Category: boarding process

What Documents Do I Need to Fight Foreclosure?

October 1, 2026

A Homeowner’s Evidence Checklist If you have received a foreclosure notice, one of the first things you may do is start gathering paperwork. That is a good idea. But then something happens. You find the original mortgage. You find years of mortgage statements. You find letters from three different servicers. You find an assignment recorded at the county recorder’s office. You find modification documents. You find payment receipts. You find a foreclosure complaint filled with exhibits. And suddenly you have a pile of documents but no idea what any of it actually means. That leads to an important question: What

How Foreclosure Mills Win by Misusing "Judicial Notice"

February 10, 2023

Hat tip to summer chic Judicial Notice is a rule of evidence in which the court receives a written request to accept a document into evidence as proof of the truth of the matter asserted. In Foreclosures, the truth of the matter asserted is that there is an unpaid loan account, and the named plaintiff or beneficiary has the right to administer, collect and enforce it. If that is alleged in a form that is allowed by law, and proven in the manner allowed by law, the foreclosure will be granted. I might add, that it should be granted to

Why the CFPB Announcement is Very Important

May 2, 2022

when the time comes that a judge enters an order or judgment containing findings of fact, for example, that the records of the designated “servicer” are not business records that are not exempt from the hearsay rule, the poop will hit the fan. I received multiple emails from lawyers and homeowners who were confused when I posted an article about the latest CFPB announcement. Most people are not clear on why this announcement is so important. I can say this — the lawyers who represent “industry actors” are sending up flares about this announcement. See the Troutman Pepper Analysis.

How Evidence Works for and Against the Consumer/Homeowner

April 7, 2022

(Once again, because of minor medical issues I decline to do the Neil Garfield Show. I offer this instead) It is easy to get lost in the weeds. Don’t make up your own words or definitions because your definitions have no relevance to your case. Do hold the accusing side to their words and to the legally accepted definitions of those words as contained in statutes and cases. But above all, start at the beginning — a rookie mistake made by nearly all young litigators and pro se litigants who skip over the gold to pick up a few pieces

Western Progressive LLC is named as Trustee or even Attorney on many forms, notices and recorded documents in foreclosures. Who is this Luxembourg LLC and Why do all paths lead back to Ocwen?

February 7, 2022

why such a company would ever be seen as a qualified party to (a) serve as a trustee on a deed of trust (b) make any claims whatsoever and (c) allow its name to be used by FINTECH service providers operating under contract with Merrill Lynch and its “successor” Bank of America. This is especially true because there is no beneficiary who executes the Subsitution of Trustee and no beneficiary named that is qualifeid as a beneficairy — i.e., the one to whom the udnerlying obligation is owed. And all this goes back to what I said somewhere around my

THREADING THE NEEDLE: IT IS WHAT THEY DON'T SAY THAT REVEALS THE TRUTH — AND YOU CAN USE IT!

January 5, 2022

So talk about splitting hairs — here is a statement from a company that is claimed by third parties to be the servicer of a “loan.” Note that the parties making the claim do NOT swear that PennyMac is servicing claims to administer, collect and enforce for them, but rather for some unknown creditor or some other entity that does NOT make such a claim. Think about that. Here is the quote: PennyMac, who, as the loan servicer, is authorized to accept payments for your loan. And here is the analysis of that statement: PennyMac IS authorized, although not by

Here is How Wall Street Smoke and Mirrors Works

December 1, 2021

The idea that some company bearing the label of “servicer” is performing financial functions and accounting on behalf of an investor, a trust, a trustee is completely false from end to end. Such companies do nothing and were never intended to do anything except act as a buffer, in name only, to prevent liability attaching to investment banks who had entered the lending marketplace without any intent to enter the business of lending money for profit. But when the homeowner admits that such labels and narratives are true, the law of the case becomes the false narrative and labels. As

How Likely Is It That a Homeowner Will Win a Foreclosure Case?

November 30, 2021

The answer to this question depends upon the homeowner — not the judge. * If the homeowner rigorously, aggressively and persistently seeks enforcement of the rules of civil procedure, the rules of discovery, the rules of evidence and enforcement of court orders, the chances of quite good that the homeowner role reach a very favorable result. * If the homeowner attempts to make a claim or state and affirmative defense that requires proof of malfeasance by the opposition (or anyone else), probability of failure is extremely high. * The general consensus has accepted the proposition set forth in the national

Why You Need to Understand the Truth and How to Use It to Successfully Defend Foreclosure Cases

November 20, 2020

Please Donate to Support Neil Garfield’s Efforts to stop Foreclosure Fraud. You don’t need to believe me. You don’t need proof that what I am saying is true. You have every right in every court to file demands for discovery relating to the existence and ownership of the debt. Ask any lawyer or any judge. They will affirm this to be true. And ask any accountant. The debt exists only if someone maintains a current ledger entry on their own books of record that shows they paid value for the underlying obligation, along with having supporting documentation (proof of payment).

