Now that banks have taken a minute to sort through their legal filings to make sure the foreclosure proceedings they initiated have some legal basis, it’s taking a little longer than they expected to set the process in motion again. Although Bank of America (BAC) said last week that it would be restarting foreclosure proceedings today, according to Bloomberg it is among a handful of banks to have canceled foreclosure auctions that were on the Monday docket in a Florida Court.
This news follows an admission by BofA that the bank had found some flaws in a small sampling of the 102,000 documents it set aside for further review. Other big-time mortgage players to have canceled Florida court appearnances include GMAC, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase.
Here’s what Citigroup CEO John Gerspach said about his firm’s foreclosure procedures last week: “We continuously review our document handling procedures, and we believe the integrity of Citi’s foreclosure process is sound.” JPMorgan Chase has been similarly confident.
The earliest a canceled Florida court date can appear on the docket is 25 days after its initial booking date, Bloomberg says. Even though banks are saying they’re resuming their foreclosure proceedings, these additional cancelations mean at least another months’ delay for some cases. If the banks’ document reviews continue to find more flaws than previously anticipated, those delays may very well multiply.
mtaylor [at] observer.com | @mbrookstaylor
