Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has asked the Connecticut Judicial Department to freeze all home foreclosures for 60 days because of defective document filings and institute measures to assure the integrity of future filings. AG Blumenthal made the request after a second bank, JP Morgan Chase, acknowledged filing defective foreclosure documents. Like GMACMortgage/Ally Financial Inc., JP Morgan admitted that so-called “robo-signers” signed affidavits without verifying the information in them. The GMAC robo-signer said under oath that he signed 8,000 to 10,000 foreclosure affidavits a month while a robo-signer for JP Morgan testified to spending less than two minutes on each affidavit.
Blumenthal is investigating GMAC/Ally and JP Morgan, as well as whether other banks may have engaged in similar practices. Submitting defective documents is a possible fraud upon the court, potentially undermining foreclosures and underlying mortgages.
“This freeze should stop a foreclosure steamroller based on defective documents and enable effective remedies,” Blumenthal said. “The actions of GMAC/Ally and JP Morgan are inexcusable, a possible fraud on the court undermining the integrity of the legal process and consumers’ ability to fight foreclosures. Banks that lured consumers into loans they couldn’t afford now seek to stampede them into foreclosure. We must stop this runaway foreclosure train, restoring proper procedure and property owner rights.
“The Judicial Department should take additional measures—including requiring signers to state the basis for verifying information in affidavits—to restore the integrity of foreclosure documents. This appalling practice must be stopped before it poisons the legal system and unfairly evicts families from their homes.”
For more information, visit http://www.ct.gov.
