Congresswoman says: Foreclosed on your home? DON'T MOVE!

Excerpt:
DOBBS: (There is) seething anger tonight at the federal government’s utter failure to help homeowners in danger of losing their homes, even as the government is spending literally trillions of dollars to help out banks, investment companies. There were more than three million foreclosure filings last year, a million people foreclosed upon. Now, one lawmaker, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur says it’s time for homeowners to fight back, exercising squatter’s rights.

Drew Griffin, of our Special Investigations Unit, with the report.

GRIFFIN: Elected officials are saying Toledo is not in a recession, it is a depression. It is this bleak backdrop that inspired Toledo Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur to take the floor of the House earlier this month to tell her constituents to stay put.

REP. MARCY KAPTUR, (D) OHIO: So I say to the American people, you be squatters in your own homes; don’t you leave.
KAPTUR: It’s a national crisis. And it is the proximate cause of this economic downturn; the housing foreclosure crisis. I did everything I could when Congress reconvened this year to urge the President, our Speaker, our leadership to move the FDIC and the SEC into their proper position in this economy to do these workouts.

And that has not been done. And this week we had to pass a stimulus bill in the House to try to pick up some of the casualties and give them a little life support. But the real problem is, that the FDIC and the SEC have been superseded by the U.S. Treasury Department, –

DOBBS: Right.

KAPTUR: — which has no history in workouts. And that’s the problem. They’re using the wrong agency to resolve this crisis.

DOBBS: And Sheila Bair, the Chair of the FDIC, we’ve got to give great credit. She has been talking about this issue –

KAPTUR: Yes.

DOBBS: — throughout. She has been sensitive and forthright about the issue. You know, I guess the issue here also becomes, we are a nation of laws. At what point does telling a person, as you have, to just exercise squatter’s rights — at what point are you bumping up against the issue of breaking the law?

KAPTUR: Well, you know, Lou, the problem is that these families haven’t had proper legal representation. Most of these companies on Wall Street can’t even find the loan, and they have not properly noticed the homeowner under the Truth and Lending Act and the Real Estate Practices Act. DOBBS: Right.

KAPTUR: If you really look at the fine print, these Wall Street firms can’t find the loan. They’ve divided it up into so many pieces, so there’s a legitimate question in the law as to where that deed, where that loan actually is.
DOBBS: In point of fact, it’s not — to be clear, if there’s no note, there is no debt?

KAPTUR: That’s right. And if you don’t have proper legal representation — and I mean good legal representation — what happens to the homeowner in places like our region is, they’re law abiding people. They’re afraid and they leave the property. I say your biggest right is to hold on to your property. The law is on your side.

DOBBS: Marcy Kaptur, I’m sure that millions of Americans and the folks in Ohio appreciate you being on their side.

KAPTUR: Thank you. DOBBS: Marcy Kaptur, thank you very much, Congresswoman from Ohio.
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