Four banks to pay $2.7M in Mass. suit

BOSTON – Four national banks agreed to pay a total of $2.7 million and undertake measures to facilitate the repair of defective property titles, resolving claims that they unlawfully foreclosed on properties in the state when they did not hold the mortgages.
The consent judgment, entered in January in Suffolk Superior Court, resolves allegations that Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Citi and Wells Fargo Bank violated Massachusetts foreclosure law and the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act by illegally foreclosing upon Massachusetts residents’ homes when the banks lacked the legal authority to do so.
The complaint alleged that the defendants’ unlawful conduct resulted in void foreclosures affecting the marketability and insurability of property titles throughout the state. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that mortgagees seeking to foreclose must strictly comply with Massachusetts foreclosure laws. Under Massachusetts law, a foreclosure is void unless a bank or other foreclosing party is the mortgagee of record or holds the mortgage through a valid assignment before publishing the notice of foreclosure sale. •

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