Laurie, That's an interesting article and case. I am sure there are many "notes" that have been sold off so many times that no one will ever figure out who has the right to foreclose.

Now the downside to this is that if banks start having difficulties foreclosing they will be very hesitant to lend money. The bottom line is that if you pay your mortgage payments as agreed you get to keep you house. If you don't well......you don't:)

I predict mortgage packages getting thicker.

This mess seems never-ending. This entire country's policital system, justice system, corporations controlling everything, corruption preventing us from reducing our oil dependence, etc, etc., is enough to make me depressed.

Goodness, Laurie, I'm happy for the homeowner but I can't even imagine what she had to endure for five YEARS?  Wouldn't it be nice of we had judges like this one all over New York...that would help these people to keep their homes.

Hey, BB- exactly, but how can this happen? Something new every day...

Lisa, it does seem that way. Sometimes, I think not keeping informed might be beneficial.

Carole, five years into any legal process (that isn't) is a nightmare- I can't figure out how it took five years to reconcile something as significant as a foreclosure.

Laurie...This is a very interesting twist...the whole situation just gets more and more convoluted.

There is so much more than meets the eye...

Joan, what a learning experience for all of us- hopefully, the last time we'll deal with it!

Laurie.a brief follow up. There is a grass roots group in MA that is picketing and trying to have it so that every foreclosure has to be reviewd by the courts...for the very reason you were talking about. Errors in the procedure but no one to blame it on!

The next GREAT MESS? UGGGH. Thanks, Joan- it may well turn into foreclosures becoming judicial only, but in the meantime, it does give more meaning to the word "mess"...

The banks such as the one in the article do own the mortgage loan and note.  They just do not file assignments all of the time.  There are many reasons they do not file the assignments, but since this case was decided and one in Ohio federal court before that the lenders will I am sure begin to file the assignments or at least put a copy of the assignment of interest within the foreclosure pleadings which is all that is required under the federal statute that governs this issue.  If anyone has the time the can look up F.I.R.R.E.A.  The Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcefent Act of 1989.  If your note was sold, this act will tell you if it was done properly if you can get the bank to disclose the information without a court ordered subpoena.

E., thank you for the clarification- I'd be curious to know if you've run into this. And, how likely is a subpoena?

The subpoena is very likely, a borrower may not even need it if they raise the issue during discovery.  The problem is that FIRREA is a federal statute and 99% of state judges are unaware of it as are the lawyers.  To be sure of full protection a borrower needs to move the court for leave to file an answer and counterclaim in federal court.  The problem is that they may not be allowed unless their lender is from another state, and the claim meets certain balance requirements,  (The only way to sue in federal court).  Otherwise their lawyer will be spending a lot of time educating a state judge about FIRREA.  This will get costly fast.  The other issue is most lawyers are not admitted to practice in the federal courts.  Those that are charge upwards of $350.00 per hour plus.  Sums most homeowners can not afford.  FIRREA is availible in full on line, "Google " but it does not mean that your state judge will read it with out the case law to back it up.

Laurie- I ran into this plenty as I used to run a private equity group, they call them hedge funds now, from 92-2001.  All we did was purchase assets from failed banks via the Resolution Trust Corporation, a long gone quasi federal agency.  I have actually been qualified as a expert witness in a subjection of FIRREA, in the Federal Court, District of New Hampshire.  I spent alot to time in a court room as the lenders witness, explaining the foreclosure, note balances, and how we acquired the loans, etc.  We lost 1 case because we did not show our assignments.  It was a long hot day in Southern Alabama, to say the least.  We never lost another case after that.  As banks fail and the loans become assets of the FDIC and OTS, borrowers need to worry about another federal statute called "Holder in Due Course".  In simple terms it protects the federal government, and their assigns, (private purchasers) from claims against the lender, except for fraud.  It leaves very little in the way of borrower defenses.  Another long story though.

E., thank you. LOTS to be cognizant of. Uggh.