Money, Business & Finance by Reno Fontana
I read a story in the Los Angeles Times last week with a headline that declared, “Big Banks Profits Soar”. On the one hand, the article offered a glimmer of hope that the economy is turning around and business is getting better. On the other hand bank profits are increasing, which wasn’t reported, because of wrongful foreclosures. In some cases banks are selling illegally repossessed homes to investors and profiting enormously at the expense of homeowners who lost their property by lenders who broke the law.
A wrongful foreclosure is one whereby the process of the taking back a property has not been strictly and legally complied with by a lender. Contrary to what you may think, wrongful foreclosures happen more often than most anyone would guess. The city of San Francisco did a recent study of 400 homes that had been randomly selected by the city controller and which had been repossessed by the banks. Incredibly, the controller’s office discovered 84 percent of the foreclosures were illegal and improper, and should have never been allowed to occur.
The taking of someone’s home by a lender is a sometimes (emphasis on “sometimes”) necessary step. If a borrower falls behind in payments and can’t work out an agreeable solution with the lender to get caught up, then a foreclosure must take place. I’m a businessman and I understand foreclosure is occasionally a part of the home lending process.
However, the process of foreclosure by a lender has to be conducted in strict compliance of the law with no exceptions and zero tolerance for error. If not, fraud is committed by the lender. That process is called “perfection of title” and must be perfectly adhered to under state law. Bear in mind, “fraud” is a strong word in a very negative sense and should never be used to accuse a person or a company of an act that did not occur. But if fraud has occurred during the foreclosure process, and it can be proved, then the homeowner becomes a statistic in the wrongful foreclosure nightmare.
What’s the difference between a legitimate foreclosure and illegal foreclosure? Let me explain it this way in terms everyone can understand. The next time you go to the bank to make a withdrawal, the teller will hand you your money and send you on your merry way. That’s a perfectly legitimate transaction. Now, imagine you walk in with a gun to make a withdrawal. Get the picture? You just committed an illegal act that is going to get you a room at the gray bar hotel. You did something illegal, and it’s going to cost you several years of your life. In the meantime, and as it pertains to wrongful foreclosures, homeowners have been robbed of their most valuable possession – their home – and without much accountability by lenders.
Sadly, that’s what has happened to many American families. There have been no foreclosure police to stop millions of lenders from moving forward on the sale of a property that has not first met the high bar set by the state statues for foreclosures. A homeowner’s only hope of stopping an illegal foreclosure in process and before it actually happens is to hire a lawyer. Hiring a lawyer is a costly process with no guarantee that a court will rule in favor of the homeowner and stop the impending sale.
The wrongful foreclosure debacle is an area of law in which I’ve personally have become all too familiar, and not by choice. In May of 2010, the home which once belonged to Elvis Presley and the home where I and my family live and that we bought on March 10, 2004, was foreclosed as a result of an illegal foreclosure.
Is it my opinion my foreclosure was wrongful and I’m just dealing with sour grapes? No, I’ve lived to long and owning up to my mistakes in not an issue for me. When I’m wrong on anything, I’m the first to admit it. The reason I’m telling you my foreclosure should have never occurred and it was illegal because the Superior Court said the foreclosure should have never taken place. Here is a paraphrased excerpt taken from the courts written ruling; “Plaintiff (Fontana) has produced sufficient evidence to show that the Notice of Default recorded on 09/07/07 was extinguished. Plaintiff has established that by 05/14/08 Plaintiff had paid Defendant $114,970.13 which exceeded the amounts due under the Notice of Default. Thus, according to California Civil Code 2924c the entire foreclosure action should have been dismissed or discontinued as of that date. Further, Plaintiff has adequately established that the Notice of Default was void because it was based on a trust deed to pay usurious interest, and that it was recorded before a default had even occurred.”
This is the first in a four part series on wrongful foreclosures and evictions to run consecutively over the next four weeks. Reno Fontana is the Founder of Presley Investments, Inc., and host of the new weekly ‘Money, Business, and Finance’ show on Money Radio 1200. Fontana may be reached by e-mail at biz@presley investments.com.
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Source:
http://desertstarweekly.com/2013/01/23/wrongful-home-foreclosures/