Quiet Title

Attorney Carl Person outlines the various types of services seeking to obtain money from homeowners for assistance in stopping threatened foreclosures and why all but one type — the quiet title action — lacks the one feature that homeowners need to give them the best chance to obtain a reasonable loan modification agreement. This feature is being in litigation against the bank, either as a lawsuit brought by the homeowner against the claimed loan servicer and REMIC Trustee (the quiet title action) or by defending a foreclosure action brought against the homeowner (with counterclaims equivalent to a quiet title action). Person explains why litigation against the banks is far more helpful for the homeowner threatened with foreclosure than the various other non-litigation alternatives. Also, Person points out that critics of the quiet title action do not understand what they are and to some extent are snake-oil salespersons selling a service of dubious value to troubled homeowners. The quiet title action has comprehensive claims involving a declaratory judgment as to note ownership, chain of title, robo-signing, Articles 3 and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, loan modification fraud, recovery of monthly payments made by mistake, principal reduction and note reformation, and deceptive business practices. The quiet title action has very little similarity to the quiet title action to resolve ownership issues in real estate.