Tuesday, February 21, 2012

State AGs Take 'Robosigner' Approach To Reaching Foreclosure Fraud Settlement: Rushing To Bulldoze Through Incomplete, Flawed Document

The New York Post reports:
  • It looks like the US regulators are taking their cue from the robo-signers. More than a year after the scandal broke over the rapid signing of thousands of foreclosure documents without reviewing their accuracy, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and his cohorts, along with the Justice Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, are crowing. They claim they’ve clinched a $25 billion deal to punish five big banks for robo-signing and other wrongdoing in the foreclosure mess.


  • Trouble is, the regulators don’t have a final deal, just a provisional one. Important elements could change — likely for the worse for homeowners and investors — before the army of bank and government lawyers involved signs off.


  • This means the regulators essentially rushed to push through an incomplete and flawed document, just like robo-signers did, without all the critical facts at hand. Instead of a detailed term sheet, there’s only a “coming soon” tag on the National Mortgage Settlement Web site.


  • The shocking thing is, there is no written agreement at this point,” said North Carolina attorney O. Max Gardner III. “That creates so many more questions than answers.”

For more, see AGs foreclosure deal still being tweaked.