The housing crisis and economy have introduced quite a few new “words” and terms to the English language. Yet another has emerged in the past few weeks of the foreclosure debacle. “Robo-Signer”. I don’t think there is a Wikipedia entry for it yet…but I’m sure there will be. After a little research, the earliest mention I could find of the term was January 29, 2010, on Matt Weidner’s Blog. Matt is a foreclosure defense attorney located in Pennsylvania.
I am not sure if Mr. Weidner coined the term, but here’s my definition of a Robo-Signer. A Robo-Signer is a bank or mortgage company employee who signed an extraordinarily large number of foreclosure documents over a short time. Simple math (no calculator necessary) demonstrates that there is no way humanly possible that these employees were able to review these foreclosure documents with the amount legal care and diligence required. The slew of lawsuits and the foreclosure moratorium are the off-spring of these Robo-Signers.
No one is really sure whether the fallout from these Robo-Signers will hurt or help the economy. I’m pretty certain, some attorneys will cash in…but other than that, who knows how this will all unfold.
