Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller was in Washington D.C. Tuesday to testify before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Miller leads the 50-state Mortgage Foreclosure Multistate Group. He said the group has uncovered a host of problems with troubled mortgages.
“The whole issue of paperwork being lost and people having to start over and over again, not hearing from the servicer for two or three months, that’s an issue. The decision concerning modification is an important issue,” Miller said.
Miller said banks are unpredictable in their decisions about whether loans should be modified. He told the committee that mortgage fees, including forced insurance, are presenting a problem as well. “The so-called dual track issue is something that’s important…by that we mean a person is working on a modification and all of a sudden the foreclosure process starts at the same time. It’s enormously frustrating,” Miller said.
Attorneys General in all 50 states continue to investigate whether mortgage companies took shortcuts on foreclosures with so-called “robo-signing.” Miller said the foreclosure system is clearly in need of changes. “We want to figure out a way that leaves the whole situation much better than when the mess started,” Miller said. “There are a number of things we’re working on to make sure this is never repeated again.” Officials from Bank of America and Chase Bank defended their practices before the committee.