by Brian Mahany
Democrats in the California Assembly’s Banking and Finance Committee derailed two important pro-homeowner bills aimed at curbing foreclosure abuse. In a surprise move, the democratic legislators sided with the pro business Chamber of Commerce moments before Attorney General Kamala Harris was to testify in support of the measures.
Democrats siding with the Chamber is a bit odd. That the chamber would side would big banks is unfortunately not surprising.
One measure would prevent lenders from foreclosing while at the same time negotiating a mortgage modification. We have seen several instances where one bank employee is telling a homeowner that they must leave the property while someone else in the same bank is actively negotiating a loan modification. It sounds crazy but we have seen Bank of America and several other lenders that just don’t seem to have a clue what is going. It’s like a ship with no captain and no one on the bridge to give instructions.
The second bill was aimed at robo signing. Often we see foreclosure paperwork but no telephone number to contact the person signing the affidavit or foreclosure papers. The bill would require lenders to offer a single point of contact for homeowners in foreclosure or restructuring. We are aware of one one woman in Massachusetts who was asked to provide virtually the same documentation for her HAMP loan modification 42 times. For months, someone different would call almost everyday from a call center claiming that some piece of documentation was missing even though it had already been sent.
Unfortunately, the $25 billion mortgage industry settlement has not seemed to curb the abuses by the large lenders. Not a week goes by that we don’t hear many stories of foreclosure abuses including homeowners promised a modification only to have it mysteriously pulled and homeowners foreclosed upon even though they timely made all of their payments!
If you have suffered from predatory lending or foreclosure abuses, please contact us. We are not a foreclosure defense firm – the cases we take are lawsuits against banks and lenders for illegal lending, loan modification and foreclosure practices. If you suffered a particularly bad experience, we certainly want to listen.
Our mortgage fraud team is currently co-counsel in the largest federal false claims act case in the nation, the $2.4 billion action on behalf of HUD against Allied Home Mortgage. Large or small, every case is important to us.
For more information, email attorney Anthony Dietz at or attorney Brian Mahany at For immediate assistance, contact Brian by phone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All inquiries are held in strict confidence.
Mahany & Ertl, America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine & Minneapolis, Minnesota. Services available in many jurisdictions.