GMAC, the country’s fourth-largest home loan lender, recently admitted that it had filed dubious foreclosure documents is likely to fuel a furor against hasty foreclosures. These hasty foreclosures have prompted complaints nationwide since housing prices collapsed.
Lawyers for distressed homeowners and law enforcement officials in several states on Friday seized on revelations by GMAC Mortgage, that it had violated legal rules in its rush to file many foreclosures as quickly as possible, saying they had foreclosed on homes without proper documents.
Is GMAC Mortgage foreclosing on your home?
Recently, GMAC admitted that it had violated legal rules in its rush to file as many foreclosures as quickly as possible. Our firm is now investigating allegations that GMAC evicted homeowners without verifying that borrowers were actually in default or that it had legal standing to seize their homes. If GMAC has foreclosed on your home, or you are facing a foreclosure, our GMAC wrongful foreclosure lawyers want to hear from you today. Your legal rights may have been violated.
GMAC Mortgage is the country’s fourth largest home loan lender. It is impossible to know how many families may have been victims of improper GMAC foreclosures. Our GMAC wrongful foreclosure lawyers are offering free case evaluations to anyone who may have been the victim of this lender’s improper practices. If you and your family have lost your home to GMAC in foreclosure, we urge you to contact us as soon as possible. Our GMAC foreclosure lawyers will do everything legally possible to make sure your rights are protected.
GMAC Wrongful Foreclosures
In September 2010, GMAC Mortgage announced it was suspending foreclosure evictions in 23 states. According to a report in The Palm Beach Post, a two-page memo dated September 17 and marked “urgent” told brokers to immediately stop evictions, cash-for-key transactions, lockouts and to suspend sales of properties already taken back by the bank in foreclosure. GMAC said employees signed foreclosure affidavits containing information that they didn’t know was true and in some cases without a notary present.
The memo coincided with news that Tampa-based Florida Default Law Group had been withdrawing legal affidavits in its GMAC foreclosure cases under “candor to the court” rules acknowledging previously submitted information may have been inaccurate, the Post said. The affidavits were sworn statements by GMAC officials that they had personal knowledge of the foreclosure documents.
According to a New York Times report, GMAC may have been forced to reveal the wrongful foreclosures following several depositions given by Jeffrey Stephan, the team leader of the document execution unit in the lender’s Fort Washington, Pa., offices. In one deposition, Stephan said that he signed as many as 10,000 affidavits and other foreclosure documents a month; in another he said it was 6,000 to 8,000.
Those affidavits assert that Stephan had examined “all books, records and documents” involved in the foreclosure and that he had “personal knowledge” of the relevant facts. However, Stephan admitted that he did not do this. Stephan also admitted that his signature on affidavits had not been notarized when he wrote it, but only later, or even the next day.
According to a report from Bloomberg News, GMAC was sanctioned in 2006 for similar practices. The lender gave “false testimony” when it justified foreclosures by submitting sworn affidavits signed by a mortgage executive who later said in a deposition she did not actually review the loan documents or sign in the presence of a notary, according to a 2006 court order filed in Duval County, Fla. In response to the sanctions, GMAC directed employees to “read and fully understand” court documents before signing.
After GMAC disclosed the most recent problems with its foreclosures, attorneys general in Texas, Iowa and Illinois started investigations into its mortgage practices. California ordered the company to prove its foreclosures were legal or halt them.
Legal Help for Victims of GMAC Wrongful Foreclosures
If your home has been foreclosed on by GMAC, or you are facing a foreclosure, you may be the victim of GMAC’s improper procedures. If so, you have valuable legal rights. To discuss your case with one of our GMAC wrongful foreclosure lawyers, please fill out our online form or call 1-800-YOURLAWYER (1-800-968-7529) today.
GMAC, the country’s fourth-largest home loan lender, recently admitted that it had filed dubious foreclosure documents is likely to fuel a furor against hasty foreclosures. These hasty foreclosures have prompted complaints nationwide since housing prices collapsed.
Lawyers for distressed homeowners and law enforcement officials in several states on Friday seized on revelations by GMAC Mortgage, that it had violated legal rules in its rush to file many foreclosures as quickly as possible, saying they had foreclosed on homes without proper documents.
Attorneys general in Iowa and North Carolina said they were beginning separate investigations of the lender, and the attorney general in California directed the company to suspend all foreclosures in that state until it “proves that it’s following the letter of the law.”
The federal government, which became the majority owner of GMAC after supplying $17 billion to prevent the lender’s failure, said Friday that it had told the company to clean up its act.
Florida lawyers representing borrowers in default said they would start filing motions as early as next week to have hundreds of foreclosure actions dismissed.
While GMAC is the first big lender to publicly acknowledge that its practices might have been improper, defense lawyers and consumer advocates have long argued that numerous lenders have used inaccurate or incomplete documents to remove delinquent owners from their houses. The issue has broad consequences for the millions of buyers of foreclosed homes, some of whom might not have clear title to their bargain property. And it may offer unforeseen opportunities for those who were evicted.
Need Legal Help Regarding GMAC Wrongful Foreclosures?
The personal injury attorneys at Parker Waichman LLP offer free, no-obligation case evaluations. For more information, fill out our online contact form or call 1-800-YOURLAWYER (1-800-968-7529).
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