Banks Invasive foreclosure tactics draw fire.

Faced with more than 10 million foreclosures that have
piled up since the start of the mortgage crisis, the
nation's largest banks are turning behind the scenes to
property management firms, with the Ohio-based
Safeguard the largest, to help them navigate the
wreckage, determine the occupancy of the troubled
properties and preserve them until the homes can be
resold.  But the firms are coming under fire for using
questionable and possibly illegal tactics. The scrutiny
threatens to ensnare JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America,
Citibank, and other lenders that depend on the firms.
Legal aid offices in California, Nevada, Florida,
Michigan and New York say calls about Safeguard's
aggressive tactics rank among the top complaints.  On
Monday, Illinois became the first state to take on the
property management firms legally, contending in a
lawsuit that Safeguard wrongfully dispossessed hundreds
of homeowners in the state. In suing Safeguard, Lisa
Madigan, the attorney general, contends that the
company broke into homes despite stark evidence that
homeowners still lived in them, bullied tenants into
leaving even though they had no legal obligation to do
so and, in some instances, damaged the very homes they
were sent to protect, according to the suit.

"This is a homeowner's worst nightmare," Ms. Madigan
said in an interview on Friday, noting that her office
had received more than 400 complaints about Safeguard.
Diane R. Fusco, a spokeswoman for Safeguard, said that
the company had not received the lawsuit.  Safeguard,
she said, follows a rigorous system to determine
whether a property is vacant before starting any work.
"We adhere to the highest standards in the industry and
are proud of our record of quality," she said, adding
that the firm takes errors seriously.  "Not only do we
work quickly to correct and resolve the issue with the
homeowner, we fully investigate the matter to identify
and address the root cause," she said.  Banks have
defended the firms, which the lenders say are carefully
monitored, arguing that maintaining properties is an
important check on vandalism, crime and plummeting
property values.  But complaints from homeowners, as
well as information included in the Illinois lawsuit,
suggest that Safeguard through its subcontractors
ignored clear signs of occupancy like "a barking dog
inside the home, a car in the driveway" or "a
neighbor's statement that the property is occupied,"
the lawsuit said.
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