Berkeley Considers Closing Wells Fargo Account Over Deceptive Foreclosure Practices

By Author: michael ryson
Total Articles: 15
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Last week, Berkeley City Council voted unanimously on closing its $350 million Wells Fargo account and entrusting the money to a community bank or credit union, according to the Oakland Tribune.

The 8-year-old contract is up for renewal this year and brought up talks of whether or not to keep their money there.

Allegedly, the members of the Berkeley City Council are saying that Wells Fargo is “partly to blame for the financial crisis over the last four years,” as reported in the Tribune.

Wells Fargo, being one of the largest servicers in the country, is currently involved with the foreclosure fraud settlement in discussion with the states. Millions of customers in need of help with foreclosure have been hurt by the deceptive foreclosure practices carried out by major lenders over the past few years.

The Berkeley City Council stated that it would like to “reward ‘responsible financial institutions’ with its business,” reported the Tribune.

New York Attorney General Sues Three Major Banks:

Last Friday New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman began a lawsuit against Bank ...
... of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase on accusations of fraud involving an electronic mortgage database, as reported in the New York Times.

The database allegedly resulted in deceptive foreclosure practices including the use of false documents and other illegal practices.

The mortgage database, called Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS), was originally created to track and organize mortgage ownership by top lenders in the country.

“The mortgage industry created MERS to allow financial institutions to evade county recording fees, avoid the need to publicly record mortgage transfers and facilitate the rapid sale and securitization of mortgages en masse,” said Schneiderman in an interview with the New York Times.

The Times reported that about 70 million mortgage loans have been registered in the MERS system since the mid-1990s when it was created.

It seems every day there is a new case discovered where people who need help with foreclosure are taken advantage of in the process of restructuring their mortgage.

If you are behind on your mortgage payments, then The Foreclosure Law Center can help you. For more details about The Foreclosure Law Center Complaints, please visit us online.