Wells Fargo & Co., one of six lenders facing a legal challenge in New Jersey's Supreme Court tied to foreclosures and the 'robo-signing' scandal, said it will comply and present its case in early January.
"We recognize and respect the need to ensure we always comply with respective state laws," Wells said in a statement sent to National Mortgage News.
The state's Supreme Court late Monday filed an order, directing six lender/servicers (who as a technical matter are foreclosure plaintiffs) to show cause at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 19. The six must show why the state should not suspend the processing of all foreclosure matters involving them. Plaintiffs are asked to respond in writing to the new court order.
The order refers to deposition testimony provided by their employees, calling into question certain foreclosure practices.
Another of the six, Citigroup said, it has "been continuously reviewing its foreclosure processes with respect to its U.S. mortgage portfolios. Last year, we took a series of steps to strengthen our processes and added additional resources to ensure foreclosures were being processed correctly. We will review the Justice's Order and will ensure that we meet the new requirements."
At press time, JPMorgan Chase and the other three — Ally Financial, Bank of America, and OneWest Bank — either had declined to comment or had not returned telephone calls about the matter.
The six, combined, control about 65% of the servicing market, according to figures compiled by NMN.