Banks ‘forged signatures to seize houses’
‘You can be jailed for it’
STAFF at a state-owned bank forged signatures on documents used to repossess homes and recover debts, it is claimed.
In the US, such practices have led to billion-dollar fines and millions in compensation.
The signatures reportedly appear on legal papers such as witness statements that have been used in court hearings by UK Asset Resolution.
UKAR was set up by the Government in the wake of the financial crisis to manage banks that were nationalised.
The documents were used to seize debts owed to Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley and Mortgage Express, campaigners told the BBC – with Lloyds also accused of the practice.
Lloyds strongly denied the claims and UKAR dismissed them as ‘totally false’.
Those claiming to have been victims of the alleged practice include Brenda and John Wright, who in 2014 were evicted from their rented flat in Southport, Merseyside.
It came following a dispute between the bank and the flat’s owner over mortgage arrears and the owner was served a notice of repossession.
The couple’s offer to pay more rent to help clear the arrears was declined.
Mr and Mrs Wright, now in their 70s, said they saw a ‘discrepancy’ in the signatures on documents from lawyers for Mortgage Express, which suggested multiple staff had signed the same name on legal papers used to evict them.
Senior bankers are required to sign huge numbers of documents when going through the courts to repossess a property.
The signatures in Mr and Mrs Wright’s case were among dozens shown to handwriting analyst Adam Brand, who said the ‘movement and the fluency’ of the writing looked different.
The example signatures were provided by the Bank Signature Forgery Campaign, founded by Julian Watts. Mr Watts said his wife’s home was repossessed by Lloyds in 2011. He claims junior staff copied a manager’s signature on paperwork sent to her.
He has compared the practice to the ‘robo-signing’ scandal in the US, when lower-paid staff at banks signed piles of repossession documents without having properly read them. Banks were fined $25 billion (£19 billion) in 2012 and had to pay damages to millions of victims who had been illegally repossessed.
Mr Watts said: ‘People have been evicted from their homes because of these signatures.’
The claims prompted calls from Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke, who sits on the Treasury committee, for Parliament to investigate. If proven, it could constitute contempt of court. ‘You can be jailed for it,’ he said. ‘We need to know how widespread this is. Both Mortgage Express and Lloyds need to hand over the evidence.’
A spokesman for UKAR, which owns Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley and Mortgage Express, said: ‘UKAR completely rejects the allegation that it has had any involvement in the practice of systemic signature forgery or “robo-signing”.
‘We have repeatedly asked the BBC to show us any evidence of this, which it refuses to do.’
Lloyds said: ‘ We strongly refute the allegations made by a single individual, which have been investigated by the bank, and found not to be true.
‘The law firm which produced the documents concerned has confirmed that the person who signed them was at work on the date they were signed, and that the signatures are genuine.’