Since Karl over at The Market Ticker already did a nice job summarizing the complaint, I wont recreate the wheel…
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Class Action Lawsuit Against Countrywide: California
This is an extremely-important case folks. The pleadings here, like the case in Kentucky, lay the table in terms of the games that were played during the “Rah-Rah” years.
I am going to provide some excerpts via screenshots, and a link to the file containing the entire conformed copy in PDF format. Due to the PDF being protected against changes, SCRIBD will not allow me to upload it – I have asked for a copy without the protection and if I get it, will update this Ticker accordingly.
Uploaded it to SCRIBD so the full complaint can be viewed below…
Let’s start with the “meat” of the alleged violations:
And the first “meaty” part of the complaint….
In other words, Countrywide is alleged to not only have made bad loans, but also to have intentionally inflated appraisals.
Oh, that’s rich. So not only (it is alleged) did Countrywide bamboozle borrowers, they also bamboozled investors.
There’s the base of it all….
Of course there’s the famous “let’s hide Waldo” game once the gig is pretty much up. After all, if we have to produce the documents, well, our goose might be cooked – and that would be bad.
So what else is presented in here? Oh, all sorts of good stuff. Here’s a sampling:
That sounds like a problem to me……
Ding ding ding ding ding ding!
One of the keys to this mess is that the lenders knew full well that the borrowers could not pay “as agreed”, yet made the loans anyway.
You mean basically everything important about the loans, their quality, who they were going to be sold to, why and how was all bogus? And in addition, the price to be sought from investors exceeded the income stream that could be achieved even if nobody defaulted at all?
Heh, that’s a good gig if you can get it – and if you can find a way to do it legally.
Are there some facts behind this? Oh it appears there are…
Oh my. 2004 eh? I seem to remember tAngelo on CNBS making multiple appearances talking about how his company was going to take market share from all these subprime lenders that collapsed, and this was going to be great for his company. Indeed, I remember chortling at the time that I believed he was a lying SOB, and of course the so-called “Fantastic Mainstream Media” lapped it up – and helped support his stock price.
It appears that the intrepid attorneys who filed this action remember that too…. and the pages surrounding 100 in the complaint document a whole bunch of them, including statements in 10Ks and 10Qs that, it is alleged, were flatly false.
And, of course, there’s this one, which I have referred to many times over the last three and a half years:
I distinctly remember the cheesy suits and ties, not to mention the sprayed-on-looking tan.
As I have repeatedly pointed out, the entire intent of these loans was not to be a mortgage at all. It was, I allege, more akin to an asset-stripping scheme where the borrower would be effectively forced to come back to the lender after a couple of years when the teaser expired or the inevitable reset or recast occurred and effectively hand over his accumulated “appreciation” in price through yet more fees to be paid to the “lender.”
I believe that for all intents and purposes, from the lender’s point of view, this was nothing more than renting the house, as passing of a clear title to the buyer was never part of what was contemplated by the lender – but of course the borrower wasn’t told this in advance – or at all.
There’s much more in the complaint, but this will do for a start.
Incidentally, the banks tried to get this removed to Federal Court and kill it, and were rebuffed, so it appears that it’s headed to trial. Plaintiff’s Bar 1, Banksters 0 thus far – I will be providing updates on this case as I become aware of them.
To contact the attorneys involved (if you believe you might have an issue related to this) view the PDF – contact information is found right on the top, including email addresses – use them.
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4closureFraud.org
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Bank of America / Countrywide Class Action: California
My original loan was with Countrywide and then was sold to BAC. I lost my home just recently because I had a hardship. I lost my husband and my in a years time. I tried loan modifications but did not qualify for the government loan because BAC said my loan was affordable at 1200 a month, Which had actually doubled since my original loan with Countrywide. So then I tried another loan modification which I was told then my payments would most likely go up to 1500 a month. I am sorry but if I could not make my 1200 payments then why would I want to set myself for failure. Then I received a notice of foreclosure and so I had to move out of my home.
