Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Brian Moynihan has announced that a quick settlement of the 50-state attorneys general probe of the foreclosure crisis is the best solution for all involved. Oh really? Well let’s take a look at some of the facts; very real homeowners lost their homes fraudulently because of this robo-signing scam. But of course the words fraud and scam are being carefully avoided as Bank of America executives and other mortgage servicers walk away without suffering the consequences of destroying the homeownership dreams of thousands of Americans.
Yes, while some of these homeowners may have lost their homes to foreclosure with or without the robo-signing scam, how many of them would have avoided foreclosure if it was not for this miscarriage of justice? We also need to look at the fact that this robo-signing scam is the foreclosure dirty work we “know” about. What of the undiscovered dirty foreclosures that are surely taking place in Texas and around this country? As we have said at the beginning of this foreclosure crisis, unless we show these bank executives that they are going to pay for their misdeeds with a stint in prison, it is unlikely that they will treat these foreclosures with the care their deserve.
Because if you think about it, what is a few $100,000 fines going to do to stop greedy banks from fraudulently foreclosing on homeowners when they can make millions by running what’s basically turned into foreclosure mills? Because even if a mortgage servicer is not fraudulently foreclosing on a property, many of them are failing to exercise due diligence in helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. The failure of the HAMP program has proven that mortgage servicers are not invested in solving this foreclosure crisis.