Bank of America and GMAC to Resume Foreclosures
As reported in the OC Register, 10/19/10
Bank of America and GMAC have restarted seizing homes, ignoring allegations of fraud, after completing what they claim are legal foreclosure applications.
In a prepared statement, the two lenders said they reopened more than 100,000 foreclosure actions. They said they found no major problems in their procedures for seizing homes.
GMAC Mortgage, a lender and loan servicer, said it also is pushing ahead with an unspecified number of foreclosures that came under intense pressure from both the Congress and the public last week.
Bank of America prepared to restart 102,000 pending foreclosure actions where court approval is required, applying new signatures to documents in 23 states.
The Wall Street Journal reports Monday's moves are part of a growing counterattack by lenders scrambling to stem a financial and political threat over allegations that certain employees signed hundreds of documents a day without carefully reviewing their contents when foreclosing on homes.
John Gerspach
Bank of America, the nation's largest bank in assets, which imposed on Oct. 8 a nationwide moratorium on the sale of foreclosed homes, said it has begun preparing new affidavits for pending foreclosures in 23 states where a judge's approval is required.
The paperwork will be submitted to courts by next Monday, and foreclosure sales will resume in those states starting in November, according to the bank.
"This is an important first step in debunking speculation that the mortgage market is severely flawed," said Bank of America spokesman James Mahoney. More details will be disclosed when the company reports quarterly results today, Mahoney said.
Citigroup Inc. Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach said the bank has found no reason to halt foreclosures, calling its internal procedures "sound." "We have not identified any system issues," he said Monday.
Restarting the nation's foreclosure machine puts the lenders on a collision course with state attorneys general, who announced last week a nationwide investigation of foreclosure practices.
James Dimon
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Some state officials have been pushing for a wider halt to foreclosure sales, but Bank of America's moves show determination by at least some lenders to get back to business while the investigation proceeds.The WSJ reports a Bank of America spokesman said the bank has found "no cases" thus far of foreclosures that should not have "gone through."
Last week, James Dimon, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. chairman and chief executive, said that no one has been "evicted out of a home who shouldn't have been."
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