Even the President  is fair game for the big banks and their mortgage fraud.  One of Obama's Release of Mortgage documents was signed by "Marsha Craine", who just happens to sign her name about three different ways (even omitting most of the letters), was a VP for Chase and was also a Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) agent.  But this is "just the tip of the iceberg" as Citigroup  investors were recently told by Georgetown University's Professor Adam Levitin. 

Banks employed people who were able to sign their name and not much else to act as "foreclosure experts" and push through mountains of fraudulent foreclosure documents.  Most could barely read, but when deposed by attorneys representing victims of mortgage fraud, one plainly stated "I just sign documents ."

The problem here is that since mortgages were sliced, diced, bought and sold (and it looks like multiple times), securitized and leveraged to high heavens, the actual holder of the note, the one who has the right to foreclose, is not known.  This could only have happened if the banks and their mortgage servicing divisions relied on back-handed, extra-legal means to "transfer" ownership of the original mortgage notes through the MERS (not a court).  All of these robo-signed documents were also notarized which is another spot of fraud.  So when Bank of America comes to foreclose on a home which has a mortgage BoA originated but does not actually hold the note and only services the payments, BoA has no legal right to repossess the home. 

40 state AG's are looking into bringing fraud charges against the mortgage industry, too-big-to-fail banks and all.  This will further FUBAR the already screwed MBS/mortgage industry.  Another bailout of the banks (which they will need) would almost certainly lead to open revolt by the people (or at least it should).  Also, the Federal Reserve bought about $1 Trillion in MBS, the toxic assets from the banks (at inflated value) ; wonder what will happen to their balance sheet?  It probably won't matter as Quantatitve Easing 2 i.e. money printing will begin again in earnest as Helicopter Ben lives up to his name.

So what can you do about it?  Take 3 minutes and demand your bank show you your mortgage note.  You can use this  website to get a pre-printed letter to send to your bank; but beware, you'll be entering your information into a Service Employees International Union database.  You can just copy their template below and mail it to your banks corporate office:

To whom it may concern:

This is a qualified written request under Section 6 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).  I own the property at the address listed above, and your bank services my mortgage. 

Over the last several weeks there have been many stories documenting the problem that banks are foreclosing on homes without proof that they own the loan.  I have learned that in many cases, banks like yours do not even know who owns the loans you service.  Employees at several leading banks have admitted to rubber stamping tens of thousands of foreclosures every month, without even checking to make sure that the bank had a legal right to proceed with foreclosure.  In some cases, banks allegedly falsified mortgage documents to cover up their mistakes.  There have been reports of two banks trying to foreclose on the same home, banks foreclosing on homeowners who were current on their payments, and even of a bank foreclosing on a home where the homeowner had never taken out a mortgage to begin with.  This is not merely a "technical problem"--it is the difference between having a warm bed at night and being out on the street.

As a homeowner and a customer of your bank, I am horrified.  I had always believed that if I played by the rules, I would be protected, but now I know that banks like yours think the rules don't apply to them. 

To protect myself and my family, I need to know who owns my mortgage.  Within sixty days, I would like to know the name, address, and phone number of the bank or investor that owns my mortgage.  Furthermore, in light of the recent allegations of foreclosure fraud, I demand to see the original mortgage note proving ownership over my home loan.  If you fail to produce a mortgage note proving that you have a right to collect my mortgage payments, I will be forced to consider all options available to me to ensure that my family and my home are protected.

I ask that I receive my response in writing.  I understand that under Section 6 of RESPA you are legally required to acknowledge my request within twenty business days and must try to resolve the issue within sixty days.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

If they can't provide your note, you can withhold payment if you like, however I'm not a lawyer and have no idea what the legal ramifications are to such an action.  Fortunately, it looks like the banks don't know either.

Buckle up, because this is going to be a bumpy ride.  It's even spilling over into commercial real estate .