Attorney General Bill McCollum announced on Wednesday an on-going effort to rein in mortgage servicers and protect Floridians from deceptive and unfair practices. McCollum, along with 49 other Attorneys General, are part of a multistate effort to stop mortgage loan servicers from submitting affidavits or signing notices that appear to have procedural defects of either a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure.
Investigators allege that many mortgage documents have been signed without personal knowledge of the facts asserted in the documents. In addition, it appears that many affidavits were signed outside of the presence of a notary public. This process of signing documents without confirming their accuracy has come to be known as “robo-signing” and is in direct violation of Florida law.
All 50 are joining together to form a multistate group comprised of both state Attorneys General and state banks and mortgage regulators to more effectively address the issue.
The multistate group, led by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, plans to speak with all relevant mortgage servicers as soon as possible to determine whether or not each company has improperly submitted affidavits or signed notices in support of a foreclosure in the states.
