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Foreclosed properties may get fee

Summit hopes to raise more than $400,000 a year off purchases made at sheriff's auctions

By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Sunday, Sep 21, 2008

Summit County wants to impose a $200 fee on foreclosed properties purchased at sheriff's auctions.

The fee — expected to raise more than $400,000 a year — would help pay for the increased workload on sheriff's deputies investigating mortgage fraud and consumer affairs workers dealing with foreclosures.

''As a result of the housing crisis and predatory lending, we've had to institute the [sheriff's] foreclosure task force and the Consumer Affairs Office,'' said Jason Dodson, a county attorney.

Taxpayers now foot those bills, he said, but with banks and mortgage lenders buying about 95 percent of the auctioned properties, the county will be ''able to shift the burden of the cost of these programs back to the institutions where the problem lies.''

Dodson was unaware of any other county charging a similar assessment, called a ''Foreclosure Education and Prevention Fee'' by county leaders.

County Council's Rules Committee will discuss the proposal on Monday.

With the revenue devoted to investigations and consumer affairs, it will help combat predatory lending and assist victims with consumer counseling, said Councilman John Schmidt, who chairs the committee.

''[The fee is] not affecting the Average Joe who goes out there to buy a house in any way, shape or form,'' he said.

The Akron area has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. Last year, 2,107 foreclosed properties were sold at weekly sheriff's sales. The coun
ty expects more than 2,700 will be sold this year.

The county boosted the court fee to order a sheriff's sale from $220 to $620 last year. That fee is paid by the bank or mortgage lender, but often is passed on to foreclosure victims, Dodson said.

The new fee must be paid by the buyer, he said. (Delinquent tax sales are exempt from the fee.)

The foreclosure task force already has had some high-profile cases, authorities said. Its investigation led to indictments last year against Evergreen Cos. and Carnation Banc officials.

And the task force announced a 106-count indictment this month charging 19 individuals with mortgage fraud involving the theft of more than $1 million.

''The task force has been very successful in going after these folks and it sends a message that this will not be tolerated in Summit County,'' Schmidt said.

For details about foreclosure efforts, go to http://www.co.summit.oh.us/conaffairsForcloseInter.htm and http://www.savethedream.ohio.gov/.

Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.

Summit County wants to impose a $200 fee on foreclosed properties purchased at sheriff's auctions.

Get the full article here.


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Loren Eberly
Orrville, Oh

Posted 01:57 PM, 09/21/2008

Reality demands financial institutions market the cost in the cost of their service of paying this $200 ransom and their constituents pay this ransom with money derived from wages or independent business profit.


sunnyflorida

Posted 04:54 PM, 09/21/2008

It should be more than $200.00!!!$ 400,000 a year isn't squat!! the ones that have been commiting fraud, they need to pay!!! Give the sheriff's dept the help they need!!


Joyce Anderson
Barberton, OH

Posted 11:22 PM, 09/21/2008

I agree with the fee and/or the purpose for the fee itself, but I'd suggest a few things first. One, increase the fee to $500; Two, place the fee on the front of the foreclosure filing fee's to be paid by the lending institution's upon filing a foreclosure; Three, the first two suggestion's will gaurentee payment of the fee at the onset of a foreclosure when most needed by the Sheriff's Investigative Unit, if a lending institution wants to file the foreclosure and; Four, the bank can be reimbursed for pre-payment of the filing fee from the buyer simply by including it into the 'minimal bid price'. Most importantly, I'd incorporate the foreclosure filing fee into the Summit County Court of Common Pleas filing fee schedule and identify it as "Truth In Lending Investigation' fee or TILI(or something related to the fraudulent loan investigation's), much like the "Victim Of Crime" or VOC filing fee's.


Joyce Anderson
Barberton, OH

Posted 11:24 PM, 09/21/2008

I omitted one thing. The increase in the fee amount from $200 to $500 is simple. A Deputy's time and/or wages used on investigating a single case exceeds the $200 fee and is closer to $500.
















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