Foreclosures and Debt

Exploding foreclosure rates have continued in 2009 in the U.S., especially in California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona. Under the Bush Administration there were programs initiated to help homeowners facing foreclosures starting in 2007, such as FHA Secure, Project Hope and others that did not appear to produce much fruit. Foreclosures continue to spiral out-of-control up until this day.

Now, President Obama and his Administration has rolled out what is sure to be a few of many programs to address the run away foreclosure rates and help about 9 million homeowners save and keep their homes. One such program launched this month is the “Making Home Affordable” Program. The “Making Home Affordable” program, is a two-prong approach for the foreclosure crisis that involves loan modification and refinancing programs for struggling homeowners. The loan modification approach is designed to bring lenders and borrowers together to modify the terms of their loan by lowering interest rates to as low as 2 percent for five years. After the five years, rates will rise to about five percent until the loan is repaid. For eligible borrowers, they will have to provide their most recent tax return and two pay stubs, as well as an “affidavit of financial hardship” to qualify for the loan modification program, which runs through 2012. Making Home Affordable modification program guidelines are as follows;

The home must be an owner occupied, single family 1-4 unit property (including condominium, cooperative, and manufactured home affixed to a foundation and treated as real property under state law). [Read more →]

Tags: Home Loans by Jacky
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Religious leaders and community activists and others gathered in Washington D.C. to meet with Federal officials, Congress and members of the Barack Obama transition team for a solution, such as more loan modifications and the like, to slow down the ever-growing foreclosure crisis that is affecting millions of homeowners. The religious leaders and prayerful were also there in Washington, D.C. to pray for some relief to homeowners facing foreclosure and eviction. Their prayers may have been answered, somewhat.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the largest home loan lenders in the U.S.,  have agreed to stop foreclosure and evictions for about six weeks beginning Nov 26, 2008 through January 9, 2009, just in time for the holidays. The suspension of foreclosures and evictions during this time period is designed to allow time for loan servicers to put in a place an efficient loan modification program to assist struggling homeowners.

According to Fannie Chief Executive Officer Herb Allison,

we felt it was in the best interest of both borrowers and Fannie Mae to take this extra step to ensure that homeowners with the desire and ability to prevent foreclosure have an opportunity to stay in their homes.

[Read more →]

Tags: Foreclosure News by Jacky
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In a bold move to try and slow down the foreclosure melt downs, JP Morgan Chase has put a stop to placing delinquent home loans into foreclosure for 90 days to try to help homeowners keep their homes. The Chase foreclosure plan will cease putting delinquent loans into the foreclosure process for 90 days as it puts a loan modification team together and implement their mortgage rescue plan. Their foreclosure prevention plan is intended to assist home loan borrowers at risk of foreclosure receive mortgage modifications. Loan modifications have been pretty hard to get in this mortgage crisis since many homeowners owe more on their home loans than their home is worth. A loan modification is the process by which the homeowner tries to get the terms of their loan modified to accommodate affordabilty. JP Morgan Chase plans to prevent unnecessary foreclosures with an independent review process to assist homeowners who may not need to be placed in foreclosure, and hire and train more staff for the caseload of loans.

Despite the fact that JP Morgan Chase is one of the largest banks affected by the foreclosure crisis, holding 1.5 Trillion dollars in mortgage loans, will be implement their plan on loans held by the bank which is only about 20% and the other 80% of loans are held by investors whose loans they service and are currently not figured into this plan, yet. According to Charlie Scharf, CEO of Retail Financial Services at Chase,

While Chase has helped many families already, we feel it is our responsibility to provide additional help to homeowners during these challenging times. We will work with families who want to save their homes but are struggling to make their payments.

One of the program’s first priorities, is to eliminate the negative amortization loans it services, most of which they inherited when they took over Washington Mutual Bank and EMC. This is a significant addition to its current foreclosure prevention program. [Read more →]

Tags: Foreclosure News by Jacky
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If it is not bad enough that your lender has foreclosed on your home, but there is a study that indicates the amount of money owed stated in the foreclosure notices may be incorrect! You may not owe as much as stated by the lender or there may be questionable fees charged in the foreclosure process. The bankruptcy courts are finding questionable fees charged to borrowers who file for protection under Chapter 13 Federal bankruptcy laws to try and save their homes in foreclosure and stop foreclosure.

