Fraudulent Foreclosures in Illinois

Michael M. May 4, 2012 at 01:12 am

I am tired of hearing people who have NOT paid their bills complain when they lose the property or service they are NOT paying for. If you stopped paying, then looked for a reason to stop the foreclosure, that makes you wrong!! I often wonder why no one went to the authorities or to the banks and complained that the mortgage was fraudulent BEFORE the foreclosure was filed. Reason, because they didn't care until they were about to lose the house and then they looked for the "it's not my fault excuse"!! Typical progressives.

nick May 4, 2012 at 03:09 pm

Many people out there were 'Gaming the System'. Buying houses and living in them for a year or more, never paying the mortgage, staying in the house until being foreclosed on. Then when they move out, take all they can like: kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, closet and interior doors and screen doors. That's what the people that bought my old house did.
Yes David, FRAUD is being committed.

Alan Perkaus May 4, 2012 at 04:01 pm

OK!! I have to agree with you both , but the whole article is about how the state of Illinois is in the process of passing a bill that would make fraudulent foreclosure a felony, along with that in amendment #2 which changes some wording or deleting whole sentences it would effectively gut the penalty for doing it. Something like ( if you did this the penalty will be 20 lashes with a wet noodle) which gives me the idea that somebody is protecting the Banks and or their representative's. In turn it will also make this a useless piece of legislation because no one will be prosecuted for the felony.

Alan Perkaus May 4, 2012 at 04:05 pm

Maybe the NAACP should have a few words with this woman, House Floor Amendment No. 2 Filed with Clerk by Rep. Constance A. Howard.
Springfield Office: 270-S Stratton Office Building Springfield, IL 62706 (217) 782-6476 (217) 782-0952 FAX District Office: 8729 South State Street Chicago, IL 60619 (773) 783-8800 (773) 783-8773 FAX Cook County

nick May 5, 2012 at 12:25 am

Info on the number of foreclosers for the last few years:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/02/lawler-how-many-folks-have-lost-their.html

nick May 5, 2012 at 12:34 am

Is there really such a thing as fraudulent foreclosers? Or is it just a figment of the NAACP's imagination.
I would like to see info from a government agency, or maybe someone reputable like the Wall Street Journal.

Dave W. May 5, 2012 at 03:01 am

Michael, while it is true that some people probably didn't or don't care, there are people that may have legitimately have tried to work something out with their lender, only to be stifled by the lender. I KNOW for a fact this is the case with BoFA, because I worked on them for a client for literally over a year. They screwed around until the client went from being able to refinence with anyone to not being able to even mitigagteg with BoFA. I'm not saying this is always the case...I have no idea how often this happens. I only know that it DOES happen.
Also, while I'm a centrist, since you felt obliged to drag politics into this, keep in mind it is the big corporations, typically stocked with conservatives, that caused the majority of the financial crisis. Nobody put a gun to Suzy Homeowner's head to make her buy, but nobody did that to the lenders either. The only difference? It is the lender's JOB to lend money. Not everybody who gets a loan should get a loan, but it is the lender that gets greedy and decides to make a bad loan that they know they shouldn't make.

Michael M. May 5, 2012 at 01:50 pm

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2008/02/clintons_drive.html

Walt Wingo May 7, 2012 at 02:19 pm

You should have read the bill. You could have avoided embarrassing yourself with statements like "I often wonder why no one went to the authorities or to the banks and complained that the mortgage was fraudulent BEFORE the foreclosure was filed."
THIS IS A FRAUDULENT FORECLOSURE BILL! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PROTECTING HOMEOWNERS AGAINST FRAUDULENT MORTGAGES.

ron kurowski May 9, 2012 at 12:58 pm

Dave, you have it exactly right. Banks were not forced to make bad loans; they made them because they were making a lot of money off those loans with no risk to their selves. The securitization of the financial industry allowed the banks to sell their sub-prime loans to investment banks such as Golden Sachs who would design financial instruments consisting of thousands of both sub prime and conventional loans and then sell those collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) to unsuspecting investors. The more bad loans banks made the more money they made with no financial risk.
As you correctly pointed out it is the big corporations stocked with conservatives that caused the majority of the financial crisis. But the real culprit is a corrupt political system that allowed the morphing of the financial industry, whose function use to be to provide the capital required by the country, into a huge unregulated casino, where the only rule is that there are no rules. A casino whose world view is the market is always right and self correcting and that any regulation is a crime against humanity. It is a world view once heralded but now rejected by Alan Greenspan but is still the center-piece of a right-wing agenda that is determined to keep that casino humming right along no matter what the risk is to the financial health of the country or of the world.

Julie Brown May 13, 2012 at 06:44 am

Michael,
You are truly ignorant! The fraud that is happening with peoples homes have more to do with the banks and Wall Street types greed. I am a forensic and securitization auditor and I can show and tell you how homeowners were preyed on due to their trust in the lending institutions, their underwriters, compliance officers, mortgage brokers and even some real estate attorneys. If I had a dollar for every time I viewed a homeowners documents and learned that the lending institution forged the homeowner's signature, increased their interest rate, changed their good faith estimate and income after the closing date I'd be a millionaire. Not to mention the hundreds of homeowners who were foreclosed on who didn't even have a mortgage because they paid cash for their homes when they closed. I am one of those homeowners. I paid cash for my home and three years later I received a letter from a bank telling me that they would be servicing my mortgage (a mortgage I never had). I contacted the bank and notified them that my home was paid for and the bank representative ordered me to send in proof. I assumed the call was a prank so I ignored it. Four months later I was foreclosed on. Fortunately because I am a fraud investigator the foreclosure action was dismissed with prejudice. While you're blaming the homeowners you may want to go to your recorder of deeds office and look into your own property. You very well may be a MERS foreclosure victim waiting to happen...

Julie Brown May 13, 2012 at 07:05 am

How naive! The government is a major part of the problem. Watch "The Inside Job" and "Too Big to Fail." You can find these movies and documentaries at your local movie rental store. You will definitely be disappointment in the government you so believe in and even more disgusted that the Wall Street Journal isn't exposing the fraud. Better yet, if you are a homeowner have a forensic and securitization audit conducted on your mortgage documents and research your deed at your local recorder of deeds office. Nine times out of ten if your deed was ever in the Mortgage Electronic Registration (MERS) you're paying your mortgage to a bank who has no interest in your deed and more than likely don't know who your investor is. Banks who do not own your note do not have a legal standing to foreclose on a home according to Illinois foreclosure statues. I was a foreclosure victim and I never even had a mortgage. I paid cash for my home at the closing table. Fortunately because I am a fraud investigator, after two plus years I was able to prove that the bank used fraudulent documents to claim my home and they had no interest in my home. The foreclosure action was dismissed with prejudice. What happened to me is happening to many people nationwide and the banks are getting away with it because there are many people out their in decision making positions who think like you and Michael. It is time for people to wake up and realize this type of fraud can happen to ANYONE!

Julie Brown May 13, 2012 at 07:16 am

Re: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2008/02/clintons_drive.html
Michael, You're kidding, right? You're trying to blame Bill Clinton? Lol! Do your research. Rent "The Inside Job" and "Too Big to Fail" at your local movie rental store. Or, if you have cable search for both on HBO and then watch them. It was definitely the Bush Administration and his Wall Street friends who caused this mess. But don't take my word for it. Do your research so you don't come across as being naive and out of touch with reality...