Conn AG Seeks Information On Law Firms Used For Foreclosures
June 08 2009 - 2:43PM
Dow Jones News
Connecticut's attorney general has asked mortgage lenders Fannie
Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) and banking technology company
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) to provide
information on how they select law firms for foreclosure
services.
In a statement Monday, Connecticut Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal said his office is probing complaints that the majority
of the state's foreclosures are assigned to a select group of law
firms and complaints from consumers that they didn't receive proper
foreclosure notices from marshals.
"Dominance over foreclosure service by a few select law firms
and marshals has spurred complaints about improper or illegal
practices - wrongfully allocating work to non-marshals, forging
papers, failing to serve papers, and making kickbacks," Blumenthal
said in a statement. "Concentrating this work in a few hands can be
severely problematic - causing unconscionable costs and failed
notice delivery."
In separate letters to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Fidelity
National, Blumenthal said he is seeking the identity of all
Connecticut law firms employed for foreclosure actions from 2007 to
the present, details on the criteria used in selecting those firms,
information on fees paid to those law firms and any fees paid by
the law firms to the lenders and any complaints by Connecticut
consumers regarding failures to provide proper notice.
Spokespersons from Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Fidelity National
didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment Monday.
-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017;
chad.bray@dowjones.com