The elephant in the living room: Is the "free house" a windfall or simply just compensation for being drafted into a concealed securities scheme?

November 11, 2020

SHOW ME THE LEDGER! NO, NOT THE ONE FROM THE SELF PROCLAIMED SERVICER. SHOW ME THE ONE FROM THE COMPANY CLAIMING THEY PAID VALUE FOR THE DEBT. I have been beating around the bush too long. In my opinion, rejection of a claim for foreclosure from securitization players is not the equivalent of any windfall for any homeowner. It is merely an acknowledgment of payment for services rendered by the homeowner. The reverse is true: allowing foreclosure to securitization players results in a windfall payment to those players without any corresponding reduction of any “loan” account receivable. If you send

Freddie Mac Changes Its Language from "Loan Portfolio" to "Reference Pool"

November 9, 2020

see https://www.streetinsider.com/Globe+Newswire/Freddie+Mac+Credit+Protects+%24167.3+Billion+of+Single-Family+Mortgages+in+Third+Quarter/17554183.html People still don’t believe it. Loans were not securitized but are being treated as though they were securitized. “Securitization” means selling off an asset in pro rata shares to investors who get a piece of paper telling them that they own X% of the asset. Ask anyone who knows (or read it yourself) — all of the securitization documents are “forward statements” meaning they are referencing a future event. And none of the securitization documents convey any ownership, equitable or legal interest in any debt, note, or mortgage. And the future event never occurs. That’s the point for

Maine Decision Presents New Challenges for Hearsay objections on Fabricated Records

November 2, 2020

see Bank of N.Y. Mellon v. Shone, 2020 Me. 122 (Me. 2020) the record keeping shortcomings of some members of a particular business sector should not drive our interpretation of a rule of evidence that applies to the records of all businesses and, more broadly, as Rule 803(6)(B) indicates, to the records of any “organization, occupation, or calling.” If the records kept by mortgage lenders or loan servicers in particular are categorically unreliable, more stringent proof requirements might be appropriate. [e.s.] But there is no good reason to require in every case testimony based on personal knowledge of the practices

Foreclosures in Securitization World: deny everything they have to say and then pursue discovery — but in discovery you focus on the issues that are central to every foreclosure — status and ownership of the debt.

October 14, 2020

The danger is in the labels. I have some devoted followers and readers who have been great contributors — doing research on the real action and dynamics between the homeowner on the one hand and all the intermediaries and people of interest on the other hand. One of the things recently raised was the discovery of who is listed as having paid tax or insurance or other expenses. The danger is in the labels. The simple basic truth is that the banks are using a shell game that is based entirely on the false use of labels. So when we

More Details on VendorScape, CoreLogic and Black Knight

October 13, 2020

Hat tip to “Summer chione” So it is apparent that the banks are responding to discoveries about how orders are transmitted to lawyers, “servicers”, realtors etc.. While it is all the same playbook, they merely change the name of the characters. So internally the name VendorScape might still be used but externally, to the public, they are showing different names and even showing multiple names for the same “service”. But is always the same, to wit: a central repository of data that has been robotically entered to support misrepresentations of investment banks that massage the data, control the reports, and

You might not know VendorScape but it sure knows you

October 12, 2020

In a somewhat startling admission by CoreLogic, we now have an admission of many facts that might not have otherwise surfaced but for intensive and aggressive, persistent Discovery. I am not publishing the entire letter from them for privacy reasons. But it is worth mentioning that the letter was sent, after careful legal analysis, as a response to a complaint to the Federal Consumer Financial Protection Board — organized by Elizabeth Warren under the Obama administration. The response was (a) mandatory and (b) subject to charges of lying to a Federal agency. The problem faced by CoreLogic was that on

Tonight! Is it time to sue Black Knight? 6PM EDT 3PM PDT The Neil Garfield Show

October 1, 2020

Thursdays LIVE! Click in to the Neil Garfield Show Tonight’s Show Hosted by Neil Garfield, Esq. Call in at (347) 850-1260, 6pm Eastern Thursdays Tonight I will discuss the curious case of blatant economic fraud on the entire country by investment banks. They figured out how to eliminate the risk of loss on lending, how not to be labelled as a lender subject to lending laws, and who pursue collection, administration and enforcement of obligations that do not exist. And then by denying the receipt of funds that paid off the loan on their own books they continue to operate as though

Another Homeowner Victory In Hawaii! Gary Dubin, Attorney

September 28, 2020

US Bank v Compton 9335344481 Hawaii 2020 Dubin So here is yet another example of litigation done correctly. This case demonstrates that the courts can and will be convinced to rule in favor of homeowners when the correct issue is raised at the right time in the right way. Here are some quotes from the case: “Compton asserts that the evidence which U.S. Bank sought to admit through (1) the “Declaration of Indebtedness and on Prior Business Records” by Carol Davis (Davis), a “Document Execution Specialist” employed by Nationstar Mortgage LLC d/b/a Mr. Cooper (Nationstar), as servicing agent for U.S.

