The Psychopaths killed another American this month. Dave Johnson over at AlterNet is telling the story of Norman Rousseau and his wife – two people who did everything they were supposed to do. They were responsible homeowners who did business with Wells Fargo and put a 30% down payment on this home in California back in 2000, and they made every payment from then on – never missing even one single-month. At that same time, the housing bubble frenzy took off. Banks discovered they could make enormous profits dragging homeowners away from safe fixed-rate mortgages and into exploding adjustable rate mortgages. For the bank, it didn’t matter if the interest rate on the new loan would skyrocket and eventually lead to a foreclosure. The bank got their money no matter what, either through missed payment fees, late-payment fees, refinancing fees, and then after foreclosure through government support, tax write-offs, and the underlying value of the property.
As a corporation, a bank Wells Fargo only has one obligation: increase profits for its shareholders – that’s it. To hell with their customers, their community, their nation. Just as long as they’re hitting that bottom-line goal, then Wells Fargo is doing exactly what it’s legally obligated to do. If Wells Fargo was a person, and didn’t give a damn about their fellow man and was willing to do whatever it takes – lie, cheat, steal, kill – for profit, then we’d call that person a psychopath. If a psychopath had defrauded a person, and then harassed her to the point of committing suicide to get it to stop, we’d lock that psychopath up and keep him away from society. But as a corporation, we give companies like Wells Fargo tax breaks and bailouts, and turn the other way when they drive their customers to suicide. So, in 2007, Wells Fargo’s salesmen decided to prey on one of their customers – Norman Rousseau.
According to court documents, the bank approached the Rousseau’s about changing their mortgage to an adjustable rate mortgage. The Rousseau’s stressed they were only interested in a fixed-rate loan and they wanted to pay the same payments through the life of the loan. But they trusted the bank – which was a big mistake. So when Wells Fargo told them that the “new industry standard” is adjustable rate mortgages, and they could save more than $600 a month in mortgage payments, and that the “worst-case scenario” would be an increase of only a few dollars on their monthly payments, the Rousseau’s gave in to the salesmen and took the new mortgage. But a few years later, in 2009, the Rousseau’s knew they were stuck with a bad dealTheir new interest rate was higher than it was before 2007, and even higher than what they were told it could increase to. But as responsible homeowners who had done everything they were supposed to do, the Rousseau’s still made each and every monthly payment on time.
That’s when Wells Fargo – behaving like a true psychopath – moved in for the kill. In May of that year, the bank claimed the Rousseau’s missed a monthly payment. The Rousseaus said that was impossible, that they had made the payment, and even gave proof that they made the payment at the bank with a cashier’s check and that check had been cashed by the bank. But the bank still claimed it never received the payment, and a few months later said the Rousseau’s again missed another payment in June and another in July, even though Norman Rousseau had, again, hand-delivered a cashier’s check to the bank to pay each of those months. Finally, the bank recognized its error and in August told the Rousseaus that they were indeed current on all their payments. But a few months later, Wells Fargo went back to the same scheme – again claiming a missed payment and then hitting the Rosseau’s with fee after fee, penalty after penalty.
Over the next few years, this sort of back-and-forth, double-talk, Kafkaesque nightmare continued between Wells Fargo and Norman Rousseau. The fees kept piling up, as did the lies from the bank – and then the eviction notices came rolling in. By 2012, the financial burden of the whole ordeal became unbearable, and the Rousseau’s – like so many other Americans in the middle of the housing meltdown – were getting wiped out by the increased mortgage payments. That’s when Wells Fargo finished them off, setting the eviction date of May 15th for when Norman Rousseau and his wife had to be out of their house. The Rousseau’s considered moving into the RV in front of their home. But that plan didn’t work out either. Two days before the scheduled eviction, Norman Rousseau, apparently unable to bear losing his home after the bank had already taken all his money, pulled out a gun and killed himself – leaving behind a devastated wife:
SOURCE: YOUTUBE
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You signed a contract or promise to pay, promissory note at closing that is enforceable. Whoever holds the note you signed, even if the property is destroyed tomorrow, you owe for that note. If they did or did not sign, transfer or do anything but toss it in a drawer, you signed a promissory note saying a trustee can take back the collateral if you refuse to pay the note. You gave them that right at closing, Can you prove fraud when they will not even tell you who owns the note or they don’t know either. The note you signed says MERs, who neither owns, nor loans nor collects money can foreclose because you signed a note saying MERS as trustee could do that and take your property if you defaulted. The trustee (in theory) holds the note you signed as proof. Can you circumvent that? At least this is how it is in Tennessee. The fact that the trustee is MERS and holds nothing is what many believe is illegal, that there is no right to foreclose but most courts have held that MERS has that legal right without looking too deeply into the legality of MERS.
