Bank loses all of family’s possessions after wrongfully foreclosing on home

Wells Fargo employees wrongfully foreclosed on a home near near Twentynine Palms, California, removing and then destroying an old couple’s belongings.

Alvin and Pat Tjosaas, who have been married for 56 years, lost three generations worth of their belongings when a contracted foreclosure crew accidentally broke into the wrong house. The Tjosaas had no mortgage on the house that Alvin had built with his dad as a teenager.

Subcontractors hired by the bank broke doors, smashed windows and stole valuables while foreclosing the couple's vacation home near Twentynine Palms.

“Good news, we know who took it: Wells Fargo. Bad news, the stuff is all gone,” Alvin Tjosaas told CBS Los Angeles.

RT

Despite the incident having occurred 3 months ago, the bank has only offered an apology and an offer of compensation since the media recently got hold of the story.

“The way it’s been going, I don’t think they really care. That’s the way it’s been for three months. Now, all of a sudden, it’s you guys,” Alvin said in an ABC interview, referring to the media. “Now, all of a sudden, they call me.”

RT

Banks treat people like this simply because they can. They think they are above the law.

Also worrying is the way they trashed the house when they repossessed it, suggesting that they weren't interested in trying to recover money, only in throwing the tenants out.

bank probably sold off their possessions as well ... or some banker took some of it and sold the rest ... bankers are legalised loansharks.. thieves... robbers....

reply to post by ollncasino

when a contracted foreclosure crew accidentally broke into the wrong house.

Uh huh...

The most disturbing part of this story is that the bank thinks it can screw people over in the shadows but as soon as the media shines light on their activities they act as if they are working hard to reconcile their wrong doings.

That is some serious BS. I feel so bad for that couple. If that happened to me I can't even tell you what I would do. I know I would need some blood pressure meds ASAP though.

banks

The article says that there are at least 50 pending lawsuits for this kind of apparent criminal behavior.

Is there any word about criminal charges being brought against the contractors who broke into the houses?

If there are no criminal actions being taken against the actual perpetrators, who broke into the houses, then there is clearly someone wrong with the legal process. Those individuals shouldn't be treated any differently than anyone else who breaks into a house and commits robbery.

What a tragic occurrence!

Events like this can be so harmful to the lives of average people and banks think they can get away with this BS because of how much power and influence they have.

I have a similar, but no where near as drastic, of a situation. I was checking my bank statements and saw that my insurance company has charged be what appears to be 5 different times on the same day, equating to almost 5 months of coverage.

This is not a crazy sum of money, but the obvious mistake could really has a drastic effect on someone's life if they didn't have as much money. Further, since it is the weekend I have no one to call to resolve this issue, compounding the effects of this mistake.

Big business enjoys exceptions from common rules without punishment.

If they know who stole the stuff then why aren't they in jail? Also the people who received the stuff could also get jail time.

Bulldozers and contractors do not just push in and level the place.

Thus, it is very important to:
1) call the police (any thug can claim to be "contractor" and pick-up the stuff)
2) Require contractor to show paper, which gives them authority for the action. Record who is the party, who gave them the job.
3) Assure all the details of the contractor, preferably with the presence of the police, and require contractor to sign any paper showing their business, date and description of the action they claim to have right to perform. Preferably ask the police officer to act as a witness to the paper.
4) Explain all the parties, the bank does not have any ownership, nor do you have any liabilities for the bank.
5) Ask the contractor, which actions have they taken to assure, the information they have received (from the bank), is correct. Do they have any claim from the bank? Record any answer they have in the report above. I.e. a) did they verify the job order was legit (if not, you will sue them also), and if so, which verification did the bank provide.
6) If you a lawyer call him to the spot. If not, get one, and sue the contractor, and the bank. Require not only compensation for the direct damages, but also loss of value, hardship created, and emotional damages.


Potentially: seek the other similar complainants for the same bank, and issue class action suite against the bank, due to their unlawful practices, severe discrepancies in due diligence, and lack of controls for assuring actual ownership for the properties (and which properties are actually the case).

What I am most concerned is, in this particular case, the couple did not have mortgage at all, and hence were not even customers of Wells Fargo. How on Earth was it then possible for Wells Fargo to de facto seize their property. For this to happen, their due diligence processes must be total mud. And for that reason already, the class action should be raised, and the bank brought back to civil order.

reply to post by deckdel


I'm thinking no one was home. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm basing this opinion on what would happen to anyone breaking into my home, without legal right, and I am on the inside. Identifying themselves as Wells Fargo employees, wouldn't deter my actions, if I know they shouldn't be there.

reply to post by ollncasino


Well they should tell them compensation must be a couple MILLION $$$...if anything less is offered they should find a good attorney and sue the pants of WF and sue for emotional distress as well as the value of the entire house and everything in it including sentimental value because he built it with his dad. Then they should move to Beverly Hills! Well really they could move anywhere...they'd have the cash lol.

Originally posted by deckdel
Bulldozers and contractors do not just push in and level the place.

