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Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Threat

Julie Parker — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:00:03 +0000

William Quintana, a plumber, attempting to avail of a scheme of the federal government to modify his mortgage loan never thought that this move would cause him to end up in bankruptcy and poised to lose his home to foreclosure.

Quintana and his wife, residents of Antioch submitted an application to modify their housing loan through HAMP. He had surmised that the process would be straight. He urgently needed the lowering of the mortgage since he became disabled following an accident while working. But the application led to an unexplained maze of payments lost, repeated pressure for unjustified late fees and inordinate delay in processing the application.

PNC Mortgage did acknowledge in their letters sent to Quintana that the letter was eligible for modification of loan but even then to save his house from being sold at a foreclosure auction he sought bankruptcy protection.

A “No Solicitors” notice was hung before the door to discourage realtors and potential buyers. Quintana said, “They say owning a home is the American dream, but it’s become the American nightmare. I’m not a failure or a loser. I’m a complete victim”.

Many housing advocates have shown interest in this case together with Rep. John Garamendi (Democrat/Walnut Grove). Garamendi said that this is indicative of the general malaise in the mortgage world and with HAMP. Although about 950,000 have sought assistance through this programme, critics contend that it is failing to help the victims substantially.

Cinna Green of Center for Responsible Lending said, “The banking industry had a machine that could crank out these bad loans, but it doesn’t have anything that can fix them”.

Dennis Wilhite-Thomas of REACH based in San Ramon said this case is nothing new – one among innumerable ones that she handles where the homeowners are hapless victims facing bullying banks. Quintana is a simple person who knows how to labour with his two hands but this is beyond his understanding. How to handle it? They neither enjoy costly holidays nor foray into expensive improvements on their ordinary home.

Initially Quintana failed to qualify for the modification even after being disabled because he had not lagged behind in his monthly payments. On the advice of National City Mortgage, his lender he decided to skip payments for two months. This trick made the road clear for the bank to foreclose while duping him with expectations of modifications.

Photo by Jscreationzs.

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Deportation of Undocumented Victim of Foreclosure After Protesting

Julie Parker — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:00:54 +0000

Photo by Khrawlings

Blanca Cardenas, an undocumented immigrant, was deported after protesting against illegal foreclosure. She has two children who were born in USA and her husband is an American citizen; America has been her home for the last fifteen years.

Eight years previously, she contracted a mortgage in order to purchase a house in North Hollywood. Since last year, she has been protesting against Bank of America; other activists had joined her against what they deemed to be illegal foreclosure action.

The mortgage documents were forged, unfortunately. Cardenas tried filing for bankruptcy to avoid the eviction process. But the house went up for auction and Mehrdad Farahmand of A to Z Development bought the unit; Cardenas was then faced with eviction.

Recently, Cardenas,together with some activists of Occupy Los Angeles, protested against her eviction and resorted to demonstrating in the lawn of her house. Farahmand is said to have instigated the arrest move that led to Cardenas being taken into custody by the Los Angeles Police Department. Occupy Los Angeles contends that LAPD does not have the authority to take this sort of action. It is under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Department of Los Angeles County whether not someone can be taken into custody.

Faced with this allegation, the immigration status of Cardenas was traced and she was handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. There is a law in California that states that no undocumented immigrant can be deported if he or she does not have a criminal record. However, Cardenas was deported to Mexico causing her to be separated from her two kids – one being just a toddler.

Gerardo Quinones, the husband of Cardenas, said that the family has been devastated. She was sent off without even a second set of clothes; needless to add she had no money on her. Quinones asserted, “She had every right to fight for her home and believed the authorities would protect her”.

The ICE is known to have transgressed its own rules previously and resorted to other such deportations previously. CNN, before this case, reported the deportation of Daniela Pelaez, an undocumented student.

When the Congress’s Republicans recently raised hurdles to try to hinder the passing of the Dream Act, Obama reacted by instructing ICE to make adjustments to its criteria regarding undocumented students’ deportation; ICE has become desperate in their attempts to get these students deported out of America. ICE responded by agreeing to delay the deportation of Pelaez till the finalization of her appeal.

But Cardenas was deported within one week without any review, even though she had no criminal record. Occupy is planning to take up the matter – a combination of deportation blues with foreclosure pains driving them.

