When Banks Are the Robbers

[Panaconda]

When Banks Are the Robbers
By Amy Goodman

October 20, 2010

The big banks that caused the collapse of the global finance market, and received tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts, have likely been engaging in wholesale fraud against homeowners and the courts. But in a promising development this week, attorneys general from all 50 states announced a bipartisan joint investigation into foreclosure fraud.

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, GMAC and other big mortgage lenders recently suspended most foreclosure proceedings, following revelations that thousands of their foreclosures were being conducted like “foreclosure mills,” with tens of thousands of legal documents signed by low-level staffers with little or no knowledge of what they were signing.

Then the Obama administration signaled that it was not supporting a foreclosure moratorium. Not long after, Bank of America announced it was restarting its foreclosure operations. GMAC followed suit, and others will likely join in. So much for the voluntary moratorium.

GMAC Mortgage engaged in mass document processing, dubbed “robo-signing.” In several cases, GMAC Mortgage filed documents with courts that were signed by Jeffrey Stephan. Stephan presided over a staff of 12 in suburban Philadelphia. Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray filed a lawsuit against GMAC Mortgage, Stephan and the bank that owns GMAC, Ally Financial (itself a subsidiary of General Motors).

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/20

Quite a few excellent comments following the article. I recommend you hit the link and read a few.

[txaslftist]

1. When are they not?

[truedelphi]

2. Thank goodness for our local officials. And shame on the

Federal officials, from Congress critters to the Executive Office.

It is a sorry thing to realize that Obama has never met a banking official or a banking policy that his people didn't approve of.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. "Some will rob you with a pistol, some with a fountain pen" - Woody Guthrie

[maryf]

4. k&r nt