Mers

The $7 Trillion Question That Haunts Banks

L. Randall Wray | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Mers, Foreclosures, Mortgages, Foreclosure Crisis, Subprime Mortgages, Marcy Kaptur, Lan Pham, Banking, Banks, Bankers, Foreclosure, Congressional Budget Office, Wall Street, Securitized Mortgages, Mortgage Crisis, Business News

The banksters have no legal claim on the homes they are foreclosing. Foreclosure is theft. Any bank that used MERS has no legal claim on property -- there are 65 million such mortgages to which no bank has a legal claim to foreclose.

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Big Banks To Pay Millions In Settlement With NY Over Mortgage Practices

Reuters | Posted 05.13.2012

Read More: JPMorgan Chase, Video, Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Citigroup Inc, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Wells Fargo, Settlement, President Barack Obama, Reuters, Ally Financial, Mers, Foreclosure, Bank of America Corp, Business News

* JPM, BofA and Wells Fargo partially settle NY lawsuit * Citi, Ally Financial also part of $25 mln deal * Banks did not...

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New York AG Takes A Strike At Major U.S. Banks

HuffingtonPost.com | Loren Berlin | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: JPMorgan Chase, Video, Wells Fargo Co, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Eric Schneiderman, Reuters, Mortgage Crisis, Mortgage Fraud, Mers, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Bank of America Corp, Business News

Three big banks were hit on Friday with yet another lawsuit related to wrongful foreclosures. Democratic New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman f...

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Michigan High Court Says Yes To Foreclosures

The Huffington Post | David Sands | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Foreclosures, Foreclosure Crisis, Mortgage, Foreclosed, Realtor, Foreclosure, Mers, Real Estate, Mark Brewer, Robocalls, Michigan Supreme Court, Detroit News

A ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court Wednesday overturned an lower court's decision that suspended thousands of foreclosures in the state. The new d...

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What the Death Penalty and Foreclosure Have in Common (You Will Be Surprised)

Adam Levin | Posted 01.03.2012

Read More: Banking, Mortgage Crisis, Banks, Mortgages, Mers, Death Penalty, Foreclosure, Robo-Signing, Politics News

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously found the death penalty harsh and random because different states applied different rules at various times when deciding whom they would execute. In a way, the foreclosure crisis is similarly harsh and random.

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Beau Biden Sues Big Banks' Mortgage Registry

HuffingtonPost.com | Mike Sacks | Posted 12.27.2011

Read More: US Economy, Mortgages, Beau Biden, Mortgage Crisis, Delaware, Banks, Mers, Foreclosure, Martha Coakley, Politics News

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden sued a private national mortgage registry on Thursday, citing a slew of deceptive trade practices that prevent ho...

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A Fire Sale for Arsonists: The "Revised" Bank Mortgage Settlement Still Stinks

Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted 12.24.2011

Read More: Eric Schneiderman, Beau Biden, Mers, Kamala Harris, Mortgage Fraud, Tom Harris, Bank Settlement Deal, Business News

Here are four reasons why California Attorney General Kamala Harris and her colleagues must reject this proposal.

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Mass AG Martha Coakley will not Join in Giving MERS and Banks a Deal

Richard Zombeck | Posted 09.27.2011

Read More: Mortgage Crisis, John O'Brien, Foreclosure Crisis, Foreclosure, Mers, Pam Bondi, Business News

Homeowner advocates and activists have long argued that mortgages transferred via the MERS system but not recorded with local registries of deeds are invalid. And now Martha Coakley agrees.

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The Department of Justice: Indicting Immigrants, Ignoring Wall Street Crooks

Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted 05.28.2011

Read More: Mortgage Bankers Association, Trac, Department of Justice, Bank Fraud, Mers, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Foreclosure Fraud, JPMorgan Chase, Politics News

From the federal government we've now seen two thousand prosecutions of people who ripped off banks, and no prosecutions for banks who ripped off people. The moral seems to be "don't mug a racketeer."

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New York's U.S. Bankruptcy Court Rules MERS's Business Model Is Illegal

L. Randall Wray | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mortgage Crisis, Mortgages, Mers, Robo-Signers, MERS Mortgages, Business News

As I predicted two weeks ago, MERS would be dead within weeks. Judge Grossman has driven the final stake through its black heart.

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Foreclosure Sale -- Buyer Beware!

Richard Gaudreau | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Securitization, Securitized, Sec, Ibanez, Mers, Foreclosure, Bankruptcy, Economy, Business News

Buyers of property at foreclosure are looking for a bargain, but that risk now must include the possibility that the title will be defective.

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Requiem for MERS (and the Banks That Created the Frankenstein Monster)

L. Randall Wray | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Foreclosures, Foreclosure Crisis, Mortgage Crisis, Bank of America, Mers, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Fraud, Home Foreclosures, Business News

MERS will not survive more than a few short weeks. It has virtually no employees, no loss reserves, no capital. Its record-keeping is a joke. And it is all that is standing between the biggest banks and Armageddon.

