WHAT? . . .NOT US!! – WELLS FARGO STANDS BEHIND ITS FORECLOSURE PRACTICES

From an article on Friday in HousingWire, Wells Fargo, the second largest servicer of mortgage loans in the United States (as well as one of the top Master Servicers on securitization deals) stated that it is not planning to review foreclosure affidavits in light of the robo-foreclosure issue now facing the rest of the servicing industry.

In an email to HousingWire, a Wells Fargo spokesman Jason Menke said, "Wells Fargo policies, procedures and practices satisfy us that the affidavits we sign are accurate. We audit, monitor and review our affidavits under controlled standards on a daily basis. We will stand by our affidavits and, if we find an error, we will take the appropriate corrective action."

Basically, they are saying that they are not going to stop foreclosures, like everyone else has done, but rather they are taking the stance that they will fix it if they catch it. Given the diligence Wells Fargo is known for, putting one’s head in the sand appears to be one way to face the issue. It is truly hard to believe that Wells Fargo broke with the servicing practices of every other servicing group. In a mortgage servicing operation as vast as Wells Fargo, it is inconceivable that the person executing the affidavit in a foreclosure had the requisite knowledge when swearing to the facts, and that each one of the affidavits was signed before a notary.

It may be the wording of the statement by Wells that needs to be examined. They claim that the affidavits are “accurate.” There has not been a claim that the robo-foreclosure affidavits were inaccurate. Ally and JPMorgan have stated on the record that the information in the affidavits was accurate. Rather, at issue is the question of whether they were done “properly” – that they were done procedurally as required by law. By saying that their policies, procedures and practices “satisfy them” that the affidavits were accurate does not cover the required procedure.

Therefore, this verbal slight-of-hand appears to be damage control for a company that swallowed Wachovia Bank at the end of 2008, which, as we all should remember, had in its portfolio that wonderful acquisition of Golden West/World Bank. For those of you that don’t remember, Golden West had the huge “pick-a-pay” mortgage business, giving the borrower the ability to choose a neg.-am. payment any time they wanted. I am sure that none of those mortgages have gone into foreclosure, given the stability of the borrower.

So, maybe pretending that it is a beautiful summer day during a Nor Easter is one way of getting through the storm. Let’s just hope Wells Fargo is like Forest Gump on his shrimping boat and not any of the characters on the boat in “A Perfect Storm.” Otherwise, we may be preparing for another funeral at sea.