REFinBlog

June 6, 2013

REMIC Armageddon on the Horizon?

Brad Borden and I have warned that an unanticipated tax consequence of the sloppy mortgage origination practices that characterized the boom is that MBS pools may fail to qualify as REMICs.  This would have massively negative tax consequences for MBS … Continue reading →

Massachusetts’s District Court Finds That Non-Party Mortgagors Lack Standing to Challenge Assignment Between Third Parties

In Aliberti v. GMAC Mortgage, LLC, 779 F.Supp.2d 242 (D.Mass.2011), the court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims. The plaintiff sought to stay GMAC’s foreclosure proceeding by challenging the assignment of the mortgage from MERS to GMAC. … Continue reading →

June 5, 2013

Massachusetts District Court Rejects Homeowner-Plaintiff’s Challenge of the Validity of MERS’s Assignment in a Foreclosure Proceeding

In Kiah v. Aurora Loan Services, LLC, No. 10-40161-FDA, 2011 WL 841282 (D.Mass. Mar.4, 2011), the plaintiff-homeowner alleged that discrepancies in the assignment process prevented the foreclosing party [Aurora Loan Services, LLC] from having statutory power to initiate such proceedings. … Continue reading →

June 4, 2013

Rhode Island Superior Court: Homeowners Lack Standing to Challenge MERS Assignment

In Scarcello v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., et al, C.A. No. KC 2011-0548 (R.I. Super. June 26, 2012), the court granted defendant MERS’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint challenging assignee Aurora’s standing to foreclose and seeking an order to … Continue reading →

June 3, 2013

NY Federal Magistrate Issues Declaratory Ruling That Note Transfer Is Effective

Magistrate Judge Gold issued an opinion in Robinson v. H & R Block Bank, 12-Civ-4196 (EDNY, May 29, 2013).  Professor Dale Whitman posted a commentary about it on the Dirt listserv and he has given us permission to cross-post it … Continue reading →

May 31, 2013

NY Appellate Court Rules Modification Not Enforceable in Foreclosure

The Appellate Division ruled in Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Meyers, 2013 Slip Op. 03085 (2d Dep’t), that a failure to negotiate a loan modification in good faith, which is required under NY foreclosure law, does not support the unilateral … Continue reading →

May 24, 2013

Reiss on the Ethics of Subprime Lending

Fordham Law School is sponsoring an event on The Mortgage Crisis – Five Years Later on June 3rd.  I will be speaking about the ethics of subprime lending on the second panel.  The speakers are   Panel 1: The Mortgage … Continue reading →