In a recent episode of 30 Rock, Jenna insults Kenneth, “I wish you weren’t such a Houston foreclosure of a human being.” Sadly, this joke has many layers in today’s housing market.
While analysts claim that the U.S. economy is slowly recovering from the deepest recession since World War II, the housing sector remains depressed, and rampant foreclosures continue to plague the nation — in September alone, there were over 300,000 foreclosure filings. To add insult to injury, now banks and lenders are being accused of improper procedures in taking possession of an untold number of homes.
Due to state investigations into their foreclosure proceedings, several banks, including the nation’s largest bank, Bank of America, have announced that they are halting foreclosure sales. In doing so, the banks generally claim that they haven’t uncovered problems with their procedures; rather, they just want to verify that their practices are above board. As Bank of America President and CEO Brian Moynihan explained, “What we are trying to do is clear the air, and say ‘We will go back and check our work one more time.’”
Many of the allegations stem from a practice known as “robo-signing,” which accuses bank employees of approving foreclosures without personally reviewing loan files, and in some cases, falsifying paperwork — all with the goal of speeding along the foreclosure process, which cuts short the amount of time people have to gather the resources to save their homes.
Unfortunately, experts don’t think that the situation is bound to be improving, and some think it may get much worse. Financial analyst Ty Young predicts, “This foreclosure mess is escalating to as big a mess as the mortgage crisis, and I do believe, at some point in the future, we’ll talk about the dot com crisis, the banking crisis, and the foreclosure crisis in the same light.”
Protect Your Interests
If you are facing foreclosure or feel that you have been the victim of haphazard foreclosure proceedings, contact an experienced real estate attorney in your area.