Feature Headlines
Return regurally for the latest articles and featured reprints from some of the most authoratative sources in the foreclosure defense and banking industry.
Foreclosure Help:
Homes can be lost by mistake when banks miscommunicate
By Paul Kiel, ProPublica
Last November, Michael Hill of Lexington, S.C., finally got the call he'd been waiting for. Congratulations, a rep from JPMorgan Chase told him, your trial mortgage modification is approved. Hill's monthly payment, around $900, would be nearly halved.
Except there was a problem. Chase had foreclosed on Hill's home a month earlier, and his family was just days away from eviction.
Foreclosure Help:
Round Two: Suffolk County Supreme Court’s Judge Spinner Takes on Wells Fargo
Written on March 9, 2010 by Kathleen A. Scanlon
Having recently issued a decision canceling an Indymac mortgage lien in another foreclosure action, Judge Spinner turns his attention to the outrageous actions of Wells Fargo and holds the mortgage behemoth liable for trespass, resulting in $155,092.00 judgment, in Wells Fargo v. Tyson. At the outset, the court pointed out that the Plaintiff sent a per diem attorney to the first settlement conference who had no knowledge of the case so that any potential progress was thwarted.
It is a common problem and a recurring complaint that usually Plaintiff’s representative, at these settlement conferences, has no authority to negotiate, thus preventing any meaningful settlement and violating the spirit of the law. Having aroused the ire of numerous judges, you would think that these foreclosure mill law firms would figure out that they had better send counsel with authority to enter into some sort of settlement or at least have the ability to get someone on the phone who has it.
Foreclosure Help:
Mortgage Meltdown: Distressed homeowners take on lenders in court
Written on April 9, 2010 by Paola Iuspa-Abbott
Diana and John Cirigliano can’t wait to face off with Wells Fargo at a foreclosure trial.
A Miami-Dade circuit court judge last month sided with them, when he ruled that the lender had failed to prove it had the right to foreclose on their Miami Beach condo.
“I was ready to kiss the judge,” Diana Cirigliano said. “I thanked the judge for listening to us. He took the facts and ruled on the facts.”
Foreclosures Help:
The American Banker
By Sara Lepro
A pair of Florida court rulings will make foreclosures in this hard-hit housing market even more painful for lenders.
Law Firm find upsides to current market downside
New York Post
Richard Wilner
As the mortgage melt down paralyzed the economy across the US and throughout New York State, one company in the center of the storm had all the business it could handle.
The little-known law firm of Steven J. Baum PC, which is based in suburban Buffalo, NY, and represents dozens of banks in matters of failed mortgages, last year filed a staggering 12,551 foreclosure lawsuits in New York City and the suburbs, which works out to about 48 a day.
Are lenders finally willing to take the cut?
By John Gittelsohn and Prashant Gopal
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Efforts by U.S. banks to help distressed homeowners have focused mainly on temporary fixes such as interest-rate reductions that may only put off the day of reckoning, despite policy makers wanting them to do more.
Why are younger Generations are more likely to walk away from their homes?
By Dawn Wotapka
11-18-09
The housing crash has come to this: With so many Americans owing more than their homes than they’re worth - in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars - more are debating walking away, or halting payments they can afford and waiting for foreclosure.
Do Loan Modifications Work?
By Nick Timiraos
December 4, 2009
The Obama administration’s effort to modify mortgages is heading into overdrive in a bid to make sure that borrowers who have received trial loan modifications can have that workout made “permanent.”
What do you do if you are underwater?
By Dawn Wotapka
November 24, 2009
More and more Americans find themselves underwater, and it has nothing to do with a swimming pool – though it could be described as feeling like they’re drowning. As we report in Tuesday’s WSJ, nearly one in four borrowers - or roughly 10.7 million people - owe more than their homes is worth, according to FirstAmerican Core Logic. Some face shortfalls worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What to do if you’re underwater?
Foreclosure Help
One in Four Borrowers Is Underwater!
By RUTH SIMON and JAMES R. HAGERTY
The proportion of U.S. homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than the properties are worth has swelled to about 23%, threatening prospects for a sustained housing recovery.
Nearly 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes in the third quarter, according to First American CoreLogic, a real-estate information company based in Santa Ana, Calif.
Foreclosure Help
Drop in Foreclosure Filings Likely Temporary
By Nick Timiraos
December 10, 2009
Foreclosure filings fell for the fourth straight month in November but were still higher from year ago levels, according to figures released Thursday by RealtyTrac, as loan modifications help hold down new foreclosures.
The number of default notices and scheduled auctions and repossessions fell by 8% in November from the previous month and to their lowest level since February. But foreclosure activity is still up 18% from one year ago.
Foreclosure Help:
Judge Delivers Setback to Struggling Homeowners
By Ruth Simon
Borrowers don’t have a legal entitlement to loan modifications. That was the conclusion of a federal judge who this week dismissed a lawsuit filed by Minnesota homeowners seeking to block foreclosures.
The decision was a setback to struggling borrowers who have turned to the courts in an effort to get help under the Obama administration’s housing rescue plan. On Tuesday, the administration said that more than 650,000 borrowers had begun trial modifications under the program. But some borrowers complain that they are being denied aid by their mortgage company, even though they qualify for help under the program. So far, the results of those efforts have been mixed.