Police Union Taking Up Cudgels Against Management

Julie Parker — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:00:23 +0000

Photo by Digitalart

A drama is being played out in one of the foreclosed capitals of the country – Stockton City. The police union has taken up cudgels against the management. The city, starved of funds has targeted the police force with spending cuts. This has riled the group in an unprecedented way.

The first salvo against the administration has been protests through provocative banners. The second step was the purchasing of a house (the first property the union bought) right next to that of the city manager, Bob Deis. This targeting of the police by the city is happening at a time when crime has gone up in this inland port city. Stockton recorded the highest crime rate pertaining to violence in California in 2010.

The response of the city has been to sue the union regarding the purchase of the house and wants it to be sold. In documents submitted at court Deis stated, “I believe the SPOA purchased the property … for the sole purpose of coercing me in the exercises of my duties as city manager”. He said that one of the union members clipped trees during a party held in his house.

The police force that originally numbered 315 in 2008 has gone down by over 25%. The city compelled the force to accept reductions in wages and benefits while endeavouring to narrow a deficit of over $20 million.

The police union has brought legal charges against the city alleging that it has no right to use the fiscal emergency situation to break contracts. If the ruling goes in favour of the union then the city would have to pay arrear wages touching $10 million. The city is on the verge of bankruptcy and this verdict could well push it over the edge.

The city administrators did not make any comments on a pending legal suit. Meantime the union has rented out the house after indulging in loud noisy repairs to a retired person owning two dogs.

The angst is directed against the city spending on a sports arena, a hotel on the waterfront and other developments during sunny days. At night lights sparkle on a shopping plaza and movie complex. The theatre had sixteen screens but less number of customers hung around the neighbouring eateries.

Cops were often seen handcuffing offenders and for this the shop owner and residents were thankful. But with less numbers to patrol the streets they are apprehensive. Some want to move away.

Congress Put Pressure on the Justice Department to go Ahead With Investigations About Foreclosure

Julie Parker — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:00:34 +0000

Photo by Brooks Elliott

One section of the Justice Department that monitors bankruptcy cases in courts is known as U.S. Trustees Program. In its annual report of 2010 noted that the mortgage servicing problems were all pervasive and long standing. These were not just technical but result in causing “real harm to homeowners in bankruptcy”.

The Trustee Program has accused the banks of falsifying affidavits by stating that the house owners owe them fees for some services that they never provided; the amount that the borrowers owed to the banks was inflated.

Professor Daniel Richman dealing with criminal law, of Columbia University Law School was formerly a federal prosecutor. He said the pivotal issue was who would be the targets of criminal investigation by the prosecutors.

Richman explained that a good number of workers who under the orders from supervisors churned out large number of affidavits could be sitting ducks. But that would not be worth the effort. Perhaps criminal investigations are necessary but it would be difficult to bring them against particular individuals who actually did the string pulling.

In 2010 October the Congress put pressure on the Justice Department to go ahead with investigations about foreclosure fraud. Eric Holder, the Attorney General said that it would be best to leave the matter to states with Justice Department’s help.

The OCC hastily came to a settlement with fourteen mega servicers to bring about operational changes and suggest compensation for those house owners who had been harmed.

The settlement leaves the banks to select their own agencies to determine who has been harmed and by how much. The arrangement has come in for harsh criticism from legislators and housing advocates for obvious reasons; the reviewing agencies would get their payments from the banks.

Since the eruption of the robo-signing scandal the Justice Department’s civil section has been working with a wobbly coalition comprising of all the fifty states seeking a settlement with the five mega banks that are also the biggest loan servicers. The settlement is leading towards a $20 billion (or maybe more) payment as penalties – a fraction of which would go towards paying the wronged house owners.

Law enforcement by the federal government has been practically non-existent even in those regions that have been decimated by the foreclosure crisis like Las Vegas.

The Federal Law Enforcers Seem Strangely Silent on Criminal Foreclosure Fraud

Julie Parker — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:00:22 +0000

Photo by Controlarms

The Federal law enforcers seem strangely silent on criminal foreclosure fraud. Is Washington afraid? Reuters have reviewed the records of bankruptcy court of New York (Southern District) to find that a minimum of twelve totally different documents claiming to be the genuine promissory note have popped up in foreclosure related cases; involved are six properties.