Under a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a debtor or borrower must file a statement of assets and liabilities under penalties of perjury declaring all monies owed and all income. A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is also known as a “reorganization plan”. In other words, a Chapter 13 filing allows a debtor to try and get their financial house in order by making scheduled payments to creditors approved by a Federal Bankruptcy Judge. The repayment plan may be spread out over several years to allow the debtor to make payments to the creditor, that may be lower than their original monthly payments. In a Chapter 13 proceeding, creditors must also file a statement to the court declaring the amounts owed by the debtor, before a repayment schedule can be approved by the Judge. [Read more →]

Tags: Foreclosure Process by Jacky
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In the last couple of years, the bankruptcy laws have changed in congress and as recent as April 2007. There was a time that a homeowner who came upon hard times could seek protection from creditors under Federal Bankruptcy laws by filing a Chapter 13 , Chapter 7 and other options and stop foreclosure. Now, times and the laws have drastically changed. The process of filing a bankruptcy to try and save your home and reorganize your debts have taken a turn with twists and curves just to be able to consider filing!

The new Bankruptcy laws according to the Department of Justice, were enacted under the following

“The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005″, which opens a new era in the history of bankruptcy law and practice, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on April 20, 2005.

The bankruptcy changes were put into effect in October of 2005.

In a nutshell, before anyone can file a petition for bankruptcy, they must obtain credit counseling within 180 days before being able to file a bankruptcy. Once you have filed a bankruptcy, you must obtain a debt management education certificate before the bankruptcy is discharged. [Read more →]

Tags: Stop Foreclosure by Jacky
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You have fallen behind on your mortgage payments, and the lender has sent you notices to try and collect the late payments and threatening foreclosure. What can you do to stop foreclosure on your home?

When facing foreclosure, many panic and give up, thinking that there are no other options to stop foreclosure and save their home. Well, here are some actions that can be taken to try and stop the foreclosure of your home!

Before any action, get your financial house in order. Calculate your income and expenses and determine what is really coming in and what is really being paid out monthly. If it is too much to do your own financial analysis, look for a nonprofit counselor that would probably do it free of charge and may also help negotiate with the lender. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, sponsors housing counseling agencies. Click here to find a list of HUD Housing Counseling agencies in your state.

Next, contact your lender and be sure to have an idea what you need from them, like some of the actions below. [Read more →]

Tags: Foreclosure Process by Jacky
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In the late 1990′s in Los Angeles, Ca., and surrounding areas, homeowners experienced a wave “property snatching” under the color of foreclosure.

In one case, a homeowner had their mortgage payment servicer, the company that collects the money, change over four times. Every couple of months they were directed to make payments to a different lender. While trying to keep up with the lenders reselling the loan to different companies, the homeowner was late mailing one payment to their new lender. The homeowner, tried to speak to someone in charge of the account at the lenders’ office, but was rudely snubbed. The clerk, who claimed to be a supervisor, stated that “even if the payment was made, it would not be accepted”! The homeowner became confused and did not know what to do, if the lender refused to accept the payment on their mortgage to their home! [Read more →]

Tags: Foreclosure Horrors by Jacky
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Foreclosure is the process where the lender of a mortgage terminates the borrower’s interest in the property secured by the mortgage loan. It is a termination of all rights of the homeowner covered by a mortgage. Once the foreclosure process is completed, the lender becomes the absolute owner of the property.

The trigger of the foreclosure process is when a homeowner misses a payment or fails to make payments of the money due on the mortgage at the appointed time. Many factors can cause this situation, like losing a job, becoming ill and unable to work, divorce and many other scenarios. However, the lender rarely considers any reason valid enough when they don’t get their payments on time.

Foreclosure allows the lender to “repossess” the property secured by the loan, and sell the property legally to try and recover the loan amount. Currently, foreclosures are up nationally 56% according to realtytrac, an online real estate database of foreclosures. So, if you suddenly find yourself in this position facing foreclosure, know that you are not alone!

Remember, the lender generally is not interested in owning your home, and you do not want to lose your home, so it’s time for a compromise!

Tags: Foreclosure Process by Jacky
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