I asked an attorney if MERS should have the right to foreclose. He maintains the courts have “given” MERS that right and some disagree. So the courts are inconsistent but MERS has retained legal standing in most courts. Not tested in the Supreme Court.
I don’t necessarily see everything as solely on attorneys shoulders. We have responsibility to educate ourselves on what goes on at closing, yes.
Why people sign without reading the documents is because they know they won’t get the house (loan) without signing the paperwork and they don’t have the knowledge to argue with the paperwork. In the past, these loans were simple, either held in the bank’s portfolio or transferred, sold, Now they become mincemeat into derivatives.
You sign onto a website, there is a disclaimer to participate, do you read it or do you scroll down the umpteen pages to the bottom, accept so you can get the download or whatever?
Well, it is the same in housing. We signed the paperwork because we knew we wouldn’t get the house if we didn’t. Unfortunately many people got more than they bargained for. They got adjustable rate mortgages that reset, they got pre-pay penalties or balloon notes, they got high origination fees, on and on.
They got loans they shouldn’t have gotten and could not pay for but were talked into by mortgage brokers. Old people were persuaded to refinance to fix up their houses and promised a buck or two.
You see where I am going with this.
Everyone though housing would continue to rise in value. Almost everyone!
Well, it didn’t. The bubble burst and here we are.
I agree with your argument to fight but question who we fight. I see fighting property law violations that damage chain of title as the municipality, registrars and AGs arena, as their loss, different than fighting the fact you signed a contract with the terms spelled out in that contract. If the loan was predatory or they took advantage of you that is one thing, otherwise your battle is uphill in the courts because you signed a contract, regardless of whether it was a good contract or not.
Destroy MERS credibility legally and the house of cards comes down! That is a worthy goal to seek.
per contract law requires 2 signatures and full disclosure… what part of the closing docs did the alleged lender put their legal representatives signature to? Like I mentioned before the debt instrument, (Note) was converted to a negotiable instrument was put into a demand deposit account … Misinformation does not help those seeking the truth… Knowing how the “money” system works in this country will help greatly in unraveling the web of deceit on the people… Turn off your tel e visions or remain a slave to the system… “We keep being brought to a point of choice until we choose correctly for ourselves,” Marriane Williamson….
peace love and joy to all
megan
And the Attorneys keep going to the bank with our money, as the make on average 10 times more than the average tradesman. The foreclosure mills and defense attorneys are both complicit in our problems and the solutions. The problem is, If the attorneys went up against the system they would cut their professional status under their BAR membership, which gives them monopolistic power over the legal system as well as the legislature where they enjoy commanding majorites. They can’t handle the competition, so they have prohibited everyone else from practicing law through UPLs. The very group who can alter the system, is handcuffed by their own greed and privilege. We wonder why the world is suffering even greater problems, even though we have enjoyed the greatest advances in both communications and technology over the last 50 years. I think back to when I was a young man, some 40 years ago and we still have the exact same problems, but even more excerbated by our failed judicial system. Attorneys then reach out to other professional groups to protect them from competition in similar manners so that they can give additiponal support and cause for continuing to protect their monopolistic powers. Licensure laws are one of the most aggregious usurpations of individual rights and the one the causes the greatest incomes gaps within our soicety. The attorneys are not supposed to be protecting themselves, they are supposed to be protecting our inalienable rights. Any solutions gang?????
I think Rothschild said, “I care not who makes the laws, if I control the money” or something like that.
I believe the solution to retuning our country to a Republic form of government rather than a corporation which we have been since 1871 and prohibit any attorney from holding office we could heal the financial blight on this land…Not saying all attorneys are jaded by the British Accredited Association (BAR) foreign agents, but very darn close to
I challenge everyone to step outside their comfort zone and research their mortgages and what really happen at closing…
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”
Albert Einstein
For a long time I’ve been protesting our government’s corruption. It is terrible to see a corrupt system destroying our beloved country. To hear my protest song go to YouTube and search for Main and Wall (sung by Kessica Bolen).
