Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues. This blog will consist of information describing the various forms of Home Equity Theft and links to news reports & other informational sources from throughout the country about the victims of Home Equity Theft and what government authorities and others are doing about it.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
11th Hour Phone Call To Baltimore Councilman Helps Homeowner Dodge Foreclosure After City Loses Another Check For Real Estate Tax Payment
In Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:
Kristina Suson's home wasn't part of the city's tax sale Monday, but it was a close call.
Baltimore places liens on properties for unpaid property taxes, water bills and other municipal debts, then puts the liens up for auction every spring — allowing investors to buy them and either collect or move to foreclose. The city auctioned liens on about 10,600 properties on Monday, finding buyers for 6,545 of them and raising $20 million.
Suson ended up on this year's list, to her surprise, after the state retroactively reduced a property tax credit she'd received in 2009. Her mortgage servicer sent a check for the $2,100 tab in late April, but the Finance Department still hadn't processed it as the auction date neared. That's because the city lost the check. But no one told Suson that.
"When I would call and ask, they'd say, 'It takes two weeks, it'll be processed in two weeks, don't worry about it,'" said Suson, a pediatric urology fellow. Her Patterson Park home was taken off the tax-sale list Thursday after she contacted City Councilman James B. Kraft's office to plead for help.
Janice J. Simmons, chief of the Finance Department's Bureau of Revenue Collections, said in an email that the office's FedEx tracking list shows the check was received, but "it is lost internally." Staffers taking calls about tax-sale payments had no way of knowing, she said, which is why they kept telling Suson that it would eventually be processed.
"The check was misplaced between departments after being logged in," Simmons said. "We are revising our internal protocol to ensure that checks remain in the original tracking envelope and that each department that handles the check has to sign for the check."
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[City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke has] received a lot of frantic calls over the years from homeowners in a fix, occasionally because the city didn't properly account for their payments. "Things get lost in the shuffle," Clarke said.
CBC News: Betrayal of Trust (A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services)
Land Contract/Contract For Deed/Rent-To-Own Rackets
The New York Times: The Housing Trap (In the wake of the housing crisis, low-income families have turned to seller financing to buy homes but these deals can be a money trap)
Beware The Fine Print: Consumers Forced To Sign Away Their Rights To Use Court System
The NY Times: Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice(Part 1 in series examining how clauses buried in tens of millions of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court)
Foreclosure Mills' Abysmal Record In Complying With New NYS Foreclosure Requirements
Justice Deceived: How Large Foreclosure Firms Subvert State Regulations Protecting Homeowners
MFY Legal Services Report On Questionable Practices By Process Servers In Debt Collection Cases
Justice Disserved: A Preliminary Analysis of the Exceptionally
Low Appearance Rate by Defendants in Lawsuits Filed in the Civil Court of the City of New York
Mortgage Mess Redux: Robo-Signers Return (A Reuters investigation finds that many banks are still employing the controversial foreclosure practices that sparked a major outcry last year)
CNN Video: As Foreclosures Mount, Florida Court Turns To 'Rocket Docket'
The Wall Street Journal: A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases (2 Questions, 15 Seconds, 45 Days to Get Out; 'What's to Talk About?' Says a Judge)
"Produce The Note" Strategy When Dealing With Missing Promissory Notes In Foreclosure Actions
ABC Video: Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay)
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