Monday, September 17, 2007

Two Unsatisfied Homeowners vs. Fairbanks Capital; One Claims Home Sold Out From Under Him; Other Files $13.5M Racketeering & Corruption Suit

A story from the West Coast features the mortgage servicing company accused of predatory practices formerly known as Fairbanks Capital Corporation (now known as Select Portfolio Services - "SPS"). The East Bay Express (San Francisco Bay Area) tells the story of a local man who lost his home to foreclosure on a mortgage that was being serviced by Fairbanks.
The story describes the experiences of the Bay Area homeowner who lost his home that had been in his family since 1911, when his maternal grandfather bought the property, and that he ultimately inherited. According to the homeowner, the mortgage servicing practices engaged in by Fairbanks was the cause both of putting him into foreclosure and of the ultimate losing of the long time family home. From the article:
  • [The homeowner] is still deciding whether to proceed with a lawsuit against Fairbanks/SPS. Lawyers are typically shocked when they hear his story, he says: "First they don't believe it. Then, when they see exactly what happened, they [still] can't believe that this happened. And then we are being advised, 'You have a case that you can win hands down, but it's going to cost you a half-million dollars in legal fees to win it, so you might want to cut your losses and run.'"
Included in the article is a reference to another Fairbanks "customer" - one who has sued the company for its practices. Mike Dillon also had his experiences with Fairbanks when it attempted to foreclose on his Manchester, New Hampshire home in 2003.

He successfully obtained a permanent injunction preventing Fairbanks / SPS from taking any further action to foreclose on his home. In June, he took the next step and filed a racketeering and corruption suit to the tune of $13.5 million against Fairbanks / Select and five other companies connected to his mortgage.

For the whole story, see Stolen Property? (An unscrupulous mortgage-collection firm sold Jim Hultman's Berkeley home out from under him, leaving behind a feud and an eyesore).

See also this message board on this story.

For more on Fairbanks Capital Corp. / Select Portfolio Services, see Mike Dilllon's website, GetDShirtz.com.

For information on predatory mortgage servicing, generally, see the Mortgage Servicing Fraud website.

There have also been several complaints referring to Fairbanks/SPS appearing on Ripoff Report:

Go here , go here , and go here for posts on questionable mortgage servicing practices. questionable mortgage servicing practices tactics zebra