In our society, banks foreclose on properties when borrowers become delinquent. However, in recent times the banksters have been doing things in a criminal manner and getting away with it. From predatory lending to robo-signing signatures.
It is refreshing to see the courts ruling against the evil actions of bank like US Bancorp and Well Fargo Bank.
A court in Massachusetts raised questions about the mortgage foreclosure process when it ruled against U.S. Bancorp (USB) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) Friday in two mortgage foreclosure cases. The ruling affirmed a lower court decision that the banks, acting on behalf of investors in trusts of securitized mortgages, failed to show they held the mortgages at the time of the foreclosure.
The Massachusetts ruling involves just one of many litigations winding their way through courts across the country. In another case in nearby Maine, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday in favor of the bank, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), in a foreclosure dispute that also involved documentation issues.
In the stock market Friday, uncertainty was a negative. Investors worried the Massachusetts ruling suggests trouble for banks in foreclosing on mortgages that had been packaged into asset-backed securities. Many questions remained, but with bank stocks up sharply since the end of November, investors reacted to the ruling with concern.
Bank stock investors decided to “sell first and ask questions later,” said Peter McCorry, a senior trader at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., which specializes in financial stocks.
Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp said they had not originated the mortgages, nor serviced them. The investors who bought the mortgage-backed securities own the foreclosed properties. As such, “this judgment has no financial impact on U.S. Bancorp,” a spokesman said. “Our role in this case is solely as trustee.”
Wells Fargo said it “expects the entities who service these loans to abide by all applicable state laws, including those laws that govern foreclosure sales.” In the Massachusetts cases, those mortgages were serviced by American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc.
Anna Kournikova
Hayden Panettiere
Cameron Diaz
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