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 [...]

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 [...]

It seems that every time you turn on the radio or television in Southwest Florida, all you hear is a new advertisement from a mortgage modification company and how many modifications are getting done and how good the banks are doing at saving homes.  If you call the latest scam company, they can help you [...]

How many times have you heard, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”?  With the push to save homes through mortgage modification, more companies are promising results that they cannot deliver.
Twice in this last week, I have had potential clients come to me looking for help with mortgage modifications.  Each of [...]

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.

Short sales in Southwest Florida, especially Lehigh Acres, Cape Coral and Fort Myers are nothing new.  We have been living with this problem for a while.  The new trend is for buyers to put in multiple offers on different properties creating a kind of buying frenzy.  This behavior may have been brought on by the [...]

When your mortgage company begins the foreclosure process, they file what is called a “lis pendens” (Latin for “lawsuit pending”) with the county clerk’s office.  This puts the public on notice that they are intending to foreclose on your home.  In many areas of the country, you will start receiving mail from a variety of people [...]

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office filed for a Temporary Restraining Order against Excel Loss Mitigation Inc., United Servicing LLC, Bell Investments & Developments LLC and their key directors, David Bell and David Espy to stop their foreclosure rescue business.
Further, a Harris County (Houston) district judge froze their assets after the AG’s office charged the [...]

In Jacksonville, Attorney General Bill McCollum filed a lawsuit against National Foreclosure Counseling Services, Corp. for charging up-front fees to customers seeking help modifying their mortgage.  Florida legislators enacted the Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act last October, forbidding any company from charging such a fee in Florida prior to services being rendered.
In response to the [...]

New companies have sprung up all over the country, particularly in those areas where foreclosures have been high.  These companies focus on helping a homeowner obtain a modification of their mortgage to avoid losing their home.
The problem is some of these “services” are simply scam artists trying to make a quick buck by preying on [...]