The Foreclosure Brew of Signature Factories

The Foreclosure Brew of Signature Factories

The foreclosure brew consists of a cocktail of factors signature factories, debt purchasers and slipshod documentation among others. One of them churning the mill was Michael Gazzarato. His job was to sign affidavits by the hundreds per day. He pressed his employer to give him an improved pen! For him it was a nightmare trying to ink names with a plastic pen.

There were many like him who had joined the signing marathon that could have got them mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records. Gazzarato recounted his experiences in a deposition for a lawsuit in 2007 brought against Asset Acceptance. The latter firm bought consumer debts and then took charge of the collecting. Gazzarato had to ink affidavits swearing he had personally checked the records. If done properly the work is time consuming.

The case of Gazzarato sounds familiar with what has been exposed in the recent weeks about banks cutting corners to rush through foreclosures. It has raised a hue and cry and triggered serious investigations across America.

Lawyers defending the consumers in these cases of debt collection said that it was not the banks that had invented the assembly-line angle of operations but it is the debt buyers that have been functioning in this manner for many years.

Richard Rubin of Santa Fe, a consumer attorney said, "The difference is that in the case of debt buyers, the abuses are much worse. At least when it comes to mortgages, the banks have the right address, everyone agrees about the interest rate. But with debt buyers, the debt has been passed through so many hands, often over so many years, that a lot of time these companies are pursuing the wrong person, or the charges have no lawful basis".

In the instance of Gazzarato's firm the debts were linked to credit cards, loans for cars, unpaid utility bills etc. The finance companies as well as the banks sell their debts to huge secondary market who package them into mega portfolios for pennies placed per dollar. The debt buyers then engage collectors to harass the borrowers systematically with letters and telephone calls. Lately they have started to increasingly sue the borrowers.

There is no as yet no detailed data about how many affidavits related to debt collection is filed annually. The Legal Aid Society's findings show that in New York City over 450,000 such affidavits were filed by debt purchasers from 2006 January to 2008 July. The expenses amounted to $1.1 billion towards judgments as also settlements.

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