Voided Foreclosures 2011 - SC and OH

13 November 2010 / Blog / Comments Off

The highest court in Massachusetts ruled Friday that U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo incorrectly seized two problem borrowers’ properties in 2007. The Supreme Judicial Court voided the foreclosures, returning ownership of the properties to the borrowers and opening the door to reversing other foreclosures in the state.  While other state are not bound by this ruling it will have influence insofar that it is the first such ruling from a state supreme court.

The cases date back to 2007 when the banks began foreclosure proceedings against delinquent borrowers on two different properties. The problem was that the banks had not yet been assigned the mortgages before they were foreclosed as is requires. Foreclosures are only to occur when the lenders can prove they own the note underlying the property. As lenders and Wall Street firms bundled thousands of mortgage loans into securities, banks often failed to record each link in the chain of documents demonstrating ownership of a note on the property.

Attorneys general in all fifty states are investigating foreclosure improprieties, which include among other dubious practices the use of forged signatures. One of the property owners currently lives in a rental condo. The end result is that the bank will either have to pay the owner to buy the deed back or in the alternative walk away from the property. The court also ruled that foreclosure cases already completed could be reopened and brought under scrutiny. This is one of a series of cases that are being litigated in the courts which are consumer friendly.