Follow the rules, forfeit your home

October 3, 2012

Cam Carroll

By DANIEL BLACKBURN

Campbell (Cam) Carroll came very close to losing his home to foreclosure earlier this month to people he’d never heard of, the forced sale auction halted only by a last-minute restraining order issued by a San Luis Obispo County Superior Court judge.

Campbell thought he’d take advantage of a mortgage modification offer from his bank after his construction work dried up last year. At that time, he was simply trying to reduce his monthly payments. Now, Campbell’s desperate focus is to save the Paso Robles home he’s owned for 20 years, and he’s locked in a legal battle with banking giant J.P. Morgan Chase (JPMC).

Unfortunately for Campbell, he’s now joined the ranks of literally thousands of homeowners nationwide accusing the same bank of fraudulent and predatory mortgage lending practices. Fortunately, however, Campbell has something most of those other dissatisfied mortgagees don’t have: proof that his home’s original title no longer exists. And that may well be the key to successful litigation, he said.

Campbell fell into his fiscal morass in much the same way many other Americans have — by applying for the “Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP),” a federal program designed to help homeowners facing default of their home loans.

Campbell religiously followed his bank’s refinancing instructions and made his required payments promptly. But in what appears to be a well-established policy pattern with J.P. Morgan Chase, none of that apparently mattered.

In a lawsuit filed Sept. 18 in Paso Robles court, Campbell alleges a laundry list of complaints against JPMC including fraud, RICO violations, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary trust, unfair debt collection practices, and slander of title. He seeks protection of his domicile and unspecified damages.

An attorney for the bank, Michael J. Agoglia of San Francisco, did not respond to email and telephone queries from CalCoastNews.

Campbell’s story has a familiar ring: the tactics he experienced are the same as those being encountered by countless homeowners all over the country. And his litigation parallels numerous other lawsuits, lodged by individuals and government agencies, against JPMC.

He “applied in good faith for a loan modification,” said Campbell. “My mortgagee, Chase Home Finance, LLC, provided a uniform loan document package which I completed and submitted… over and over again, as [bank officials] continually claimed to be missing a document, or required more information. Over a period of six months, my local bank manager assisted me with the task of providing the never-ending stream of demands.

“During this lengthy process, Chase Home Finance told me that I could begin remitting one-half monthly mortgage payments, which I did faithfully. I had never missed a mortgage payment, and was a customer in good standing until I applied for a modification and began following their instructions.”

After nine months, Campbell said he received a denial of his application from the bank, officials of which claimed he had “failed to submit documents in a timely manner.”

He rebutted this effectively after his local Chase bank manager contacted the lending entity and informed them that she had submitted the documents in question herself, and she had retained time stamped copies. As a result, Chase Bank told Campbell to ignore the denial letter.

A week later, he said, he received yet another denial letter, citing his unemployment as a reason for that action.

“I had disclosed that fact in countless documents right from the start,” he said. “I was told that I was a good customer, that it (employment status) would make no difference.”

Along with the denial came a demand to “immediately remit all past outstanding balances, late fees, and interest on amortized interest,” or face foreclosure.

“During this process, they also reported me to credit agencies as delinquent, thus damaging my credit score beyond repair. I was unable to remit all of the funds they were now demanding, and I was told to offer my property up for a ‘short sale’ or they would foreclose.”

Campbell said that was when he decided “to fight J.P. Morgan Chase Bank for my rights and my home.”

He retained Atascadero attorney Curtis Clark just in time to win that restraining order, even as his home was about to be auctioned on the steps of the county courthouse building.

The missing title calls into question the actual ownership of Campbell’s mortgage.

“J.P. Morgan Chase has no standing to collect mortgage payments from me as they don’t possess my note,” said Campbell. “In fact, the note has been fraudulently securitized without my consent.”

Attorney Clark said the case “arises out of the defendants’ egregious, ongoing, and far- reaching schemes” to defraud his client.

