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Have you been served with a foreclosure?

Here are your options:

1) Your mortgage servicer’s loss mitigation department may provide you with a “reinstatement figure.” If you pay it, the servicer will reinstate the mortgage and dismiss the foreclosure. This option typically has a couple of problems associated with it. First of all, the servicer will not be very cooperative, even if it promises you that the reinstatement figure is on the way. Even if you successfully obtain a reinstatement figure, you still must come up with the cash to pay the amount due to stop the foreclosure.

(By the way, reinstatement figures often will include hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, in junk fees, such as a Broker Price Opinion, property inspections and other “property preservation expenses”. These fees are often charged to the borrower whether or not the cost was actually incurred or the service actually performed.)

2) You can seek a complete refinance of the existing mortgage in foreclosure. This option is limited to a very small group of people. There must be sufficient equity to entice another lender to pay off the defaulted mortgage. This becomes even more difficult if there is a second mortgage because that must also be paid off. Given the much publicized “credit crunch” on Wall Street, only those borrowers with substantial and verifiable income will most likely qualify.

3) You can place your home on the market and attempt to sell it. This may not be a realistic option because home values are still dropping each day, and you may now have no equity or negative equity. I have previously discussed the possibility of a short sale, but if you are in a foreclosure, you are under the additional pressure of time. There is only a small window of opportunity until closing on the sale of your home will become impossible before a foreclosure sale date, and your mortgage servicer will be in no hurry to cooperate. See option #1 above.

4) You can file a Chapter 13 reorganization bankruptcy. There are a bunch of excellent blogs on the subject of filing a Chapter 13 on Bankruptcy Law Network, but you can only save your home in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy if you can make the monthly Chapter 13 Plan payment. Chapter 13 can buy you time, but if your case is dismissed for nonpayment, the mortgage servicing company will resume the foreclosure. If you have regular income, this is the way to go.

5) You can give up and move out. This is an option that many people are choosing in this current economic climate. Maybe the reason you fell behind in your mortgage is a long term loss of income. You cannot meet the requirements of one of the four previous options, and you are ready to move on. There are two major problems with this option. The first problem is that you will definitely have a foreclosure on your credit report. Secondly, there is a possibility that the mortgage company will still be owed a balance after the foreclosure sale. This leads to a deficiency balance owed by you to the mortgage company.

6) You can fight against your foreclosure. It is not a given that your mortgage servicer will succeed easily in a foreclosure . . . unless you do nothing. This may sound too good to be true, but your mortgage company may have filed an improper foreclosure lawsuit. Across the country, judges are punishing mortgage companies for incomplete record keeping and for violations of law. You may have valuable defenses and counterclaims against your mortgage company that could actually prevent foreclosure and even require your mortgage servicing company to pay you damages. You may even be able to force your lender to completely rewrite the terms of your note and mortgage, enabling you to keep your home.

Here’s how you can fight your foreclosure!

How do I fight my Florida foreclosure?

http://www.mortgagelawnetwork.com

By Chip Parker, Jacksonville Consumer Attorney on Mar 28, 2008 in Attorneys In Our Network, barney frank, mortgage reform

greywolf.critter.netAs I stated in my previous article, you have a limited number of options when you are served with a foreclosure on your home. For many, the best option may be to fight the foreclosure. “How is this possible?,” you may ask. “How can I fight my huge mortgage company with all of its tall building lawyers?”

The truth of the matter is that, despite the millions of dollars spent by the mortgage servicing industry on sophisticated software to process loans, record keeping tends to be sloppy and full of errors. Moreover, the largest mortgage companies hire law firms that do nothing but file foreclosures, and the work goes to the firm that bids the cheapest price per case. It’s not that these lawyers are stupid. More accurately, their volume case load prevents them from effectively litigating contested cases, and their client, the mortgage servicer, does little to assist in the prosecution of the foreclosure case.

Are you aware that your mortgage company is probably not the same company that actually loaned you the money to buy or refinance your home? How do you know if this mortgage company has been properly assigned your note and mortgage? The alleged assignment may be legally insufficient. Does your foreclosure complaint even have copies of the note, mortgage and assignment attached? Most likely, these documents are not attached, and may not even be in the possession of your mortgage company. On October 31, 2007, a federal district judge in Ohio dismissed fourteen (14) foreclosure cases filed by Deutsche Bank for this very reason.

Your mortgage company may be attempting to substitute your original note and/or mortgage with a copy. This is called a “Count to Establish Lost Documents.” There are strict legal requirements to establish a lost note or mortgage, and your mortgage company may be unable to meet the requirements if challenged.

Your mortgage company may have inflated the balance due by charging junk fees, such as a Broker Price Opinion (BPO), property inspections, force placed insurance and other “property preservation expenses.” Additionally, your mortgage company may have placed your payments into a “suspense account” and charged you late fees as if payments were never made.

The bottom line is that your mortgage company may have filed an improper foreclosure lawsuit. You may have valuable defenses and counterclaims against your mortgage company that could actually prevent foreclosure and even require your mortgage servicing company to pay you damages. You may even be able to force your lender to completely rewrite the terms of your note and mortgage, enabling you to keep your home.

Don’t sit on your rights! You have or will be served a copy of the foreclosure complaint by a process server. You typically have only 20 days to respond to the mortgage company’s complaint, so you need to see an attorney immediately if you wish to defend against the foreclosure!

Foreclosure occurs when a borrower fails to make payments on his or her mortgage. The lender then obtains a court order to repossess the property and sell it to recoup the mortgage.

