Loan Modification

Mortgage Servicer Foreclosure Fraud

By Kurt O'Keefe, Detroit Consumer Attorney

Countrywide, number one offender, writer of the most sub-prime mortgages (the list goes on) admits bilking homeowners, in foreclosure, and even including those who had successfully completed Chapter 13 cases, usually filed to avoid foreclosure, out of tens of millions of dollars.

The Department of Justice, through the United States Trustee’s office, which oversees bankruptcy cases throughout the country, helped out the FTC on this one.

Like most government bureaucracies, the U. S. Trustee is not known for its quickness.

Even they piled on on this one.

You don’t pay $108 million dollars unless you were a BAD BOY.

Countrywide was when acquired by Bank of America in 2008., at which time it was number one in mortgages in the U.S.

Over 200,000 homeowners are covered in this settlement,  so, they must have missed thousands of other foreclosure victims.

It always seems that it never rains but it pours, people already in trouble were the victims.

Not current on your payments?

Having employment, sickness, or other problems?

Countrywide (and others) found you the perfect candidate to overcharge.

“Property inspections”

Someone drives by your house to see if anyone is living there, you get charged, the mortgage company makes money:

I had a client stuck with these fees, even though they were making their Chapter 13 payments on time, so Countrywide was getting a check each month, yet they kept sending one of their pros out for a property inspection.

I challenged the fees in bankruptcy court, but the Judge ruled against me.

The mortgage companies know people cannot afford lawyers to challenge the nickel and dime overcharging.

They also hide it.

Other times, they never notify anyone, not you, not your attorney, not your Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee.

Foreclosure produces more profit for the mortgage servicer, even more than if you make every payment on time.

Something I have been awaiting for years, criminal charges, could still come..

Mortgage Servicer Foreclosure Fraud

Related posts:

1. How do I contact my mortgage servicer?
2. Junk Fees–A Profit Center for Your Mortgage Servicer
3. What You Need To Know About Your New Mortgage Servicer

Full post as published by Mortgage Law Network on June 08, 2010 (boomark / email).