Blog posts with "consumer fraud"

Explosive new allegations have emerged in the ongoing litigation against Bank of America (BoA) in relation to intentionally botched loss mitigation procedures, most especially in relation to the government-sponsored Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).  Several whistleblower former employees from BoA’s loss mitigation department have come forward asserting a laundry list of egregious abuses of both their borrower and the U.S. taxpayer. Some of the highlights of this scheme include ...

From right to left, Attorney General Eric Holder, former Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, and former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, are sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. (AP PHOTO/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS) Two recent Obama-appointees, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, have decided to cash out through the revolving door. As explained in a National Journal article: As...

In a not-so-shocking turn of events, the previously botched OCC foreclosure fraud settlement has reached a new level of absurdity. As reported in the blogosphere, OCC Independent Foreclosure Review checks, sent by a paying agent of the name Rust Consulting, are being rejected by banks due to insufficient funds. To make matters worse, Rust Consulting is sending the checks out in scammy-looking envelopes, which bear a striking resemblance to a debt collection letter or bulk spam mail, have a lo...

Recently leaked information indicating that a replacement to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) “Independent Foreclosure Review” has now been confirmed by the OCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). As the Huffington Post noted, there is clearly no longer a need for concern over the independence of the review, because it is now being managed by the very same entities who were supposed to be punished by the settlement. Lenders and servicers will now...

As the December 31, 2012 deadline for submission of foreclosure review claims under the OCC program has passed, more and more people are seeing the consultant-driven audit as “a ruse and a waste of time and money,” just as described by the former chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Sheila Bair. According to sources at the NY Times, the OCC review has already cost banks $1.5 billion, and yet aggrieved homeowners have yet to see any meaningful recovery under thi...

Six months ago state and federal regulators agreed to settle for $25 billion with banks in relation to numerous claims of lending and mortgage foreclosure fraud and abuse. What seemed to be a good deal for the alleged perpetrators of one of the most economically detrimental lending schemes in history has in fact proven to be a great deal for the alleged perpetrators. From March 1 to June 30 138,000 homeowners with distressed properties have received some form of relief. However, that number m...

When homeowner Lynn Szymoniak received a mortgage foreclosure complaint, she turned the tables on the foreclosing banks by utilizing her skills as an attorney and fraud detective to investigate tens of thousands of foreclosure documents in other foreclosure cases. After discovering that the foreclosing banks were engaging in pervasive fraud, she brought a False Claims Act lawsuit against the banks on behalf of the federal government. Now, CBS News reports that homeowner Lynn Szymoniak “i...

  Lynn Szymoniak, a South Florida attorney and foreclosure fraud victim who successfully challenged the corrupt banking practice of falsifying ownership records (such as notes and assignments) commonly referred to as “robo-signing,” is now being subjected to what she describes as continuing harassment from the very bank she exposed as perpetrating the fraud.   In 2008, Szymoniak’s home went into foreclosure as a result of medical emergencies which drained her income and assets. As a...

BofA is currently receiving a substantial amount of press for a very small pilot program that promises to rent homeowners’ homes back to them instead of foreclosing on the homes. However, the program requires homeowners to be at least two months behind in their mortgage payments to qualify for the program, and fewer than 1000 slots are available in a few select markets. Another ploy to encourage struggling homeowners to default? Maybe. More from the L.A. Times: The "Mortgage to Lease" prog...

A revelation regarding the source of key information driving recent foreclosure-abuse related settlements was recently announced. It was revealed that whistleblowers were, and continue to be, instrumental in exposing and assisting in the prosecution of the fraud and abuses perpetrated by multinational banks against homeowners. This press release from the newsroom of the nation’s leading whistleblower law firm in Washington, D.C., Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto announced the news: Today, the...