Anyone who works with consumers these days–attorneys, housing counselors, lenders, and brokers and, for that matter, anyone who reads media reports on the mortgage crisis–has no doubt reacted to some tale of financial woe like this:  “How could anyone be that dumb!”  We’ve all heard some version of the exploding ARM, the payments which are [...]

If your property goes into foreclosure, you will find your mailbox (and sometimes even your phone, e-mail, and front oor) full of offers to “help” you.  You may wonder how they know to contact you.  The answer is simple–they data-mine the court files or any other public record created when a foreclosure is begun.
You may [...]

I frequently have clients tell me that their homes are “in foreclosure.”  Upon reviewing the situation carefully, however, I find that the phrase “in foreclosure” may mean different things to different people, and it may be important to distinguish between those different meanings.
To me, as a lawyer in a judicial foreclosure state (where it takes [...]

Lately I have had a number of clients who have asked me whether they should continue to seek mortgage modification, or go ahead and file a Chapter 13 to stop a foreclosure.  With the slow pace of lenders’ response to modification applications, and the pressure of possible foreclosure, it can be a difficult decision.  Here [...]

CNN reports that the Treasury Department is ramping up efforts to coerce banks into modifying more mortgages.  The reason is, of course, that the number of mortgages that have been modified under the HAMP (or any other) program have been insignificant:
For example, fewer than 5% of the trial adjustments on loans owned or guaranteed by [...]

In HUD’s Interim Report to Congress on the root causes of the foreclosure crisis, the conclusions reached by the panel are a searing indictment of the mortgage and investment banking industries:
… [I]t seems clear … that the sharp rise in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures is fundamentally the result of rapid growth in loans with a [...]

In the last several months, with interest rates at historic lows, and bailout cash funding some new loans, it has become possible to get a traditional re-finance approved, usually to take advantage of lower rates.  It may not be possible to refinance if you have no equity (or negative equity) in your home, but if [...]

CNNMoney has collected comments and reviews of the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, which demonstrate the frustration that borrowers are having trying to get HAMP modifications through the approval process.

Most servicers started implementing the program in April and May, but soon faced harsh criticism as applications flooded in. CNNMoney.com has heard overwhelming negative [...]

What do you do when you get a mortgage foreclosure notice?  More and more people every day are experiencing one of the most unsettling things that can happen in your financial life.  People who never expected to have to deal with such a thing are faced with a new reality.  So, what do you do?
1.  [...]

The South Carolina Supreme Court has issued an administrative order that establishes a procedure which delays foreclosure sales in pending cases until HAMP applications can be processed where the mortgage is subject to HAMP, requires lenders to notify the court when HAMP applies in new cases, and allows foreclosure to proceed where loans are not [...]