Thus, it is very important to:
1) call the police (any thug can claim to be "contractor" and pick-up the stuff)
2) Require contractor to show paper, which gives them authority for the action. Record who is the party, who gave them the job.
3) Assure all the details of the contractor, preferably with the presence of the police, and require contractor to sign any paper showing their business, date and description of the action they claim to have right to perform. Preferably ask the police officer to act as a witness to the paper.
4) Explain all the parties, the bank does not have any ownership, nor do you have any liabilities for the bank.
5) Ask the contractor, which actions have they taken to assure, the information they have received (from the bank), is correct. Do they have any claim from the bank? Record any answer they have in the report above. I.e. a) did they verify the job order was legit (if not, you will sue them also), and if so, which verification did the bank provide.
6) If you a lawyer call him to the spot. If not, get one, and sue the contractor, and the bank. Require not only compensation for the direct damages, but also loss of value, hardship created, and emotional damages.

Except we all know they won't have any of that because wells fargo like any other good business out to make money, probably hired illegals...apparently those that can't read simple English. You don't think people get rich hiring real contractors from the US to do this...besides that kind of action is very common within people from La Raza...they are the only kind of "Contractor's" that would do this kind of act.

reply to post by ldyserenity


I think a couple of million would barely compensate for the emotional trauma this must be causing.

Why doesn't the government step in, and take control of corporations that are screwing up like this? They should have already been on top of this. I guess they're too busy campaigning to pay attention.

For as much as I fear the government of the Peoples Republic of China, after this happening more than 50 times, I suspect there would be some scheduled executions already in place for the people who operate this corporation. That seems harsh to me, but it is better than no action at all.

reply to post by tamusan

I agree... there should be jail time and the compensation should be over 400 million dollars, what I meant by a couple million well...as you can see my couple of million is high... if it was me I'd really want someone's head on a stick like Vlad the Impaler style. In fact if it was me I'd be in prison by now for going down to WF and beating the piss out of someone. But considering maybe I would not get jail time considering the distress it would cause having something like that done to you. I'd probably count on mitigating circumstances to get me off the hook. But that's just me, and I am not even a violent person.

reply to post by ldyserenity


WTF? The bank screws-up (yet again) and all of a sudden it's cause they hired 'illegals'? What a flipping moron. The issue couldn't be with the bank's paperwork? There are dozens of instances hitting the news where banks just rubber-stamp forclsoure documents without ever verifying anything. But then we hve to have some bigotted ass-hat blame 'illegals'. Let me tell you something, sparky --- 'illegals' aren't are problem. It's big-business and banks committing outright and unrestrained fraud --- card-carrying white collar criminals --- that are our REAL problem. Get a clue and an education you troll.

reply to post by jtma508


That was a response to a poster who said check the contractor's papers, trouble is the reply I made , they probably didn't have proper papers cause the bank like any good business out for making money and not costing a whole lot to them, hire illegals. This is known fact. They don't use proper contractors and yes that would still fall on the bank.
That would be them using unlicensed contractors amongst all the other illegal activities involved with this article.

You need Intensive Reading course, I think, How did you get this far in life?
*derp*

reply to post by ldyserenity


I expect I wouldn't go down to the bank and bash their heads, in the past or present. That seems like jail time to me, and I've always chosen the path which leads not to jail.

There is no way to determine the fair amount of compensation owed for this negligence. Just the trauma caused to these 50+ families is substantial, and it is apparent the perpetrators do not care.

reply to post by ldyserenity


You made an unsubstantiated assumption that 'illegals' were somehow complicitious in this outrage. You can't back that up in any way shape or form and as such it was uncalled for and blatant stereotyping. Period.

And as for my reading ability and life accomplishments, I've done very well for myself thank you very much and am compensated very generously for my writing and reading abilities. Good try though.

What's the betting that all the possessions were sold at auction?

They should sue the bank, I hope they win $$$millions.

Originally posted by tamusan
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

I expect I wouldn't go down to the bank and bash their heads, in the past or present. That seems like jail time to me, and I've always chosen the path which leads not to jail.

There is no way to determine the fair amount of compensation owed for this negligence. Just the trauma caused to these 50+ families is substantial, and it is apparent the perpetrators do not care.

edit on 9-9-2012 by tamusan because: (no reason given)

Like I said I am not violent but in this instance I am not sure I'd be able to stop myself...lol...kudos to you if you would be able to control yourself...better than me, lol. There absolutely is no fair determination for those families I agree 110% with ya there. It's very disturbing and makes me soooo glad I never held a mortgage.

Guess I dodged that bullet. But Even they didn't (the family in the article) Hold a mortgage...just thankful banks don't want trailers lol...it's the only thing I owned so that's good... but sometimes borrowing from friends is a bad idea too...but that's another story for another time....I will continue sticking to renting I think. Lol.

reply to post by jtma508


They're usually the lowest bidder though, Just saying. And the work would not be something someone from the US would do...I wouldn't think, because tomorrow they could have it happen to them and most people from here realize this and never would do such a blatant act of vandalism...I know contractor's my husband is one. I dealt with all the people in the business and NONE of the ones from the US would do it so crassly....and not all them licensed but they're still ethical. A bank don't hire ethical people. As proven by this article...then again in California it is possible they were of the US and lived there in Ca all their life some can be unethical there...so maybe it wasn't illegals, I know here in Florida though you would not get a contractor that's homegrown to act this way even the one BOA hired here to take that other couples' paid off house didn't damage it, they just locked it up and threw away the key nothing destroyed but I think they auctioned off the inventory but did not leave a wake of destruction behind them at all. So clearly there's a difference in the two cases, may be a state thing but I will tell you this it wouldn't happen in NY/PA/NJ/De either but I failed to take into consideration how bad Californians can be as well. So maybe I jumped the gun so sue me.