My story similar but I did not loose my husband. they told me I couldnt afford a 1600.0 payment and told me i would have to get “someone” to give me 600.00 a month to make it look like they were helping me and then I would just give them the money back every month? this was a bank person telling me this! After a 2 year fight I did a short sell because I was so stressed. Now i am renting and its cost me 1950.00 a month and Ive done it no problem. I went to look at a rental yesterday and the owner so the agent told me was an ex vise president of a bank of america and he owns “many properties” as he put it, in the area. Buys them through short sells and then rents them out. WHATS WRONG WITH THAT PICTURE???
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Forgot to “mention” that these practices do not pertain to California alone. My troubles were in Arizona, and I know that Countrywide did loans in other States as well, if not nationwide.
How can I get in on this lawsuit? My story is like so many of these that I have read. So fed up with the BofA blender in trying to get some assistance.
can one still enter this class action lawsuit?, who does one contact? my loan was started august 2006 ended up losing my home year n half later. HELP!!!
Help!!! I, like all of the people have been through hell with Countrywide and B of A. I just want
to be on any lawsuit that will deal with these gangsters. Please feel free to reach me via email. Please leave me a phone number and I can get you all of the documents and phone calls you need regarding my case.
Thank you for what you are doing. I know that their are thousands of people who want t fight these banks without anyway of actually doing it.
I originally had a two mortgage loan from Country wide and paid back I n full one total $27,000 to eliminate two monthly payments. bank of America took over and I applied in 210 for refinance from a interest only loan to principle and interest and was denied a refinance in 2011 and I tried to short sale and they foreclosed on my property at 541 J…..m. Ostrey Calexico,Ca. 92231 loan # 168411037
My story is so like Robert Goodwin I was doing a modification for 2 yrs with BoA filed papers after papers in the in July of 2011 they told me it was denied in Aug of 2010 but before I had this loan with BoA I was with countrywide did all of the paper work to lower my payments they sent me everything via fed-x next thing I know I was with BoA I thought loan modification was to help people not put them deeper into debt or out of their homes
How can I be included in the class action law suite?
I closed on a new construction with K Hovnanian LLC Mortgage Loans on Dec 2005. About 20 days later my mortgage transferred to Contrywide Bank. I continued making payments timely. Countrywide started forcing flood insurance knowing that my area was a clasified FEMA flood zone. It then removed the excessive escrow charges of about $2500. Then at the peak of the housing booming I requested removal of PMI. Countrywide denied it stating it could not until after two years from closing. They knew clearly that in less than two years later the whole scheme was to collapse. In 2008 the mortgage transferred to Bank of America. But just prior my Employer City of New York had begun demoting and laying off staff “because of the economy.”. I asked BofA for a loan modification. BofA took aboput a year to grant mod when I began alerting federal entities of its maneauvers. however, by then BofA also knew that I would not be able to meet the loan mod payments because as a result of its initial delay, BofA had deliberately caused for my principal to increase dramatically. Despite this I continued making payments for a year until again I received abrupt wages reduction in March 2011. I again asked for another loan mod which I knew I was right to ask for. BofA engaged again in time-delay tactics when ultimately it denied my request. Now I’m about 3 months uncovered in my mortgage payments and struggling to continue making payments. I researched my loan and with expert opinions I see my loan is a MERS loan, potentially Securitized loan. I submitted a QWR to BofA but its responses are inconclusive, elusive and threatning. In fact, BofA seem to have teamed up with a Broker who resides in my community to engage in harassment to cause me and my family such distress so that the Broker, who I have not engaged in business with, mange to get a sale and kick me to the curb with my family. I reported the incident which I was able to capture details on e-mail to the Attorney General and the Comptroller of the Currency. I know that these bastards riddled my family’s life dream with fraud and deception. Lawyers out there are not too far behind. Many see this economic climate as a golden opportunity to rip off clients without any regards or respect. Be on the lookout for those too. It is hard to find an honest council who stands by its ethics and professional principles. I am looking for a good-effective lawyer who is well aware that homeowners today are in tremendous financial distress but with an urgent call for legal help. I know there are still a FEW GOOD MEN out there.201-920-8547- or 201-433-0321
