Bank Of America Exec Signed, But Didn't Read Up To 8,000 Foreclosure Papers Per Month

WASHINGTON (AP, ALAN ZIBEL) -- A Bank of America official acknowledges in a legal proceeding that she signed up to 8,000 foreclosure documents a month and typically didn't read them.

The executive's admission adds the nation's largest bank to a growing list of mortgage companies whose employees signed documents in foreclosure cases without verifying the information in them.

Two other companies, Ally Financial Inc.'s GMAC Mortgage unit and JPMorgan Chase, have halted tens of thousands of foreclosure cases after similar problems became public.

The Bank of America executive said in a February deposition in a Massachusetts bankruptcy case that she signed 7,000 to 8,000 foreclosure documents a month.

"I typically don't read them because of the volume that we sign," the executive said.

The disclosure comes two days after JPMorgan said it would temporarily stop foreclosing on more than 50,000 homes so it can review documents that might contain errors. Last week, GMAC halted certain evictions and sales of foreclosed homes in 23 states to review those cases after finding procedural errors in some foreclosure affidavits.

After GMAC's announcement, state attorneys general in California and Connecticut told the company to stop foreclosures until it proves it's complying with their state laws. The Ohio attorney general this week asked judges to review GMAC foreclosure cases.

And in Florida, the state attorney general is investigating four law firms, two with ties to GMAC, for allegedly providing fraudulent documents in foreclosure cases.

In some states, lenders can foreclose quickly on delinquent mortgage borrowers. But 23 states use a lengthy court process for foreclosures. They require documents to verify information on the mortgage, including who owns it. Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois are the biggest states with this process.

Comments

[Taninthesummer]

10:12 PM on 10/07/2010

President Obama,

You MUST NOT abandon the American middle class! This is your moment to raise your reasoned, yet passionate voice, in our favor. Please, do not allow the banks to take control of this situation. They are not worthy. We are.

[Main Street Blues]

10:11 AM on 10/04/2010

Two words that could have prevented this whole mess......"Principal Reductions"
Nope...we can't give Main Street America a break!
Instead...our tax payer dollars will reimburse the Banks on their losses...
Meaning...we're paying for our own homes to be foreclosed on...
Compliments of the Obama Administration, Wall Street and the Banks!

[USNDC]

11:04 AM on 10/02/2010

This is pure theater ... coordinated and staged ... and accounting gimmick designed to delay the Bank's having to post these losses on their books.

[ArticulateAndClean]

12:29 AM on 10/02/2010

What's the big deal?

Congress passes 2,000 page bills that cover trillions in expenditure but don't read them either.

So what else is new?

[jalowe1957]

12:23 AM on 10/02/2010

Talk about functional illiteracy!

[vippy]

09:54 PM on 10/01/2010

Let us get this straight right away - when you are a CEO you have a contract whether you wreck the firm or not, you get your million dollar bonuses and reading anything is not included.  Are we surprised?

[IWantAJob]

09:19 PM on 10/01/2010

I think there's more to the story here. All of a sudden these big banks get busted for robo-signing? Coincidence? or all part of the plan.
So now they don't have to recognize any losses this year, since foreclosures are halted. And convenient that mark to market rules have been suspended (now called "extend and pretend") since April 2009 and banks didn't have to write down their bad loans to market value?

Coincidence that the chairman of FASB quietly resigns today after FASB has been asking for reinstatement of mark to market?
http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/post_35.php
Mr. Herz’s departure, set for Oct. 1, also comes as the body is enmeshed in a battle over a proposal to expand the use of mark-to-market accounting, which requires companies to use market prices rather than management estimates to value financial holdings

http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/financial_services_fasb_accounting_standards-24874-1.html
The proposal would be "the biggest accounting event we have ever seen," said Donna Fisher, a senior vice president with the American Bankers Association.

[wuggaslady]

09:14 PM on 10/01/2010

Wow, this really restores my confidence in the wall street types.

[AngryAmerican910]

09:13 PM on 10/01/2010

Watch George W. Bush describe home ownership and his American Dream program, on May 17, 2002! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNqQx7sjoS8

[fijisailor]

08:39 PM on 10/01/2010

OK people here's your double dip. Thanks to the repubs for building this house of cards for 8 years. Thanks to the dems for worthless financial reform and aiding this screw up since day one.

[fijisailor]

08:41 PM on 10/01/2010

And last but not least, thanks to the banks and wall street for corrupting the entire financial system.

[vippy]

09:55 PM on 10/01/2010

Again, we have but ONE PARTY!

[Lauren Kottwitz]

08:31 PM on 10/01/2010

This makes me very angry, of course, and makes my tummy hurt, but I can't say I'm suprised. Best I can hope for is retribution.

[MsTick]

08:13 PM on 10/01/2010

I’m not a homeowner, never have been, don’t want to be.

But those decrying a lack of responsibility on the part of potentially-foreclosed homeowners are placing the bulk of responsibility on the wrong parties.

The greater responsibility should be exercised by the bankers.

Draw a parallel with medical concerns: People often take the advice of doctors, because it’s assumed that they know more about the inner workings of the body…as well as having means to remedy what may be amiss.

If someone follows a doctor’s poor advice, with dire consequences, would you tell that person, “You should have been more responsible”? Or would you say that the doctor should have known better?

The bankers are the supposed experts in homeownership requirements…in what it takes to continue making payments and to cover all auxiliary expenses. Therefore, a mortgage applicant needs to be able to rely upon a banker’s advice.

Instead, these bankers practiced predatory lending…in order to generate more debt. Why? Follow the money.

• Signed contracts = Assets
• Assets increase the bank’s bottom line
• Banks look better, on paper.

That’s the real reason for this crisis…and not because someone naïvely sought to purchase a home, without the ability to continue with payments and cover all auxiliary expenses.

[mezcal]

07:55 PM on 10/01/2010

This makes 3 of the top 5 servicers in trouble.
http://www.mortgagestats.com/residential_servicing/

The lawyers are smelling blood in the water now.

If you're long the latest Fed-inspired bubble (pretty much all stocks, bonds, etc) you may wish to start thinking about easing towards the door.

[4TJefferson]

07:45 PM on 10/01/2010

Two things here. 1. GOPers are always whining about having to read or not reading bills, so what gives with "Master of the Underworld" Banksters not reading foreclosure papers? 2. Are the foreclosure papers just to complex for these Banksters to read anyway?

[Otaku1031]

07:44 PM on 10/01/2010

I notice that the BOA exec remains anonymous. With the stroke of her pen, she was authorizing foreclosures on people who may not have been in arrears on their mortgages. But she didn't take the time to verify the facts. From what I've read regarding erroneous foreclosures, once the process has started it can be extremely difficult to stop, requiring lengthy court proceedings in many cases (correct me if I'm wrong about this). Did she violate any laws by doing this, or will this just show up as a low rating on her next job performance review?