Archive for October 2010
Massive Foreclosure Scandal Follows ‘Same Process’ That Fed The Housing Bubble
HUFFINGTONPOST.COM – The paperwork scandal that has prompted several banks to halt evictions and review their foreclosure procedures is reminiscent of the predatory lending scheme that inflated the housing bubble.
“It’s the same process, falsifying documents to make them look acceptable to someone,” said Tom Domonoske, a lawyer and consumer advocate in Virginia. “They’re falsifying foreclosure documents so judges will look at them and say, ‘Here’s an affidavit. It’s signed.’”
Domonoske represents Virginia and Donald Naill, who unwittingly found themselves in an exploding mortgage after refinancing in 2006. “I figured they had my taxes, my Social Security number, that they knew everything,” Naill told HuffPost last year. She and her husband live on Ordinary Road in Mineral, Va.
The broker who put the Naills in their “stated income” adjustable loan, on which the interest rate and monthly payment jumped dramatically after two years, admitted in a sworn deposition last fall that the loan application was bogus. “It was a stated deal on this particular one, so — and again, the Naills knew that we was doing a stated deal,” the broker said. “So, and of course, we always — I always, anyway, told my client that, ‘If you’re getting a stated deal, you know we’re stating your income. So you all need to make sure that you’re going to be able to abide by making your monthly payment.’
Author: Huffingtonpost.com
