VIDEO: Robosigning: Fraud and Foreclosure
Robosigning became a national issue after the CBS program 60 minutes aired an in-depth investigation in April 2011. They revealed that major US lending institutions had for years been contracting companies to sign thousands of documents related to the mortgages held by banks. These documents were primarily certificates of satisfaction, which verify when a homeowner has refinanced or paid off a mortgage loan, and mortgage assignments, which document changes in ownership of a loan. The financial sector had created an electronic system that allowed banks to bypass this traditional paper trail, usually required when buying and selling mortgages. When the foreclosure crisis hit, these lenders were often left without the paperwork necessary to legally foreclose on people’s homes. Robosigning ‘mills’ employed minimum wage workers who would fraudulently sign hundreds of documents per day, using invented names and titles, which were notarized falsely by notaries employed by the same company.
Jeff Thigpen, the Register of Deeds in Guilford County, North Carolina, is one of the first public recorders in the country to refuse to accept robosigned documents. Public recorders play an important role in the foreclosure process, as it is their acceptance of documents that grants them legitimacy and gives law enforcement officers the authority and duty of carrying out foreclosures. After looking into his records, Thigpen found thousands of fraudulently signed documents in his county, evidence that he forwarded on to federal investigations.
A nationwide effort launched by the attorneys general of all 50 states is investigating the nature of robosigning practices and seeking compensation for homeowners improperly foreclosed on. However, its progress has been called into question, with some states pulling out and many observers doubting the effectiveness of the deals it might make.
To learn more about what NCUP is doing to organize around the issue of robosigning, watch this video[LINK].
VIDEO: The History of the Foreclosure Crisis
Virtually everyone in America was somehow touched by the economic crash of 2008. But, do you really know how it happened? Well, it wasn’t just an accident. Years of risky behavior and fraud on Wall Street perched our financial system on the verge collapse — especially the use of “subprime mortgages.” These mortgages, loaned to individuals with low credit scores at exorbitant interest rates, generated high returns on investments for Wall Street banks — yet, they also became “toxic assets” after predatory lending ensured innocent individuals could never pay back them back.