Mortgage Assignment Challenges: Advanced Strategies to Invalidate Defective Assignments

A quiet title action is a lawsuit asking the court to determine who has valid title to your property and to remove invalid claims (clouds on title). File a quiet title action when: a fraudulent assignment has been recorded against your property, multiple parties claim ownership of your loan, or the recorded chain of title contains void documents. A successful quiet title action can clear your title of the defective mortgage entirely — though this is a high bar and requires strong evidence of void (not just voidable) assignments.

Possibly. A wrongful foreclosure claim requires proving: (1) the foreclosure sale occurred or was initiated, (2) the foreclosing party lacked the legal right to foreclose, (3) you suffered damages, and (4) the lender acted with knowledge or reckless disregard. A knowing use of a robo-signed or fraudulent assignment can satisfy the knowledge element. Damages may include: loss of equity, moving costs, emotional distress, and attorney fees. This is an advanced claim that typically requires an attorney.

Evidence of robo-signing includes: the signer's name appears on thousands of assignments across multiple states and lenders (public record searches can confirm), the signer was deposed in other cases and admitted to signing without review, consent orders (e.g., OCC 2011 consent orders, National Mortgage Settlement) identify specific signers and practices, the notary date differs significantly from the assignment date, or the signer's job title is inconsistent with having authority to execute assignments (e.g., "Document Control Specialist" signing as "Vice President").