Banks Breaking Into Occupied Homes In Foreclosure To Change Locks

[Amerigo Vespucci]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/banks-foreclosure-break-in_n_752613.html

In their zeal to complete foreclosure proceedings, some banks send representatives to change the locks on properties in foreclosure, even as they remain occupied. The incidents of lock-changing pile further skepticism on a process recently plagued by scandal.

A contractor for JPMorgan Chase changed the front door lock on a woman's home in Orange County, Florida, as she hid out of fear in her bathroom, Eyewitness News reports. The woman, Nancy Jacobini, was reportedly three months behind on her mortgage and her home was reportedly in foreclosure, but, according to Eyewitness News, the bank isn't legally allowed to change the locks on an occupied home.

The lock-changing strategy is intended to protect a property's value, since owners experiencing foreclosure often abandon their homes, leaving them vulnerable, notes Sarasota's Herald Tribune. To Jacobini, the bank representative seemed like an intruder, and she called the police.

"I'm locked in my bathroom," she said on a 911 call. "Somebody broke into my house!"

Sarasota's Herald Tribune reports similar cases: Renters in a Florida home apparently in foreclosure came home from the beach to find the locks changed -- and some of their possessions stolen. And a Sarasota landlord, the Herald Tribune reports, said Bank of America tried to change the locks on her condominium three times, even though she said the building wasn't even in foreclosure -- an often lengthy process that usually involves a default notice, a scheduled auction and, finally, a bank repossession.

As the Herald Tribune notes, the legal action against lock-changers has been civil, not criminal, because lawyers cannot establish that the banks have criminal intent. Still, it appears that the banks' agents take illegal liberties: In the rented Florida home, lock-changers reportedly stole a laptop, an mp3 player and six bottles of wine.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. Throw the book at the rich fucks. Make them pay the value of 47 houses as punitive damages.

Fuck them. Fuck them HARD.

[joeybee12]

2. They're not called banksters for nothing...KNR

[PA Democrat]

3. Those lock changers are lucky they weren't shot.

[Speck Tater]

4. Seems to me changing the locks would have the opposite of the intended result.

They claim they do it to "protect the property's value", but if somebody changed the locks on my home I'd sure as hell break something to get back in.