I closed on a new construction with K Hovnanian LLC Mortgage Loans on Dec 2005. About 20 days later my mortgage transferred to Contrywide Bank. I continued making payments timely. Countrywide started forcing flood insurance knowing that my area was a clasified FEMA flood zone. It then removed the excessive escrow charges of about $2500. Then at the peak of the housing booming I requested removal of PMI. Countrywide denied it stating it could not until after two years from closing. They knew clearly that in less than two years later the whole scheme was to collapse. In 2008 the mortgage transferred to Bank of America. But just prior my Employer City of New York had begun demoting and laying off staff “because of the economy.”. I asked BofA for a loan modification. BofA took aboput a year to grant mod when I began alerting federal entities of its maneauvers. however, by then BofA also knew that I would not be able to meet the loan mod payments because as a result of its initial delay, BofA had deliberately caused for my principal to increase dramatically. Despite this I continued making payments for a year until again I received abrupt wages reduction in March 2011. I again asked for another loan mod which I knew I was right to ask for. BofA engaged again in time-delay tactics when ultimately it denied my request. Now I’m about 3 months uncovered in my mortgage payments and struggling to continue making payments. I researched my loan and with expert opinions I see my loan is a MERS loan, potentially Securitized loan. I submitted a QWR to BofA but its responses are inconclusive, elusive and threatning. In fact, BofA seem to have teamed up with a Broker who resides in my community to engage in harassment to cause me and my family such distress so that the Broker, who I have not engaged in business with, mange to get a sale and kick me to the curb with my family. I reported the incident which I was able to capture details on e-mail to the Attorney General and the Comptroller of the Currency. I know that these bastards riddled my family’s life dream with fraud and deception. Lawyers out there are not too far behind. Many see this economic climate as a golden opportunity to rip off clients without any regards or respect. Be on the lookout for those too. It is hard to find an honest council who stands by its ethics and professional principles. I am looking for a good-effective lawyer who is well aware that homeowners today are in tremendous financial distress but with an urgent call for legal help. I know there are still a FEW GOOD MEN out there.201-920-8547
My partner and I took out a mortgage with countrywide which was taken over by Bank of America and we have paid on the mortgages and refinancing for 18 years on time. Then in 2009 I got hurt at work and have not been able to work. My workman’s compensation only pays 50% what I made. I contact BoA and for over 18 months I jumped thru hoops trying to get home loan remodification.. They told me to call monthly for up dates. I did. Then they turned me down using my job salary and not the actual dollars I was getting from workman’s compensation. I went to my local BoA branch(at Happy Point in La Quinta,Ca) where I have had a working relationship with the Branch Manager Sharon Hosley. I explained the problem about the turndown that they used the wrong numbers to calculate our percentage. She said she’d get it reopened up. I kept calling BoA Home Loans and they kept telling me they were still reviewing my case. Then I call a couple months later sand spoke to Sam who stated that my file was in the 80% and with the approving committee. Then in June 2011 I called and spoke to Daniel at BoA home loans remodification ( no one would give their last names) He took my loan number and came back and told me I was turned down in February or January 2011. I was suppose to get a certified fed ex with either a turn down letter or a terms of remodification. I got neither. They let me pay $3000. from January until April when I told them I would not pay another penny on the house that is over $200,000. underwater. So they are foreclosing on my home of 18 years which I made major improvements on. Is there anyway I can become part of the class action suit against BoA/Countrywide with out me putting out any money I do not have. Thanks Robert (Bob) Goodwin
I lost my home. Country Wide never game the opportunity to renegociated with them.
and fix the problem after nine years payng my bill on time. Country Wide never gave me
and option.
I was living in this house from Decembier 2,000 to December 2,009 .Some body knock my door
and told me the house has been sold and I have one month to live it.
