| Bank Took 2 Years to File Politician’s Mortgage
SunTrust Bank of Atlanta denies any wrongdoing February 22, 2006 |
| SunTrust Bank of Atlanta claims it did nothing wrong by waiting two years to file a mortgage it made to a gubernatorial candidate.Deval Patrick, who is running for Massachusetts governor in a Democratic primary, took the $1.2 million loan from SunTrust Bank of Atlanta in the spring of 2003. But in an atypical set of circumstances for the mortgage industry the deed was not recorded until June of last year.
There was nothing improper about the chain of events other than the mortgage not being recorded in a timely fashion, Patrick’s campaign said in a statement to MortgageDaily.com. And the campaign put the blame squarely on the bank. Patrick and his wife, Diane, “did not now nor had any reason to know” that the mortgage had not been recorded, according to the Patrick campaign. “It’s the bank’s responsibility,” the campaign said. Sun Trust has a policy to not discuss customer’s financial business or transactions. But after being contacted by MortgageDaily.com, the bank did issue a statement about the delayed mortgage filing, which was reported Feb. 7 by The Boston Globe. The Globe also reported that Patrick worked as an executive vice president and general counsel for the Coca-Cola Co. when he and his wife took out the mortgage loan. Coke, as the company is known, is also based in Atlanta and has a business relationship with SunTrust. The bank holds $2 billion in Coke stock, according to the paper. SunTrust strongly denied any improper action was taken on Patrick’s behalf and indicated the delay was caused by an outside vendor working for the bank that has since gone out of business. “The Boston Globe story was partially accurate in terms of its facts but totally wrong in implying any improper action by SunTrust,” Hugh Suhr, a SunTrust spokesman, said in an e-mail to MortgageDaily.com. “The loan in question was one of approximately 450 whose filing was not completed on schedule because the outside settlement agent employed by SunTrust for this purpose filed for bankruptcy and failed to deliver our documents to the courthouse,” Suhr said in the e-mail. “This lapse was subsequently discovered by SunTrust and rectified,” he said. “At no time were any of these loans unsecured and the lack of timely filing had no impact whatsoever on any borrower’s repayment obligations.” Suhr did not name the settlement agent. Patrick’s mortgage has become fodder for political discussions in the Boston media, on Web sites and in blogs. “Patrick never tried any funny business, making the bank’s failure to record the mortgage not very scandalous at all,” according to a posting on the Bostonist, a Web site and blog about Boston. “In fact, much of the boring work that courts and lawyers do involves the confusion that arises when someone doesn’t register a mortgage or a deed. It happens all the time.” Another Web site, BlueMassGroup.com, had this take. “The Globe story talks a great deal about the close relationship that this bank and Coca-Cola have, and that Patrick was Coke’s general counsel at the time the loan was made, the Web site reports. “But the article provides no evidence — not the slightest bit — that Patrick or someone else at Coke somehow prevailed on the bank not to record the mortgage.” |
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Patrick Crowley is a feature journalist and blogger for MortgageDaily.com. He is also a reporter, blogger and columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer. |
