Posted 10/15/2010 10:37:00 PM by Douglas

No one is going to revel in someone losing their home. Foreclosure is horrible, but it's also horrible that the mortgage brokers gave home loans to people with no credit checks or verifiable employment. So it shouldn't be that much of a surprise to think that they're going to cut corners when it's time to foreclose.

All of this is largely because Mr. Cox realized almost immediately that Mrs. Bradbury's foreclosure file did not look right. The documents from the lender, GMAC Mortgage, were approved by an employee whose title was "limited signing officer," an indication to the lawyer that his knowledge of the case was effectively nonexistent.

This is a sticky situation. The laws of eviction are complicated, but have to be followed. But before that happens, you have to stop paying your mortgage. So then what? What if the bank doesn't cross every i and dot every t?

"When Stephan says in an affidavit that he has personal knowledge of the facts stated in his affidavits, he doesn't. When he says that he has custody and control of the loan documents, he doesn't. When he says that he is attaching 'a true and accurate' copy of a note or a mortgage, he has no idea if that is so, because he does not look at the exhibits. When he makes any other statement of fact, he has no idea if it is true. When the notary says that Stephan appeared before him or her, he didn't."

Well that's just stupid. I don't blame the homeowners for crying foul when it's not done right, but you're still in default on your property. You don't get to keep what you can't pay for just because the foreclosure didn't have the right form. But here's where I lose my lunch:

GMAC, which began as the financing arm of General Motors, has received $17 billion from taxpayers in an effort to keep it from failing and is now majority-owned by the federal government.

Let me see if I follow this. GMAC (and a lot of other banks) make billions in bad mortgages, then cry "we're too big to fail" and receive billions more in taxpayer bailouts to stay solvent. To stay solvent because the bad loans they made are going teats up. OK, we did that. So if they got $17 Billion from taxpayers because homeowners defaulted on their loans, how do they get to seize the homes now? The homeowners defaulted, but the banks got their money back in the form of a bailout. How do they get to double-dip in the bailhand-out and get to foreclose on property the taxpayers have already reimbursed them for?