Reliance solely on a credit report is a very dangerous practice when it comes to foreclosures. Credit reports are not always up to date and accurate. I had a client years ago that had the oil company record a lien on his property. He had the lien released, but the release never showed up on the credit report for years afterward
In Connecticut it is imperative that all current mortgage and lien holders be identified for purposes of the foreclosure. They have to be named in the complaint with identification of their priorities. Junior lien and mortgage holders need to be served as defendants.
The assignments of the mortgages are critical because they establish who has to be named as a proper party defendant. Only the current junior assignee is the proper party. I had an interesting experience a few years ago. I had done a search for a tax lien foreclosure. Several months later a received a call complaining that I had not picked up on an assignment in the title search, and had shown the prior holder of the mortgage as the current holder. The prior holder was named as the defendant. Since he had no interest in the foreclosure he did not contest it. After judgment entered the plaintiff discovered that he had the wrong defendant. It became necessary to reopen the case, serve the proper defendant and foreclose his interest. Fortunately, it had been discovered in time to rectify the matter.
In any event I had some irate foreclosure attorney screaming at me on the phone that she was going to file a claim against me for the costs and attorney's fees involved in reopening the case. I went back to the land records office to research the matter only to find that my original abstract was correct. The current holder of the mortgage at issue had never recorded an assignment showing the conveyance of the mortgage to him. I called the foreclosure attorney to report that the original abstract was as correct as it could be given the omission of the relevant assignment on the land records. She was apologetic. However, it does disclose the need for the best search possible rather than simply relying on a credit report.
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