In one of the cases Wells Fargo was fighting to take over the house of a single mother, Tindala Mims in Bronx. She is employed as the driver of an ambulance.

In 2010 September Wells Fargo submitted one promissory note, signed and stamped showing the owner of the note was Washington Mutual Bank that has become defunct. Upon scrutiny physical alterations were noticed. Many marks were missing on original or appeared to have been clearly altered in the second.

The second one contained an endorsement that was stamped – something that was not there on first; the impression given was that Wells Fargo had foreclosing rights. The judge turned down the second attempt also but not to be deterred, Wells Fargo is trying for the third time. The bank refused to make any comments.

The lawyer of Mims, Linda Tirelli has brought a legal suit against Wells Fargo for “fabrication of documents”. Tirelli said, “It seems to me that Washington is deathly afraid of the banking industry. If you’re talking about filing false documents and filing false notarizations, do you really think that the U.S. Attorney would find it too difficult to prosecute”?

Preet Bharara U.S. Attorney has a matter of routine pressed charges relating to forgery and submission of false documents against the small fry. Last April, seven employees of USA Beauty School located in Manhattan were arrested by FBI. The allegation is that they forged various documents – diplomas of high school, records of attendance and applications relating to financial aid for those students attending classes in cosmetology.

Last August the office of Bharara brought against the CEO of a company dealing with sports memorabilia felony charges. He was accused of selling in auction, jerseys that have been wrongly advertised to have been used in game by renowned players of Major League Baseball.

Considering these and other activities of the office aggressively chasing maxi and mini violations of the law, of U.S. Attorney across America, it seems strange that cases relating to foreclosure fiasco are noticeably absent. Why?

Visiting Professor Raymond Brescia (Yale University) said, “Why there hasn’t been more robust prosecution is a mystery”.

Bankruptcy is Another Alternative for Stopping Foreclosure

Julie Parker — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:00:55 +0000

Photo by Renjith Krishnan

A couple from Robeson Townshipin Pennsylvania unable to contact their lender, facing foreclosure somehow saved their home by filing for bankruptcy (Chapter 13). Naomi and Joseph Nepple aged fifty two and fifty nine respectively were saddled with a debt of $14,000 on their mortgage dues.

They missed out on taking part in Berks County Mortgage Foreclosure programme scheduled to kick off from 1st January. Judge Jeffrey Schmehl sympathized with the position of the Nepples. As per the programme the representatives of the lender would have to be present at settlement meetings.

Lawyer Brenna H. Mendelsohn, representing the couple deals with personal bankruptcy. Mendelsohn opined that the new programme would help those troubled house owners who were being ignored by their lenders. She said, “If there are cases where the new programme works that would be great. It’s too late for Naomi and her husband because they have already filed for bankruptcy”.

The bankruptcy case will enable the Nepples to continue to stay in the house, pay off the accrued debt and make fresh payments. The bankruptcy process would clear their dues on credit card dues also. Mendelsohn remarked that the bankruptcy is another alternative for stopping foreclosure. Those that apply for it pay their dues to the court and continue with their mortgages.

Nepple expressed her gratitude to the lawyer for help in straightening out their finances.

Naomi Nepple was a computer operator with a sportswear firm of Reading. She was retrenched in 2007. She took training covering two years in a programme dealing with criminal justice but even after graduating she could not find a job in this stream. From 2009 her financial troubles started.

Price of fuel was shooting up and her husband badly needed money to operate his business. He began to use his credit cards to fill the tanks of his dump trucks. He hauled in his trucks stone as well as sand. Together the couple ran into debt amounting to over $30,000 on their credit cards.

Soon a time came when they began to default on their house mortgage amounting to $1,500 per month. Nepple tried but failed to meet any representative of the lender. All she could do was to make phone calls; the whole thing was frustrating.

Mendelsohn referring to the filing of bankruptcy said, “She’s on the right track. The new programme may have helped her too. It does make the bank talk to you. Bankruptcy is a great opportunity to save your home”. Meanwhile Nepple has got a job and is now earning per month 41,200 to $1,500.

