Drained

Talk abour "brain drain," do you know what your bank or lender has done with your promissory note? "During the real estate frenzy of the past decade, mortgages were sold and resold, bundled into securities and peddled to investors," the Associated Press reports today. "In many cases, the original note signed by the homeowner was lost, stored away in a distant warehouse or destroyed."

Now, homeowners in foreclsorue are calling their bank's bluff and forestalling repossession by insisting they produce the note.

"April Charney, head of foreclosure defense for Jacksonville Area Legal Aid in Florida, said the strategy has been so successful for her that she now travels around the country to train other lawyers in how to use it," the AP continues. "She said she has gotten cases delayed for years by demanding that lenders produce paperwork they cannot find."