It could almost come from a science fiction movie where tens of thousands are forced out of their homes by a cold, mechanized Robo-Signer. But it’s not science fiction. It’s reality.

Over the past two weeks, both Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase have suspended their foreclosure proceedings for tens of thousands of mortgages as they look at their foreclosure process. The issue? Robo-Signers are authorizing thousands of foreclosures every week denying homeowners a proper, human review and proper consideration for their individual foreclosure case.

At least RoboCop had it right when he said, “Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law.” Have banks’ foreclosure practices violated the public trust? Foreclosed on innocent homeowners? Broken the law?

In fact, banks in Florida, Texas, Maine and other states are withdrawing their foreclosure affidavits that were signed by Robo-Signers. GMAC and Chase in particular have admitted in sworn depositions that they have used Robo-Signers to authorize as many as 10,000 foreclosure documents a month without proper review and notorization.

Banks like GMAC claim that the errors are technical in nature and didn’t result in any inappropriate foreclosures. Attorneys General in states like Colorado, Texas, Iowa and others are looking into GMAC’s practices to see if they constitute criminal fraud.

Unfortunately, many homeowners, maybe 60% or more, facing foreclosure do little or nothing to safeguard their rights allowing Robo-Signers to run rough-shod over them. But some homeowners who have fought back have found irregularities in the foreclosure process used by banks. In some cases, the bank didn’t even own the loan it. It had been sold into a securitized trust held by other investors meaning that the bank had no basis for foreclosure.

According to the Wall Street Journal, IndyMac used a Robo-Signer named Erica A Johnson-Seck to sign more than 6,000 documents a week. Upon review by a court, it was determined that IndyMac couldn’t possibly have properly reviewed foreclosure cases as required by law.

More and more homeowners are beginning to fight their foreclosure process. Some complain that this will slow down the foreclosure process and, thus, the housing recovery.

Author: timothymccandless

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