Freeze on Foreclosures Nationwide: Momentum Building

There is a foreclosure crisis in this nation. Americans are being wrongfully foreclosed on everyday. Homeowners are being illegally locked out and their possessions trashed-out across the country. Banks are seizing homes that they don't even have a mortgage on or foreclosing on loans that have already been paid. The banking industry, which was bailed out by the federal government when it faced collapse, is stringing out homeowners who are in legitimate need of loan modifications under the HAMP program.

How do we know this? Because our law firm hears about it everyday from consumers all over this country. We hear the stories about people who go off to work one day and come home to discover that their locks have been changed by their bank with no prior notice to them. We hear the stories of people who've bought bank-owned property from a bank and then 6 months later that same bank seizes the home because it failed to update its own records. We hear the stories of homeowners who have seen their income cut, who apply for loan modifications and then do everything that the bank asks them to do including submitting the same documents a dozen times, only be denied a modification after 10 months of wrangling on the basis that they haven't submitted the requested documents. 

Now we are hearing that banks have been submitting faulty affidavits to courts across the country because they've been employing "robo-signers" who are forced to sign thousands of documents every month and who cannot realistically verify the information contained in the documents that they are signing.

The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration has been reluctant to join the growing wave of demands for a moratorium on foreclosures. But, finally on Friday the administration acknowledged that a national halt on foreclosures may be inevitable.

My question is this: why has it taken so long to call for a nationwide halt on foreclosures so that the industry can prove that it's complying with all state and federal foreclosure laws?

Some economic and industry "analysts" warn that a foreclosure moratorium will strike at the financial center and prolong the economic recovery. Others say that this latest "robo-signing" foreclosure scandal is really just a technicality that is letting borrowers who haven't paid their loans anyway stay longer in homes that they can't afford.

Well, you know what? That's a bunch of hogwash. We should be asking ourselves why the whole banking industry should get a "free pass" on following the law with the threat that our economic recovery will be prolonged? You and I have to obey the laws every day. If we file false affidavits in court, that's considered a fraud on the court and I guarantee that you and I would face serious penalties if we did that. 

Why should we let banking officials off the hook?

Is it too much to ask that the banking industry "get it right" before they come in and seize a home and evict another American citizen? We're talking about the right to be safe and secure in our own homes.  The U.S. Constitution protects us from unlawful searches and seizures by the government. Why, then, should the banking industry get to seize American homes without following the letter of the law?

President Obama, it's time for a national moratorium on foreclosures until the banking industry can get their act together and get it right.