Here is the adress :2673 Street Cedar Ave Long Beach, CA 90806
Recieved a stated income loan from Countrywide Home Loans in 2006. I put down 92000 dollars down. They gave me a ib ntrest only loanf for five years. Now being cut back to work I tried to get a modification,but after seven months I was denied. Then the Bank said three weeks before the sale date I could do a short sale. I hired a short sale specialist and recieved 3 offers in one week. Bank of America would not extend the sale date in order to close the deal. The day before the sale date I tried to get the sale date extended ,but the Bank said no. That afternoon I filed chapter 13. The day of thesale date Bank of America approved the short sale. That is a Joke they knew I filed chapter 13
I have a Courntrywide arm loan wich is now Bank of America. They refused me Modification after 5 months. They said I had to Do a Haffa short sale. Now they said I do not Qualify for a Haffa short sale. I have been cut back to wiork for two years and only work 30 hours a week and my wife does not work. What they want to do is foreclose ,but I will Probally have to file for chapter 13. The people do not know what there are doing I need a good Lawyer
The loan was a country wide loan and LOC based on their appraisals. When my husband lost his job we tried short sales with two differenct agents. BofA waited til the last minute to turn it down saying we did not turn in all our paperwork. Even our agent had copies of all documents they requested. Our agent said BofA wanted our bank records to collect on the debt after foreclosure. I have BofA employees names and dates of what they said to ask for the house, I got a full cash offer for more than 25,000 than the BofA employee said to go for and they still did not approve of the short sale. Now I have a collection firm after me for the LOC and received two 1099A forms with outrageous values. BofA never even proved they had our paperwork. I kept very detailed records of my conversations and contacts, if there is a class action suit i would like to participate.
Why isn’t this also filed in AZ?
Anyone know of a Class action lawsuit against Bank of America for Forclosure Fraud? My mother-in-law lost her house because they said they could not find her (very easy to find) over a 2nd mortgage my wife’s ex husband took out against the house. Bank of America had the 1st mortgage that was current. They only forclosed on the 2nd mortgage and sold the house at the courthouse without us knowing it was being sold.
After amost 3 years she finally got her house back as the court decided that they had not done a diligent search. Still puzzles me how they were able to forclose as the 1st mortgage was never late and she paid it the entire time the person owned it from buying it at the courthouse. We just did not know he had taken out a second mortgage on the house.
I have a question related to this, but from a slightly different angle.
We have a mortgage that we got from Countrywide in 2003 that is of course now serviced by BofA for our home in CA.
Here’s were we are a bit different. We are actually (thankfully) thinking of paying off our mortgage (for a host of reasons that I don’t need to go into here) as opposed to dealing foreclosure issues.
We have more actual equity in our house than we owe.
What I’m wondering is if all of this garbage that Countrywide, MERS, etc. etc. that seems to mostly get coverage as it relates to foreclosures can be leveraged for our benefit in closing out our mortgage?
Does that makes sense?
It seems that if banks are getting their hands chopped off for all these bad mortgages, fraud, etc., we’d be stupid to just pay up without figuring out if for once we could use the system to *OUR* benefit.
Just in case you got the “blocked-out” version of the countrywide/BofA Class Lawsuit in Ca.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=2205355
hello
This complaint is very complex and comprehensive. Wells and Smith for BOFA will have a field day charging 1000 an hour defending BOFA in this case. However, it is NOT clear who owns these mortgages. As I have stated before, a qualifed written request as provided by RESPA Federal Law I think it is section 1594 but it might be 1501 allows for fines if the the servicer doesn’t provide the ownership of the trusts.
In my case, you can look up Maiden Lane I through IV on Google and it will come right up that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I believe my first trust is owned by the FEDS as well based on info received from the SEC six months ago.
The point here is that a federal judge has ruled in Baltimre in City of Baltimre vs Wells Fargo Bank in a Predatory Lending case that Predatory Lending is also a civil rights violation pursuant to the FAIR HOUSING ACT and the Community Reinvestment Act. The fines for Predatory Lending are $ 1 million per loan.
If we connect the dots here and show that the FEDERAL RESERVE system is behind all this foreclosure mess because they own these loans using TARP: money ( taxpayer money) to bail out these banks, that is a even bigger mess. Everyone should find out who owns their mortgages by using respa qualified written request to their servicer.
if the servicer stone walls, they can be fined by the FDIC, OCC and Treasury.
hope this helps a few.
finally, if one can show they received a predatory loan, ie redlining they may have a civil rights action before the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. if the complaint is perfected, which costs zero to the homeowner, then in effect the homeowner is suing the bank and servicers and huge fines can be imposed on them as well as restitution ordered and mandated by HUD to the bank and the servicer.
