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Family Claims Mortgage Fraud, Citing Racial Discrimination As The Cause Look below this article for more helpful links about this subject... November 30, 2007.jpg) Greenville, GA – Jefferson and Rita Mitchell live in a one-bedroom camper trailor because in May of this year, they lost their home to Green Tree Mortgage Servicing, a well-known lender for manufactured housing, which has been widely identified as a predatory lender notorious for questionable lending practices. The Mitchells are the parents of three children, Kim, 21 who attends college, Brittany, 17 a junior in high school, and Ashley, 18 now a student at Georgia Southern college. Their children live with relatives, because there is not enough room in the camper for the whole family.
In an interview this week, the Mitchells told The People’s Voice that they were the victims of mortgage fraud and were denied their right to file a counter-claim against the lender because they are African American. Earlier this year, in May, A “Writ of Possession” was filed against the Mitchells, for repossession of their home. They stated that Green Tree Servicing lied to the Meriwether County Courts about mortgage payments not being paid, and during their recent court hearings, judges would not look at their receipts leading to their home being foreclosed. Rita Mitchell stated that when their ordeal began, in 2003, she had every single receipt for every payment she had ever made on their home. But, over the course of four years, not one of the attorneys, not one of the representatives from the Mortgage Servicing company, nor the judge has reviewed her proof of payments.
The Mitchells reported that they have literally given attorneys their hard earned money in an effort to save their home, yet they have not seen anything definitive done about this case. Since 2003, they hired four different attorneys, and in the case of each attorney, not one has reviewed their receipts to show that this mortgage company committed fraud. Despite the attorney’s refusal to review their proof of payments, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance documented that they located 5 payments that were not credited to thier account.
The battle with Green Tree Servicing has continued for more than three years, and Jefferson and Rita Mitchell say that no justice has prevailed. They believe that their attorneys have accepted money and promising to prove their case, but not one attorney has resolved this case.
The Mitchells were denied the right to file counterclaim that was filed with Meriwether County Courts to show that this mortgage company has committed fraud. Instead the judges decided that the Mitchells didn't get a chance to defend themselves, and ruled to give their home to Green Tree Servicing.
The Mitchells have evidence of every payment to show that their account was corrupted by Green Tree Servicing bookkeeping. In addition, Rita Mitchell stated that she has evidence to show that Meriwether County was falsifying evidence, and changing case numbers, on their important court documents.
The Mitchells were told that there is a system that needs to be followed. They say that even though they have the evidence, no attorney will present this evidence because it is up to the judges.
The Mitchells had three daughters in that home with a 4 month old newborn baby when their home was taken from them. The Mitchell's were told that now that the ten year old home is being foreclosed, the owner of the property, will buy the home for $30,000.00 and resale the home to them for $426.00/month for 30 years.
Green Tree Servicing foreclosed on the home forcing the family off the property charging a higher monthly payment. The family could not afford to make the land payments so the land was seized. The landowner put the home and land together for resale. It was told to the Mitchells that Green Tree Servicing will never move their home. Green Tree Servicing has homes sitting on other people's property, that they have foreclosed, and refuses to move them. Rita Mitchell says that she has the address to where the homes are sitting. The Mitchells made Green Tree Servicing move their home off their land, which lead to a lot of unnecessary damages to their property.
The Mitchells says that a lawsuit will be filed very soon. The Mitchells' counterclaim was scheduled to be filed this past August. Attorney Tom Toppings, (attorney for Green Tree Servicing) filed a Denial for Jury Trial. The Mitchell's attorney, LeCora Bowen, filed the answer too late and advised the Mitchells to file a Dismissal Without Prejudice.
The couple now hopes to join in a class-action lawsuit against Green-Tree Servicing so that they can help to expose the injustice that is going on in their community. The Mitchells want to challenge Green Tree Services to prove them wrong. The say that they have been through several lawyers and gone through the court systems for over 3 years. They are now going to take their evidence to the Supreme Court in hopes to receive justice.
Rita Mitchell stated, “I am determined to fight this all the way to the supreme court if I have to, I’ll go to Washington, D.C. to testify before Congress. Every time I brought an attorney in there, they were bought off. I’m broke now; we are working 12 and 16-hour days, so we can go back to court. It’s a principal. It would be different if we lost it, but they took it. The home is already gone, but now, this is about a principle.”
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