“It’s like trying to sue a ghost,” Clark said. Campbell’s loan was “pooled and packaged” into something called a “mortgage backed security.”

This resulted, Clark said in the lawsuit, in the property’s “note and deed of trust being separated, with the note being thereafter ‘fractionalized’ into separate accounting entries and substitute ‘certificates,’ which were then sold to investors.”

Campbell has tried on numerous occasions to induce JPMC to produce the original note and deed of trust, without success, Clark said.

Campbell has a word of warning for other homeowners: “Many of you may not be aware of this, but if you have financed your property in any fashion during the last decade, your loan, like mine, has probably been securitized. What this means is that your note is currently, permanently and illegally separated from your deed of trust. In short, you’re probably remitting mortgage payments to an institution that has no legal grounds to collect those funds; hence, that institution cannot reconvey your clear deed of trust back to you even after you have fully satisfied the terms of your now securitized note.”

The issues faced by Campbell reflect a widespread circumstance. In one major case, a federal judge in New York two months ago rejected a bid by JPMC to dismiss a class-action lawsuit accusing the lender of defrauding thousands of homeowners who attempted to modify mortgages under the HAMP system.

That will allow litigants to pursue claims that America’s largest bank failed to act in a lawful manner in the loan process. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns, according to a July 30 article by Reuters, “also let stand claims that Morgan’s Chase unit drove homeowners deeper into debt by prolonging the modification process through ‘gross ineptitude,’ sometimes adding fees to loans already in default and starting foreclosures while modifications were being negotiated.”
Cam vs Jpm


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After nearly four years of litigation, numerous warnings of sanctions from a county judge for “frivolously” pleading racketeering, fraud in the origination, servicing abuses, wire fraud, fraudulent affidavits, and now being bushwhacked by a Federal Bankruptcy Judge, I have about had it. These foreclosures are being conducted under a sealed order from your DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY and they are enforcing an order for CIVIL FORFEITURE of homes that were deemed trust assets taken over by the TARP program. Your Federal Reserve Bank of New York, combined with the Treasury Department of the Internal Revenue Service has decided that regardless of borrower claims for fraud, inducement, RICO, YOU WILL HAVE YOUR HOUSE TAKEN AWAY WHILE THE NATIONAL BANKS ARE EXCUSED FOR ALL THEIR FRAUD AND TAX EVASION. The REMIC trust laws are very specific as to what is required for a “trustee” to acquire “trust assets” that are proper, and REMIC tax laws subject “non-qualified” income as taxable at 100%. These laws will not be followed, your Constitutional rights to due process will be obstructed, and the attorneys for the banksters are operating with immunity granted by the Courts themselves. The fraud is now ratified as “part of doing business”. Welcome to AMERIKA. Never thought I would see the day when judges would look the other way while fraudulent affidavits and assignments of mortgage are accepted without question, and “VOLUMINOUS AND SERIOUS CLAIMS AND ALLEGATIONS” ARE SUMMARILY DISMISSED “AS WITHOUT MERIT”. How about that? From a US Bankruptcy Judge. We are all screwed.


Usedkarguy – Do you happen to have any information available about the sealed order from the Dept. of Treasury deeming the foreclosures as trust assets of TARP?


He’s not on contigency? Oh geeze this punter is getting fleeced. The issue of MERS’s lack of standing as an authorized agent and securitzed notes being unenforcable has been rejected by many courts. They always toss in fraud, RICO, etc. etc. and yes they always lose.


And just as many courts have found that MERS has NO standing to foreclose, issue a notice of default, or even assign a note or mortgage which it never held. It’s not a matter of “tossing it in”, it’s the fact pattern that underlies all the fraudulent foreclosure, Get your head out of your booty, ju ju.


