Wells Fargo to Refile Some Foreclosures in Maryland

By NICK TIMIRAOS

Wells Fargo & Co. said on Wednesday that it has begun dismissing an unspecified number of pending foreclosures in Maryland as a result of potential flaws in its document-handling practices.

The disclosure came after GMAC Mortgage Corp, a unit of Ally Financial Inc., told a Maryland court on Friday that it would similarly dismiss around 250 pending foreclosures in the state in order to avoid a potentially lengthy class-action lawsuit.

The bulk dismissals allow both banks to restart foreclosure proceedings without the threat of litigation and title disputes, but they raise the risk of additional costs and delays because Maryland has stepped up scrutiny of banks’ paperwork in recent months. The state also began requiring lenders last July to conduct mediation with delinquent borrowers in a bid to avert foreclosures, which could further lengthen the foreclosure process.

Wells Fargo said it began to request dismissals of foreclosures in late December on all loans that had a foreclosure affidavit signed by a Wells Fargo employee. Paperwork signed by outside foreclosure attorneys wouldn’t be affected. The bank didn’t say how many foreclosures might be affected.

A Wells Fargo spokeswoman says the bank took the action to “ensure we met all state requirements” and that Wells Fargo “immediately restarted the process of moving each dismissed file to foreclosure.”

Check out the rest here…

Well let’s see, there were at least two robo-signers which were deposed that signed tens of thousands of affidavits in foreclosure cases. I wonder how many were in Maryland?

I also wonder how many other states are going to follow Maryland’s lead?

XEE MOUA

Wells adds to crisis over home seizures

In a sworn deposition on March 9 seen by the FT, Xee Moua, identified in court documents as a vice-president of loan documentation for Wells, said she signed as many as 500 foreclosure-related papers a day on behalf of the bank.

Ms Moua, who was deposed as part of a foreclosure lawsuit in Palm Beach County, Florida, said that the only information she verified was whether her name and title appeared correctly, according to the document.

Asked whether she checked the accuracy of the principal and interest that Wells claimed the borrower owed – a crucial step in banks’ legal actions to repossess homes – Ms Moua said: “I do not.”

Ms Moua nevertheless signed affidavits that said she had “personal knowledge of the facts regarding the sums of money which are due and owing to Wells Fargo”. The affidavits were used by the bank in foreclosure proceedings.

Ms Moua added that before reaching her desk, it was her understanding that the foreclosure documents had been reviewed by outside lawyers.

JOHN KENERTY

Robo-Signing: Documents Show Citi and Wells Also Committed Foreclosure Fraud

Confusion at Wells Fargo

For example, in one case I reviewed, Herman John Kennerty of Wells Fargo gave a deposition describing the department he oversees for Wells Fargo. It’s a department dedicated to simply signing documents. Kennerty testified that he signs 50 to 150 documents a day, verifying only the date on each. Although the foreclosure in that case was upheld, Wells Fargo did not dispute Kennerty’s signing practices.

What else might Kennerty want to verify? Well, in one document he signed that I’ve reviewed, he supposedly transferred the mortgage from Washington Mutual Bank FA to Wells Fargo on July 12, 2010. But that’s impossible because Washington Mutual Bank FA changed its name in 2004, and by any name WaMu ceased to exist in 2008, when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took it over. Making the document even less comprehensible, the debtor had declared bankruptcy a month earlier, according to consumer bankruptcy attorney Linda Tirelli, who represents the debtor. Why would Wells Fargo want a mortgage from someone in bankruptcy?

Finally, Tirelli points out that the papers Wells Fargo filed included a different transfer of the mortgage dated three days before the debtor took out the loan. The documents are a mess, yet Kennerty signed them regardless. Wells Fargo flatly stands behind its practices:

“Wells Fargo policies, procedures and practices satisfy us that the affidavits we sign are accurate. We audit, monitor and review our affidavits under controlled standards on a daily basis. We will stand by our affidavits and, if we find an error, we will take the appropriate corrective action.
As a standard business practice we continually review, reinforce and strengthen our policies and procedures.”

Wells offered no explanation of the document Kennerty signed in Tirelli’s case.

This could get interesting…

Robo-depos below…

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4closureFraud.org

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Deposition Transcript of Xee Moua

Deposition Transcript Exhibits of Xee Moua

Full Deposition of Wells Fargo John Herman Kennerty