HUD reports says banks impeded foreclosure investigations

A new report by the Housing and Urban Development agency released Tuesday says that banks impeded federal investigations and supervisors directed employees to carry out fraudulent practices.

By now the public is aware that banks regularly engaged in fraudulent activities, including mass signing of foreclosure documents before they were reviewed, called robo-signing, falsely notarizing documents and made up fake job titles. But the HUD report shows that these employees did so at the direction of their superiors and were sometimes judged by how fast they could process foreclosure documents.

In addition to these actions, the nation’s largest banks also impeded federal investigators by preventing them from speaking with employees and dragged their feet when asked to turn over paperwork for review.

In some cases, this fraudulent paperwork led to wrongful foreclosure and in some cases foreclosure attorneys have been instrumental in keeping people in their homes.

The investigators also discovered that many of the people hired to process foreclosures had little or no training and managers encouraged wrongdoing where processing something quickly took precedence.

The federal investigation into the largest mortgage providers recently resulted in a $25 billion settlement which in many states will go to homeowners and programs to help people with an impending foreclosure if they cannot afford a foreclosure lawyer.

Whether a homeowner is facing foreclosure because of the bank’s misconduct or because they have failed to pay their mortgage, they may be able to stay in their homes if they enlist the help of a foreclosure attorney.