In HSBC’s 2010 annual report, the bank asserted that it had stopped “processing foreclosures” and that it “suspended foreclosures” in December, even though the information wasn’t made public until Feb. 28, when HSBC (HBC) filed the report with the SEC.
But based on at least two cases still working their way through Florida’s courts, that delay in disclosure apparently also meant that HSBC didn’t tell attorneys bringing foreclosure actions in the bank’s name to put their cases on hold. Indeed, if HSBC had systematically put its many pending foreclosure cases on hold in December, the news surely would have come out before now. So it’s appropriate to ask: What does the moratorium announcement really mean?
HSBC has also repeatedly asserted that it doesn’t robo-sign. Despite those denials, HBSC’s annual report concedes foreclosure document problems that certainly sound like those caused by robo-signing: “certain deficiencies in the processing, preparation and signing of affidavits and other documents supporting foreclosures. . .including the evaluation and monitoring of third-party law firms retained to effect our foreclosures.”
Even if that language refers to something other than robo-signing — and frankly, anything else it could refer to would be worse — the servicer foreclosing in HSBC’s name in the two cases below is using robo-signed documents. So, is it really valid to say HSBC doesn’t robo-sign? (That’s a claim the bank made again this week, after the annual report was released.)
read the complete article here: HSBC’s Foreclosure Moratorium and Robo-Signing Claims Don’t Stand Up to Scrutiny – DailyFinance.