Types of Foreclosure

There are several types of foreclosure. Judicial foreclosure and foreclosure by power of sale are the two most common. In judicial foreclosure, the residents must move out of the home in a specified period of time. The sale of the mortgaged property is then conducted under the supervision of a court. When the home is sold, the proceeds are first used to pay back the first mortgage. Any remaining proceeds will go to other lien holders and then finally the borrower, if anything is left.

With foreclosure by power of sale, the lender can sell the home without the supervision of the court. A “power of sale” clause, however, is usually required in the mortgage contract in order for this type of foreclosure to occur. In addition, this type of foreclosure does not provide the lender with a deficiency judgment. This makes it difficult to obtain title insurance for the property. Like a judicial foreclosure, once the home is sold, proceeds must first go to pay off the mortgage and any other lien holders.

While these are the two most common types of foreclosure, there are also other types of foreclosure. Since foreclosure laws can vary in each state, if you are facing foreclosure, it is best to obtain legal advice in your area.

How to Avoid Foreclosure

If you can no longer meet your mortgage payments, do not be embarrased.  The first step is to contact your lender.  Your lender may be open to some of the following options:

Forebearance: Lenders may be willing to postpone taking legal action against you and let you work out a repayment plan that is feasible for you.

Repayment Plan: Lenders may let you spread out the missed payments over a longer period of time.  You would pay a little extra in your future payments to make up for those that were missed.

Note Modification: Lenders may change the parameters of your loan.  For example, they may freeze your rate on an adjustable loan.  They could also extend the term of your loan.

Refinance: The lender may add the missed payments back on to the balance of the loan.  This is only available if you have sufficient equity and meeting lending requirements. 

Debt Forgiveness The lender might waive your obligation on some of your missed payments.  This, however, rarely happens.

How to Stop Foreclosure

Sell Your Home: Sell your home and use the proceeds to pay off the mortgage.

Short Sale: If your home is worth less than your mortgage, talk to you lender about a short sale.  In a short sale, the lender agrees to selling the home at market value and forgiving the remainder of the loan.  A short sale affects your credit but not as bad as a foreclosure.

Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure: In this scenario, the lender signs over the property’s deed to the lender in exchange for closing the loan.  Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, however, affects your credit the same as foreclosure. 

For more information about foreclosures, visit GreatForeclosureListings.com

What can I do to stop foreclosure? Are there foreclosure assistance solutions available to help me? These are top questions that many Americans are finding themselves asking today. With so many foreclosures occurring, it leaves families in precarious positions, looking for foreclosure assistance solutions in lieu of foreclosure. Thankfully, there are some great solutions available.

John and Mary were an average couple. Both had jobs, a nice home, two cars, and were doing pretty well. However, John’s company was getting squeezed by the economy, so they laid him off, and at the same time the interest rates on their adjustable rate mortgage jumped, making their payment more than ever before in a time when they had less income than every before. Soon they were missing payments and facing foreclosure, frantically looking for foreclosure assistance solutions to help.

When you’re looking for foreclosure assistance solutions, there are several things to keep in mind. You want to make sure you choose the right solution for your needs, so here are several things to look for when searching for a foreclosure solution.

- Look for an Option That Will Help You Save Your Home – When you are weighing the various solutions available to you today, look for an option that will help you save your home if possible. This is not always possible, but the best choice.

- Make Sure You’re Not Getting Involved in a Scam – There are many scams out there, and when you’re trying to find the right foreclosure assistance solutions, keep your eyes open for scams.

- Don’t Pay for Help – There are many solutions out there and you shouldn’t have to pay for them. So, if they are asking for payment, this is not the right solution for you.

Solution #1 – Talk to Your Lender – Probably one of the best foreclosure assistance solutions to employ if you are facing foreclosure is to start out by talking to your lender. You need to let them know what the problem is. They don’t want to foreclose and can often offer you other great solutions to help.

Solution #2 – Loan Refinancing – Loan refinancing is another of the many foreclosure assistance solutions that is a great option for you. When you have an adjustable rate mortgage, this is definitely a top solution, since you can often save quite a bit in interest. This is a top way to avoid foreclosure but is not always an option.

Solution #3 – Forbearance – Forbearance on your loan can help you reduce your mortgage payments or even delay them for a time period without legal action. If you have dealt with a job loss or extreme financial problems, this is one of the top foreclosure assistance solutions to check into.

Solution #4 – Pre-Foreclosure Sales – If you are not interested in keeping your home and you’d rather make sure that you save your credit and avoid a foreclosure, pre-foreclosure sales can provide you with an excellent option.

Solution #5 – Repayment Plan – Some companies will offer special repayment plans that are great foreclosure assistance solutions. This is a very common method used and includes your lender allowing you to repay the past due amounts by adding part of it to your monthly payment each month so you can get caught up.

Solution #6 – Short Sale – A short sale is not one of the top foreclosure assistance solutions, and it means you’ll be giving up your home, but it is a good option as a last resort. It allows you to sell your home for less than the mortgage amount, but you’ll have to get your lender to agree to it.

Solution #7 – Deed in Lieu – Last of all, deed in lieu is another one of the many foreclosure assistance solutions available, but there are some big disadvantages. While it does help you to avoid foreclosure, it can still damage your credit.

These are just a few of the top foreclosure assistance solutions options that you have today. It’s important that you understand your options and how they work so you can make sure that you don’t get caught off guard by foreclosure. There is help for you if you are dealing with a possible foreclosure, so take the time to find out more about these solutions that are available to you.