Progress Illinois

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA (on Foreclosure Crisis)

Mr. President:

PLEASE launch probes into self-evident false IRS form 1099-A's connected with foreclosures.

A mere look at Wells Fargo's false 1099-A's will expose various White Collar real estate & foreclosure fraud (carried out for years)--likely, another S&L mess! Further, the recent controversy about former Wells Fargo (WF) senior vice president, Cheronda Guyton’s use of the Malibu home which the owners lost due to Bernie Madoff, is unwitting exposition of deceits associated with foreclosure and repossessions. Moreover, Wells Fargo’s internal investigation into the Malibu matter has glaring appearances of coverup –particularly because WF implausibly announced Ms. Guyton acted solely when it fired only her.

Specifically, non-legal foreclosures filed DELIBERATELY in courtrooms are for reasons such as: filing false Internal Revenue form 1099-A's for tax advantages; repeated property flipping (which leads to blighted neighborhoods); and Bankruptcy Court false motions to "Lift Stay" for purposes of achieving SIMULATED AUCTIONS. As such, loan modification is not in the interest of these sort of lenders. Ongoing news of courts dismissing foreclosure cases because of no proof of standing is not always a coincidence, or mistake.

Deliberately false foreclosures often name defunct mortgage companies or companies which no longer hold the notes, and contain fees in excess of "Acceleration Clauses," which makes it even harder for people to re-pay arrears. If property owners sue for "Unfair Debt Collection Practices," attorneys make more even $$$ through protracted litigations --which Wall Street Investors often incur the tab. In some instances, through use of a false mortgage holder’s name, the debt collection lawyer actually is the disguised foreclosing plaintiff who wounds up with ownership of foreclosed property and flips it!

The reality is that SCORES of foreclosure cases -including some of Wells Fargo’s have been dismissed because collection lawyers file foreclosure or Bankruptcy court proceedings without proof of being the proper party in interest. Accordingly, as it pertains to the minuscule information supplied by WF after its former vice president squatted and partied in the Malibu home; and in light of foreclosure frauds, here are some blatant questions about that home squatting incident, and about foreclosure that ought to be answered:

1. Because the Elin property had not yet been put on the market for public sale, how or why did ––according Ms. Guyton– Collin Equities wind up owning the Malibu home after the Elins signed it over to Wells Fargo?

2. Was Collin Equities (in like manner as Wells Fargo operates here in Louisiana) a straw buyer for the Elins property, or did some sort of “simulated sale” occur whereby the property deed was (unlawfully) conveyed to Collin?

3. Considering Guyton’s use of that Malibu home, and her reference to Collin Equities, was there kickbacks / quid pro quo activity between them or any other firm of which Guyton oversaw property ownership transfers?

4. Since Ms. Guyton was “responsible for commercial foreclosed properties,” wouldn’t it be the role of the person who is in charge of Residential foreclosed properties to permit Guyton to have access to the. . .
**This ENTIRE letter is also posted at:
http://www.pr-inside.com/open-letter-to-president-obama-on-foreclosure-c...

This bill has the overwhelming support of the Center for Responsible Lending. The CRL lobbies on Durbin's behalf here because it is funded by $15million from hedge funds that are making a killing on the housing crisis. They will reap in far more profits from forced mortgage modifications than from foreclosures or bankruptcies, because people will then keep paying interest on loans they can't afford.

Thank you for all your continuous reporting on Illinois-related financial reform posts! If you can, can you please link to the Showdown In Chicago (www.showdowninchicago.org) website to help spread the word about the NPA/SEIU three days of action on big banks and Wall Street lobbyists?

Thank you.