Occupy Movement Targets Banks to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions

Julie Parker — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:55:56 +0000

Photo by Scottchan

The idea of occupying foreclosed houses has caught on. In Redwood City the protestors have been able to postpone the imminent auction of the house of septuagenarian Gloria Takla. On 6th December Takla together with thirty protestors forcibly entered a branch of Chase shouting slogans and waving placards.

For nearly two years Takla has been trying in vain to get her house loan modified. The original granter of the loan was Washington Mutual. Later Bank of America bought it off. Her monthly payment shot up to unmanageable levels from $1,450 to $2,650. She had bought it with her life’s savings of $1,450. Takla is not conversant with English and bemoans she has been victimized by predatory lending.

On 6th December, Takla demanded to talk to somebody “human” in the bank and not just a recorded voice. The employees linked her with agents in the customer service cell while the police of Redwood City tried to keep the situation calm outside the bank.

Ten protestors squatted in the lobby while the police remained silent spectators. Meanwhile, Takla helped by her daughter, spoke to the bank authorities. None was arrested. When the protestors had stormed the bank only minor scuffles had broken out.

Takla talked to Ramel Nalus of Santa Clara Home Ownership Center of Chase. He has probably given her till 14th February to have her loan modified or be foreclosed upon. None of the officials of Chase, including Nalus, responded to calls made by Daily Journal seeking comments.

Takla and the protestors came out of the bank after about an hour, claiming ‘victory’. Takla said, “We were able to postpone the sale date only because the people joining me in the action”. Among those who had teamed up with Takla were Pastor Sandy Perry, Lili Liu, Christy Wong, Louis Vaughn and Aaron Castle.

Liu had recently been able to get her loan modified with the help of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. She had come from Freemont to join the march. The group had organized the march and the protest before the bank in Redwood City. After ACORN filed bankruptcy, ACCE came into existence.

Vaughn said that the minorities have been targeted by predatory lending; the renters too have suffered. The tenants have been thrown out because the landlords were foreclosed upon. It was a trap for the people – they got sandwiched.

Foreclosed JCC May Come Up for Auction Soon

Julie Parker — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:00:02 +0000

Photo by Bloomsberries

The US real estate industry is yet to recover. Foreclosures are happening thick and fast. The number of homes with negative equity has also increased. Now it is time for Ruth Hyman Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Monmouth County to be auctioned. JCC is located in Ocean Township.

A foreclosure notice had been filed with the lender — TD Bank. But the suit has not been settled. It seems possible that the center may come up for auction. The auction will be conducted in the Hall of Records at Freehold.

The auction of JCC was scheduled for October 24. However, the spokeswoman of Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department, Cynthia Scott, said a defendant can appeal for postponement of auction on two occasions. The JCC did it first on October 24 and then again on November 7.

The president of the board of directors for the JCC, Stephen Levy, said there are still options. There are still ways that the recent one could be avoided. Levy said, “We are still in negotiations with the bank and several stockholders.

I’m optimistic, but not certain, that the sale won’t occur.” Levy has been in the midst of conference calls to find out the latest status. Another option for JCC is to come up with bankruptcy filing. Raising funds from stockholders is the other option.

It may be pointed out that JCC does not have to shell out property taxes of the land as it is a non-profit organization. The land is 12 acres approximately. The taxes would also work out to $180,000 in a year.

The plaintiff is the bank. The firm — Buchannan Ingersoll and Rooney – is representing JCC. However, JCC has retained services of Neumann, Fisher and Shaver LLC and Timothy Neumann of Broege, to represent the company. The sale’s approximate amount is $6,502,717.18.

The organization was located in Second Avenue. However, it relocated in 1977. In a major expansion move in 1999, a 520-seat theater auditorium was added. This was known as Axelrod Performing Arts Theater. The area is 110,000 square feet in area. Wellness and fitness programs are on offer. There are programs for the senior and the youth as well. Currently there are 700 memberships.

Levy said that the center was badly hurt when the economy was in a poor shape. That’s why the present foreclosure suit is threatening them. The numbers of members too have declined. In December 26th the JCC roof had collapsed.

