Who Owns the Mortgage?

[maxx]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/econom...res11_CV_N.htm
"...Persten's confusion is shared by other homeowners who are fighting foreclosure by challenging the legal powers of MERS, a company set up by the mortgage industry that is behind scores of foreclosures. Some homeowners are crying foul in lawsuits alleging MERS lacks the legal right to pursue foreclosures and in some cases they allege MERS has filed flawed documents to show it has the right to take a house..."

I thought computers were supposed to assist people in complex problems. This seems to have been set up to cause confusion.

[Detroitnerd]

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/76344

[Detroitnerd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSOr16BFHL0

[Detroitnerd]

http://www.counterpunch.com/baker10202010.html

Fairy Tales on the Housing Market

Mortgage Mayhem

By DEAN BAKER
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is good at telling fairy tales. Mr. Geithner first became known to the general public in September of 2008. Back then he was head of the New York Federal Reserve Board. He was part of the triumvirate, along with Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who told Congress that it had to pass the TARP or the economy would collapse.
This was an effective fairy tale, since Congress quickly handed over $700 billion to lend to the banks with few questions asked. Of course, the economy was not about to collapse, just the major Wall Street banks. To prevent the collapse of the banks Congress could have given the money but with the sort of conditions that would ensure the financial sector never would be the same. Alternatively, it could have allowed the collapse and then rushed in with the liquidity to bring the financial system back to life.
But the Geithner fairy tale did the trick. Terrified members of Congress tripped over each other to make sure that they got the money to the banks as quickly as possible.
Now Geithner has a new fairy tale. This time it is that if the government imposes a foreclosure moratorium it will lead to chaos in the housing market and jeopardize the health of the recovery.
For the gullible, which includes most of the Washington policy elite, this assertion is probably sufficient to quash any interest in a foreclosure moratorium. But those capable of thinking for themselves may ask how Geithner could have reached this conclusion.
The point of a foreclosure moratorium would be to ensure that proper procedures are being followed. We know that this is not the case at present. There have been several outstanding stories in the media about law firms that specialize in filing documents for short-order foreclosures. They hire anyone they can find to sign legal documents assuring that the papers have been properly reviewed and are in order.
In some cases, this has led to the wrong house being foreclosed. People who are current on their mortgage, and in one case did not even have a mortgage, have been foreclosed by this process. The more common problem would be the assignment of improper fees and penalties to mortgage holders. Or, in many cases foreclosures have probably occurred where the servicer did not actually possess the necessary legal documents.
A moratorium would give regulators the time needed to review servicers’ processes and ensure that they have a system in place that follows the law and will not be subject to abuse. This is the same logic the Obama Administration used when it imposed a moratorium on deep sea drilling after the BP oil spill. ...

[Relayer76]

Disgusting. Local governments are abdicating their duty to citizens and selling tax arrears to banks. Geez, I wonder if there are any local reps or bureaucrats receiving payoffs from the banks for allowing this type of thing.

http://huffpostfund.org/stories/2010...nd-hedge-funds
The New Tax Man: Big Banks and Hedge Funds
The Wall Street investors, which include Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have purchased from local governments the right to collect delinquent taxes on several hundred thousand properties, many in distressed housing markets, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has found.....

In exchange for paying overdue real estate taxes, the investors gain legal powers from local governments to collect the debt and levy fees. At first, property owners may owe little more than a few hundred dollars, only to find their bills soaring into the thousands. In some jurisdictions, the new Wall Street tax collectors also chase debtors over other small bills, such as for water, sewer and sidewalk repair.