GMAC Temporarily Halts Evictions in 23 States

Ally Financial Inc.'s mortgage unit, formerly GMAC, has temporarily suspended evictions and some bank-owned closings on homes in 23 states, reported the Washington Post, today. In an internal memo dated Sept. 17 and marked "urgent," brokers and agents of the company's GMAC mortgage unit were ordered to immediately halt evictions, cash-for-key transactions and lockouts. Ally, the nation's fourth-largest home loan originator, may "need to take corrective action in connection with some foreclosures" in the affected states, the memo said. Ally Financial spokesman James Olecki in a phone interview said that the 23 states that the memo mentions are the ones that "follow a more judicial foreclosure process." "We are going back to review our process in those states and continue to remove states we have confirmed all requirements have been met," Olecki said. He said the company is "committed to preserving the integrity of the foreclosure process and if any corrective actions are needed, we will take immediate steps to make sure they are implemented." The U.S. Treasury Department, owns a 56.3 percent stake in GMAC, the largest lender to General Motors and Chrysler dealerships and their customers. The government' gave $17 billion in aid to the financing company. It was the only bank to get three separate rounds of financing and is the only one in which the government owns a majority stake. Richard Lella, a broker in northern New Jersey who works with GMAC and received the memo, said the order seemed odd and that he could find no reason for the temporary suspension "unless it's part of their government program of tidying up, or at least they want to show the government they are doing something." Here's the full list of states that are affected: Connecticut Florida Hawaii Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Nebraska New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Vermont Wisconsin