350,000 Pending Foreclosure Cases in Florida

Kevin Simpson — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:03:49 +0000

Photo by Khrawlings

In the last week, lenders from different courts all over of the nation, which are all overrun with foreclosure cases, gathered at a discussion session where they brought up matters of bank honesty and attorney civility in foreclosure issues. They also foresaw estimated a huge number of pending foreclosure cases in Florida. The officials at the meeting believed that there could be around 350,000 cases still to be heard.

Bankruptcy and Foreclosure, a View from the Bench is the forum which invited the judges and attorneys from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties to discuss matters pertaining to foreclosures. Both attorneys and judges got the chance to inform each other about foreclosure matters that were occurring outside the courthouse environment.

The attorneys asked a number of things to the judges, and even the judges also described the nature and behavior of property owners and lenders. In the question-answer session, some replies were met with uncomfortable silence from federa, judges when questions of non-judicial foreclosure cases and dubious mortgage documents holding fake signs arose.

The Circuit Judge of Miami-Dade, Ronald Dresnick, slashed out at the lenders and borrowers for such a slow pace in the foreclosure process, stating that this only making courthouse matters slow. Another foreclosure judge of Broward, Marina Gracia-Wood, said that nearly 7,000 pending foreclosure cases are waiting to be brought to court in her system.

Dresnick said, “The thing nobody gives a fig about is moving these cases. Defendants don’t want the cases moved and I’m scratching my head about why the plaintiffs don’t want to move the cases. It’s pathetic”. He is referring to all the pending foreclosure cases that have been brought to court in the state of Florida.

Former Chief Judge of Broward, Victor Tobin, controlled a panel which dealt with the state of the foreclosure cases in different courts. However, in May, he submitted his resignation to the bench and joined the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson. “My job is to oversee the operation as best I can. That was my job in the courthouse also,” he said.

There was only another judge from Palm Beach County who joined the forum for the discussion; his name was Robert Carney. In the forum, this senior judge described how the spike in the foreclosure cases (which came to a head in the courthouses between the years of 2009 and 2010). Foreclosures really slowed down during the end of 2010 due to fraudulent foreclosure cases and the robo-signing scandal.

Gracia-Wood mentioned that 250 cases are handled on a regular basis in her court. She also commented about the sincere way attorneys handled court cases nowadays. She said, “If you’re not happy about the court’s ruling, instead of rolling your eyes or murmuring under your breath, show me why I should rule in your favor. I’m trying to do the best I can.”

Speaker John Boehner has Consistently Opposed Foreclosure Relief Programmes

Julie Parker — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:00:28 +0000

Stephanie Moes of Legal Aid Society (Southwest Ohio) said that in some parts of Butler County predatory lending had been rampant. But recently the families are battling the downturn in the economy. These people tried their best to manage their mortgages; they never bought anything that was to them unaffordable but now they are facing unemployment that is persisting and refusing to go away.

Since the previous three years the legislators across the state have been pushing for foreclosure mitigation – frequently disregarding party lines for this purpose. But speaker Republican John Boehner was never part of this.

In 2008 Rep. Steve Chabot (Republican) the borders of whose districts borders that of Boehner, gave his support to a bill that would give relief to house owners in the bankruptcy courts; but Boehner declined to ink it When the Democrats passed another prevention bill for foreclosure later in 2008 Boehner came down heavily on it as “a bailout for scam artists and speculators”.

During the middle of the robo-signing mayhem last fall the banks for a short time halted their foreclosure operations. Last November President Obama used his veto against a bill that would have made it easy for the banks to go ahead with wrong foreclosures and more difficult for the house owners to prove that they had been victimized.

But Boehner together with his Republican colleagues and 16 from the Democrat camp tried but failed to override this veto. It happened at a time when the attorneys general had already started bringing lawsuits against the banks for fraudulent practices.

Boehner has always been reluctant to talk about housing issues but recently speaking to Harry Smith of CBS he said, “Over the last couple years, Congress has really set up four programmes to help with those mortgage problems.

And unfortunately, none of those have worked. And all they’ve really done is dragged out the length of time for the market to clear the problems”. Thus Boehner has been persistently opposing foreclosure relief programmes on the ground that these have been delaying the curing of the market. This argument might apply to the failure of the HAMP plan but in the district Boehner represents in the market there is nothing left to clear.