Lenders in New Jersey ordered to prove foreclosure practices are up to snuff

Supreme Court judges in New Jersey have ordered six major lenders to prove that their foreclosure practices are legitimate or else be blocked from proceeding with uncontested cases against homeowners in the state, according to the Wall Street Journal. The banks included in the order — Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, OneWest Bank FSB and Wells Fargo — accounted for almost half of all foreclosure filings in the state this year. An additional 24 banks will have to provide reports on their foreclosure processes to the courts, and all lenders in the state will be required to have their foreclosure documents verified by an attorney. A similar rule was adopted in New York in October as a response to the so-called “robo-signing” scandal, and has, by many accounts, been responsible for foreclosure filings nearly grinding to a halt here. [WSJ]