Imagine being deployed in service of your country 7000 miles away from home. While you are on patrol, looking out for snipers and IED's, in the back of your mind is the fact that your family house is being wrongfully foreclosed back at home. You've attempted to look into to it, but you are informed that, to clear your name, it will take months and months of jumping through hoops.
After the recent million dollar settlement with the big banks back in January, Federal regulators demanded some reports including listings of active military personal cross referenced with foreclosures. Regulators found 700 cases. They also found some dozen others people who had been up to date on payments, but were evicted from their properties.
Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo reported their actions to regulators.
From the NYT
Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo uncovered the foreclosures while analyzing mortgages as part of the multibillion-dollar settlement deal with federal authorities, according to people with direct knowledge of the findings. In January, regulators ordered the banks to identify military members and other borrowers who were evicted in violation of federal law.
The analysis, which was turned over to regulators in recent days, provides the first detailed glimpse into the extent of wrongful foreclosures amid the collapse of the housing market. While lenders previously acknowledged that they relied on faulty documents to push through foreclosures, the banks claimed borrowers were rarely evicted by mistake, including military personnel protected by federal law.
“It’s absolutely devastating to be 7,000 miles from your home fighting for this country and get a message that your family is being evicted,” said Col. John S. Odom Jr., a retired Air Force lawyer in Shreveport, La., who represents military members in foreclosure cases. “We have been sounding the alarms that the banks are illegally evicting the very men and women who are out there fighting for this country. This is a devastating confirmation of that.”
Service members are protected by the
Service Members Relief Act
And we don't need no stinking regulation........Yeah right ..........