Endorsements in blank and Pooling and Servicing Agreements may make it impossible for banks to prove they have the right to foreclose. I explained endorsements in blank in Produce the Note, An Alternate View, Part 3 and the right to foreclose, or standing, in Produce the Note, An Alternate View, Part 1. The Pooling and Servicing Agreement (PSA) is the heart of a mortgage securitization. It requires a “depositor” or “transferor” to transfer all of the mortgage loans being securitized to a trustee who “holds” them for the benefit of the investors who buy the mortgage back securities.
The mortgage notes transferred to the trustee pursuant to the PSA must be endorsed in blank. But, under UCC 3-301, transferring possession of a bearer note transfers only the right to enforce the note. It does not transfer ownership of the note and ownership, I have argued, determines who has the right to foreclose. UCC 3-301 affords a non-owner of the note, or even a thief, the right to enforce the note.
Because PSAs routinely required notes in the pool to be endorsed in blank, parties in the secondary mortgage market often endorsed notes in blank well before the PSA depositor or transferor would come into possession. So, if the foreclosing party produces the PSA as proof of its ownership on a motion to dismiss for lack of standing, the borrower will want to know who transferred possession to the foreclosing party and to see proof of that transferee’s ownership. This process should be pursued for every link in the chain all the way back to the party that endorsed the note in blank. The foreclosing party normally has the burden of proof on standing and it likely will be difficult, if not impossible, for the foreclosing party to prove ownership for every transferee in the chain. The longer the chain, the harder it will be. If proof of ownership is lacking at any link, it follows that the foreclosing party has not established the right to foreclose and the foreclosure action should be dismissed.