The Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act / The Nonjudicial Foreclosure Act for Nonhomestead Properties

I urge you to read this entire article and all of the links within. Millions of people could potentially be affected by this in one way or another if these bills pass…

The Florida Bankers Association, like a coven of evil banking wizards, hopes to commit an act of sorcery by conjuring up three letters “NON” to be placed in front of the word “Judicial” in Regards to Florida’s Foreclosure Process.

On Friday January 29, 2009, James Thorner of TampaBay.com reported that Florida bankers move to dramatically speed up the foreclosure process referring to a 53 page bill (posted below) to be presented to the Florida state legislature drafted by The Florida Bankers Association.

In this bill they propose changing the Florida law which currently requires foreclosures to be adjudicated through the courts to a new law which would allow foreclosures to bypass the judicial system altogether to become a NON Judicial foreclosure state.

Why? Perhaps the gravy train has foreseen a few obstacles on the track ahead (legally strong foreclosure defenses, educated judges, wiser populace, state mandated mediation requirements). These Florida Bankers may be trying to ease their way on the path of least resistance to confiscate more homes and more wealth from both the homeowners and the investors who funded these loans.

The Florida Bankers Associations’ Comments to the Florida Supreme Court Task Force on Foreclosures may shed some light on the situation.

“It is a reality of commerce that virtually all paper documents related to a note and mortgage are converted to electronic files almost immediately after the loan is closed. Individual loans, as electronic data, are compiled into portfolios which are transferred to the secondary market, frequently as mortgage-backed securities.”

“The reason “many firms file lost note counts as a standard alternative pleading in the complaint” is because the physical document was deliberately eliminated to avoid confusion immediately upon its conversion to an electronic file.”

Perhaps Freddie Macs’ comments to the Florida Supreme Court Task Force on Foreclosures may enlighten us as well.

“Typically, the plaintiff in a foreclosure action does not own the underlying note or loan that is secured by the property subject to the foreclosure proceeding.”

“Freddie Mac’s servicers initiate foreclosure actions in their names, even though they are not the owners of the notes or loans in question, because they are the mortgagees as shown on the land records” (by fraudulent, fabricated assignments? Or perhaps you were referring to these BOGUS assignments recorded in the land records?)

“To require investors who do not service the loan to be a party in the foreclosure action and attend mediation would be costly and unduly burdensome”

OR MAYBE ASSET BACKED SECURITIZATION MEANS NO NOTE?

Regardless of the statements above, this bill could be devastating to the millions of Floridians facing foreclosures caused by banks selling loans connived to a well planned default, bundling the bad debt, and betting against it to ensure a win for the banks and foreclosure for homeowners.

As it stands now, these aggressive, unprofessional foreclosure mills and their Plaintiff clients are still filing fabricated documents by the millions without any respect for the integrity of our official public records or the laws of evidence set by the judiciary system even after they were sanctioned by Judge Olson for these same issues. If this is how foreclosures are rammed through when we have a glimmer of hope of judicial protection, imagine the steamroller effect which will potentially ensue if this bill is passed, the flood gates thrown open, and the judicial dike washed away.

The draft copy below of The Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act to be presented to Florida state legislators by the Florida Bankers Association clearly reveals this organization’s goal; terminate The People’s constitutional right to due process under the Bill of Rights (5th Amendment) and the U.S. Constitution (14th Amendment). If anything, it clarifies their repugnant aim of dispossessing more Floridians from their homes which, in most cases, were neither funded nor owned by the foreclosing entities. In 2009 alone 516,711 properties had foreclosure filings, if an estimated 65% are primary residences, then the number of Floridians who would have been evicted from their homes without due process of law would calculate out to be 839,655 (average2.5 persons/household).

Once again the arrogance of these bankers amazes me as reflected in the statements below. They crush the entire world economy with their rigged financial gambles which they shrewdly secured by the homes of American families and then craftily shifted the moral hazard blame to the hapless, defaulted homeowner who “should have known what they were signing”.  Yes.  Silly us, we everyday Americans, who go to the real estate closing on our homes assuming we will be presented with a fair and legal promissory note instead of having the awareness and knowledge of the massive pernicious frauds perpetrated by those profit takers in collusion with each other all the way up the multi-level marketing scheme of securitization.

“Florida Bankers Association president Alex Sanchez views the bill as a way to break a foreclosure crisis partly caused by mortgage fraud.”

Is that right? The mortgage fraud committed by thousands of mortgage “professionals” with criminal records which was allowed to proceed by state regulators who were given advance warning?

“We don’t want the property. We’re not into the property management business,” Sanchez said of bankers. “We want to get a property out of the courts and sold to a productive Florida family.”

Maybe they should reflect on why these Florida families are “not productive” before once again placing the blame.

Why is it when a homeowner “defaults”, decides to “walk away” or “strategically defaults” on a mortgage obligation it is some kind of moral sin, but when a corporation decides to do an Orderly Transfer it is considered business as usual?