Processing Fees are more than illegal — by adding them to balance due, the default letter is defective.

September 2, 2020

This is simple logic. If illegal processing fees were greedily added to the “loan accounts” falsely asserted to exist, then the amount demanded from “borrowers” was incorrect. That would make the statements sent to borrowers part of a fraudulent scheme through US Mails which would be mail fraud. And it would make the notices of delinquency and notice of default and notices of default defective and perhaps fatally defective because they were seeking to enforce an amount not due. And it would make foreclosure judgments and sales based upon such demands potentially voidable. see https://spotonflorida.com/southeast-florida/1835819/ocwen-phh-corp-pay-125-million-settlement.html CLICK HERE ORDER ADMINISTRATIVE STRATEGY,

How to ask the right questions in discovery

August 12, 2020

Discovery is part law, part art, and part intuition. The lawyer must generate questions that can be used, by themselves, to bring certain issues in front of the judge either because the opponent answered the questions or because they didn’t answer. If your point is that your opponent doesn’t own the claim even though they either said or implied that they do own it, then you need to do some investigation first so you can ask the right questions in the right way. If your point is that there are two agreements, one for loan and the other for securitization,

How to Fight Those "Declarations" from False Claimants in Foreclosures

August 7, 2020

The bottom line is that the loan account was extinguished contemporaneously with the origination or acquisition of the account. There is no loan account claimed as an asset of any company. The records of the self-proclaimed servicer are not records of the loan account or the establishment of the loan account on the books of any company. Therefore they are not records of the creditor. Besides being fabricated those records are irrelevant and inadmissible without foundation testimony and proof that the loan account has been established on the books of some creditor and even then, even that is irrelevant unless

Gary Dubin, Esq. Scores Another Victory for Homeowners in Hawaii in Notorious LSF9 Case

August 4, 2020

More kudos to Gary Dubin who keeps producing favorable decisions for homeowners. This ruling is important for a variety of reasons. This time it is all about the rules of evidence and legals tanding to even bring the claim. see US Bank LSF9 v Verhagen 7-20-20 * The first reason is that it presents a court of appeal that drilled down on the actual facts rather than the presumed facts. This is a substantial departure from prior judicial practice. I think it reflects a change in judicial attitude. While nobody is willing to say that these foreclosures are entirely fraudulent, The suspicions and

Just like I said: Megabanks are doing just fine despite economic downturn — at the expense of investors, taxpayers and homeowners.

July 21, 2020

Major banks, including Citigroup, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley used massive trading revenues to beat profit expectations despite the continued struggles of the United States economy during the coronavirus pandemic. Those trading units tend to perform best when markets are volatile, helping to guard the major banks against economic struggles. see https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/without-big-wall-street-trading-arms-regional-banks-lean-on-mortgages-and-fees-to-beat-earnings.html Way back in 2006 and 2007 and when I first started publishing articles about the mortgage meltdown (before most people realized there was a meltdown) I reported that the major banks were siphoning off much of the wealth contained inside the U.S. I said that these mega banks were parking ill-gotten gains off-shore in various

It's time to reassess the role of investment banks, originators, servicers and other players claiming "securitization" before the next foreclosure tidal wave.

July 10, 2020

Since foreclosures are about to start another meteoric rise, this would be a good time to write a new article on what went wrong the last time, what is going on now, and what is still likely to go wrong this time. * I know that some of the rantings on the internet seem like the spillage of conspiracy theorists and some of them are just that. But overall they are right. * The bottom line is that back in 1993, investment banks latched onto a scheme that had been partially developed by Michael Milken, who went to prison. The new

Does the REMIC Trust Exist?

July 8, 2020

In all jurisdictions, even if the trust has some assets, and therefore legal existence as a legal person, if the asset in question has not been entrusted to the trustee on behalf of beneficiaries, the existence of the trust is completely irrelevant. And all claims arising from the supposed existence of the trust are also irrelevant and lack Foundation. I agree that the existence of the Trust might be a subject for debate. However, the fact that a trust exists on paper does not mean that it exists relative to any loan or debt or note or mortgage. In fact,