Bloomberg News reports that it had seen an internal memo that said,

Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit told brokers and agents to halt foreclosures on homeowners in 23 states including Florida, Connecticut and New York.

-snip-

The company will also suspend sales of properties on which it has already foreclosed. The letter tells brokers to notify buyers that the company will extend the closing date on all sales by 30 days. Buyers will be able to cancel their agreement to purchase and get their deposit back, according to the letter..

And Bloomberg goes on to list the 23 states by name

However, GMAC is calling Bloomberg liars.

I just received this statement from James Olecki, the press spokeperson for Ally Financial which owns GMAC Mortgage.

“Recent reports have stated that GMAC Mortgage instituted a moratorium on all residential foreclosures in 23 states.  This is not true.  In fact, all new residential foreclosures are continuing in the ordinary course of business with no interruption in our usual practice.

The speculation likely emanates from a direction previously given by GMAC Mortgage to certain of its outsource vendors to allow time to address a potential issue that was raised in a number of existing foreclosures challenging the internal procedure we used for executing one or more judicially required forms. This direction was to suspend evictions and REO closings where the related foreclosure could have been impacted by the same internal procedure.  We are also reviewing certain previously completed foreclosures where the same procedure may have been used.

We are unable to comment on the specific merits of the challenge because some of them are in litigation.  Nevertheless, a new process has already been developed and implemented so that though some existing foreclosures may experience delays while corrective action is taken, there will be no interruption in new foreclosures.  These delays are expected to be resolved within the next few weeks and certainly before year end, without serious consequence.  GMAC Mortgage has been addressing the procedural challenge for more than three months.  In all other respects, the mortgage business is operating as usual.”

[emphasis mine]

Does this mean that GMAC is getting smacked by judges, or prosecutors, for having foreclosure mill documents signed by people who claim to be officers of MERS, but don’t actually work for MERS?

Also, Bloomberg’s report was awfully detailed and specific, and they say they SAW the memo. It also says it confirmed the content of the memo with the very same Mr. Olecki who now says they got it wrong.

I’m confused. Maybe Bloomberg will post the memo online so we can see for ourselves if they read it right? Or, maybe Mr. Olecki will explain al this to us?

I do note that Mr. Olecki’s statement refers to report s of a “foreclosure” moratorium and Bloomberg never mentions this. Bloomberg was quite specific about which activities GMAC was halting: evictions, cash for keys, lockouts, and resale of foreclosed housing stock. All of these activities are those which fall under the “irreparable harm” category.

All my spidey senses are tingling.