El Paso County is suing some big banks -- Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual and others.

In total, 16 banks and credit corporations are being sued by nine Texas counties.

El Paso County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal said the banks created an electronic company that allows them to sell home mortgages to each other over and over again without recording it with the County Clerk's office. Bernal said not recording the newly acquired mortgages causes two different problems.

"One, the homeowner doesn't know who owns their mortgage," Bernal said. "Two, the county of El Paso -- and ultimately, the taxpayer -- don't receive the fee."

Millions of dollars in fees may not have been paid to the county. That's money, Bernal said, the county uses to improve the quality of life. A more direct affect is on people who have been paying their mortgage to the wrong bank because they didn't know it had been sold. In some cases, the new bank has foreclosed on those homeowners.

"When a bank acquires the new mortgage, they should register that mortgage with the County Clerk's office and give fair notice to the homeowner," Bernal said.

Bernal said it is an issue that's being dealt with nationwide. 

"Many different jurisdictions have sued in one form or fashion in different courts or different states," Bernal said. "All of them essentially complained about the same thing."

The defendants are:

The Bank of New York Mellon
Bank of America Corporation
Chase Home Mortgage Corporation of the Southeast
CitiMortgage, Inc. HSBC Finance Corporation
Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation
Nationwide Advantage Mortgage Company
SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.
United Guaranty Corporation
Washington Mutual Bank
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Deutsche Bank, A.G.
U.S. Bank, N.A.
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.
HSBC Bank USA, N.A.
LA Salle Bank, N.A.

And the other Texas counties involved with the lawsuit are:

Cass County
Hidalgo County
Kaufman County
Navarro County
Panola County
Rusk County Smith County
Starr County
Webb County

If you have a story that you feel deserves media attention, contact Ric Dupont at ric.dupont@kfoxtv.com.