In homeowners vs NOVASTAR in the federal court in Tacoma, Wa. the homeowners won their case and the federal court orderd that all payments and origination fees had to be paid back to the homeowner and homes had to be returned if foreclosed.
to heck with wells fargo settlements with wash state and other states attorney generals, we have seen all that before and the howeowners get nothing. it is just an alleged ruse by political interests to contain the banks losses from all their fraud and redlining . We want our money back that we paid on these lemon arm loans with loan origination fraud etc and the origination fees and then start over with 1 percent loans fully amortized.
that should fix a few problems and no foreclosures for ten years.
thanks
David B.
Excellent David B
UH, none of these pretender lenders lent us any money…..WE THE PEOPLE WERE SCAMMED UN THE BIGGEST PONZI SCHEME SWINDLE AND HEIST OF OUR WEALTH IN HISTORY……..U.S. TAXPAYERS FUNDED THIS WHOLE OPERATION….WE THE PEOPLE BUILT THESE HOMES AND PAID FOR THEM……..WHERE DID THE CHECK COME FROM AT CLOSING……??? THE U.S. TREASURY……THAT IS WHY WE HAVE THE DEED……..THIS WAS THE BIGGEST PONZI SCHEME SCAM OF OUR WEALTH IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD……WE THE PEOPLE PAID FOR THESE HOMES AND THE PRETENDER LENDERS COLLECTED INTEREST OFF OF OUR MONEY……..AND MADE HUNDREDS OF TRILLIONS MORE IN MANY OTHER ILLEGAL WAYS…..THEY — USED OUR MONEY….TO GET FILTHY RICH……AND AFTER RINGING AMERICA UP WITH 40 TRILLION IN COLLATERAL FRAUD, THEY ROBBED THE STOCK MARKET AND CRASHED IT, TOOK THE TAX PAYER BAILOUT AND STILL KEPT HO– USE STEALING..TRYING TO MAKE US “THINK” THEY OWNED OUR HOMES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THEIR OWNERS IN ROME…….. AFTER THEY STOLE EVERYTHING FROM MAINSTREET…HUNDREDS OF TRILLIONS IN FRAUD…..OFF OF THE BACKS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE..ALL OF THIS WAS DONE TO MAKE AMERICA A COMMUNIST COUNTRY IN THE NWO HITLER PLAN…..WALL STREET BETTER RUN!!!
WHO WAS THE HEAD OF THE TREAS UNDER REAGAN? THAT IS WHEN THIS ALL BEGAN….UNDER REAGAN….THE REPUBLICONS…….THATS WHY THEY GOT AWAY WITH MAKING LIARS LOANS…UNDER BUSH, ANOTHER REPUBLICON, THOUGH CLINTON LIFTED THE RESTRICTIONS ON WALL STREET IN 1999, TO ALLOW THE FRAUDSTERS TO — USE OUR SIGNATURES AS A POKER CHIP ON WALL STREETS CASINO OF FRAUD………THE HOMES WERE ALREADY PAID FOR…..THAT IS HOW THE PRETENDER LENDERS BECAME OVERLEVERAGED……BY OVERSPECULATING THEY CREATED A MASSIVE HOUSING BUBBLE OF UNSUSTAINABLE DEBT 40 TRILLION DOLLARS WORTH, 10 MORTGAGES PER PROPERTY..MAYBE MORE…..
LET ME CLARIFY, THEY GOT AWAY WITH MAKING THE LIARS LOANS UNDER BUSH BECA– USE THE HOMES WERE ALREADY PAID FOR OR FUNDED BY THE U.S. TAXPAYER….THE PRETENDER LENDERS HAD NO SKIN IN THE GAME…..AND DID NOT CARE, THEY NEVER LENT OUT ANY MONEY, THEY — USED OURS TO FUND THE WHOLE MORTGAGE FRAUD PONZI SCHEME OPERATION……