202378911 –
CT OF TIMBER LANE COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION INC vs. HOME SFR BORROWER LLC
(Court 151, JUDGE MIKE ENGELHART)
NOV 13, 2023 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: NOV 18, 2023
What percentage of homes are owned by citizens versus Wall St financial entities and banks in Harris County?
FRONT YARD RESIDENTIAL / PRETIUM Sued for failure to pay property taxes in Harris County. Home SFR Borrower leads back to 600 residential homes per HCAD in 2023. The Greatest Theft of Citizen’s Homes in American History. https://t.co/QCq0blANZE #TWO #NMA @GoldmanSachs #txlege pic.twitter.com/EZnWc1vrZb
— lawsinusa (@lawsinusa) November 14, 2023
Return of Service
Texas Housing Scandal Unearthed: Wall Street’s Grip on 1,379 Foreclosed Homes Revealed by LIT in Harris County Lawsuit
In a shocking revelation, public property records from the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) have brought to light a distressing chapter from the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
A staggering 600 homes seized by one Wall Street entity and 779 by another, all stemming from families evicted post-foreclosure in the wake of the economic downturn.
Amidst the distressing fallout, a local homeowner association has filed a lawsuit against one of these Wall Street entities for the non-payment of assessments. The lawsuit, unfolding in Harris County, Texas, is one of the many post 2008 as these entities intentionally avoid paying property assessments and taxes and in many cases, the homes are categorized as “zombie properties”.
LIT aims to shed light on the plight of the affected families and the larger systemic issues that allowed Wall Street entities to amass such significant housing assets.
The homeowner association’s pursuit of foreclosure brings to the forefront questions of accountability and responsibility, sparking a broader conversation about the lasting impact of the 2008 financial crisis on Texas communities. Home ownership has been ripped away from the average, hard-working families by what LIT construes as a premeditated and calculated taking of homesteads.
LIT’s exposé aims to raise awareness about the scale of the housing crisis that unfolded in the aftermath of 2008, urging the public to take notice of the ongoing struggles faced by families who continue to grapple with the fallout from the financial downturn.
Stay tuned as LIT unveils the truth behind these Wall Street entities’ hold on the homes of those most affected by the crisis a decade and a half ago. Please share, subscribe, and contribute what you can as we navigate a path that so many citizens are fearful to endure, shining a light on the long-lasting impact of the 2008 financial crisis on our communities.
Freedom Mortgage Corporation
On October 10, 2023, the Bureau filed a lawsuit against Freedom Mortgage Corporation (Freedom), a residential mortgage loan originator and servicer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.
In 2020, Freedom reported Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data on over 700,000 loans and applications and originated nearly 400,000 HMDA-reportable loans, making it the third largest mortgage lender in the United States by origination volume.
In 2019, the Bureau issued an order against Freedom finding that it intentionally misreported certain HMDA data fields from at least 2014 to 2017.
The Bureau now alleges that the mortgage loan data for 2020 that Freedom submitted pursuant to HMDA contained widespread errors across multiple data fields, in violation of HMDA and its implementing Regulation C.
The Bureau’s complaint further alleges that by reporting inaccurate mortgage loan data for 2020, Freedom also violated the 2019 order and the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA).
The Bureau seeks appropriate injunctive relief and a civil money penalty.
New Residential Investment Corp
In February 2019, Ditech filed for bankruptcy for the second time in as many years.
Later that year, the company’s forward mortgage servicing and originations business Ditech Financial LLC was acquired by New Residential Investment Corp.
Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC
On November 17, 2022, the Bureau issued an order against Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, a California-based mortgage servicer operating in all fifty states.
Carrington services a large number of federally backed mortgage loans, which are made or guaranteed by federal agencies or government-sponsored entities (GSEs).
In 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act, which provided borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans who were experiencing financial hardship during the COVID-19 emergency with certain assistance, including forbearances of up to 180-days each upon request and protections for credit reporting.
The federal agencies and GSEs also issued guidelines to their servicers relating to assistance to borrowers during the pandemic.
The Bureau found that Carrington failed to implement a number of those protections through misrepresentations to consumers, including by: representing that borrowers could not have 180 days of forbearance on request or that certain borrowers could not have forbearance at all; representing that consumers had to make more detailed attestations than were actually required by law; representing that late fees for amounts in forbearance would be charged when they were not permitted; and providing incorrect or confusing information about forbearance and repayment options.
The Bureau also found that Carrington did not accurately report the status of borrowers on forbearance to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), and failed to maintain and update its written policies and procedures relating to furnishing to CRAs in connection with the CARES Act.
As a result, the Bureau determined that Carrington violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010’s (CFPA) prohibition on deceptive conduct, as well as certain provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and its implementing regulation, Regulation V.
The order requires Carrington to, among other things, conduct an audit to ensure any improperly charged late fees have been refunded to consumers, and if not, to refund them; to assess customer service staffing and provide training relating to applicable CARES Act and agency and GSE guidelines; to establish policies and procedures to prevent the issues from recurring; and to pay a civil money penalty of $5.25 million.
CFPB v. Fay Servicing, LLC
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against mortgage servicer Fay Servicing for failing to provide mortgage borrowers with the protections against foreclosure required by law.
The CFPB found that Fay violated the CFPB’s servicing rules by keeping borrowers in the dark about critical information about the process of applying for foreclosure relief.
The CFPB also found instances where the servicer illegally launched or moved forward with the foreclosure process while borrowers actively sought help to save their homes.
We Light Up the Properties Being Listed as Owned by DBNTCO at Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) – Deutsche Bank and Wall St. Conspired Against America https://t.co/BBl5S5vVRy @DeutscheBank
— lawsinusa (@lawsinusa) November 16, 2023