Wells Fargo Backs Down In Attempt To Bully Elderly Georgia Woman From Home After Feds Express Interest In Dubious Documents Filed In Bankruptcy Case

In Decatur, Georgia, The New York Times reports:

• WHEN Zella Mae Green of Georgia filed for bankruptcy to save her home from foreclosure in 2004, she and her lawyer wanted to know two things: Did she actually owe any back payments on her mortgage? And, if so, to whom? It didn’t seem like a lot to ask. But until last week, those questions had been unanswered for seven years.

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• But how Ms. Green’s case became her personal version of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, the endless lawsuit at the center of the Charles Dickens novel “Bleak House,” is a story for our times. The conflicting claims made over the years by employees and representatives of Wells Fargo, which says it holds the note on her property, are enough to make your head spin.

• Wells Fargo and Ms. Green didn’t exactly agree on how much she owes on her mortgage. Ms. Green took out a $40,250 mortgage in 1988, never refinanced and figured she is four payments behind. Wells Fargo contended that she owes 113 back payments, totaling more than $48,000.

• Ms. Green said she would have given up years ago if it weren’t for her lawyer. She would have forfeited her two-bedroom home in Decatur to one of the three institutions that have claimed — at the same time, mind you — to hold title to it. “It’s been a big mess for a long time,” she said in a recent interview.

• Howard Rothbloom, a foreclosure defense lawyer in Marietta, Ga., represents Ms. Green. “The point of this whole case is that inaccurate, incomplete and conflicting information has been provided to Ms. Green over the course of seven years,” he said. “Determining the balance due on her loan should not have to be so difficult.”

• THE whole episode makes you wonder, yet again, how many of the millions of foreclosures in recent years might have been based on questionable accounting or improper practices by loan servicers.

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• Over almost seven years, Wells Fargo employees swore to three different stories about the note on Ms. Green’s property. When asked two weeks ago how this could be, a spokeswoman for the bank said: “We regret any difficulties our customer experienced in this circumstance. This is the kind of situation we seek to avoid, and we are working on this customer’s situation to reach a solution.”

• Late last week, Wells Fargo agreed to a settlement with Ms. Green. The terms are confidential. The deal came shortly after the United States Trustee, the unit of the Justice Department that oversees the nation’s bankruptcy courts, indicated it was interested in the facts of the case. Fascinating how quickly these things get resolved when some daylight shines in.

For the story, see Waiting Seven Years for Two Answers.

Thanks to Lisa E. for the heads-up on the story.