(BREAKING NEWS) — The author of this post posits the following information for educational purposes only and any information contained herein should not be construed to be the rendering of legal advice. For legal advice, you should consult with an attorney that has won several foreclosure cases. NOTE: There are a lot of attorneys out there that think they can defeat a foreclosure; however, these people simply see a monthly annuity and have figured out a way to stall the inevitable.
Years ago, when this author wrote Clouded Titles (his second work, which followed The Credit Restoration Primer, now in its 5th edition), now in its Mayday Edition, he set up an alert in his Google system settings to detect any reference to the phrase Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.
The reason for this is because back in 2007, while doing research on chains of title in his local land records, he discovered the widespread appearance of this electronic database throughout his local public record and this was the start of a 2-year quest into researching the sum, substance and function of what most in the legal profession refer to as MERS. After filling up 4 file drawers full of printed material from various articles, court cases and public records (including his own public record filings), this author decided that since there were no actual books out there describing the chicanery on Wall Street and how MERS was involved in it all, that the public needed to know the truth … and this is how Clouded Titles was born.
Thanks to the “alerts” set up in the Google search system, this author is able to monitor perceived upticks in the foreclosure markets, based on what is happening throughout the U.S. and the notices posted in various newspapers’ legal sections throughout the country.
What the author of this post has also noticed is that because the economy is stagnating, people are without incomes. As a result, the propensity to commit crimes against property by filing documents that purport to transfer title into the name of the perpetrator so the property could be listed and sold through nefarious means is also on the rise. Once the property is sold, the foreclosure starts. The author has seen evidence of an uptick in this area as well.
This is why it’s a good idea to check up on your public records involving your property every 3 months, just like you would check up on your credit reports to make sure they’re accurately being reported. County Clerks are paid to assist you in looking up your records if you don’t know how to do it. Many of the databases are online, so they are easily traceable via the county’s search engine. When you conduct a search, you need to be especially aware of any “assignments” of not only mortgages (or deeds of trust) that have been recorded in the public record that transfer an interest in any loan taken out against the property or to detect the insidious crime of property theft by fraudulent deed transfer.
If you suspect you’ve been “taken” in such a manner, the first thing you should do is to go to the County Clerk’s (Recorder, Register of Deeds, Auditor, etc.) office and obtain a certified copy of the suspect document. The second thing you should do is to take that suspect document to your county sheriff and file a formal criminal complaint against the party or parties allegedly effectuating the transfer.
Part of the problem with fraudulent transfers and assignments however, is that the goings-on behind the scenes within law enforcement appears well above the pay grade of the detectives working in the crimes against property unit. This was evidenced in the follow-up meeting with Osceola County, Florida detectives in 2015 (along with the County Attorney, who was obviously “in on it” with them), who couldn’t find any evidence of wrongdoing in the Report this author spent five months working on … and instead, chose to “shoot the messenger” instead. The County Attorney then proceeded to inquire who the forensic team members were that gleaned the public record looking for suspect documents. The information was not required to be provided under the Open Records Act laws, thus, the County Attorney came away from the meeting empty-handed. The detectives however, wanted to know who certified all of the 17 banker’s boxes of suspect documents delivered to the States’ Attorney in Florida’s 9th Circuit, who saw the files and the report as a “political hot potato” and wanted nothing to do with them. Law enforcement in Osceola County, Florida then began to harass and surveil a known member of the forensic team who lived in the county and who was an outspoken critic of the illicit foreclosures taking place in his county. A family member of the forensic team’s liaison was tasered and arrested as he was walking onto his front porch at 3:00 a.m. after being out with his cousin, was not drunk and was not disrespectful or disorderly against the arresting deputies (who were surveilling the home). The charges were eventually dropped. This is just one scenario that happens when one “tries to do the right thing”.
This presents us with another known problem with law enforcement: corruption. Unless your county sheriff is a “constitutional sheriff”, don’t expect your complaint or any potential investigation to go anywhere, especially after having researched the campaign donors to your local district attorney in the last election. This author would encourage you to research CSPOA.org and become a member and get the information necessary to further your campaign in either getting the sheriff on board or finding ways to get him/her ousted from public office.
This author also reminds you (at this juncture) that county sheriffs are bonded. Without a bond (due to forfeiture), they can’t hold office as a sheriff. This is why counties have Risk Managers. A Risk Manager is another word for “damage control”. This individual gets more crap thrown at them from both consumers and county officials as a result of their positions. This is why it’s become harder to find competent people willing to undertake the honest task of “doing the right thing” and getting consumers the information on who the agent is for the bond, along with their address, phone # and policy number.
If the county’s risk manager refuses to give you that information, send an Open Records Act Request under state statutes and demand the information. Once obtained, you may wish to consider filing a complaint against the bond of the individual that failed to do their constitutional duty to protect your rights under the law.
NOTE: This procedure can also be used against school boards as well (that treat parents like domestic terrorists for speaking out at school board meetings); however, that’s not the subject matter of this article so this author won’t dwell on that scenario at this time.
In closing, a genuine foreclosure has to be treated differently. This author would encourage the use of a Qualified Written Request (QWR) under RESPA § 6. Do not ask for originals of any documents because it’s highly likely they don’t exist. Ask for copies of the note and mortgage (or deed of trust); ask for all information contained in your collateral file; ask for copies of your escrow statements and pay histories. Space out your requests (don’t ask for all of it at once). Request it in two or three certified letters to the servicer’s specific QWR address. You might be surprised to learn that mortgage loan servicer error was responsible for the initiation of the foreclosure to begin with.
NOTE: A QWR is not discovery. A QWR is what this author would be doing if he found out every time that his mortgage loan had been transferred or sold. A QWR response can be used to custom-tailor litigation against the servicer and its employees. Above all, remember that the public record may contain damning information in the form of assignments that can be used to help custom-tailor a QWR request. QWR requests from subsequent servicers can also reveal missing documents that were never transferred to the new servicer in the collateral loan file.
Dave Krieger is a nationally-syndicated talk show host on The Power Hour, heard Monday-Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 Central Time; on AM and FM stations across the U.S. and on 7.490 mHz on the shortwave band worldwide. He also consults with attorneys and homeowners on foreclosure cases.
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