Banks Admit Wrongly Foreclosing on Troops

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Newser

Banks Admit Wrongly Foreclosing on Troops

At least 700 active-duty troops lost homes during crisis

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
Posted Mar 4, 2013 2:18 AM CST

(Newser) – America's biggest banks have admitted that they wrongfully foreclosed on the homes of at least 700 military personnel, in some cases evicting families while troops were serving in war zones, the New York Times reports. The wrongful foreclosures by banks including Citigroup and Wells Fargo surfaced as part of a mortgage probe stemming from a settlement with federal authorities over foreclosure abuse during the housing crisis. Federal law requires banks to obtain court orders before foreclosing on active-duty troops.

“It’s absolutely devastating to be 7,000 miles from your home fighting for this country and get a message that your family is being evicted," says a retired Air Force lawyer who represents troops in foreclosure cases. "We have been sounding the alarms that the banks are illegally evicting the very men and women who are out there fighting for this country. This is a devastating confirmation of that." The big banks say the wrongful foreclosure are only a small fraction of the mortgages being reviewed and they plan to compensate those affected.


Read more: http://www.newser.com/story/163785/banks-admit-wrongly-foreclosing-on-troops.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=thestreet&utm_campaign=s5

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(Short article, no more at link.)

[DRoseDARs]

1. And the Justice Department will do exactly nothing meaningful about this in 5... 4... 3... nt

[blkmusclmachine]

5. +1. They're too busy busting medical marijuana, and getting their Drones in the skies.

Bipartisanship sucks

[AnotherMcIntosh]

23. x2

[apocalypsehow]

2. Shameful. Kick, Rec. n/t.

[silvershadow]

3. They would foreclose on their own mothers if only they could sell her a loan first. nt

[KansDem]

8. Reminds me of a joke...

Q: Why is a vulture capitalist enraged when you offer to buy his mother for $25?
A: Because he wouldn't let her go for less than $50

[Franker65]

4. Heads need to roll for this

Absolutely unforgivable error. The banks caused enough chaos as it is, this is certainly a new low.

[KansDem]

6. But...but...Romey's been sad for the last four months!

And then there's Benghazi...and Benghazi...and don't forget Benghazi...!

Hear about all this on CorpMedia!!!





[font size="1"][p align="right"]Did I mention "Benghazi?
[p align ="left']

[Diclotican]

7. Judi Lynn

Judi Lynn

The only way to "compensate" the victims of wrong evictions is either to give them back their home - free and with no debt - or to buy them a new home - to the double of the original prize - and also give them a economic compensation, on top of the new home. And also that the guilty ones, is punished to the highest possible prison sentence in the land - and that the banks have to stop being criminal in their actions - by making it a federal crime to do as they do to often..

Diclotican

[kentauros]

20. My educated guess, Diclotican,

is that nothing will happen beyond their admission that they were sorry they got caught. It is hopeful that someone in our government will take them to task for this, but my experience tells me not to hold out for any hope.

However, this story is too brief, so I don't know enough details. Maybe the military will go after them instead of the Justice department

[Diclotican]

24. kentauros

kentauros

I also doubt to much will happen - out of the fact they got caught and maybe have to do some ave maria in front of some government offices - and maybe pay back some of the money they stole - I am afraid nothing will come out of it.
To me it looks like the big banks in the US, rule with impunity with their habits - and every now and then they have to pay back some token value from what they stole from the "pessants".... To me it looks more and more like US, have devolved into a older age - where the big rulers, is the banks - and mighty people who rule more and less with impunity from the federal and local governments - they rule like medieval overlords - in their castles over large groups of peasants - who toil for all their life... And they believe it, is the way it should be.. Some is to rule - some to be ruled...

And if they got their way - the "peasants", aka most americans would devolve into a class of serfs (who come from the latin name for slaves, or belonging to someone.. ) like it did when the late roman empire had to defend their way of live, for all cost - even the freedom of their countrymen... And it took europe more than 1000 year, before the idea of serfs - or slaves was not at the books anymore - until the mid 1600, it existed on paper at least in England laws who was bounding people to their place - in serfdom...

Watch up, it could happened in the US too... Learn from history - or be expected to experience it yourself..

Diocletian

[Ken Burch]

9. OK...they've admitted it...any chance they'll actually reverse the foreclosures

and give these people their homes back?

[MannyGoldstein]

10. Seriously?

They'll get discount coupons for Six Flags.

[fasttense]

12. Yeah the Six Flag coupons

Are about all victims of financial fraud can count on these days.

The entire system is corrupted, from the legal system to the economic system, to the legislative system. There is nothing that hasn't been infected with the greed and evil of capitalism.

