Where’s the Mortgage Note? The Ticking Time Bomb

Tick…tick…tick

Who owns your mortgage note? I’m not asking who services it, I’m asking who owns it.

But Brad, my house is paid off and there is no mortgage note. Fair enough. Do you have clear title to your house? Are you sure? Did you take out any owner’s title insurance in case there are issues?

This article is not meant to scare anyone or make the proverbial mountain out of a molehill. Its purpose is to ask the hard questions that people may want to seek answers to – by starting at their local County Clerk and Recorder.

I had a number of responses to my previous mortgage fraud articles. One came from a reader who sold their house a number of months ago:

“…We looked at our mortgage release paper from when we sold our home (date removed), and it was signed by Jessica Ohde and Christina Huang, both listed as Vice Presidents for Wells Fargo, N.A. (the servicer of our loan), both of whom have signed documents along with Linda Green. Jessica Ohde's title on our document was Vice Pres. Loan Documentation. But on other documents we saw when we searched for her name, as recently as May of 2009, she is billed as "Asst. Secretary" and "Asst Vice Pres." and "Vice President" for several other entities (like Bank of America, American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc, and MERS, Inc.)”

This wasn’t a case of Jessica Ohde signing on behalf of a bank executive. It was Jessica Ohde signing AS a bank executive for a myriad of different banks and lending institutions!

I also had this gem from a reader who actually worked in the industry:

“One problem I did run into when I did lien releases for a debt collection company is that the investor (let’s say [bank name redacted at reader’s request]) did not have original documents. Their excuse back to me was that the original servicer had gone out of business or something to that affect. I always found that fishy. Also 99% of the time I would get blank assignments. It’s like the original creditor didn't know who would end up with the loan and would fill out an assignment of mortgage and sign and notarize it and leave it blank so then I would get these and be told to fill in the current servicers information for the assignment of mortgage. That always seemed fishy to me too.”

I asked this reader why it was “fishy” to them. Here is the response:

“My gut reaction of why it was fishy? I don't know. It just didn't seem right. Why would a company do an assignment and leave it blank if they legitimately knew who was going to take the loan. In that situation it seemed more like a cover your own @%%. Like the people preparing the docs knew it was just a matter of time before the company would go under because of business practices and so were attempting to get all their ducks in a row before that happened. Typically most of these assignments were from companies now defunct and how would you have the foresight to do an assignment unless you were privy to information showing company practices - unless you have seen this done before. I had never seen a blank assignment done and just held there. I had only seen assignments done at the time of transfer of the loan up until that point.”

Folks, this is a much, much bigger problem than just foreclosures. This is a problem where property chain of custody has been decimated. In the case of my own family, Wells Fargo (servicer) recorded a Release of Deed of Trust – not once but TWICE (once in 2003, and again in 2004). We were never contacted by anyone to execute a new Deed of Trust. There is NO current legal document that ties our loan performance to our promissory note – which doesn’t exist anymore as near as I can tell. Yet Wells Fargo continues to send us a bill each month for our house payment.

What if we were to sell our house? How would a Title company be able to establish clear title? The answer is that they couldn’t – and they would be extremely misguided to issue an insurance policy saying they could, unless they were in collusion with the banking industry.

Here’s a sample case of “Find that note” Foreclose case dismissed after judge finds he’s been misled by alleged lender

“According to the June 10 ruling in St. Johns, the plaintiff originally said the note was lost, then claimed the note was found, then claimed it owned the note by virtue of an assignment. But a foreclosure action cannot be based on an assignment that didn’t even exist at the time the initial foreclosure was filed in February 2009.

The lender then claimed it was the servicer of the loan and that Wells Fargo owned the note, but a stamp on the amended documentation was from the First National Bank of Nevada, which closed in 2008 and therefore couldn’t have been added after the 2009 filing.”

MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems) is the central clearinghouse of most of these problems. Their CEO just issued a press release today. What a pretty picture he paints! Notice how he refers to three court cases at the end of his statement which found in favor of MERS. It’s too bad he didn’t also cite the other court cases around the country where judges are expressing anger at the shoddy nature of MER’s documentation process. One needs only to look at the MERS shareholders to get an idea of where they’re coming from. Some of the bigger ones are:

Bank of America
Chase Home Mortgage Corporation of the Southeast
CitiMortgage, Inc.
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
GMAC Residential Funding Corporation
Guaranty Bank
HSBC Finance Corporation
Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation
Mortgage Bankers Association (the propaganda arm we hear in the media)
Nationwide Advantage Mortgage Company
SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.
Washington Mutual Bank
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

Whose interests do you think these shareholders will be supporting?

Bank of America announced on Friday that they will be halting all home foreclosures in all 50 states until further notice. Bank of America halts home seizures

Today we hear that 40 states are very likely to join together to dig into the mortgage mess.

Officials in 40 States May Join in Foreclosure Probe

You might find this interview with Ohio’s Attorney General an interesting read:

Ohio AG Richard Cordray: “What we’re seeing is a systematic fraud on the courts of Ohio”

I’ll tease you with one more quote. Guess who said it:

“Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government Board, has cheated the Government of the United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt. The depredations and the iniquities of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks acting together have cost this country enough money to pay the national debt several times over. This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of the United States; has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our Government. It has done this through the maladministration of that law by which the Federal Reserve Board, and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it.”

It was congressman McFadden – Chairman of the House Banking Committee

It was said on June 10, 1932….

I have one last comment.

Do those of us who call ourselves men have enough fight left within our souls to take on those who are enslaving not only our families, but our progeny?

Do we who call ourselves men have the fire burning within our gut to fight those who blatantly steal from us and rob us of time away from our family through systematic plundering?

Do we who call ourselves men have the tenacity to show up in force for a just and righteous cause? Can we at least number ourselves the same as a typical football or baseball game? Can we emote with the same fervor we show to our home team?

Men, now is the time.

Your comments and questions are welcome…

If you are not currently on the Economic Update email list you can email me at: brad@newfamilyeconomics.com to be added.
There is no charge and your email address will never be shared.

Christian Economics, Christian Finances, Christian Money, Christian Wealth, Christian Mortgage, Christian Mortgage Advice, Christian Mortgage Counsel, Christian Mortgage Consulting, Christian Investing, Biblical Economics, Biblical Finances, Biblical Money, Biblical Wealth, Biblical Mortgage, Biblical Mortgage Advice, Biblical Mortgage Counsel, Biblical Mortgage Consulting, Biblical Investing, Creating Wealth, Mortgages For Christians

Previous | Next

Login

Search The Site

Members Only

Free Materials

Insider Reports