Illinois Sheriff suspends mortgage foreclosures

An Illinois Sheriff has decided enough is enough! He's suspending mortgage foreclosures until, he claims, mortgage companies start to do their homework and work with people, instead of paper. Considering the current financial crisis, will this be a new trend?

Sheriff Thomas Dart says his office will be receiving record numbers of foreclosures, but often times there are renters. The renters may be paying their rent on time, but the mortgage owners haven't kept up with the payments. Additionally Dart accuses the mortgage lenders for not checking the facts to know who they are evicting.

Should innocent renters be evicted for the stupidity of their landlords? This Sheriff anyway, believes not.

Sherrif Dart was quoted in a recent CNN article:

"These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people, and don't care who's in the building," Dart said. "They simply want their money and don't care who gets hurt along the way.

"On top of it all, they want taxpayers to fund their investigative work for them. We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today."

Of course not everyone agrees with Dart's actions. In fact,the Illinois Bankers Association says that Dart "was elected to uphold the law and to fulfill the legal duties of his office, which include serving eviction notices."

According to the association Dart could be found in contempt of court for ignoring court eviction orders.

What do you think? Should good people be evicted from their homes even if they have been loyal, prompt renters paying their obligations to landlords who didn't follow through?