foreclosure

  • Banking Agencies Extend Deadline to Request Independent Foreclosure Review

    Lending

    On February 15, the Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that the deadline for borrowers to seek review of their mortgage foreclosures under the Independent Foreclosure Review program has been extended to July 31, 2012. Under the program, an eligible borrower can have his or her foreclosure reviewed by independent consultants to determine whether the borrower was financially injured due to errors, misrepresentations, or other deficiencies in the foreclosure process. An injured borrower may be eligible for compensation or other remedies.

    Foreclosure Federal Reserve OCC

  • Freddie Mac Releases Detailed Procedures for Tracking Expenses

    Lending

    On February 15, Freddie Mac published Single Family Seller/Servicer Guide Bulletin 2012-5 to implement new requirements related to the City of Chicago’s Vacant Property Ordinance. As previously reported, the FHFA sued Chicago over the ordinance, which requires lenders to register vacant properties and pay a $500 registration fee per property. Whether the property has been foreclosed upon or not, the ordinance also imposes maintenance and other obligations on lenders and their agents (including servicers, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac), and includes fines for non-compliance. The Bulletin, which follows up on a December 12 industry notice, establishes procedures for tracking and submitting expenses incurred pursuant to the ordinance and directs servicers to make required payments “under protest.” The Bulletin also eliminates the requirement for servicers to obtain prior consent from Freddie Mac to decline an application for a Mortgage assumption and reinforces the requirement that the servicer, for itself and on behalf of Freddie Mac, must waive all rights to seek deficiencies for short payoffs and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transactions on Freddie Mac mortgages that have closed in accordance with the Guide.

    Foreclosure Freddie Mac Fannie Mae Mortgage Servicing

  • Report Claims to Show Widespread Foreclosure Irregularities In San Francisco

    Lending

    On February 15, the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder, Phil Ting, released an audit report conducted by Aequitas that found 84 percent of foreclosures sampled contained at least one violation of California’s foreclosure laws. The Assessor-Recorder argues that the results prove the need for state legislation to provide greater mortgage industry oversight, including legislation to address document recording transparency, dual tracking, and general foreclosure processes. The report sampled 382 foreclosures in San Francisco from 2009 through 2011, finding that 75 percent had a problem with the assignment of the deed of trust and 59 percent had assignments that were filed after the notice of default. The report also alleges findings of other unlawful foreclosure actions or “suspicious activity”, but Mr. Ting stressed that he is not asserting that “every distressed borrower is a victim and that the mortgage industry is collectively guilty of defrauding homeowners.”

    Foreclosure

  • New York's Chief Judge Outlines New Foreclosure Process, Announces Commercial Division Task Force

    Lending

    On February 14, the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, Jonathan Lippman, announced a new state foreclosure process that will involve special court parts designed to facilitate settlement conferences. Conferences will be calendared based on the identity of the lender, and each week of the month will be dedicated to a different lender’s cases. Lenders will be required to assign a representative with full authority to enter into mortgage modifications for the entire week of cases, which should reduce delays in the foreclosure process. The new program, which was announced in Chief Judge Lippman’s annual State of the Judiciary address, is a partnership between legal service organizations and several major banks. It will start in New York City, but statewide application is planned. The Chief Judge also announced the formation of a new task force to consider possible reforms to the Commercial Division in order to “create an even more hospitable environment for business.” The task force will consider (i) the process by which judges are selected for that division, (ii) options for better controlling dockets, and (iii) policies to manage the flow of cases and leverage non-judicial personnel and alternative dispute resolution.

    Foreclosure

  • Idaho Supreme Court Holds Standing Does Not Need To Be Proven Prior To Nonjudicial Foreclosure

    Lending

    On January 25, the Idaho Supreme Court held that a party is not required to prove it has standing before foreclosing nonjudicially on a deed of trust. Trotter v. Bank of New York Mellon, No. 38022, 2012 WL 206004 (Idaho Jan. 25, 2012). Prior to a scheduled trustee’s sale, the borrower filed a complaint alleging lack of standing to foreclose, and challenging MERS’ ability to assign the loan.  The district court granted the bank’s motion to dismiss, finding that the statutory requirements for nonjudicial foreclosures had been satisfied, and that MERS was the beneficiary under the deed of trust and had properly assigned its rights as beneficiary to the bank. The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed, noting that “the plain language of the statute makes it clear that the trustee may foreclose on a deed of trust if it complies with the requirements contained within the Act” and that unlike judicial foreclosures, “there is no statutory requirement for the trustee to prove standing before initiating a nonjudicial foreclosure on a deed of trust.”

    Foreclosure

  • Missouri AG Announces "Robosigning" Indictment

    Financial Crimes

    On February 7, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced that a grand jury had returned a 136-count indictment against DOCX, LLC, and its founder, for alleged “robosigning” by forgery and false declarations with regard to mortgage documents. The indictment alleges that the signatures on 68 notarized deeds of release submitted to one county recorder were forged and constituted false declarations. If convicted, the founder could face up to seven years in prison per count, and the company could be fined up $10,000 for each forgery and $2,000 for each false declaration.

