Lender Tells Judge It ‘Recreated’ Letters

[Didereaux]

Source: NYT

The Countrywide Financial Corporation fabricated documents related to the bankruptcy case of a Pennsylvania homeowner, court records show, raising new questions about the business practices of the giant mortgage lender at the center of the subprime mess.

he documents — three letters from Countrywide addressed to the homeowner — claimed that the borrower owed the company $4,700 because of discrepancies in escrow deductions. Countrywide’s local counsel described the letters to the court as “recreated,” raising concern from the federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the case, Thomas P. Agresti.

“These letters are a smoking gun that something is not right in Denmark,” Judge Agresti said in a Dec. 20 hearing in Pittsburgh.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/business/08lend.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss?siteid=NYT&dist=NYT&oref=slogin

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Well, one thing is for certain we can conclude that Countrysides cutbacks included the legal dept. This should make the Dumb & Dumber list this year.

[lovuian]

1. looks like some shenanigans with escrow accounts

the whole damn country was letting thieves run rampant

[Didereaux]

2. my first thought as well.

[havocmom]

3. If the letters came from, oh, say, another country where workers might be doing work for mortgage co

would it still be illegal?

Wondering if laws might be as important as wages in the outsourcing of many jobs Americans are being thrown out of. Many mortgage companies are doing a lot of processing work via foreign operations. Might there be some legal shelter in such enterprise?

Many manufacturing jobs go overseas to avoid EPA and OSHA regs as much as lower wages. Makes me wonder about legal shelters for overseas jobs too.

[HeraldSquare212]

4. Remember the judge who dismissed foreclosure actions because the purcahsers of the mortgage

couldn't prove they owned the mortgage? They had bought into pools of mortgages, and I guess the paperwork doesn't include the necessary transfer of the mortgage that gets recorded. I wish every judge would do that.

[PassingFair]

5. Companies are playing fast and loose with contracts.

The "rules" at my company change so quickly the printers
can't keep up with them. We don't know what they ARE from
one day to the next and are flying by the seat of our pants.

I'm not in the mortgage industry, but if my industry is any
indication of the state of "business" right now.....

:eyes:

[flashl]

6. Pennsylvania has been hemorrhaging from

and battling with predatory lenders for years.

[laylah]

7. As a card carrying member

of the "Divorced Wives Club", I, sadly, was forced into bankruptcy 2 years ago. Countrywide is my mortgage holder also. More than once, they have taken payments and applied them to "Escrow" or "Principa" when the funds were specifically for a payment. They did this most recently in July or August of last year, to the tune of over $600! That is just one of the shennanigans I have felt they pulled but until I read this story, I thought maybe I was in the wrong. I just sent them a request for an itemized accounting of my mortgage and escrow, dating back to January '05. It will be interesting to see what I find. Fortunately, I have all of the correspondence from them during that nightmare of a time.

[Fredda Weinberg]

8. Good luck. May you find the effort rewarding