Foreclosure Law Firm in New York Closing Down
Photo by The-Lane-Team
The foreclosure law firm of Baum in New York, otherwise notorious for being one of the big foreclosure mills is closing down. The step was taken after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gave instructions to its servicers and lenders not to have any further dealings with it. The firm had hit the headlines after photographs flashed a Halloween Party held last year in which foreclosure victims were mocked.
Baum’s firm is also embroiled in robo-signing scandal. The allegation is that it used dubious means and forged paperwork to foreclose upon borrowers
According to Buffalo News the firm dealt with 40% of all the foreclosure cases in New York State. On Monday 21st November it announced its decision to shut down. Consumers and consumer advocates have denounced the firm even prior to the surfacing of the robo-signing scandal over the illegality of many foreclosures and the indiscriminate signing of foreclosure paperwork.
ABC News was directed by the legal firm to Earl Wells its spokesperson; Wells did not make any comments. In a statement Baum, the owner of the firm said, “Disrupting the livelihoods of so many dedicated and hardworking people is extremely painful, but the loss of so much business left us no choice but to file these notices”.
Last October the company had agreed to pay as penalty $2 million in settling an investigation of the federal government. It had also promised to change the processing of its foreclosure cases. According to the Justice Department of USA, the firm had submitted legal papers that were misleading only to hasten up seizure of homes.
Manhattan attorney Preet S. Bharara said, “In mortgage foreclosure proceedings, there are no excuses for slopping practices that could lead to someone mistakenly losing their home. Homeowners facing foreclosure cannot afford to have faulty paperwork or inadequate evidence submitted, and today’s agreement will help minimize that risk”.
Investigation against Baum’s firm had been started by Rep. Elijah Cummings (Democrat/ Maryland) a top figure in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He had communicated with the bank asking for documents.
Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac observed that the shutting of this firm and some others had caused the focus to be on the dubitable practices and lack of any transparency in the foreclosure operations that had become an industry.
He felt that now the headlights were on people will become aware. He added that the industry had put itself in the position it is now in today. The problem however is the slowing down of foreclosures and the recovery of the housing market.
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