ORLANDO, Fla.,None — JP Morgan Chase, the 10th largest bank in the world, announced it's stopping all foreclosures for now. That put a stop to 56,000 foreclosures nationwide and now other major banks could follow suit.
It appears several lenders were relying on documents signed by unauthorized agents. A local lawyer found documents bearing the same name, but totally different signatures.
Documents showing how much homeowners owe in mortgage payments, interest, insurance and homeowners association dues were falsified.
As a result, thousands of homeowners who were about to lose their homes have more time to settle with their banks.
"This is overwhelming. It's something I think about every day. I've been going through this for months," homeowner Junior Allen said.
Others who have already lost their homes could sue the banks and the banks' law firms and get thousands of dollars back.
JP Morgan Chase has now joined other lenders in bringing to a halt their foreclosure actions. The Florida Supreme Court is already investigating three law firms for allegedly falsifying foreclosure documents and a local lawyer, Matt Englett, is asking the state's highest court to stay all foreclosure proceedings until the cases handled by those law firms are sorted out.
Englett found a witness who claims to have been hired simply to sign the paperwork for the banks, and says he signed affidavit after affidavit and took about a minute to look over the paperwork in each case.
"They have no personal knowledge of the information and they are supposed to. That is what these judges rely on when they issue judgments against homeowners," Englett said.
The foreclosure documents are supposed to be signed by corporate officers.
Those who've already lost their homes could sue and end up getting several thousand dollars in damages from the banks. Those cases will choke up the court system even more than it already is because of the foreclosures.
Bank of America announced it is also halting foreclosures. The move comes after a bank of America employee admitted she signed up to 8,000 foreclosure documents without reading them.
Bank of America says it will halt foreclosures in 23 states, but it hasn't released which states they are.
WFTV
