New AG Olens wants power to investigate foreclosures
Newly elected state Attorney General Sam Olens said Wednesday he will push the General Assembly for the authority to launch criminal investigations of improper foreclosures.
And an expert in property law predicts that Olens’ proposal will be just one measure among several related to tightening up the state’s foreclosure laws.
“There will be a great deal of legislative attention on mortgages and foreclosures in the upcoming session,” said Frank Alexander, real estate law professor at Emory University. “The incoming attorney general’s push certainly will add momentum to that legislative package.”
Alexander, a critic of Georgia’s so-called nonjudicial foreclosure system, has proposed fundamental reforms of state laws, including requiring lenders to prove their case in court.
The ramifications of foreclosure stretch far beyond financial damage to an evicted former homeowner. Home repossessions drive down property values, reduce the property tax base and in some areas have resulted in neighborhoods riddled with vacancies and blight.
The attorney general has the power to prosecute mortgage fraud, but apparently not foreclosure fraud. Olens said he wants to change that, and he also said he might ask the State Bar of Georgia, which licenses lawyers, to look into allegations of misconduct by real estate attorneys in the mortgage origination as well as foreclosure process.
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Me and my husband has tried to get a Reverse Morage and a Loan Modication the HAMP Progam and a whole new loan with Wells Fargo and they keep turning us down. We are seniuor cittions and our income is lowand we need help.The econamy is so low that the value of our propatory is to low acording to Wells Fargo’s Apreseals on it . We have 2 acers of land and it is on South Fulton Parkway in Fulton Co.If you can help us Please DO!!!! And if you know anyone that can help Please Help!!! Thank You!!And God BLESS you!!!
Hi. My husband and I have been trying to work with BOA for over a year now on a loan modification and a short sale or deed in lieu. We have contacted BOA by phone at least once or twice a week and have been going back and forth and have received false information from them verbally and written. One department has no idea what the other is doing and each dept. tells us something different. We have received wrong information in the mail from them and it is very frustrating to say the least. We are both college educated professionals and have never been late on our mortgage until we took BOA advise and tried working with them on a trial loan modification. I am a small business owner and due to the economy, my business has declined significantly with a decrease in sales of over 60%. We have lived in our home for almost 5 years and at the time of building it, our business was doing wonderfully and we had no idea that we would suffer such a loss as we have. We contacted BOA at the first signs of trouble in paying our mortgage but we never missed a payment. They instructed us to miss a payment so it would show that we were behind so that we would stand a better chance of receiving a loan modification. We did that and they set us up on an in house trial loan modification. We made every payment on the trial modification and then was denied permanent modification at the end. By that time we were then showing that we were 4 months behind on our mortgage payments since they were only posting partial payments. We tried working with them to receive a perm. modification but with no luck. We live in a brand new neighborhood and have 5 houses on our street alone that are for sale and have been for 4+ years. We contacted BOA about attempting a short sale and they assured us that we needed to list our house first and contact them through their “Equator” system with our realtor if we received any offers. We did that and never had any offers and only one family came to look at our home. We built our home for $408,000 and now similar homes are only selling for $325,000 +/-
We received a letter from BOA stating that we completed the trial loan modification program and that our account was current and up to date. The very next week we received an intent to accelerate letter. We then started receiving phone calls from a servicing company working with BOA stating that we were eligible for a short sale program. They told us to take our home off of the market and that we couldnt participate in the program until it was off the market. (they were the ones that told us to put it on the market). We unlisted it and turned in all of the paperwork to this servicing company and it is all being processed now. In the mean time we are receiving letters from attorneys for BOA stating that they have placed a foreclosure sale date of first Tues. in February. This is after speaking with BOA on the phone and them assuring us to keep making payments and that they will work with us on the short sale, etc. We have done everything they have asked us to do and now it looks like the foreclosure is going to go through. We don’t know what to do at this point and would love to speak with someone that could possibly help us to at least stop the foreclosure while the short sale paperwork is being processed and it can go to underwriting and appraised and put back on the market for a short sale. Do you know who we could speak to that could help us with this? It is so unfair and at this point we are ready to just walk away but we are angry because BOA has lied to us and told us and written us false information so many times. We don’t know what to do but do not want BOA to get away with what they have done to us. Please contact us via email if you have any suggestions or contacts that could help us.
thank you.
It sounds like you guys should contact the lawyers who are suing, in a class action, the banks for misleading people about modifications. You can read the press story about it… http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/12/09/32447.htm
The foreclosure mill needs to be attacked twenty four seven and backed up with statues and case law.
