Banks Continue To Oppose Loan Mods In Chapter 13 – NACBA Makes Big Push

I just received this email from NACBA regarding the attempt to change the Bankruptcy Code to help homeowners: Read more

How To Make Your Lender Produce The Note In Foreclosure, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, and Loan Modifications: Learn the Discovery Rules!

If you’ve read my prior posts on using the lack of standing defense where an assignee/new lender may not have possession of the original note, you may be wondering how to actually apply this defense. Read more

Why You Need An Attorney To Handle Your Loan Modification

Congresswoman Maxine Waters states that the average American will not be able to handle a loan modification themselves. She is right. Homeowners should have an attorney for this process. Read more

Loan Mod (Modification) Strategy – Make The Lender Produce The Note

A recent trend in the last year has been for borrowers to insist that the lender produce the original note in order to foreclose. It is not a simple as it sounds. Because of the way lenders did business the last few years, many cannot produce the note. In about 4 out of 10 times, this may create a legal defense called lack of standing, which means that the lender cannot show that it is the rightful party to sue the homeowner to collect the debt or enforce the mortgage. This can be a useful strategy in some loan modification negotiations, foreclosure litigation, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. Read more

Highest Court in Mass Upholds Injunction Restricting Foreclosure of Abusive ARM Subprime Loans

A recent case from Massachusetts may be worth a look for New York attorneys and homeowners. In the case of Commonwealth v. Fremont Inv. & Loan, 452 Mass 733 (2008), the Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld an injunction restricting foreclosure and considered certain factors that would render a mortgage loan presumptively unfair under that state’s laws, including teaser rates at least 3% lower than the fully indexed rate, ARMS with intro periods of 3 years or less, LTVs of 100%, substantial prepayment penalties, and borrowers with debt to income ratios greater than 50% when the debt is measured at the fully indexed rate. Read more

Will The REO Time Bomb Result In More Loan Mods?

Apparently, the real estate market and foreclosure crisis are worse than the statistics would actually indicate according to this cnbc.com story. The implication of this story is that lenders may be more willing to do loan modifications now because they can’t possibly handle more foreclosed properties in their inventory.