BOA/Recontrust Cases

You may have heard that Recontrust was planning on ceasing operations in Washington as of last Friday.

If you have cases involving Bank of America as beneficiary, in one of its various forms, with Recontrust as Trustee, you may hear that they intend to file discontinuances of the foreclosures in those cases. I'm told that they've been advised by Commerce that the discontinuance may moot the mediation.

If so, mediators may want to suggest to them, and to borrowers, to agree to an extension of the period for the mediation for 30 days for time for the discontinuance to hit everyone's files.

I've had several extend in this situation.

Of course, the parties may take different positions in your cases or they may not agree to extend for some other reason.

Tags: America, Bank, Discontinuance, Extension, Mediation, Recontrust, of

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff Bean on October 31, 2011 at 4:34pm

I'm also advised that Commerce is looking into this situation and may be providing more detail and instruction.

Permalink Reply by Shaun Watchie Perry on October 31, 2011 at 4:37pm

This is so interesting. My client was negotiating with Bank of America to get an extension for a foreclosure scheduled for Friday October 21--Bank of America kept telling us that we had to wait to hear back from its investor. As counsel for the Borrower, I filed a demand for mediation on the 17th of October. Unbeknownst to any of us, RECON filed a notice of discontinuance on October 19th. Bank of America was still maintaining that it had a foreclosure scheduled for the 21st. Recon takes the position that you have to have an active foreclosure to be entitled to a mediation. I also think the underlying lawsuit by the AG against RECON has a lot to do with its decision to cease operations. Good news I guess for some borrowers, as it will take a while for the Bank of America machine to get a new trustee up to gear. But, it also delays resolution. It will be interesting to see if we get any guidance from Commerce regarding this issue. Thanks for the heads up, Jeff!

Permalink Reply by Lee B. Tinney on November 1, 2011 at 9:30am

I have two cases in this category and am interested in hearing about how things
are rolling out in other cases.

In one, last week I followed up with Reconstruct to see if I could prompt a
response of some kind from B of A who had been completely nonresponsive to the
Commerce Referral to Mediation and my letter with a proposed mediation date and
reminder to send in the waiver form. Reconstruct told me the trustee's sale had
been cancelled the day prior, no information as to why (upon my inquiry), and
no point of contact with B of A available.

In the other, similar pattern, I called Reconstruct today to see what is
happening, and Reconstruct advised the trustee's sale had been cancelled on
October 24 (a week ago), no idea why, and similarly no point of contact for B
of A other than their general phone number.

I haven't yet had contact with the borrowers on these files to ascertain whether
they will be disappointed if a mediation doesn't happen. I would appreciate
guidance from Commerce as to whether the discontinuance of the Trustee's Sale
is deemed to discontinue the mediation process. What if the borrower wants to
accomplish resolution?

Where can I find more information about the State suit against Reconstruct?

Permalink Reply by Shaun Watchie Perry on November 1, 2011 at 10:09am

This is the site that discusses the lawsuit again RECONTRUST and attaches the complaint. Very interesting reading!

http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?id=28750

Permalink Reply by Lee B. Tinney on November 1, 2011 at 10:21am

Thank you - I agree it's very interesting. I will remain interested to know the progress and status of the case.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Bean on November 2, 2011 at 5:26pm

Lee, BOA's counsel will be someone at RCO. I've found their mediation paralegal, Amanda Brings, to be very responsive. When I get a BOA case I immediately email her and she can tell you who's on it. This way I can get things started weeks before I get the official referral from Commerce.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Bean on November 2, 2011 at 5:23pm

Just to put a wrap on this, and for those who might not have seen it, here's Commerce's take on it:

As many of you are aware, there are significant changes happening with Reconveyance Trust (known as Recontrust) in the State of Washington. As a result, a number of mediators have been contacted by representatives of the beneficiary (and sometimes by the borrower) to discuss cancelation of upcoming foreclosure mediations.

The Department of Commerce understands that Recontrust may be canceling its foreclosure sales. It appears likely that the foreclosures that were originally assigned to Recontrust will be reassigned to another Trustee – and then return to the foreclosure process in the future. We do not, however, have conclusive information that this will result in the statutory process required by the Foreclosure Fairness Act starting over, beginning with the issuance of the Notice of Pre-foreclosure Options. Our position is that unless we receive such an assurance, these foreclosure mediations will not be canceled by Commerce.

Every mediation is initiated by the borrower. If the borrower wishes to withdraw from mediation when a Recontrust foreclosure is discontinued, please let all parties know & return the referral to us. If the borrower DOES NOT wish to withdraw, please keep the referral open for now. Of course, either party to the mediation may seek an agreement to postpone by contacting the mediator as well. Thank you for your consideration and cooperation in this matter.

I'd second that last thought. Mediation is about client self-determination - that's both borrowers and beneficiaries. They are entitled to their own decisions, not our preconceived notions about what we might think is in their best interests. Some may want to close the current mediation referral and wait for a later foreclosure to mediate; some may want to do it now.