Some things tickle in the back of your mind, telling you that the story that is out there just doesn't seem to be the whole story. Like the real elephant in the room is actually wearing a Harry Potter invisibility cloak.
The 'foreclosure crisis' is just one of those tickles. In a nutshell, the crisis is purported to be this: those being foreclosed upon are being done so by agencies that lack the standing to legally do so, i.e., they do not posses the Note. I know that's hopelessly simplistic, I just want to note that that is just where things started.
Well then, who possesses the Note? Nobody really knows, hence the backroom back-dated robo-signings, in the attempt for an appearance of legitimacy.
But if nobody knows who has the underlying paperwork on a property in foreclosure, how can you be sure that your on-time mortgage payments are going to the right entities in the first place? If the percentages of shenanigans in foreclosed properties are any indication, there is an excellent chance that you are in fact making your payments to the wrong people.
Uh, oh shit?
That is the rub: the "foreclosure crisis" didn't cause the fraud; it merely exposed the fraud. And the fraud could extend to many performing mortgages on the books: if the only reason you're not foreclosed on is because you're paying money to an entity that wasn't legally entitled to the money in the first place, then your situation is every bit as precarious as those under more immediate, dire circumstances. The foreclosures just hit the news first -- in other words, the foreclosure crisis openly exposed basic questions concerning who actually has rights over any given piece of real estate. If the underlying paperwork wasn't properly or legally transferred, then who actually has rights to do anything with a piece of property is an open question. Folks that actually do own the note could still be entitled to their money. From you. Even if you already paid that money to someone else.
That makes anybody, anybody a target for foreclosure. Even if you paid cash for your home and own it free and clear. Even if you're currenton your payments.
If you owe your buddy a debt, and some third person comes along and says 'you just pay me what you owe him, and it'll be cool' the first thing you do is call your bud and make sure it's square, right?
Did you ever do that when MERS sent you a statement telling you to pay Servicer X instead of your bank? Or then Servicer Y instead of Servicer X? Or then Servicer Z?
Probably not, is my guess. Shouldn't have had to. And that's where the fraud comes in. The titles and rights relating to real estate is one of the most persnickity areas in law, the theories and canons of which stretch back hundreds of years. Everything must be documented, everything must be signed, everything must be dated, as the transactions occur. Any gap within the chain of title, any gap, creates questions on who has rights to what.
So if your mortgage has been sold, resold, chopped up, securitized, and sold again, rest assured, there are gaps. Whether or not you're current in your payments.