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Massachusetts Courts to Banks on Foreclosures: The Law Matters

Richard Zombeck | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Supreme Court, Foreclosure Crisis, Wells Fargo, Judge Keith Long, Mortgage Crisis, Mortgage Fraud, Mers, Massachusetts, Ibanez, Glenn Russell, Martha Coakley, Usbancorp, Business News

In the past, a bank representative or attorney for the bank would walk into court, point out that the "deadbeat homeowners" weren't paying their mortgage and the family would get kicked out. But that may have finally changed.

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Why Mortgage-Backed Securities Aren't (Backed by Securities): How MERS Toasted the Banks

L. Randall Wray | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mortgage Fraud, Mortgage Crisis, Mortgages, Mers, Mortgage-Backed Securities, Business News

It is clear now that the banks have got to take the whole lot of toxic waste securities back. Trillions of dollars worth. The banks are toast. There is no cooking of the books that will turn this blackened toast back to bread.

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Anatomy of Mortgage Fraud, Part III: MERS'S Role in Facilitating the Mother of All Frauds

L. Randall Wray | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mortgage Fraud, Mortgage Crisis, Mortgages, Mers, Wall Street, Business News

By design, Wall Street created a home finance system that is both unable to accommodate borrower distress and that is strongly incentivized to foreclose as soon as possible.

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Anatomy of Mortgage Fraud, Part II: The Mother of All Frauds

L. Randall Wray | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Foreclosures, Fraud, Foreclosure Crisis, Wall Street, Bank of America, Mortgage Crisis, Mortgage Fraud, Mers, Foreclosure, Business News

The destruction of mortgage notes and the creation of falsified documents by "Burger King" robo-signers probably wasn't planned back in 1999. But it is still go-to-jail fraud.

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County Register of Deeds Picks Fight with MERS

Richard Zombeck | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Securitization, Essex County, Salem, Mortgage Crisis, John O'Brien, Mers, Foreclosure, Mortgage-Backed Securities, Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, Business News

Assuming an average of 500 mortgages per week, this year alone, Southern Essex County has lost a potential $1.95 million in recording fees because of the MERS system of "avoiding" recording assignments.

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Simple Mortgage Mess Fix Ideal for New Political Realities

W. David Stephenson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Consumer, Elizabeth Warren, Mortgages, Xbrl, Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Banking, Foreclosure, Mers, Sheila Bair, Bipartisan, Politics News

Two years ago I wrote in this space that a simple technological tool, automated, "structured" data feeds, could allow for "smart" regulation of banks...

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Getting Medieval On Your Assets: Four Reasons Foreclosure Fraud Really, Really Matters

Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mortgage Bankers Association, Mers, Fifth Amendment, Foreclosure Fraud, Financial Services Roundtable, Magna Carta, Business News

Despite overwhelming evidence of widespread lawbreaking, there's still a popular point of view that says fraudulent foreclosures are "a technicality" and what we're seeing is neither a systemic problem nor a crime wave of epidemic proportions. Actually, it's both.

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Pictures of MERS, Part 1: Corporate Documents Illustrate the Mortgage Shell Game

Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Curbing Wall Street, Mortgage Bankers Association, JPMorgan Chase, Merscorp, Mers, MERS Inc, Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosure Fraud, Business News

At the center of the foreclosure fraud crisis lies something called "MERS," which is usually described in news reports as a computer system and database. But if you do some digging, you find it's much more than that.

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Time to Break Up the Too-Big-to-Fail Banks?

Ellen Brown | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mers, Alan Grayson, Kanjorski Amendment, TARP II, Financial Reform Bill, Too Big to Fail Banks, Foreclosuregate, Business News

Looming losses from ForeclosureGate qualify as the sort of systemic risk warranting the breakup of the too-big-to-fail banks under the Financial Reform Bill.

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The Real Foreclosure Crisis: Who Owns the Mortgages?

Peter G. Miller | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Nevada, OurBroker.Com, Loan, Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Mortgage, Robo-Signing, Ohio, Foreclosure, Mers, Missouri, Kansas, Boyko, Business News

For all the headlines given to foreclosure affidavits and robo-signing virtually no one has mentioned the real point, the idea that the affidavits themselves may not prove loan ownership regardless of how they were signed.

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Little-Noticed Bill Could Make It Harder To Challenge Foreclosures

The Huffington Post | William Alden | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Foreclosures, Out-of-State Notarization, Banks, Foreclosure Lawsuits, Foreclosure Challenges, Foreclosure Moratorium, Mers, Foreclosure Fraud, Gmac, Notary, Business News

UPDATE: An Obama administration official tells HuffPost that the White House has 'concerns' about the bill. Challenging foreclosures could become mor...

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Notarize This: The Brewing Foreclosure Storm

Jennifer Brunner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Foreclosures, Notaries, JPMorgan Chase, Foreclosure Crisis, Secretary of State, Freddie Mac, Ohio, Banking, Banking Crisis, Fannie Mae, Foreclosure, Mers, Jennifer Brunner, Glass-Steagall, Business News

The notary process must not be abused or bypassed when convincing a court to foreclose on a mortgage, evict its inhabitants and sell their home.

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Homeowners' Rebellion: Could 62 Million Homes Be Foreclosure-Proof?

Ellen Brown | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Securities-Litigation, Wall Street Bailout, Mers, Housing Crisis, Home Foreclosures, Business News

While courts are not likely to let 62 million homeowners off scot-free, the defect in title created by MERS could give them significant new leverage at the bargaining table.

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