Tribe Woman Admits to Foreclosure

Rhonda Mills of Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, challenged in court the right of US National Bank Association to evict her. The bank had bought the house in a foreclosure auction but Mills contention is that the mortgage had not been legally transferred to the bank by the originator of the loan, Mortgage IT. The bank had asked for a summary judgment to remove Mills from the disputed property. The department of justice is suing Mortgage IT for having made false statements about income of borrowers to avail of federal insurance. The mortgage transfer took place through the services of MERS. The latter is under a cloud for its services since it by-passed Massachusetts state law that mandates all transfers should be recorded with the counties along with requisite fees. The pivotal argument of Mills is that the transfer from MERS to OneWest was signed by a branded and listed robo-signer, Erica Johnson-Seck. The latter apart from being robo-signer of MERS was vice president of OneWest. Johnson-Seck in a deposition has admitted to her role. The notarization process was also illegal. US Bank argued that the transfer process via MERS does not fall within the scope of the proceeding. It has gone by all the rules required to evict Mills. In fact an extra eviction notice was given to her. Regarding the signature imbroglio the bank maintained the assignment of the mortgage required the signature of only one person “purporting to be” holding the proper position. The bank stated, “Here, the assignment was at the very least purportedly signed by a vice-president of MERS in the presence of a notary public. Therefore, the assignment of mortgage is enforceable against MERS regardless of whether Erica Johnson-Seck actually signed it or read it before she signed it”. Many other lenders have been accused of same kind of illegalities. They have explained the signature issue was mainly a technical one but the main point was that the borrowers have not made their mortgage payments. The attorney general of Massachusetts has filed a case against MERS contending that proper registration with the county offices has not been done – as per state laws. Thus the entire MERS system is basically illegal. As per registration document the Mills property is on registered land and thus any assignment has to be recorded with the office of deed registry. Attorney Glenn Russel said the issue of these robo-signatories and whether they impact on the title chain has not yet been decided by Massachusetts judges. Like that of Mills many cases are awaiting this ruling in the Coakley case.