Mortgage Bullies?: Banks Accused of Illegally Breaking Into Homes Facing Foreclosure

Oct. 11, 2010— -- It's one of the few booming businesses in this bruised economy – companies hired by banks to change the locks and take over homes that have been foreclosed.

But in a growing number of cases, these real estate repo men are showing up before the foreclosure process is done – and sometimes, before a home is even in foreclosure.

Nancy Jacobini was alone in her Orlando home when she heard someone outside her door, trying to break in. She locked herself inside a bathroom and called 911.

"I was very scared," Jacobini said. "I didn't know who it was."

The man trying to break in was a contractor hired by Jacobini's bank, JPMorgan Chase, to secure the property. The bank initially said Jacobini was more than three months behind in her mortgage, and that she had abandoned her home and had cut her utilities.

Jacobini acknowledges she was late with her mortgage payments, but foreclosure proceedings had not begun. And, she added, "My electric is current, it always has been … I'm home all the time."

The bank has now acknowledged it made a mistake.

Jacobini's attorney, Matt Weidner, of St. Petersburg, Fla., said such "bank break-ins" represent yet another example of financial institutions "running amuck" as a consequence of the wave of foreclosures cresting across the country.

This week, the attorneys general of as many as 40 states are expected to launch a joint investigation of allegations that banks cut corners and used fraudulent paperwork to foreclose on some struggling homeowners.

Bank of America last week announced it would temporarily halt foreclosures in all 50 states while it reviews foreclosure procedures.

JPMorgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage have halted foreclosures in 23 states for the same reason. Hundreds of thousands of foreclosures are now in limbo.

"What we have right now is lawlessness across the country. Banks and institutions are circumventing our courts. They're going behind our judges' backs and they are throwing homeowners out on the street out completely improperly," Weidner said.