If you look very carefully at each and every one of those mortgages, and inspect the appraisals made of those homes, you will see that the homes were WAY overvaluated by the lender and that MERS is on every single mortgage. Wells Fargo was not only a direct lender - it has hundreds of correspondent lenders that are doing the same thing (Draper & Kramer, the Chicago Real Estate Giant being just one), and then naming Wells Fargo as the SERVICER, so Wells Fargo can claim "assignee" protection, under MERS.
MERS is a child of MERSCORP - owned by Wells Fargo and other Banks. MERS "trades" in mortgages - but never reports those alleged "sales and purchases" to the SEC. In fact, one can't find any information regarding the security (promissory note), a negotiable instrument that evidences a debt that a mortgage secures. The only way to get that informaion is to be a member of MERS. The information is purposely kept from you - and unless you are a member of MERS, you cannot get the information. MERS does it every day in Chicago. The Banks hide the identities of the real parties, so the borrowers cannot alert the investors of the frauds.
Please find out how to stop foreclosures! Please DO something! There is a corporate machine called Mortgage Electronic Registrations Systems, Inc. (MERS), that makes fraudulent conveyances of real property in order to facilitate foreclosures in the name of Wells Fargo, who is NOT the real party in interest!
To see it for yourself, you need only to examine any Cook County foreclosure proceeding initiated by Wells Fargo - look at the alleged "assignment" - the "officer of MERS" who signs the backdated assignment is actually the attorney of Wells Fargo!
Even when the homeowner figures out that he was induced into borrowing an amount in excess of the value of his home (by a fraudulent appraisal), there is NO WAY for the homeowner to contact the buyer of the note (holder/investor) to advise of the fraud purpetrated against the investor - a homeowner usually can't find a way to fight against the foreclosure, because MERS was named on the mortgage as a nominee of the original lender - what the original lender conceals at execution is that MERS is also an agent of Wells Fargo (and other Banks). But, long after the original lender sells it's interest, MERS claims it still has interest (as a nominee for anyone who buys the Note - this is never mentioned in the deal with the homeowner!), and when the Servicer (who collects payments to spread around the mortgage backed security pools) attempts to foreclose and is met with resistance from the borrower, MERS records an affidavit of assignment AFTER foreclosure complaint is filed, and the assignment is always backdated to just before default. But, common sense says MERS lost it's nominee status at the original sale by the original lender - so WHY IS THIS BEING ALLOWED??
Please see through the curtain, Honorable Madigan of Illinois - MERS was never created to save money for the homeowner - it was created to avoid disclosure to the people and the government, and has robbed millions from Illinois by neither registering it's securities (traded every day - make the MERS members show you the real records) nor paying any tax stamps - an average of 4 transfer fees lost PER MORTGAGE IN ILLINOIS, and thousands of foreclosures granted to the wrong party in interest, just so that party can remortgage the home to another victim, over and over! The Mortgage Banker's Association should be investigated - so many people borrowed money against their homes, believing that they had equity so if something went wrong they would be able to sell and pay their debts - this would NEVER happen, because these borrowers were lied to and the appraisals made the homes look like there was sufficient equity when there was not - most were rendered unsaleable at the execution, and the borrowers were never aware until they tried to sell.
If you remember 1998 when Ms. Brooksey Born tried unsuccessfully to stop the Big Banks' Black Box - you will see a striking similarity - the Black Box here is MERS, and the Derivatives are the American homes!
The only way to fix the economy is to void the fraudulent mortgage contracts and give people their homes - the mortgage payment they do not have could be spent on home repairs, property taxes, education for their kids, maybe a new car. They will have money to spend and save (if they save, the banks won't have such a problem), they could pay for medical care, etc, etc.
The other way is: allow more people to lose their homes, after which they will depend on the government to survive - the homes will rot and become harbors for crime, the state will lose untold amounts of money on property taxes, no one will be able to afford healthcare or even to pay bills - which will put even more people out of jobs, more people will foreclose, more people will depend on government money to live. More manufacturers will go bankrupt, because no one can buy, and the homes offered for sale will be in disrepair and in now bad neighborhoods, so no one will buy them, so the revenues will even go down further, causing more loss of jobs, etc, etc - a chain reaction, while the banks get a big discount by fraudulently registering the foreclosed, unsaleable homes as co-ops and robbing the State of Illinois from more precious revenue - just look at how REO properties are taxed as compared to a lived-in home - the RE companies lie to the Assessors!
Meanwhile, the securities are not paying, so a person, or their parents, and even their grandparents are forced to sell their retirement funds and assets and are left with NOTHING, if they are lucky they will own their home outright - but if their mortgage mentions MERS, they are destined to NEVER own that property. The only way the Banks can keep their fraudulent ball rolling is to foreclose and eventually remortgage the home. THEY ARE AFTER THE LAND - not the home that's on it. LAND DOES NOT DEPRECIATE - the Banks NEVER lose, no matter what they try to make it look like.

A promissory Note says that any notices regarding payment must be made to the Note Holder. You are never made aware of the identity of the Note Holder, so how can you notify of anything? The non-disclosure of the Note Holder is a breach of contract by the original lender and any assignee of that lender.

The Mortgage document first says this:

Quote:
MERS is a separate corporation that is acting solely as a nominee for Lender and Lender’s successors and assigns. MERS is the beneficiary under this Security Instrument.24

And later it says this:

Quote:
The beneficiary of this Security Instrument is MERS (solely as nominee for Lender and Lenders successors and assigns) and the successors and assigns of MERS.

MERS’ “Terms and Conditions” identifies MERS’ interests. The Terms and Conditions 26 say this:

Quote:
MERS shall serve as mortgagee of record with respect to all such mortgage loans solely as a nominee, in an administrative capacity, for the beneficial owner or owners thereof from time to time. MERS shall have no rights whatsoever to any payments made on account of such mortgage loans, to any servicing rights related to such mortgage loans, or to any mortgaged properties securing such mortgage loans. MERS agrees not to assert any rights (other than rights specified in the Governing Documents) with respect to such mortgage loans or mortgaged properties. References herein to “mortgage(s)” and “mortgagee of record” shall include deed(s) of trust and beneficiary under a deed of trust and any other form of security instrument under applicable state law.

YET, MERS does exactly the opposite when it "assigns" the mortgage AND note to the "servicer" - it is against the law, MERS cannot assign the note to anybody!

(Emphasis added - MERS' website is mersinc.org, and the only entity the homeowner is allowed to contact is the Servicer, whose has no interest in the mortgage or the promissory note - the information regarding the true party in interest is only available to MERS members.)

A “beneficiary” is defined as “one designated to benefit from an appointment, disposition, or assignment . . . or to receive something as a result of a legal arrangement or instrument.” BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 165 (8 ed. 2004). But it is obvious from the MERS’ “Terms and Conditions” that MERS is not a beneficiary as it has no rights whatsoever to any payments, to any servicing rights, or to any of the properties secured by the loans.

There's some great info on msfraud.org.

MERS is a strawman that holds nothing. Every assignment by MERS is a fraudulent conveyance of real property, backdated and then recorded after foreclosure is filed.