Monday, May 09, 2011

Banks' worse nightmare: Forged Register of Deeds docs ; Part 1

Written by Biloxi

If the banks think that the housing crisis, 50 state Attorneys General investigation, robo-signing scandals, violating the servicemember federal law, federal agencies foreclosure investigations, etc. are worse, think again. Much of the media haven't paid attention to real nightmare for the banks: Forging of the assignment of mortgages in the Registrar of Deeds in all 50 states. And there are some Register of Deeds heads that are not only finding fraudulent mortgage documents recorded, but they are requesting a criminal investigation into the fraud.

Last year, Essex County Register of Deeds John O’Brien in Massachusetts had sent a letter to state Attorney General Martha Coakley to request Ms. Coakley to investigate whether or not the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) has failed to pay the recording fees. Mr. O'Brien began to question the assignment of mortgages recorded since a number of court filings in different states alleged that MERS intentionally failed to pay recording fees:

O’Brien said that it had come to his attention that a number of states have alleged in court filings that MERS intentionally failed to pay recording fees, and failed to disclose the transfer and assignments of interest in property, solely to avoid and decrease the recordation fees owed to the counties and the state.


In addition, MERS may have wrongfully bypassed Massachusetts recording requirements, thereby frustrating the borrower’s right to know the true identity of the holder of his or her mortgage, according to O’Brien.

Moreover, other Registrar of Deeds in other states is investigating fraudulent mortgage document recordings. This year in Michigan, Ingham County Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel found numerous cases of mortgage fraud recordings:

Three signatures all read Linda Green, Vice President. Her name shows up on at least 60 home mortgage documents in Ingham Count, but none of them look the same.


Curtis Hertel: "If you look at the signatures, it's amazing that they thought they could get away with this."


Ingham County Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel says they're forged and are the work of some of the nations biggest banks who've used phony documents to speed up the foreclosure process, so instead of paying 17 bucks to file the forms, Hertel says those banks paid employees to sign names like Green and Tywanna Thomas as a shortcut.

In the state of Michigan, fraudulent mortgage and title documents recorded is a felony. Now, both the Ingham County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI is investigating this. And this week, Michigan county clerks testified at House Banking and Financial Services Committee in the state regarding Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Bill Bullard Jr.'s investigation into fraudulent signatures on foreclosure documents:

Bullard's investigation uncovered signatures on foreclosure documents filed in Oakland County in 2008 and 2009 which matched a national pattern of signatures by a nonexistent bank "Vice President, Linda Green."

In the state of North Carolina, Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen had uncovered more than 4,500 documents of forged or altered signatures by mortgage lenders such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Even Mr. Thigpen created a spreadsheet of all the names and property addresses of homeowners affected from the fraudulent mortgage documents and the name of the mortgage lenders. Click here. And thanks to Mr. Thigpen, Guilford County Attorney Mark Payne will talk with the county commissioners about taking legal action.

This news gets grimmer for the banks. So stay tuned.

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