The danger is in the labels.
I have some devoted followers and readers who have been great contributors — doing research on the real action and dynamics between the homeowner on the one hand and all the intermediaries and people of interest on the other hand. One of the things recently raised was the discovery of who is listed as having paid tax or insurance or other expenses. The danger is in the labels.
The simple basic truth is that the banks are using a shell game that is based entirely on the false use of labels. So when we see something in writing we tend to assume it is probably true. Without that the entire securitizations scheme would have fallen apart before it began.
If you write a check to me for plumbing repairs, that label on the check “Plumbing repairs” does not mean in actuality that you expect me to do plumbing work nor that I will deliver such work. After all I’m a lawyer, not plumber. But if we both agreed to have the check made out in that manner it would be because we were concealing the true nature of the transaction. That still doesn’t mean that any plumbing work is ever getting done.
And, believe it or not, that is not illegal. In fact, just writing the check with that label on it raises an inference or legal presumption that this was payment for plumbing work. So when you walk into court the judge is already assuming that this is a dispute over plumbing work when in fact the agreement between us was for legal work. If some third party comes into the picture and either sues or defends a claim from either of us, they must respectfully challenge the label — “plumbing repairs” even though we all know that no plumbing work was done or intended.
You need to understand that there is a difference between the label on an account and ownership of it. And there is even a difference between ownership and the authority to make deposits and withdrawals.
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It is entirely possible to direct payments to “Ocwen” for example. The payments are forwarded to an intermediary who in turn forwards the payment (if electronic) or forwards the check to the Black Knight/CoreLogic system we have been talking about. With Check 21 and other practices this is all done in seconds.
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So your check to Ocwen gets deposited into an account labelled “ocwen” which is owned by Black Knight who has a contract with the investment bank in which it gives the investment bank or its agent full authority to make deposits and withdraw money.
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Once again the misdirection comes from knee jerk reaction to seeing a label. We are culturally conditioned to assume the label means something when it doesn’t. In the above example, if the transaction was real, the check would be made out and deposited into the account of Morgan Securities, for example. The homeowner/”borrower” of course has no clue about any of this and simply assumes he is paying his mortgage payment on an existing loan account owned by some “investor”. All of that could alternatively be labeled as “Plumbing Repairs.”
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But Morgan doesn’t want to receive the money directly because there is no business or legal reason it should be received by Morgan. Morgan holds no receivable from the homeowner/”borrower.” It is simply not entitled to receive that money even though it is happening every hour.
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All such payments are pure revenue that is untaxed because for tax purposes it is labelled as either return of loan or return of capital or it is labeled as off balance sheet and doesn’t show up at all. The real money transfers are recorded in a jurisdiction that asserts taxing authority and then waives all tax. Bermuda was popular when I last looked at this.
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For foreclosure defense you don’t need to prove any of that. You just need to know and believe it. Because then you can ask questions in discovery that you know they can never answer without admitting to tax fraud, theft, and other crimes.
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It is their LACK of answers that is the useful tool in this litigation and the law is very clear — if you persist in demanding discovery, motions to compel, motions for sanctions and motions and in limine you will most likely win the case hands down without any right of the foreclosure mill to refile.
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The banks want you to focus on how wrong the banks were in their behavior so you will make allegations that you will never be able to prove. The real defense is like Karate Kid (“no be there”). Just deny everything they have to say and then pursue discovery — but in discovery you focus on the issues that are central to every foreclosure — status and ownership of the debt.
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Neil F Garfield, MBA, JD, 73, is a Florida licensed trial attorney since 1977. He has received multiple academic and achievement awards in business and law. He is a former investment banker, securities broker, securities analyst, and financial analyst.
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