Iowa attorney general seeks to halt foreclosures

Iowa Attorney Tom Miller on Thursday asked three major mortgage companies to halt pending foreclosures in the state while his office investigates possible improper submission of documents to Iowa courts.

Miller has contacted Ally Financial (formerly GMAC Mortgage), Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to request that the companies suspend pending foreclosure proceedings, foreclosure evictions and sheriff's sales in Iowa. He also called on any other mortgage company with knowledge of improperly submitted or verified mortgage documents to suspend foreclosure proceedings and sheriff's sales.

Several mortgage lenders have admitted that they submitted foreclosure documents that were not personally verified and a notary public was not present when they were signed. A Bank of America executive said in a February deposition in a Massachusetts bankruptcy case that she signed 7,000 to 8,000 foreclosure documents a month and typically didn't read them.

Iowa law requires mortgage foreclosure affidavits be signed by someone who has personal knowledge of the validity of the information. Miller said he intends to seek information about the lenders' foreclosure review policies and practices, and verification procedures.

“Media reports continue to emerge with troubling information about how several mortgage companies handled foreclosure cases here in Iowa,” Miller said in a statement.  ”There appears to be an emerging pattern of careless and perhaps cavalier attitudes by a growing number of lenders when it came to taking peoples' homes.

“This is an affront to Iowans facing foreclosure, and it's also an affront to Iowa's court system.”

Miller, who chairman of a 13-state state foreclosure prevention working group, has assigned staff to convene a separate group of bipartisan state attorneys general and state banking regulators to coordinate states' reviews and responses to the disclosures by mortgage companies.

Miller's staff also has been in contact with federal regulators and investigators, including the U.S. Justice Department, to assist with a coordinated response.

Miller said Iowans who believe their current or past foreclosure cases are affected or may have been affected by improper affidavit verification can contact the Consumer Protection Division (toll free) at (888) 777-4590 or  send an e-mail to

consumer@iowa.gov