It is criminal there is not a word from Romney or Obama concerning the massive fraud and theft.
You are absolutely right! Both parties and candidates have been mute on the housing crisis. What they have done is in NAME only and creates job classifications for some lackey. Obama promised a lot when he was running and Romney says a few things now but it is the third rail it seems. Neither party wants to tackle something that could be helped if Washington cooperated. It lets us all know that politicians aren’t interested in anything but their jobs and power control to pander to Wall Street and Corporations.
Is the answer ignoring elections and accepting the status quo? NO, a thousand times NO. Support civil disobedience, OCCUPY/OWS and take back our government, seize the Democratic party and do with it what the Tea Party did with Republicans who have lost control of their old guard to the extreme radical right!
Never shut up, enter every blog, every forum, national new venue, comment on every article that reaches a national level about the housing crisis and stories like the one here. Stir outrage against the banks and their methods. Its free and may be only a voice but — USE your voice and comments to protest.
Wells Fargo is one of the worst offenders! Let everyone know what you think of them and others like them. Express your outrage!!!!
Remember this, it is not politicians, lawyers, judges, courts, that change things! Change comes from outrage and protest, like civil rights, women’s rights/vote, the Vietnam war.
Protest, loud, noisy and in their faces gets results! Don’t complain about our government’s failure to act to help its constituents if you don’t speak up and challenge them openly!
being one who is in foreclosure, I started 2 years ago investigating mortgage fraud and finally though I knew enough to stop funding the fraud late last year… like so many times before in life the purchase of a home we tend to :”trust” the closers. I have learned and been teaching many that what people think is a traditional mortgage where the note (debt) instrument never separates from the deed of trust which is not what happens when you sit down at a closing table. The note becomes a negotiable instrument and allegedly put into a REMIC (ReaL Estate Investment Conduit)
. Property law requires filing sales in the public record. Notes must be affixed (permanently) to the security instrument — a mortgage without the note has been ruled a “nullity” by the Supreme Court. A complete chain of title is required to foreclose on property — every sale of a mortgage must be endorsed over to the purchaser, and properly recorded. Without this, it is illegal to foreclose on property — no matter how many payments the homeowner has missed.. Many people do not educate themselves on what a purchase truly entails, I didn’t until someone told me and I have spent up to ten hours a day research this phenomenon.
It is never to late and the ego will take a washing to surrender to the truth…
Everyone who owns a home need to step outside their comfort zone and not be a slave to financial tyranny brought to the people….
my prayers to any family who is emotionally brought down by this “FRAUD”
Megan,
I hear you and have heard others express similar opinions. I don’t dispute accuracy but fail to comprehend a reality that would prevent foreclosure. Tennessee has a non-judicial system where foreclosure is not a court procedure. Most notes are signed at closing giving MERS, as trustee, or a similar trustee, the right to foreclose. and sell the property on default. The trustee sells the collateral (property) on the courthouse steps without going to court to seize it first. It is sold then legally seized. The lender instigates the process and MERS is the conduit. MERS is the problem! Even if MERS operates contrary to property laws the courts in some or most states have legitimized MERS, allowing them to continue regardless of defrauding property law to preserve chain of title, a separate issue. Law gives MERS or a trustee the right to do this without going to court because we signed contracts or notes, if you will, agreeing to forfeit our rights at closing. Regardless of the legality of what Banks are doing in relation to property law, the process is allowed to continue and thousands or millions of properties are sold by trustees, then confiscated as a resuilt. Titles are wiped clear of liens with even second position liens allowed to follow the individual, not the property. It is ludicrous but real! Our laws have been set up to protect lenders.
The majority of people are ignorant to what they sign at closing or don’t care because they don’t plan to default.
What occurred was banks sold predatory products that changed over the life of the loans and people were shocked at what they signed. As you correctly surmise, they trusted the closers but contracts/notes are legal documents. I confess to knowing little of property law even in the real estate business as there is a disconnect between selling, appraising and knowing the law. Laws on property rights and title do not negate legal contract to pay.
MERS is a bogus entity the law allows, at present
the fact is the Originator was satisfied the moment they deposited the note for cash… that is why the loan numbers change, when a debt is satisfied there is no contract with anyone following because the deed of trust was not executed. (signed by them) I would venture to say that 99% of all mortgages are done in misrepresentation of fraud…It is my mission to change that paradigm, those with ears will hear and eyes will see.
Fraud from the get go, or if you prefer ab initio…