loans in foreclosure were made four, five, six seven years ago and as we know, the banks and servicers did a poor job of hanging on to the paper work did a poor job of hanging on to these loans, so doing the autopsy is going to be challenging. at the same time, considering the amount of money that the financial bankers are paying themselves for this sloppy work considering the lack of lending, $1.6 trillion, professor, in home loans that we don t know how much of that is garbage and the barrier to doing this is because it s hard? it may not make a legal difference. there are very limited remedies for a loan that s been made. so right now, the current controversy with gmac and bank of america centers on what to do
the mortgages in the country owned by fannie mae and freddie mac and sent them letters to tell them to review all paperwork. once they determine foreclosure is warranted, he advised, proceed without delay. he thinks most have been warranted. basically, we do not have evidence that there are people being foreclosed upon who are otherwise paying their mortgage or having, you know, made proper steps toward mediation of delinquency. reporter: in fact, the average length of foreclosure nationally is 19 17 months. virtually all were legitimate foreclosures because the people defaulted and the banks gave them months to rectify the problem. reporter: some major lenders, jp mortgage chase, allied, gmac and bank of america suspended foreclosures but only temporarily. we haven t found problems and we are trying to clear the air to say we ll check the work one more time. no one minimizes the
ignored signs of trouble with foreclosures, specifically they site examples at citigroup and gmac. the workers sometimes threw the documents into the garbage. as an arm of goldman sax, they said, employees processed documents so quickly, they barely had time to see what they were signing. at jpmorgan chase, mortgage workers were so experienced they were criticized as, quote, burger king kids. in the washington post, the man who became famous for being on the wrong end of a dick cheney hunting shot is speakinging out this morning. in the post, harry wittington discusses the emfa must shooting where cheney accidentally peppered him with bird pellets. he reveals his injuries were much more severe than originally disclosed. in addition to a mild heart
freddie mac and sent them letters to tell them to review all paperwork. once they determine foreclosure is warranted, he advised, proceed without delay. he thinks most have been warranted. basically, we do not have evidence that there are people being foreclosed upon who are otherwise paying their mortgage or having, you know, made proper steps toward mediation of delinquency. reporter: in fact, the average length of foreclosure nationally is 19 17 months. virtually all were legitimate foreclosures because the people defaulted and the banks gave them months to rectify the problem. reporter: some major lenders, jp mortgage chase, allied, gmac and bank of america suspended foreclosures but only temporarily. we haven t found problems and we are trying to clear the air to say we ll check the work one more time. no one minimizes the paperwork problems but that doesn t change fundamental fact.
morgan, gmac get this going again, which they say they are now with the right stuff and correctly so we don t get a big additional backup to what we already have. now, peter, another state trying to hold folks accountable for knowing what they sign in all these foreclosure documents the chief judge of new york state said foreclosure lawyers there will have to take an extra step now to verify in writing that all of the paperwork is accurate. a new form requires them to identify the bank employee who confirmed the accuracy of the homeowner s mortgage records and to disclose the date of the lawyer s communication with the banker. shepard: peter barnes live in washington tonight. thanks. violence exploding in cities across france now as protesters show new anger over the government s plan to raise the retirement age. it s like we re on another