banks legal right to foreclose is questioned before house panel
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Banks legal right to foreclose is questioned before House panel

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Banks legal right to foreclose is questioned before House panel

Arabstoday

The system of pooling and selling mortgages around the world has caused widespread confusion about who owns the loans and raises questions about whether banks in some cases have the legal standing to foreclose, a state judge and consumer attorneys testified before Congress on Thursday. New York State Supreme Court Justice Dana Winslow said that "standing has become such a pervasive issue" in the cases he sees "that I frequently use the term 'presumptive mortgagee' " to describe the entity trying to foreclose. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, emphasized that as of last year, about 2.5 million homes were lost to foreclosure and that projections estimate that as many as 13 million homes will be lost to foreclosure by the time the crisis abates. "Yet the big Wall Street firms, other mortgage lenders and servicers, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - all of whom received taxpayer bailouts to the tune of billions of dollars over the last couple of years - have in many instances turned a blind eye toward homeowners in similar financial distress," Conyers said. Winslow, academics and attorneys defending homeowners described a fundamental problem that goes beyond recent revelations of shoddy paperwork and "robo-signing" in foreclosure cases. They said there is a much broader question about the legality of designating a single company, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), as the holder of mortgages and then trading these loans to investors around the world without updating the ownership documents in local clerk offices. They said it is unclear whether using this system has stripped those investors of the right to foreclose on homeowners who miss their payments. University of Utah law professor Christopher L. Peterson said MERS has a "problematic legal foundation" because it undermines state recording laws. Peterson called MERS a "deceptive" and "anti-democratic" institution because it also uses thousands of employees who work for mortgage lenders, servicers and law firms to sign mortgage paperwork in the name of MERS. That practice is also clouding the ownership of the loan, he argued. "How is a homeowner to understand with whom they can negotiate a settlement, or from whom to obtain additional information, or how to distinguish a legitimate employee from the thousands of mortgage-related con artists and charlatans?" Peterson asked. Merscorp, which owns MERS, and the financial services industry have said that numerous courts have upheld the legality of the system they use to track and transfer mortgages. "The chain of title starts and stops with Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. as the mortgagee. MERS, as the agent for the note-owner, holds legal title for the note-owner in the land records," the company said in a recent statement. "The use of MERS is in compliance with the statutory intent of the state recording acts." Peterson called on Congress to bar Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from purchasing MERS-recorded loans, echoing legislation introduced by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) last month. The industry has designated MERS as its proxy in jurisdictions across the country, and the company's name appears on about 60 percent of all U.S. mortgages. Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee the vast majority of mortgages that are originated today.

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

banks legal right to foreclose is questioned before house panel banks legal right to foreclose is questioned before house panel

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

banks legal right to foreclose is questioned before house panel banks legal right to foreclose is questioned before house panel

 



GMT 09:16 2017 Wednesday ,13 December

Cape wearing tips

GMT 20:49 2017 Monday ,21 August

South Asia floods claim more than 750 lives

GMT 19:06 2016 Saturday ,10 December

IOF Close Al-Nabi Saleh Village's Entrance

GMT 18:01 2017 Wednesday ,22 February

Abu Sayyaf ‘likely’ behind Vietnam freighter attack

GMT 06:41 2017 Sunday ,03 December

Hamas threatens 'intifada' over US moves on Jerusalem

GMT 16:17 2017 Saturday ,21 January

BMW 7 series crosses 5,000 unit mark in 2016

GMT 12:17 2016 Wednesday ,24 February

United Technologies nixes Honeywell merger

GMT 23:37 2017 Monday ,31 July

Saudi Arabia sanctions Hezbollah member

GMT 05:45 2018 Saturday ,29 September

Abdullah bin Zayed hosts official reception in New York

GMT 04:12 2018 Friday ,12 January

Saudi-led coalition says Yemen rebels threat

GMT 11:18 2014 Monday ,22 December

Richard Ward adds to The Chelsea Collection
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday