NJ Deposition Michael Ackerman

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Permalink Reply by P Zeal on December 9, 2011 at 4:07am

Hello Adam.  I am just reading this.  I can't specifically help you with a transcript.

However, I have a situation with a prior Chapter 13 bankruptcy where Zucker Goldberg represented my lender.  I recently found that the mortgage submitted as proof of claim was NOT a true copy - the bottom of the last page had been reproduced.  I uncovered it after getting a copy of the mortgage from a title search I initiated.  Ackerman signed off on the proof of claim.  The chapter 13 has been discharged, so I don't know if it's too late to do anything. I can't imagine I am the only one. They probably did this with many mortgagors.

 

If this interests you, please drop me a note.  I also have a long list of valid causes of action against my NJ lender. And they have validated their wrongdoing in writing.

 

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Permalink Reply by Adam Deutsch on December 9, 2011 at 10:14am

Patricia,

Thanks for your comment.  That particular case has long passed.  Within a couple of weeks after taking the deposition they dismissed the complaint against my client.  No new litigation has been commenced.  If you want to see the transcript it is available at Michael Ackerman Transcript on Scribd. It actually started a streak of many dismissals.  We have somewhere around 20 since August.

In addition to your bankruptcy, are you also facing foreclosure?  I don't know about re-opening your bankruptcy regarding the problem of proofs you discovered but you need counsel or guidance on dealing with foreclosure or taking on the original lender as you discussed, I am here.  I run the foreclosure defense component of my firm, and we have a very strong plaintiff's side for lending violations as well.

Best of luck.

Adam

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Permalink Reply by P Zeal on December 9, 2011 at 12:11pm

In that case, I will reach out to you.  Unfortunately I have gotten behind again and am expecting a complaint to be filed soon by a different local foreclosure mill.

Let me give you some history.  It might help also help someone else reading this.  

Part of what got me here is that my lender had been adding inspection fees to my loan (that occurred during the old BK) but did not alert me about it nor did they alert the BK court about the fees. Sometimes more than one inspection was done in 30 days.  About 65 of them total. There was no reason to be doing these inspections during BK per HUD, Bankruptcy rules, and per their own servicing agreement.  My loan is FHA.

They also said I had fees still due to them for:  (1) attorney costs for the old BK; (2) late fees I could prove were wrong. They would not tell me what these fees were when I called. Most reps said they had no idea what they were.  One rep even told me I would have to pay an hourly fee to have my lender do the research if they had to go back too far.  Huh??  Depending upon the time of day, I would be told something different every time.

Move ahead, (early 2010), I was told they would soon be foreclosing. At this point, I still have no explanation of the fees.  I decide to write a letter to them to ask for an explanation so I could pay it with money in my 401k before foreclosure costs were added in.  My letter was ignored.  2 months later, I sent another letter via CMRRR to a SVP in Loan Administration asking for clarification. This letter was received by them and I have the green card. Both pieces of correspondence met the requirements of a QWR - though at that time, I knew nothing about a "QWR."  Most borrowers don't.  My certified letter was ignored.  Not long after, my account was sent to the attorney.

I immediately contacted the attorney to get a reinstatement letter before the complaint was filed so I could avoid more fees and a foreclosure on record. But at this early stage, the attorney had already added in fees close to $2,000 before any complaint had been filed.  This fee was assessed merely for opening the mail - basically.  With the bogus lender fees and the bogus servicer fees, I was unable to bring my loan current. These actions are the sole reason I am where I am today.  Seems there are violations of the Consumer Fraud Act here too - including the attorney.

Move forward 9 months, I found out about the official QWR.  So I sent one because those fees were driving me crazy (and ill) and I wanted a response. I put "QWR" on the outside of the envelope.  This time, they responded.  I requested a stack of records. They sent me the records, but still did not explain the fees I was questioning.  Instead, I was left to drill through the 1.5 inch pack of paper to figure out what happened. 

I found:  (1) all the inspections during the BK, (2) quite a few "bogus" inspections where I knew the person could not have been on my property, and (3) late fees assessed where the payment was not late. There may be much more there, but the records were difficult to read. During this process, they violated RESPA several times by either not responding or not giving me what I requested. I sent quite a few follow up QWR letters. Four (4) of them were never answered. There are at least 4-6 violations of RESPA on the QWR issues. Of course, the most egregious being when they refused to respond to give me the info & then foreclosed.

This foreclosure ended up as a voluntary dismissal due to all that was going on in NJ at that time. 

I will read the Ackerman transcript.  Thank you.  I have heard of your firm before as I have gone to the court to get copies of filings and I have at least one where your firm represented the Defendant.

On my issue with the Ackerman document in my earlier claim, it is unfortunate if they can just get away with that. At the same time, it will be interesting to see if that same document is presented as a true copy of the mortgage this time.  I'm definitely gong to ask for it.  Something is funny with the note and mortgage, but I don't understand why that would be.  My purchase loan and financing was pretty straight-forward.  Only assigned/sold once and that was at origination many years ago before all the crazy securitizations started.

I also noticed in the old proof of claim that Zucker twice presented the claim with only the 1st page of the note.  Hmmm.  I now have a copy of an "alleged" true copy of the note (from my QWR), however, it looks suspicious. I'm not doubting the note is mine, but they do not have unclean hands if they are manufacturing records.  If records are lost, they cannot create them.

By the way, their NOI was deficient so unless they send me another one, I have already prepared a MTD.  My servicer can't do anything right.

Adam, I have to believe that if this lender was adding all these fees to my account, then they are doing it to everybody and maybe there is a nice class action suit out there for somebody.  Their modus operandi is to NEVER reveal these bogus fees UNTIL the borrower has a default or wants a payoff on their loan.  So in my particular case, had I kept my loan in good standing, I would have found out about these fees 14 years later. 

If you are interested, drop me a quick note back and I will phone you.

 

Thanks much.... 

 

 

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