Wings of Justice Chase Foreclosure Kingpin
Public documents show that Lender Processing Services has been into improper handling of foreclosure documents. This could shed light to numerous homeowners who were victimized by accelerated foreclosures through the company.
In a sign that justice could soon be sought by homeowners who have foreclosure problems with Lender Processing Services (LPS),
several third-party probes have found out that the company’s legal woes are far more serious than it had previously disclosed. Public records show that the Default Solutions unit of LPS produced numerous documents that feature dubious authenticity. There are evidences that the unit has been doing the misdeed for quite some time already.
LPS is a $2.8 billion firm that handles greater than half of all foreclosures in the US. It has recently admitted that it is subjected to a federal criminal investigation, especially one of its small subsidiaries (obviously the Default Solutions), which is facing allegations of falsely signing foreclosure documents.
Independent probes reveal that questionable notarization and signing practices have not been limited to the subsidiary of the company. Those occurred even in one of the company’s own offices. The third-party investigations (involving some media groups) looked at mortgage assignment filings in the county recorders’ offices.
More surprisingly, LPS shifted the need to sign foreclosure papers to several companies where it has close business relationships. Worse, the company even lent some of its personnel to do the signing tasks in those firms. Records show that the so-called ‘robo-signing’ scheme and preparation of false documents proceeded on at the sites on a huge scale.
LPS’ own spokesperson has confirmed that the company had indeed helped several other businesses in establishing operations in similar functions. In the early part of the year, county records also show that the same improper signing has been shifted to law firms that were under contract with the company. Court records even show that pending probes and legal charges pose bigger threats to LPS than the company has been anticipating and disclosing.
The office of the US Comptroller of the Currency, which supervises national lenders, revealed in November that it has partnered with the US Federal Reserve in conducting on-site examinations of LPS. The company is also currently facing four class action charges in federal courts, which appear to pose greater threats to LPS than it actually acknowledges.
Regulators and state attorneys general are now closely looking at improper practices involving foreclosures that have been committed. The focus of such investigations is the ‘robo-signing’ fiasco.
For more information on the foreclosure housing market, visit ForeclosureConnections.com.
