Massachusetts Couple In Foreclosure Sue Loan Servicer, Law Firm; Seeks Class Action Status Against WaMu; Accused Of Failing To Bargain In Good Faith

In Suffolk County, Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reports:

• A Boston-area couple who are in foreclosure, despite their herculean attempts to prevent it, have filed a lawsuit against Washington Mutual, one of the nation's largest mortgage servicing firms.(1)

• In the suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Lori and Mark Pestana of Westford allege the loan servicer was unresponsive to their repeated phone calls and to their applications to negotiate an arrangement that would have allowed them keep their house out of foreclosure. The suit is seeking class-action status on behalf of thousands of Washington Mutual borrowers in Massachusetts.

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• The role of servicing firms in the rising tide of US foreclosures is a growing political issue as lawmakers realize the firms - and investors who purchased the mortgages in bundles - are logjams to resolving individual homeowners' situations and clearing up the housing crisis. WaMu is a lender as well as a servicing company.

For more, see Suit blames loan servicer for pending foreclosure.

For those Massachusetts homeowners who feel they might have been screwed over by their mortgage lender, loan servicer, or attorney representing them in foreclosure, the state Attorney General has a consumer hotline for complaints - (617) 727-8400. Go here to file a complaint with the Mass Attorney General.

(1) According to the story, Boston law firm Harmon Law was also named in the lawsuit but was not included in the class-action claims. WaMu and Harmon Law violated state law requiring them to bargain in good faith, homeowners' attorney Gary Klein, of the Boston law firm Roddy Klein & Ryan, alleged. undo mortgage loans TILA batallion