April 30, 2018

Mr. Barnes has been retained on several new foreclosure cases in Washington, where he currently works with local WA counsel Jill Smith, Esq. on other pending cases at both the trial and appellate levels. Mr Barnes had been working on the pending cases with his prior local counsel James A. Wexler, Esq., who passed away on December 27, 2017. Ms. Smith has substituted in for Mr. Wexler.

The cases involve several securitization entites, including Wilmington Trust Company and Bank of New York Mellon both acting in the capacity of “trustee” for a mortgage securitization trust. In each of the cases, Mr. Barnes has amended the pleadings to assert various issues related to standing and the foreclosing party’s alleged ability to enforce the Note and Deed of Trust and has propounded discovery as to these issues.

In one of the cases, the presiding Judge informed counsel for both parties, following filings by Mr. Barnes and his admission to the Court in that case, that the case is “extremely complicated” and thus “will not fall on summary judgment”.

In view of this increase in cases in WA, Mr. Barnes is contemplating opening a branch office in the Seattle area. We will keep our readers advised of developments.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

April 11, 2018

This morning, Mr. Barnes appeared in court and was admitted pro hac vice in a foreclosure case in Kings County (Brooklyn), New York. The court’s clerk advised Mr. Barnes that the County has over 8,000 active foreclosure cases with just three (3) Judges, and with more cases on the way.

Another attorney advised Mr. Barnes that literally thousands of new foreclosure cases will be filed in the coming months in Kings County due to the resetting of interest rates on numerous loans previously modified, which the homeowners will not be able to afford as the reset interest rates will substantially increase their monthly payments.

Many New York homeowners do not understand the foreclosure process in New York including the “FRP” (Foreclosure Resolution Part) procedures for attempting to settle a foreclosure case. Per previous posts, Mr. Barnes and his local NY counsel have and continue to be involved in assisting homeowners through this process and to help them save their homes from foreclosure.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

April 10, 2018

Finally, some justice for homeowners. A California Judge has issued a 107-page opinion in which he slays Bank of America for “brazen and heartless conduct, institutional obstinance, and dishonesty” during a wrongful foreclosure which involved BOA inviting and entertaining 20 loan modification applications since 2009 which the Judge found that BOA had no intention of granting. All of the applications and supplements were deemed by BOA to be “lost”, “insufficient”, or “incomplete”.

The female homeowner suffered PTSD as a result of BOA’s incomprehensible conduct, and her husband attempted suicide as a result of the stress inflicted by BOA’s actions.

Judge Klein hit BOA with fines totaling $46M. The full text of the opinion can be found by googling “California Judge Bank of America $46M”.

We hope that this is a bellwether of things to come, and that more Judges will refuse to permit, and will severely punish, the banksters and their pawns (the servicers) which continue to frustrate homeowners by simultaneously interposing every obstacle to a homeowner obtaining relief while actively pursuing their real goal, which is to take someone’s home under the guise of “your loan modification request has been denied.”

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

April 4, 2018

Recent experiences with “servicers” have lead to this post, which is a cautionary warning for all homeowners dealing with “servicers” on any level.

As we all know, Ocwen Loan Servicing has been sued for fraud by the government (again). Despite this, Ocwen continues to lie and commit fraud upon homeowners by first agreeing to payment plans and loan resolutions only to then reneg on their prior position, and in more than one case, claiming that it did not receive modification payments and declaring the homeowner to be in “default” despite the fact that Ocwen signed for receipt of the payments.

In another case, SLS made a detailed settlement offer which the homeowner accepted. When the homeowner requested that the settlement be reduced to writing, SLS then attempted to impose several harsh additional conditions on the settlement which were not part of the offer made by SLS and were thus not accepted by the homeowner.

The lesson to be learned here, in the vernacular, is that one can never, ever, trust a servicer under any circumstances. They will lie, fabricate events, fail to disclose the truth, and engage in fraud for their own selfish ends.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com