GMAC Stops Evictions and Foreclosure Sales Due to Faulty Documentation
A South Florida GMAC Mortgage foreclosure specialist admitted in a sworn deposition that he did not verify the foreclosure documents he signed – nearly 10,000 each month – which has led GMAC to suspend sales of foreclosed homes and evictions temporarily as it reviews its procedures for note ownership verification.
In Florida and other states that have judicial foreclosure laws, lenders must provide documentation verifying that they own the mortgage note on the property being foreclosed upon. Jeffrey Stephan, foreclosure specialist with GMAC Mortgage, admitted that he signed Florida foreclosure affidavits without personally verifying that GMAC did own the mortgage note. He said he did not know what was in each file other than the homeowner’s name, that he had not inspected the contents as he should have, and that the notary who was supposed to witness his signatures was not there when he signed the affidavits.
Florida foreclosure defense attorneys say that the Florida judicial foreclosure process is being short-circuited by lenders’ flawed verification processes. Earlier this year, Pinellas County Judge Anthony Rondolino vacated a summary judgment he had granted in January in favor of GMAC Mortgage after a foreclosure defense lawyer challenged the documentation.
GMAC Mortgage said that its review of its procedures may take a few weeks or until the end of the year, and that the delay will not affect newly defaulted loans. The company did not know how many homeowners might be affected.
Greg Gilbert
Keith Maynard