[Ken Burch]

14. ...and the coupons will only be valid on days when at least two of the flags aren't flying.

[aquart]

11. Fuck that admission. Full remuneration plus pain and suffering.

They STOLE those houses. Pay full value, plus interest PLUS a hefty bonus for stressing families already under intense stress. What they did endangered national security.

Frankly, I want those payments stripped visibly from the executive bonuses handed out by those banks.

Oh, and public apologies made in person (you know, like a visit from the Marines) with the exact crime and its consequences spelled out and then posted on YouTube for future use.

You can't eat admissions but they can eat crow.

[Hugin]

13. Wrongly? How about we call it Illegally?

Oh, but, that would mean somebody was a criminal. Can't have that.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. Oops-Little mistake there.

Sorry if it bothered you. We'll sorta try not to do it again.

[KansDem]

15. Can you imagine being on active duty in a war zone...

...in a foreign country and hearing from your spouse that your family is being foreclosed on?

[progressivebydesign]

28. if the spouse had paid the bills they wouldn't be behind in payments. nt

[KansDem]

30. Not necessarily...

I know a couple who had fallen behind in their payments due to a medical situation. They were able to make the payment on the last day of the grace period. They would make the payment using Western Union "Quick Collect" to be assured that the payment arrived in the lender's office the same day.

Well, once the lender decided to begin foreclosure proceedings, claiming they got the payment 14 days after the grace period. My friend showed me the Western Union receipt which indicated the payment arrived the day it was sent. She said she called but was told "too bad," the lender didn't count the payment as received until 14 days later, therefore they missed the grace period.

I don't know why the lender would claim that! Fortunately, she was able to get some money from relatives to prevent the foreclosure. But it looked like the lender was trying to steal their home.

Imagine having that happen when her husband was in a combat zone...

[another_liberal]

16. Shouldn't someone go to jail?

If you or I caused someone's family to be evicted from their home under false pretences, we would be arrested and most likely have to do time. These bastards can evict the families of hundreds of serving soldiers and all that they may have to suffer is to give back a portion of their ill-gotten gains (their personal bonuses will, of course, remain secure).

[progressoid]

17. I wonder.

Has our corporate government even written a law to make this illegal?

[another_liberal]

19. Fraudulent seizure of someone's personal property?

I think there are any number of laws which would apply. What we lack are District Attorneys and state Attorney Generals who aren't in the bankers' pockets. When we have some of those . . .

[melm00se]

18. odd

back when I worked for banks part of the affidavit for any kind of civil action, we had to certify that the defendant was not covered by the Soldiers and Sailors Credit Relief Act (now called Servicemembers Civil Relief Act).

As managers and bank officers, we all went under training on how to determine if someone was covered and what documentation might be needed.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

26. How many false affidavits were filed? Who signed them? Prosecute them!

[4Q2u2]

22. 1%ers vs 1%ers

We will see which side the country is really for. The 1%ers who are the bankers or the 1% of this country who serve in the Military.
I always told my Junior Troops that you want to see how much your country loves you, go to War for it and see what happens when you get home. My life is still in shambles after my last deployment to Iraq, that was 2009 when I got home. So I am not surprised by this story at all. Nor will I be surprised if nothing gets done.

Funny how the banks say that it is only a small fraction of the mortgages being reviewed, without even considering that percentages do not matter if you are the one losing your house. TOO BIG TO NOTICE instead of Too Big to Fail. This and their other endeavors are Epic Fails.

[judesedit]

25. So the investors can scoff up the houses dirt cheap & sell them back to us at a huge profit. Sounds

like the old inflated value trick to me all over again. Vote republican'ts out of office asap so we can get fixing this obscene nightmare.

[progressivebydesign]

27. I'm confused. They get PAID even more to be in combat, so why didn't they pay their bills?

Am I missing something? The troops get extra money in their checks when they are deployed overseas... and the money is available to their spouses by direct deposit, to pay the bills. I have no idea why they'd be foreclosed on if they're getting their money that we pay them as taxpayers. They get free health care, schooling, discounts on tons of things, and a wage that much higher than many other people get.

Seriously. Why didn't they pay their mortgages? We had a deployed neighbor whose wife basically let the house go to shit while he was overseas in Iraq. Had weeds up to your waste, and the place was filthy. When he got back they were already in foreclosure, and she dumped his stuff out and moved on. The other neighbors, where the wife was deployed and making great money, decided to just let their payments go and short sell so they could buy a bigger house where she was transferred (they buy the new house before the shit hits the fan on the old one.) So forgive me if I'm skeptical that they deserve any more consideration. Their spouses are at home managing the money that comes in...

[Occulus]

29. That happens when you don't even finish the first paragraph of the article n/t