This case is a bit different. In the past the plaintiff attempted to place the burden of proof on the bank to prove that they did not securitize the note and fractionalize it. The plaintiffs simply attempted to proclaim that the bank didn’t have the note thus placing the burden of proof on the bank to prove that they did have the note. The cases were denied for lack of standing (placing burden of proof on the defendant).


In this case, the burden of proof is not on the defendant as the plaintiff already has the proof against the defendant. There are other states where these cases have been won and this hasn’t come up in California yet. I actually know who this attorney is and he is hardly taking this guy for a ride. The attorney is right on the money. Many people will benefit from this case.


I clicked the link attached to the word ‘decided’ in the middle of the article. I noticed that Campbell is attempting to raise legal fee’s to continue fighting this case. This looks like it could be big and could even set a precedent. No doubt Chase plans to bring out whatever big guns it will take to avoid being found liable for fraud or worse. His plea for donations to his legal fund ends with “Do you believe in the story of David and Goliath” – “I do”.


I don’t have any bucks buddy but yup, I believe in the story of David & Goliath and I’ll say a pray for you. who knows, you could end up helping thousands of Californian’s. Either way, God Bless you and Go get em.


This is very common, and he’s gonna hafta eventualy cough up the dosh he owes or lose his house and he aint gonna get a free house or damages of any kind. Maybe a little cash for keys. These HAMP, MERS and MBS lawsuits are all losers and most firms won’t even take em anymore. Anyone wanna bet how long it’s been since he made a mortgage payment? The free rent gravy train can work out purty good but pilgrims gotta save what they aint payin!


This brings up a question. As a home owner that is thinking about refinancing how do you go about making sure that your current lender can ‘reconvey your clear deed of trust back to you’ before you get into a mess like this?


You people are going to hate me for this but you live in fantasy land. And it causes you to miss the obvious. I’ll put it in quotes for you.


“I was unable to remit all of the funds they were now demanding”

———————


Do you see that? Unable to pay his own mortgage. He admits it. You people do realize that if you pay your mortgage the bank can’t foreclose, right ? Do I even really need to say that? Pay your mortgage and the bank cannot foreclose. And when you don’t pay your mortgage, what do you think is going to happen? Do I really need to say it?


And before you start on me, I get it. Bank had the HAMP program, bank advertised this, bank employee represented that blah, blah, blah——-I get all that. So what? All the time I see ads for free computers just for filling out a short survey or emails from alleged Nigerian kings wanting to split their money with me or snail mail telling me I’m a finalist in the sweepstakes just buy a magazine or business opportunities telling me I can earn 10k a month from home doing next to nothing etc. etc. In your real world experience how many advertised deals that sounded too good to be true, ended up actually being true? Do you bet your mortgage on them? Well, does it sound a little too good to be true that a bank is just going to voluntarily cut your mortgage in half? Were you born yesterday? Are you a child? “But Mommy, you promised you would give me something for free and I really want my mortgage cut in half for free.”


Until and unless you have a new deal–guess what? You don’t have a new deal. Is that really so difficult to understand? Until you have a new deal you don’t have a new deal, you only have your existing deal.


So when homeowner stopped paying his existing mortgage long before there was a new mortgage in place, what did homeowner do with that money? He didn’t save it did he? He spent it didn’t he? He didn’t put it in a safe place to make up all the payments he was shorting in the event the new deal didn’t happen, did he? He spent the money and now it’s gone and now he can’t pay the mortgage he agreed to pay.


I love it when people make their argument based on incomplete information. Read the story again and slowly this time. He stated that the bank OK’ed reduced payments. The bank made the process way harder than necessary because they did not have a deed for the property, so they know from the start that a refinance could not be done. There was a time when banks were to be trusted, sadly that time is past.


Nope. I got that part obviously. That’s why I said, put the mortgage payment money that the homeowner was shorting in a safe place in the event the new deal did not go through.


If the person didn’t qualify for the give away program (remember he was unemployed) or the bank, for whatever reason, decided to back out of the give away program, it was inevitable that the homeowner would have to make up the missed payments.


