Paid off home loans still haunt homeowners
If you’ve paid off your home loan in the past few years, you may still face foreclosure. If you refinanced your home loan, you may be told your old loan is delinquent. And if a home loan was satisfied through a bankruptcy, you could still find yourself served with foreclosure documents.
According to a recent article from Reuters, unlawful attempts to collect nonexistent debts have trapped homeowners who face foreclosure and ruined credit histories.
Massive Machinery Traps Innocent Homeowners
In the article “Old mortgages rise from the dead, haunt homeowners,” Reuters reporter Michelle Conlin chronicles the saga that is forcing some into foreclosure.
For instance, Roy and Sheila Bowers of Topeka, Kansas refinanced their home in 2009 with Wells Fargo to take advantage of low interest rates. The old loan with a different company was paid off. The Bowers received a letter confirming the old loan was paid off. Wells Fargo even sent a certificate of satisfaction to the Recorder of Deeds.
Five months later, the private mortgage recording service for the bank filed an “Erroneous Release of Mortgage,” signed by a robosigner, with the Recorder of Deeds’ office. A month later, the Bowers received a monthly mortgage bill that had suddenly reverted back to the old interest rate. The loan had a new number and it included $3,000 in late fees.
Wells Fargo claimed the refinancing never went through. However, they reported two mortgages for the Bowers to the credit ratings bureaus. The Bowers’ credit score dropped. Despite trying to resolve the problem with Wells Fargo, the bank foreclosed on the house five days before Christmas.
Wrongful Foreclosures Pile Up
The Bowers weren’t the only victims of an alleged wrongful foreclosure. As one lawyer who is handling a wrongfully foreclosed homeowner in Philadelphia stated:
“We see a lot of cases like this, where they are trying to collect even though there is no mortgage,” said Wilson’s lawyer, Jennifer Schultz. “Once the system has marked you as delinquent, there’s just this massive machinery that takes over. There are people whose lives are destroyed by the system, and there’s no way to fix it.”
As the article notes, wrongful foreclosures are a problem throughout the nation. Megabanks relying on untrustworthy record keeping, faked titles, forged documents and backdated affidavits are trying to push innocent homeowners out of their houses.
If you are the target of a foreclosure debt lawsuit, contact the lawyers at the S.E. Farris Law Firm who focus on defending foreclosure debt lawsuits. Call 314-A-LAWYER (314-252-9937) today for a free consultation or fill out our online contact form.