Hat tip to David for sending this along, from USA Today:
Steven and Tamara Gewecke are three years behind on their mortgage payments, but they’ve fought off foreclosure. The Minnesota couple refinanced in 2006 to start a business. It failed. Debts mounted. The Geweckes went bankrupt and failed to win a loan modification. But they bought time.
In 2009, the Geweckes filed a lawsuit to block their foreclosure. At the heart of their case is this question: Who owns their mortgage?
They allege the investor trust that claims to doesn’t because there’s no proper record of the mortgage’s transfer to the trust. Their complaint also alleges that the mortgage didn’t get to the trust until 18 months after the trust closed to new loans. If US Bank, the trustee, can’t prove ownership, it can’t foreclose, the Geweckes say.
The Geweckes want a loan modification so they can stay in their home of 16 years. Their current loan has an adjustable 9.25% interest rate. They owe more on the house than it’s worth.
They’re not looking for a “free ride,” says Steven, 40, who works in marketing. Neither do they want to pay off one firm and then face a future claim by another. They also hope their case will send a message to mortgage companies that they must obey rules, too.
“I understand that if you don’t make your payments, you’ll lose your home,” says Tamara Gewecke, 41. “But make sure you do it right. Make sure you’ve got your paperwork done.”
lawyers are really happy I’m sure.Are these people victims?
robo, in an amazing coincidence, just about everyone thinks they are a victim of something.
Victim of a corrupt banking system.
Victim of an excessive taxation system.
Victim of lack of buyers at their price point.
Victim of Realtor/appraiser fraud.
Victim of government interference in the free markets.
Victim of …..
Most people will be more than happy to tell you how they are being screwed over by the system. Much like the universal over-estimation people have of their driving skills, they also universally feel like they’ve gotten screwed over by “the system” and somebody else is getting their cheese.
Don’t forget the Lakers on that list….
I’m so sick of the whole “it’s the banks fault” concept! Who cares if the bank didn’t keep good records, you didn’t pay your effing mortgage for YEARS! Now get the bleep out!
punky,
Love your spirit but that would not sit well with democratic voters.The blame is being shifted to those crooked banks and wall street thugs.They will settle with regulators for peanuts and then the govt wont be seen as evil for bailing out homeowners.
I can see both sides of this issue. If you’re not paying your mortgage, you shouldn’t be living there. Period.
However, I would also not want to let someone foreclose on me without proving they own the mortgage. Theoretically, any “investor group” could come along and take your house by claiming to own your mortgage and foreclosing without paperwork. That’s not right either.
The result? There are no easy answers, and we’re all screwed.
By the way, Jim, thanks for the shirt!
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af209/kwaping/Photo5.jpg
I just took that photo at work 30 seconds ago.
Kwaping. In the famous words of King Julien XIII,
Indeed. We’re all screwed; it’s up to us what we do in the meantime.
SD got screwed by AJ Smith & Vincent Jackson
Gotta love the photo of the flake posing like a tough guy fightin the good fight.
The banks let them over draw on their home’s equity and gave them a predatory loan. The Geweckes were foolish to take the loan. Both sides seem to be getting what they’ve got coming.
There are no heroes here. Neither side is acting particularly well.
However, if forced to make a decision, I’d punish the bank rather than the homeowners (perhaps “home occupier” is more accurate).
Banks make mortgages and foreclose all the time. It’s part of their business. So the very minimum we can expect from them is to have their ducks in a row.
There are very real consequences to banks not keeping their paperwork in order — we’ve seen the wrong houses foreclosed, we’ve even seen banks foreclose on houses that didn’t have a mortgage on them at all.
Given that the consequences of banks screwing up their paperwork can be quite severe, it’s appropriate that banks suffer when they do screw up paperwork. So I’m OK with these homeowners taking this bank to the cleaners. The only thing the bank had to do to avoid this was keep its paperwork straight. If it can’t do that, we should question why it’s in business in the first place.
Fair enough, last thing you want is to deal with two banks each claiming you owe them the same money.
Hopefully banks will figure out a better way to double check paperwork. It’s almost like someone leaving dollar bills strewn all over their home, except instead of $1 it’s $500,000 denomination.
clearfund
we don’t want AJ Smith but we’ll take Norv Turner. We like the last coach you sent up – I think his name was Bruce something or other:)
VJ wouldn’t have helped our special teams, which is what blew the season. The O and D did just fine, for the most part.
I hope in 3-5 years the system would be fixed.
1) Banks keep track of who owns the loan
2) Homeowners to stop paying their mortgage get foreclosed on within 3 months and out of their homes in 6.
If that doesn’t happen all of us are going to be paying for this one way or another. When you say, “stick it to the banks,” the banks just charge us more fees or give us lower interest rates on our savings or what not…they don’t pay it…we do.
I suspect there are going to be many lawyers would will sue banks in the near term…get ready for all the commercials of fly-by-night lawyers.
The Geweckes and their logic are the reason USA is going down the drain…it is always someone else faults.