These type lawsuits, almost without fail, boil down to homeowners demanding that the banks gift them a huge pot of money (reduction in mortgage principal or payments that they lawfully owe) and, almost without fail, the homeowners lose, because the banks have no duty to gift these home owners anything. And quite often, the homeowner not only loses his house but also thousands more to an attorney.


Oldhorseman is correct, you don’t get it. The facts that lead to the foreclosure is not what this case is about. The lawsuit is because Cam learned that Chase Bank has no standing to demand payments from him to to foreclose on his property. His Deed of Trust has been separated from his note. The note has been secularized and fractionalized. This is something that Cam’s attorney has been able to prove through a specialized audit.


There hasn’t been a case like this in California yet so please don’t say these cases almost always fail. You clearly don’t understand what has occurred here or what the consequences of a clouded title means to a property owner. It’s a serious matter and the bank has some answering to do and some money to cough up. He doesn’t owe them a dime and hasn’t for years!


The lawsuit is because Cam learned that Chase Bank has no standing to demand payments from him to to foreclose on his property.

———————–

Suuuureeee. And all the millions upon millions of loans out there that were fractionalized were never foreclosed upon because the titles were clouded and the biggest real estate crisis in the history of the nation never took place and everyone who’s mortgage was fractionalized just gets to ignore that mortgage and get a free loan——-and you’re going to win the lotto next week and Santa is going to call you personally to give you the winning numbers so get ready.


Do you see how ultimately, such a position makes no sense? Sure, the banks were sloppy, fractionalization is a mess, errors were made blah, blah, blah but it can all eventually be traced and unwound and there’s basically no chance anyone is going to get out of a mortgage. It’s fantasy land stuff. You either pay your mortgage or sooner or later you’re going to lose your house.


“errors were made blah, blah, blah but it can all eventually be traced and unwound”


It doesn’t sound like this particular note or a clear deed of trust can be “traced and unwound”. Yeah, it’s that big of a messy mess. Why should someone pay on a note that the holder (per se) doesn’t own or possess and he doesn’t actually know who does have it, or even if anyone does? Why pay Joe Smoozer (based on his word) when Joe Shmoe might show up later and tell you that he has a promissory note that you never paid back?


Why should someone pay on a note that the holder (per se) doesn’t own or possess and he doesn’t actually know who does have it, or even if anyone does?

—————–

Because as Campbell and millions have others have found, if you don’t pay on your note they come take your house from you.


It really is that simple. There ain’t no free lunch. Campbell is finding out the hard way. Don’t convince the gullible people that they can just stop paying their mortgage —it’s a reckless thing to even suggest.


Nobody has taken Campbell’s house. His restraining order against the bank was just extended yesterday pending his hearing and trial. I don’t recommend that people just stop paying their mortgage. What I do recommend is that people start fighting back by suing these banks for fraud and damaging their property titles. Many laws have been broke by some of these banks, laws that are in place to protect the “American Homeowners”.


It isn’t a judges job to decide what will happen to the banks and the Nation as a whole. It is up to a judge to decide a case based on the individual facts of the case as set forth by the individual who has brought the case before the court. Currently, Campbell has a case of fraud to present with all his proof to a judge. If the law is applied, then Campbell will win. The law is the law, we don’t decide that it doesn’t apply to those with the most money, do we?


On what grounds will they take it?


Without a clear title, that would appear to be illegal to me. This man is right to take these people to court.


One other thing to consider. He had to pay real money that he has earned. The bank created the “note” out of thin air. They have no real investment based on real money backed by gold or other collateral.


In other words, all banks have to sell is DEBT!


Their whole operations IS BASED ON FRAUD!


