Sleazy Bankers’ Protection Act
Technically, this bill is the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act. It was passed by the House last Spring, and after months of inactivity, it zoomed (quietly!) through the Senate in late September, just one day before the Senate started its recess. Who ever suspected the Senate could move with such blinding speed? Sort of like seeing a lame elderly person who’s always hobbling along on a walker, and this person suddenly throws the walker aside and runs the 100-yard dash in 13 seconds.
Why was this bill so urgent?
The Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act is related to the millions of foreclosures devastating the country. This is the exact kind of volatile emotional issue that usually keeps the Senate gridlocked and paralyzed for months. What was different this time?
One of the few bright spots of the Wall Street meltdown and the housing crisis is the fact that banks are frequently unable to prove that they’re the original lender when a homeowner defaults on his mortgage. And this is the banking industry’s own doing. It’s an unintended consequence of the incredibly intricate labyrinthine financial maneuverings (totally beyond my comprehension I’ll admit) that banks have devised, so they could keep one step ahead of the regulators. Can’t regulate something we don’t understand now, can we?
Trouble is, in this one specific area, slippery banks and realtors got hoisted on their own petard. When a homeowner defaults, sometimes the original loan document has been transferred from one bank to another bank to another. The original bank might have gone under or merged with another bank. Sometimes this scenario has happened multiple times. Which bank owns the loan? Who has the original loan document? Find Waldo.
Can’t get your shirt back from the drycleaner without your receipt; can’t push that lowly parasite out of his home without the proper documentation. And when a bunch of shady operators want to evict NOW, Congress feels their pain. “I ripped off that gullible homeowner fair and square, and now I can’t yank his house out from under him because of some #$%&!#!&%$# technicality?!?! HELP!”
Thankfully, Obama has vetoed the bill. And our illustrious senators have shown us their true colors. (Like we didn’t already know.) Millions of desperate Americans facing bankruptcy and homelessness? [yawn] Thousands of slippery bankers begging to have a technicality removed so they can evict more people, faster — “I’m on it!”
posted by Tom Harper @ 9:04 AM
12 Comments:
A friend went through this. Bank couldn't prove they were the original lender. It went to court, the judge threw it out. Friend had to pay $2,500 to keep his house temporarily. Within the next 6 months (I think) he has to come up with another several thousand dollars to save his house.
More evidence of, aside from blog fodder, the utter uselessness of the Senate.
The whole collection of banking related rules is mind boggling.
I had a friend who's house was sold out from under her by the bank. She wasn't in foreclosure. She wasn't behind. The bank made a paperwork error. Unfortunately, by some trick of state real estate law, the sale was legal and she's just out a house and might not even get the loan forgiven.
What kind of bullshit is that?
I believe I've said this right here on this blog before...it is time to get out the tar and feathers, these bastards are just unbelievable. They are blatantly spitting in our faces and laughing at our "perceived" stupidity.
will somebody PLEASE get a rope.
Really ticked me off that they blasted this through with a voice vote in the house and by
"unanimous consent" in the senate. NOTHING should be allowed to pass without the votes on record.
The catchy saying used to be, "Come the revolution, first, we get the lawyers." Now, the bankers get it first. Heh.
It's definitely good that someone at the Obama vetoed that innocent sounding bill. Democrats in both houses should have their butts kicked for not stopping it sooner.
we have no banking system - just a bunch of people with a lot of our money gambling it on complicated and intricate financial instruments
we have no government - just a bunch of people with a lot of our money gambling it on complicated and intricate debt, war, and electoral instruments
and then we have the people - lost wandering in the desert for forty years now (make it 42, since the election of the initial crook - Nixon) - and finally realizing we have been had for all these years
problem is the vocal side of the "weve been had" is the teabaggers - whose solutions are a combination of praying to god, hating non-whites and bringing back the people who cause the problem to begin with..
some society
The problem is quit simple really. It used to be that your home town bank or savings and loan made and kept mortgage loans. With the easing of the rules that permitted banks to sell mortgages. But they didn't just sell whole mortgages. They packaged parts and sold them in the form of REITs.
I recall when I paid off my place it took them nearly a year to track down who held the paper on the loan. Like a hot potatoe the bad loans were shuffled around the country and whomever was holding when the music stopped was stuck.
What needs to be done now is to create federal rules on mortgages and keep them local. But i know that won't happen with the power of these big banks. They don't want the game to change only for taxpayers to take their losses.
Kate: This seems to be happening a lot. Good luck to your friend.
Randal: Blog fodder is indeed the only purpose served by the Senate.
Thomas: That really sucks. That kind of incident should be unthinkable. That's the kind of thing where the offending banker should have his/her name and address published, with the hope that some local vigilantes will rectify things.
jadedj: Yup, it's time for the tar and feathers.
Anon.: And a rope.
Mike: It's pretty fishy when the slower-than-molasses Senate suddenly springs into action and rushes this piece of stealth legislation to Obama's desk.
SW: The Dems who helped blitz this slippery legislation to the president's desk definitely need a buttkicking.
DC: You're right, the government and banking system are somewhere between non-existent and totally fucked up. If regular people had one tenth as much organization and shouting ability as the teabaggers, maybe something would get done.
Demeur: Yup, that's exactly what happened. Federal rules keeping these loans local is exactly what we need. But like you said, Congress' corporate donors won't permit this.
Yeah, that was a real hoot, how quickly and quietly that little POS went through congress.
Virginia passed a state law that upon payoff, the Deed of Trust has to be released of record within 90 days, or whatever title company/borrower/attorney is trying to get a release for an unreleased deed of trust can bill them, and collect, $500 per instance. Now, if that were $50,000 per instance, you'd see some turnaround.
Bee: Pretty ironic, for the glacial-paced Senate to suddenly spring to life and rush that sleazy bill to Obama's desk.
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