Bank of America, Lenders Face Possible Foreclosure Freeze in New Jersey

[notesdev]

Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and four other mortgage lenders and service providers face a possible suspension of foreclosures in New Jersey by Jan. 19, under a judge’s order.

The action, announced today by New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, also covers Citigroup Inc.’s mortgage unit, Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC mortgage unit, OneWest Bank and Wells Fargo & Co. The lenders were implicated in “robo-signing,” the submission of hundreds or thousands of foreclosure claims without personal knowledge of their contents, Rabner said.

The six companies must “show cause why the processing of uncontested residential foreclosure matters they have filed should not be suspended,” under an order by Judge Mary C. Jacobson in state court in Trenton.

“It’s important that the judiciary ensures that judges are not rubber-stamping documents of questionable reliability,” Rabner said today in a conference call with reporters.

...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-20/bank-of-america-lenders-subject-to-new-jersey-court-order.html



Let's have a big round of applause for New Jersey!

[notesdev]

1. this is kind of important

so I'm sending it back up for those who weren't on the eclipse shift

[DavidSegal]

2. Megabanks vs Whistle-blowers

Crimes committed by the big banks helped crash our economy -- and WikiLeaks is saying that a whistle-blower has sent them enough evidence to take down Bank of America. So now the big banks are fighting back by trying to get the government to muzzle future whistle-blowers.

They want rules to force whistle-blowers to go to their bosses before going to the government -- giving employers the perfect chance to shut them up! Even the Securities and Exchange Commission admits that its proposed rules could "discourage" whistleblowers.

Will you help us protect financial reform, by telling the SEC to implement strong, pro-whistle-blower rules right away?

http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/whistle...

PETITION TO THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION: More whistle-blowing about corporate crimes could have made the foreclosure crisis and economic meltdown less severe.

Whistle-blowers should never be forced or encouraged to take their concerns to their potentially corrupt bosses first: Those who go directly to the government deserve the strongest rewards and protections allowed by law.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. We need more Judges like this one.

Kicking for the weekend hung over crowd.