Tennessee Attorney General Joins Multistate Group in Support of Cracking Down on Mortgage Foreclosure Problems

NASHVILLE - Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper has joined a group of Attorneys General and state bank and mortgage regulators who are examining mortgage foreclosure problems.

 

Although Tennessee is a non-judicial foreclosure state, the Attorney General’s Office is attempting to determine whether Tennessee has any of the problems reported recently in other states involving potential defective mortgage foreclosure cases. The Attorney General, Commissioner of the Department of Financial Institutions, and Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs are coordinating efforts in Tennessee to stay on top of developments with problematic foreclosures as reported in other states.

 

“As a non-judicial foreclosure state, Tennessee should not be one of the states where the ‘robo-signing’ of court documents has created a wide-spread problem regarding legitimacy of foreclosures in the documents submitted to courts,” Attorney General Cooper said. “However, we want to determine if there are any other types of problems regarding mortgage foreclosure documents in Tennessee and whether there is any kind of troublesome pattern.”

 

The group noted the recent reports of a number of mortgage loan servicers who may have submitted affidavits or other signed documents in support of judicial foreclosures that appear to have procedural defects. In particular, it appears affidavits and other documents have been signed by persons who did not have personal knowledge of the facts asserted in the documents. In addition, it appears that many affidavits were signed outside of the presence of a notary public, contrary to state law in some states. The states believe such “robo-signing” actions could constitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices or otherwise violate state consumer protection laws.

 

The group is comprised of both state Attorneys General and the state bank and mortgage regulators. Currently 49 Attorneys General Offices and 37 state banking or mortgage departments have joined this coordinated effort. 

 

Anyone who has complaints with any business regarding unfair or deceptive conduct may contact the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Division of Consumer Affairs at 1-800-342-8385 or online at www.tn.gov/consumer/. Anyone who has questions about their mortgage or foreclosure of such should contact the Department of Financial Institutions at 1-800-778-4215 or online at www.tn.gov/tdfi/crd/.

 

For more information about the foreclosure process and resources available in Tennessee, please see the Tennessee Housing Development Agency’s website at http://www.thda.org/foreclosure/foreclosure.html. Free certified foreclosure prevention counselors are available to help consumers who are facing foreclosure in Tennessee. Consumers can access a list of these free certified foreclosure prevention counselors by calling 2-1-1 or going online to http://www.thda.org/foreclosure/counselors.pdf.

 

The news release issued from the Office of the Attorney General can be viewed in its original format in the attachment.