Good News & Bad

Well, today's update has good news and bad, depending on where you are located. If you are in Michigan and trying desperately (or any other way) to avoid foreclosure, the news is anything but good. The Michigan Supreme Court, in a reversal of a lower Michigan appellate court ruling, ruled that MERS does have the legal right to initiate foreclosures in Michigan. It said that as long as MERS has the legal position as mortgagee, it has the legal right to proceed in foreclosures related to those properties. It also ruled that any related suits trying to stop MERS-based foreclosures must now be dismissed. If you are involved, you and your attorney (call Legal Aid if you can't afford one via normal means) should immediately look at the possibility of a further appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Now, for the good news! One of the problems whenever folks get in trouble en masse is that all of the slime crawls out from under whatever rock it's been hiding under. The foreclosure crisis is no different. Every day there is another horror story or ten about some homeowner that contacted a person or firm that had claimed to be able to save their home from foreclosure, only to find out that the only thing that individual/firm did that it had promised to do was take the homeowner's money. Usually, it/he then disappeared and the home was foreclosed. I have often said here and in a number of other locations that if something appears too good to be true, it usually is. The place I have recommended for these slimeballs is prison--for as long as possible! I also am always available for anyone and their attorney, as well as any prosecutor, to act as an expert witness to put these clowns out of business and behind bars where they belong! Now, for the related good news: the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) yesterday announced that it has recently shut down 85 scams operating on-line that promised to help troubled homeowners obtain loan modifications. As always with these guys, no mods were forthcoming--just a loss of the homeowners' cash and, frequently, their homes.
Never one to miss an opportunity to better their service, Google then jumped on the bandwagon and has been working with SIGTARP to suspend fraudulent advertisers from placing their ads on Google. Google claims to have suspended over 500 such advertisers so far, and intends to maintain the pressure to clean up their clients' posted ads in this regard. A loud "THANK YOU" to both SIGTARP and Google. If you think you have been scammed in this manner, call or email SIGTARP immediately! Also, notify your local law enforcement officials. Usually the local district attorney or state atty general has a consumer fraud division that would be only too happy to help you by getting these sleazy folks off the street.
Good Luck!