Why You Need A Lawyer To Represent You In Loan Modification Proceedings
MSNBC.com is reporting on the delays people encounter when they try to get a loan modification for their home mortgage. The lenders are overwhelmed and understaffed. My firm has routinely experienced lenders
who say they never received entire packages or authorizations (when we have fax confirmation transmittals that they actually did get the papers) and lenders whose representatives state false or incorrect information during telephone calls. We are persistent and we call and write to follow up. It does not mean that someone will get approved just because they have a lawyer, but I believe that they will be taken more seriously and can avoid getting the runaround. Nearly every new caller I speak to now has told me a horror story of some mortgage lender that gave them the runaround. It is the norm, not the exception. But lenders cannot avoid lawyer’s letters – or if they do so, they do it at their own peril. In particular, they cannot ignore Qualified Written Request letters that we send to them under Federal Law. Callers also frequently tell me that they paid a “loan consultant” a fee to help them with a loan modification. I have blogged on this before – the illegal practice of law by consultants is a misdemeanor in New York. If you are solicited by unknown “loan consultants” for legal services such as modifying your home mortgage, you should avoid them at all costs.