"Show Me The Note" Movement Is Helping Stall Foreclosures

Who Owns Your Mortgage? "Produce The Note" Movement Helps Stall Foreclosures
Modern-day home mortgages have been so sliced and diced by rapacious financiers that some homeowners are successfully delaying -- or even blocking -- foreclosures through the simple tactic of demanding that banks produce the original mortgage note, which amazingly enough is often not so easy for them to do.
As the foreclosure rate continues to set new highs, a little-noticed legal provision that requires bankers, if challenged, to prove they hold the original mortgage documents before getting possession has spawned a minor homeowner rebellion, alternately called "produce the note" or "show me the note". For homeowners trying desperately to keep their homes, the tactic is one way to buy some time -- and maybe even get the upper hand on the lender.
"You wouldn't imagine that the lenders would be that slovenly that they would not be able to produce adequate documentation of the debt," said House Financial Services Committee member Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.). "But apparently a lot of times they really have been unable to."
Since North Carolina has begun to provide legal assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure, Miller said, roughly one of every three mortgages has been found to have some substantial legal discrepancy.
The fouled-up paperwork or other lack of legal compliance "has resulted in a much higher rate of negotiated [mortgage] modifications" in North Carolina, said Miller. "It gave the homeowner additional defenses and counterclaims that strengthened their hands substantially." LinkHere