No, the FDIC is NOT paying OneWest a bonus if they avoid loan modification. Despite the allegations of a recently circulated internet video, the FDIC agreement with OneWest Bank does not provide a financial incentive to encourage short sale rather than the modification of delinquent home loans. In fact, OneWest Bank is contractually required to [...]

New trial period rules for HAMP modifications.

Don’t wait until it is too late, contact a foreclosure defense lawyer as soon as you fall behind in your mortgage payment.

Many of our clients facing foreclosure in Illinois and Wisconsin speak only Spanish. So when I tell them that the Obama Mortgage Modification Program has been a great disappointment, it comes out “gran decepción”.  And after explaining to my clients how disappointed I have been with the mortgage “modification” program, I couldn’t help thinking that [...]

The mainstreem media is acknowledging what consumer attorneys have known for months–that mortgage modification is only happening in a tiny percentage of applications. Mortgage servicers are blaming the homeowners for failing to turn in paperwork; homeowners report multiple mailings of paperwork only to be told they are denied due to errors or incompleteness.

Where are the 100,000 homes with modified mortgages that Bank of America is boasting of helping? The homeowners aren’t in Florida, Texas, California, Oregon, Maryland, Kansas, Missouri….could it be that the 100,000 homes just don’t exist? That BOA is counting phone calls as a successful modification? Consumer attorneys across the country are speaking out and reproving the mortgage companies as one after another, modifications are denied for their clients.

Early this week, the news was an increase in housing prices nationwide:  the end of the slump is near, said the commentary.
They glossed over the bit about nearly 7% of homeowners are behind on their mortgages.  Then yesterday’s announcement that nearly 25% of American homeowners owe more on their home than it’s worth.
I sat [...]

As a Florida foreclosure defense attorney, I am a little annoyed with media reports that “we seem to be pulling out of this foreclosure crisis” because this month has fewer foreclosures than last month.
Before 2005, only Wall Street knew what a “subprime” mortgage was, but by 2007, Main Street learned about this domestic terrorist plot [...]

If you don’t understand the difference between an escrow shortage and an escrow deficiency – you are not alone.  Many attorneys even get this confused.
Regulation X defines a deficiency as the “amount of a negative balance in an escrow account.” This happens when a mortgage servicer has advanced funds to cover disbursements (such as property [...]

Will wonders never cease?  The Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision issued a joint report on home loan modification recently for Second Quarter 2009.  What a surprise to find that many modified home loans went into default when the payment wasn’t lowered or when it was actually increased.
More than half of [...]