On October 13, 2010, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced her role in a multi-state investigation into all major loan servicers across the country and their foreclosure filings over deepening concerns that foreclosures were handled improperly. Madigan said these potential errors in Illinois could equal violations of the state’s Consumer Fraud Act.
A task force of 49 state attorneys general and 37 state bank and mortgage regulators will look into all major servicers and whether filings had procedural errors or were signed off without proper oversight. The investigation comes days after GMAC, the lender now known as Ally, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase – some of the nation’s largest loan servicers – admitted their employees signed off on thousands of foreclosure affidavits without having personal knowledge of the facts involved and without verifying the underlying loan information.
Today’s announcement follows Madigan’s letters to GMAC/Ally, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase demanding a halt to all pending foreclosures in Illinois, including post-foreclosure sales and evictions, in the wake of this growing dilemma.
Last week Madigan also demanded 23 additional loan servicers provide her office details on the fairness and accuracy of their foreclosure procedures and immediately suspend pending foreclosure actions in Illinois unless they can demonstrate the filings are accurate.
The attorneys at DeBlasio Law Group have extensive experience litigating real estate, mortgage foreclosure and consumer fraud matters.