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Excerpted quote from Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum: "'Thousands of final judgments of foreclosure against Florida homeowners may have been the result of the allegedly improper actions of these law firms,' said Mr. McCollum in an interview. 'We've had so many complaints that I am confident there is a great deal of fraud here.'"

April Charney, a lawyer at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid in Jacksonville, Florida, says the foreclosure courts do not give borrowers a serious hearing. 'You get a five-minute hearing. It's a factory.' 09/04/10. (photo: Kelly Jordan/NYT)

High-Speed Courts Try to Rush Through Foreclosures

By Gretchen Morgenson and Geraldine Fabrikant, The New York Times

04 September 10

Ten days from now, a four-bedroom house on a cul-de-sac in Middleburg, Florida, is scheduled to be auctioned off at the Clay County courthouse, 25 miles south of Jacksonville.

A judge who recently took over their foreclosure case has ordered Rodney Waters; his fiance, Terri Reese; and their four children to leave the home they bought in 2006.

Mr. Waters, a supervisor at a local packaging company and the family's sole breadwinner, fell behind on his mortgage two years ago after his property taxes jumped unexpectedly. He now owes $264,000 on the house; a similar home down the street sold for $138,500 in February.

The predicament of the Waters-Reese family is common in Florida today. The state routinely sets new records for foreclosures - in the second quarter, 20.13 percent of its mortgages were delinquent or in foreclosure, a national high, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And with housing prices still in a free fall, almost half of all borrowers in Florida owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, says CoreLogic, a data firm.

Comments

+2 # Guest 2010-09-05 06:45

The banksters are running an old-fashioned land grab! Get rid of the Fed and we could rein in the international banksters!

+1 # Guest 2010-09-07 18:03

I'm baffled why foreclosure is legal? If you are jobless or ill - no one should be able to take your home away. Let the interest add up and extend the term of the loan automatically. That way the banks have real skin in the game. Without foreclosures we have no economy freefall.

0 # Guest 2010-09-14 12:40

I live in Florida. Five years ago I had heart valve replacement surgery. I fell behind on my payments and had no choice but to accept a "kind" offer from another lender, a thieving Ameriquest Mortgage Co. They ripped me off, charged for services not rendered. They got so much flack from others that they closed and sold out to Citibank. Citi paid the wrong property tax and I had to pay them back, plus my own amount.

I managed to keep up, being late only a few times. Then the housing market fell and my mortgage was sold to Am. Home Mtge. in Texas. They routinely charge me extra for services. What services???

Do you remember what the French Revolution was about? The rich were stripped of their wealth and power by the masses who were finally fed up with theft and power-grabs. The US needs a one.

I struggle month to month with outrageous interest rates. I was once a very comfortable, middle class business owner. Now I feel like a pauper, one of the "have nots."

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