Register of Deeds fights Fannie Mae's attempts to legalize Robo-Signing

A local foreclosure case involving robo-signing has taken an interesting turn in court. Ingham County Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel Jr., who has been monitoring the case since he referred the matter from his foreclosure helpline to an attorney, has taken note of an interesting approach by Fannie Mae, one of the parties to the case, to try and defend the integrity of robo-signed documents that were used in a local foreclosure. "They're essentially trying to claim that they are legally exempt from any oversight," explains Hertel. "Because these robo-signed mortgage assignments are a transaction between two banks, they are claiming that the transaction cannot be challenged by anyone other than those two parties. This includes, unfortunately, any challenges from the homeowner whose mortgage is being assigned, usually for the purpose of foreclosure." Many foreclosures across the country are being delayed in local courts as citizens have discovered illegal documentation that was used in the foreclosure process. This includes so-called "robo-signed" documents, which generally refers to documents where signatures are faked, or that are signed without being read or fact-checked by the signer. Recent statements from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have shown that Fannie Mae knew about potential robo-signing problems within its own network of attorneys, perhaps going back to 2006. Despite reports from outside investigators that found false documents filed by Fannie's law firms, the FHFA said that they had found no evidence that Fannie Mae every made any improvements in its oversight of its attorneys. "Now Fannie Mae is defending the use of these illegal documents by stating that they are exempt from any legal challenges, outside of the two parties listed on the document," continued Hertel. "It defies common sense. This arrogant argument is tantamount to the legalization of robo-signing. If Fannie Mae can get away with this, banks all over the country would be free to commit fraud upon our courts and our citizens." The foreclosure case is being handled by Legal Services of South Central Michigan, legal representation that Hertel arranged for Ingham County residents who had robo-signed foreclosure documents on record, but no means to pay for legal representation. The 55th District Court of Ingham County is waiting for new briefs to be submitted, as Fannie Mae is attempting to evict the homeowner despite the allegedly illegal mortgage assignments. "Any citizens who want to know more about our efforts to contain illegal foreclosures should attend one of our town-hall meetings," concluded Hertel. The meetings have been taking place around Ingham County since July and 6 dates remain. For more information contact the Register of Deeds at 517-281-3574. Published: Thu, Oct 20, 2011

––––––––––––––––––––
 Subscribe to the Legal News!
 http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available