Tuesday, July 28, 2015

NYC Judge Hammers Bad-Faith Banksters For $100K+ Forfeiture Of Unpaid Interest For Its Unresponsiveness To Homeowners' Loan Mod Requests, Unprepared Lawyers, General Four-Year Foot-Dragging

In New York City, the New York Law Journal reports:
  • Two mortgage banks will forfeit more than $100,000 of interest on loans to a Manhattan couple, a judge ruled Wednesday, as a sanction for not acting in good faith in responding to requests for a mortgage modification.

    Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Peter Moulton said Bonnie and Lawrence Singer were "thwarted by unresponsive loan servicers, unprepared lawyers, boilerplate form letters, and the banks' or servicers' often-changing and repetitive demands for financial information," in their four-year quest to "climb out of default." (Federal National Mortgage Assoc. v. Singer, 850039/2011.)
    ***

    Citing two prior rulings by courts in Suffolk and Kings counties, Emigrant Mortg. Co. v. Corcione, 28 Misc 3d 161 (2010), and HSBC Bank USA v. McKenna, 37 Misc 3d 885 (2012), holding that tolling of interest back to the date of a borrower's default was a proper sanction for the banks' bad faith, Mouton granted the Singer's motion to the extent of eliminating interest above 2 percent that accrued on the loans from the 2010 default.