Watch the particulars to get up to speed


Money As Debt


Paul Grignon’s 47-minute animated presentation of “Money as Debt” tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out. The Cowichan Citizens Coalition and its “Duncan Initiative” received high praise from those who previewed it. I recommend it as a painless but hard-hitting educational tool and encourage the widest distribution and use by all groups concerned with the present unsustainable monetary system in Canada and the United States.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K5_JE_gOys


I’ll try one more time, the meat of this problem is ;


“Campbell has a word of warning for other homeowners: “Many of you may not be aware of this, but if you have financed your property in any fashion during the last decade, your loan, like mine, has probably been securitized. What this means is that your note is currently, permanently and illegally separated from your deed of trust. In short, you’re probably remitting mortgage payments to an institution that has no legal grounds to collect those funds; hence, that institution cannot reconvey your clear deed of trust back to you even after you have fully satisfied the terms of your now securitized note.”


If you are a employee or stock holder of Chase this may give you reason to think. BTW I am a customer of Chase and I don’t like what I see.


In reply to you-

After going thru a home loan modification program and being approved-this is no give away program, as you state. Yes our monthly payments were lowered to an affordable rate for my husband and myself BUT Chase Bank added over $60,000.00 onto our loan to make up for any taxes or payments missed. We have realized that Chase will most likely always own our home and we are renting from them.

And by the way we are hard working people who got behind on our property taxes which caused our problems. We do not expect a hugh pot of money from anyone, we just went through a hard time.


This makes me so angry. The home is central to our being: shelter, family, history, everything we have and are. Most of us try to act in an honorable fashion and show respect for our fellow man, regardless of how much we might disagree.


These banks are acting without honor, taking advantage and ruining lives, by design or incompetence. The court system needs to come down heavy on them.


Maybe Obama should have given ALL THAT MONEY to the homeowners instead of the banks….maybe we should have stopped him…maybe….I wonder what a tree of maybe’s looks like…FULL & LUSH…I see the tree as the GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!


Absolutely, let them fail and nationalize the parts needed to keep the economy running. Let’s remember though that TARP was Bush’s program. Obama just inherited it (and should still have fixed it!).


Told you this country was run by gangsters from top to bottom. At least the courts are stopping some of this, but…….the federal government? Where are the? They are IN on it!


This is just one aspect of the greatest robbery in the history of the world. BofA is in hot water also:


Bank of America agrees to pay $2.43 billion to investors who accused the bank of hiding the losses of Merill Lynch when the Bank acquired it in 2008. [Investors said they would not have approved the merger if they had been told the truth about the huge losses they were acquiring from Merill Lynch. The bad investment subsequently was made good by taxpayers in the form of two bailouts by Congress and the Federal Reserve. It’s the taxpayers that should have filed a lawsuit, not investors. But, if they had, the Bank could not pay damages without another bailout from taxpayers. See how the game is rigged?] NY Times 2012 Sep 28


http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/bank-of-america-to-pay-2-43-billion-to-settle-class-action-over-merrill-deal/


The time has come to say ENOUGH! The time has come to not ask but DEMAND that the U.S. Gov. start investigating and prosecuting any and all (banks) that are running afoul of the system.


We are reading WAY to many cases of this. I keep reading these stories but seeing the Gov. do nothing. The U.S. system is BROKE! It is time that we all start getting more vocal from locat to the top, with are elected officials using the old movie line, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!!!!”


Let see if at the polls the people remember that those currently in office either supported the banks or at least turned their backs on the people when it came to bailing out the banks and for me no amount of last mintue PR stunts from incumbants is going to get them my vote. The new people might not be any better but at least they didn’t turn their backs on us and welcomed the banks and their money.


The banks own the U.S. Government.


True. I remember up until about fifteen years ago I thought the Federal Reserve was run by the Fed. You know name being Federal. Then I found out that it is run by the banks. Wow talk about the fox watching the hen house.


“I care not what puppet is placed on

the throne of England to rule the Empire, …

The man that controls Britain’s money

supply controls the British Empire.

And I control the money supply.”


Mayer Rothschild