    Foreclosure Mortgage Servicing State Attorney General

  • Illinois Expands Housing Assistance Efforts

    Lending

    On February 3, the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) published recently adopted Emergency Rules, effective January 23, 2012, to establish a new program through which the IHDA will finance or refinance mortgage loans to persons and families of low and moderate income who meet certain qualifications. The IHDA cited a “serious shortage of decent, safe and sanitary residential housing” in the state due to “recurring critical shortages of funds in private lending institutions” available to certain buyers. The new program is intended for non-first time homebuyers and supplements an existing similar program for first-time homebuyers. The emergency rules will expire after 150 days, or upon adoption of permanent rules. Illinois also announced two additional new housing efforts in early February. First, the Illinois Foreclosure Prevention Network, a multi-agency effort coordinated by the IHDA, will connect struggling homeowners with assistance and resources to prevent foreclosures. Second, the Illinois Building Blocks Program, also administered by the IHDA, will focus on six communities and provide (i) financing to rehabilitate vacant properties to prepare them for productive use and sale, (ii) assistance to homeowners to purchase homes in pilot communities, and (iii) support for existing homeowners in the communities to prevent additional foreclosures.

    Foreclosure

  • Federal and State Officials Announce Mortgage Servicing Settlement

    Lending

    On February 9, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, and several other state and federal officials jointly announced an approximately $25 billion agreement in principle between the federal government, 49 state attorneys general and the five largest mortgage servicers to settle various mortgage servicing and foreclosure related issues. Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt later announced an "independent mortgage settlement" between Oklahoma and the five servicers. The national-level agreement - with Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally Financial (the servicers) - was the culmination of several state and federal investigations and extended negotiations between the parties. The settlement's terms require a commitment of approximately $20 billion in financial relief for homeowners. In addition, the servicers will pay $5 billion in cash to the state and federal governments, including $1.5 billion to establish a Borrower Payment Fund that will provide payments to qualifying borrowers whose homes were sold or foreclosed on between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011. The $25 billion agreement includes more than $766.5 million in monetary sanctions assessed by the Federal Reserve Board. An additional $394 million of penalties from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency are held in abeyance provided four of the servicers make payments and take other actions under the settlement with a value equal to at least the penalty amounts assessed for each servicer by the OCC. In addition to the financial compensation offered in the settlement, the servicers will conduct future business under new servicing standards, which include (i) restrictions on the default management process known as "dual tracking", (ii) a requirement for the institutions to provide a single point of contact for borrowers, (iii) specific protections for military service members beyond those provided by the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, (iv) obligations concerning disclosures and practices related to force-placed insurance, and (v) limitations on servicing fees. The standards also require the servicers to establish (i) updated foreclosure and bankruptcy documentation processes, (ii) enhanced servicer oversight of third party vendors, and (iii) adherence to a new set of loan modification timelines. The terms of the agreement will be filed as a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Their fulfillment, over the three-year term of the settlement, will be overseen by an independent monitor, North Carolina Commissioner of Banks Joseph A. Smith. In order to ensure timely dissemination of the settlement's terms to those who may be eligible for financial relief, the parties have established a "National Mortgage Settlement" web site, which provides "Servicing Standards Highlights" and outlines key aspects of the servicing settlement. The materials provided by the federal and state officials in announcing the settlement agreement note that the agreement left numerous issues unresolved and does not preclude (i) criminal claims, (ii) securities claims and claims related to the use of an electronic mortgage registry, (iii) loan origination claims in connection with FHA-insured loans, except those covered specifically by this settlement, and (iv) borrower claims. For additional information concerning some of the state-level recoveries and issues the state attorneys general have reserved for potential future action please see California's announcement here and New York's announcement here. Buckley LLP advises clients regarding mortgage servicing issues and conducted a webinar on servicing developments, including a review of the OCC's April, 2011 Consent Orders and related servicing guidance. If you have any questions about the settlement or servicing issues in general please contact a member of our Mortgage Servicing Team.

     

    Foreclosure Federal Reserve Mortgage Servicing OCC Servicemembers State Attorney General

  • New York AG Files Suit Against MERS and Servicers Alleging Deceptive and Fraudulent Foreclosure Practices

    Lending

    On February 3, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against MERS and several major banks, challenging the MERS system and alleging that the defendants engaged in fraudulent and deceptive foreclosure practices in violation of state law. Among the allegedly illegal practices, the New York Attorney General claims that the defendants (i) initiated thousands of foreclosure proceedings without proper standing, (ii) submitted in court deceptive and invalid mortgage assignments, (iii) misled borrowers by submitting in court defective mortgage assignments executed by untrained and unsupervised certifying officers and assignments that were automatically generated (i.e. "robosigned"), (iv) created a system that deliberately obscures the chain of title for a loan or hides the current note-holder. The Attorney General is seeking (i) an injunction to stop the practices recited in the complaint, (ii) disgorgement of all profits obtained in connection with those practices, and (iii) payment of other damages and civil penalties.

    Foreclosure Mortgage Servicing

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