In 2010, big banks initiated three million foreclosure filings nationwide. Total filings could reach nine million this year. Even amid a broader economic crisis this forcible migration of a city the size of New York should be treated as the economic and humanitarian catastrophe that it is. In response, Attorneys General in every state are actively investigating the rife reports of fraud and illegal foreclosures that have cropped up coast to coast. 

As rumors of the investigation’s conclusion circulate, it’s a good time to write to the lead investigator, Attorney General Tom Miller of Iowa, asking him to demand no less than a fair settlement that allows families hammered by unemployment and underemployment to stay in their homes.

As Mary Bottari of BanksterUSA explains, there is hope:

In the history of the financial crisis, state AGs have so far come out looking pretty good. State AGs were the first in the nation to recognize that the predatory lending practices of firms such as Ameriquest and Countrywide were a danger to consumers and to the entire U.S. economy. In 2004, they were radically preempted from taking action against these crimes by Bush-appointed federal regulators at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Now state AGs have another moment to outshine negligent federal prosecutors. State AGs can take a series of actions that the Feds have failed to take. First of all, they can book the crooks and force top officers to trade pinstripes for jail stripes. Secondly, they can force the banks into settlements with individual homeowners that really take a bite out of their profits, complete with foreclosure redos and damages for harmed homeowners. They can also subject the banks to ongoing independent audits of their foreclosure procedures and they can demand that the banks force principle write downs and other across-the-board measures that will stabilize communities and the economy.

So go to BanskterUSA.org to e-mail Miller, and urge him to do the right thing, and then join thousands of concerned citizens across the country by imploring your own state AG to contribute to meaningful action on foreclosure.