So we ask the following, shall Florida:

  • Join the 37 states which allow non-judicial foreclosures to proceed without any protections whatsoever for the homeowner?
  • Allow the Bankers to smother the judicial branch as they have the executive and legislative branches?
  • Disrespect the serious efforts of the Florida Supreme Court Task Force on Foreclosures and the Honorable Chief Justice Peggy Quince’s order mandating mediation for all homesteaded properties in foreclosure?
  • Ignore the contagion of Stockholm Syndrome that has infected most of our local, state, and national politician sycophants who bow with obeisance as the bankers confiscate millions of constituents’ homes?
  • Cost shift the $1,900 foreclosure lawsuit filing fee from the foreclosing entity to the financially stressed, perhaps newly unemployed Floridian family trying to defend their home?
  • Transfer the burden of proof in a foreclosure action from the foreclosing bank which has great difficulty producing authentic, genuine evidence showing its right to foreclose, to the homeowner who has subsistence survival worries?
  • Banish pro se litigants and clients of foreclosure defense attorneys from the halls of justice, allowing entry to only those who have the funds to pay the “cover charge”?
  • Allow to go unopposed the fabricated mortgage assignments, dubious indorsed notes, unauthorized property transfers, and deeply clouded property titles?
  • Trust as altruistic the professed motives of the same bankers who charge egregious credit card interest rates, overdraft and late fees, place holds on deposits, and reward themselves with billions in bonuses while crushing their customers under the weight of usurious loans?
  • Eradicate the right of due process granted by the U.S. Constitution:
    • Right to a fair and public trial conducted in a competent manner
    • Right to be present at the trial
    • Right to an impartial jury
    • Right to be heard in one’s own defense

The Bankers have taken our jobs, our savings, our 401Ks, our education funds, our public safety nets, the equity in our property, our municipality revenue source, our access to credit, and our credit scores. Florida being a deficiency state, we may lose our home to foreclosure and end up with a garnished paycheck for the deficiency.  Second mortgage holders are freezing bank accounts to get their piece of the action. Now that we have almost nothing left, will we also abdicate to these Florida Bankers our Constitutional rights?

Although the Florida Bankers Association is powerful and well-funded, their 400 members are no match for we 18+ million Floridians who value our family’s safety, security, right to due process, and the very roofs over our heads providing shelter from the elements and a place to call home.

I urge all Floridians to sharpen up your finest skills of reading comprehension and critical thinking by giving this bill a good solid read.  We must cipher the wide ranging consequences for ourselves, our children, our neighbors, our colleagues, our schools, our jobs, our municipalities, our judicial system, our safety net social programs, our future rights as consumers of financial products, our ability to transfer property, our access to the courts, and our pride as Americans living in a land where certain rights are indisputably the foundation of our country.  And then, armed with knowledge and disgust, call your Florida congressmen and senators and strongly urge them to soundly defeat this bill.  Election season is coming up.   We are watching.

Together, we have the power of our collective voices and votes. The Bankers have thrown down the gauntlet. Let’s accept their declaration of war and fight back.

Enough is enough.

4closureFraud
www.4closureFraud.org

Definition of Fraud from one common online resource:

Fraud is generally defined in the law as an intentional misrepresentation of material existing fact made by one person to another with knowledge of its falsity and for the purpose of inducing the other person to act, and upon which the other person relies with resulting injury or damage. Fraud may also be made by an omission or purposeful failure to state material facts, which nondisclosure makes other statements misleading.

Either Way… You decide…

Impostor, Realtor, Recovery Firm, Banker, Mortgage Broker, Modification Company, Attorney, National Bank, Foreclosure Mill, et al…

Whoever it is, they are trying to steal your property…

THE BILL
Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act

UPDATE 02/24/10

A version of the FBA proposal The Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act named The Nonjudicial Foreclosure Act for Nonhomestead Properties that deals only with non-homesteaded properties and abandoned homesteads was introduced in the state Senate by Sen. Michael Bennett, R-Bradenton. Another version of the The Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act will be filed in the House, according to Anthony DiMarco, the FBA executive vice president and director of government affairs. He declined to identify what legislator had agreed to introduce a broader bill in the House.

That’s right. Two bills, one in the Senate one in the House… Both must be stopped.

The Nonjudicial Foreclosure Act for Nonhomestead Properties
(click link to read in its entirety)

I can see the “lenders” interpretations of these rules. Like in the case reported on February 23,2010 where the bank told a judge that Berta had abandoned the home, could not be found and might even be dead when that was clearly not the case.

ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS CLAIM THE HO– USE IS ABANDONED AND IT WILL BE SOLD BEFORE YOU EVEN REALIZE IT


OKAY ALL YOU FLORIDIANS!

LET’S GET OUR FAX & EMAIL ON!

Print these out. Fax, email, mail, post, leaflet, paper, and confetti our state with our cause.

Do not be shy! Send it to journalists, link it to comments on news stories, fax it to politicians (even local ones as they often know the state legislators).