I will do a documentary on the Ga.Foreclosure Mill if I can get some back up from anyone who wants to stop the Foreclosure Mill. I will also hold foreclosure town hall meetings in the Atlanta area which will also include Metro Atlanta surrounding counties.I will invite represenatives who are suppose to be looking out for you and let them explain to us why and what they are diong to stop the foreclosure mill. Please respond if you are serious about this rampid foreclosure situation. I have a plan and I will be consistant but I need help from you weather you are a victim of a foreclosure or not. the way that I see it is that everyone is evevtually a vitim of a foreclosure especially if it is in your neighborhood . I am not looking to hold meetings after meeting to come up with a plan to stop the foreclosure mill. I am seeking individuals who will join me . From what I have seen in court a case is won with Correct Statues and backed up with Case Law.The court is a place to prove that the Foreclosure Mill is wrong and should stop now. The courtroom is not the place to try and win an Argument about Foreclosure Mill.
We have no time to waste respond to me now and lets get started now and if you are wondering I am a victim of not one but two Foreclosures, one through a short sale process and one because of landlord foreclosure.
please respond immediately.
Good to know, I’m in Florida. Daniel consuegras office filed a piece of paper in my court house file that states “FILED ORIGINAL NOTE AND MORTGAGE” then the same ole back dated shoddy corporate assignment is once again there to back up this bold statement. There is now and never has been any ORIGINAL anything in my courthouse file! That is FRAUD! Is it also Perjury????
I have a question on something that’s bothering me:
Is it a crime of any kind or specifically foreclosure fraud to file something false in a local courthouse? I’m thinking of a mortgage or claim against a persons property that leter later its found out you can’t prove that claim and actually cannot prove you have “standing” to foreclose?
I’m wondering if that is the reason many of these foreclosure claims are not recorded (even as a lien) against the property. If found to be fudging the facts, they may be hollariing no damage, no foul!
Just that the recording fee cost for being recorded doesn’t seem to be enough reason for not doing it to me.
Any comments welcomed and appreciated!!!
John, in Georgia, it is a felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to TEN years to nake a fruadulent claim upon someone’s property:
O.C.G.A. § 44-2-43
Any person who: (1) fraudulently obtains or attempts to obtain a decree of registration of title to any land or interest therein; (2) knowingly offers in evidence any forged or fraudulent document in the course of any proceedings with regard to registered lands or any interest therein; (3) makes or utters any forged instrument of transfer or instrument of mortgage or any other paper, writing, or document used in connection with any of the proceedings required for the registration of lands or the notation of entries upon the register of titles; (4) steals or fraudulently conceals any owner’s certificate, creditor’s certificate, or other certificate of title provided for under this article; (5) fraudulently alters, changes, or mutilates any writing, instrument, document, record, registration, or register provided for under this article; (6) makes any false oath or affidavit with respect to any matter or thing provided for in this article; or (7) makes or knowingly uses any counterfeit of any certificate provided for by this article shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for not less
than one nor more than ten years.
Thanks for the reply.
I bet it is that way in Alabama too.
That is why nothing they allege is filed. Heck, I bet in most cases, they are not real sure if they have a legal right to do what they are doing either. Attitude is : better not file anything that may come back and bite me in the butt!
Interesting that none of the companies claiming a note ownership lien, or inline authority don’t file any claims or positions at the County Courthouses.
It only cost $3.00 to get a certified copy of what is filed against your address at the courthouse if you go in person and ask records for it.
Debi, I’m one of the “borrower advocates” the Sam Olens meet with prior to being elected, What “investigator” are you saying needs to be “investigated”? As far as I know, NO ONE has done any investigating!
If you’d care to talk about this, I can be reached at ForensicMortgageExaminers@gmail.com
MAKES EVERYONE FURIOUS THAT THIS HAS BEEN GOING AS LONG AS IT HAS WITHOUT ANYONE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT. SO NOW THE BANKS ARE BOLD ENOUGH TO STEAL HOMES WITH EQUITY IN THEM. I MEAN WHOS GOING TO STOP THEM,( THEY LAUGH!)
They could not have voted for a better AG, Maybe now the homeowners will stand a fighting chance. This man actually cares about people.
I’ve said this 10 times already. The investigators NEED to be investigated! She was caught doing this over a year ago and still nothing? Come on! Let’s investigate the whole office. I’m sure that would be great coffee conversation. Our whole system is turning out to be involved and corrupt. The trust is gone. How can we TRUST anyone in the AG’s office or the banks or our government!? Jamacia is looking better every day! Debi