Possible Financial Relief--FROM THE BANKS!?

Well, for those of you who have lost your home to what you feel is an improper foreclosure, there may be some financial hope on the horizon. A fund has been established by a number of major lenders as a way for them to try to avoid liability in cases of suits over improper foreclosures.Participants include Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The fund is aimed at providing compensation to those who can prove that their foreclosure was improper. Admittedly, proving such a thing is not going to be a slam dunk, but at least the fund is there, although the details are still being finalized as to who and how someone might successfully receive compensation from the fund. One of the details being considered is whether lenders who improperly foreclosed would have to make a legitimate new attempt at doing a loan mod for the homeowner who'd lost their home, and, if so, would those mods require that the principal balances of the loans be written down in value.

Of course an interesting thing to consider is what if your home was improperly foreclosed and the bank is willing to reconsider a loan mod for you, but, unfortunately, they sold off the foreclosed home already? Do they have to buy you a replacement home? Do they merely reach a settlement with you for the value of your home? Do they allow it to proceed to litigation, with the courts deciding what is a proper settlement? These are all questions that need answering. You may wish to consult an attorney. If/when we hear some further info, we'll also post it here.

Meanwhile, Good Luck!

Nevada Sues BofA

In a move similar to one made last week by Arizona, the state of Nevada has filed suit against Bank of America alleging consumer fraud in its mortgage servicing procedures. Most of these allegations centered around alleged actions by BofA relating to potential loan modifications for clients facing possible foreclosure. Some of these borrowers apparently were foreclosed upon. If you live in Nevada and have a situation where your mortgage is/was with BofA and you feel you may be similarly involved, call your attorney, or, if you have no attorney, call Legal Aid.
Good luck.

Possibly Some Good News in Arizona

Don't start counting any money yet, but yesterday the Attorney General of Arizona filed suit under Arizona's consumer fraud law against Bank of America. The suit accuses the bank of violations of the law in two areas. First, BofA is accused of misleading consumers in the state by having them continue to make mortgage payments while BofA allegedly claimed it (the bank) was working on loan modifications for the homeowners. Instead, in many cases allegedly, the loan mod never happened, in spite of the borrowers' good faith payments, and the bank foreclosed on the homes anyway. After an absolute flood of complaints by consumers was made to the Attorney General's office, an investigation was initiated over a year ago. This led to a lengthy round of settlement talks between the state and the bank, which commenced in April of 2010. These negotiations continued for months, but finally failed, collapsing on December 10.

According to the Attorney General, Terry Goddard, the bank also allegedly violated the existing terms of a consent agreement arrived at in 2009 that required BofA's subsidiary, Countrywide, to create a loan mod program.
What does this mean for you if you're a homeowner facing foreclosure or already foreclosed upon by BofA/Countrywide? It's difficult to be certain at this stage. First, some result will have to be reached, and, as with anything in legal action, that can take any amount of time from a few months, if settlement can be quickly reached, to years, if it has to go through the whole legal process, including appeals. Also, it will depend on whatever the terms of any final settlement or decision end up being. Does a homeowner receive monetary damages, get their home back, or what? At this stage, there's no way to determine an answer.

So, you ask, what's so good about this? Well, the short answer is that you have the power of a state government, with far more resources than any individual, going up against the bank. At least someone has taken the initiative and gotten a ball rolling. For the ultimate result, we'll have to wait and see.

Good luck to everyone potentially involved. To the more general readership of this blog, here's hoping the Holiday season is a happy one, and the New Year brings you all you seek for you and your family and loved ones.

Fannie's Helping

If you are someone whose mortgage is backed or held by Fannie Mae, I've got a bit of good news for you. Fannie has just launched a website to assist any homeowners currently behind on their payments or facing foreclosure. It's called Knowyouroptions.com and the web address is, obviously, www.knowyouroptions.com . it intends to provide good basic advice on subjects such as how to stay in your home and avoid foreclosure, or, alternatively, sell and avoid foreclosure. It also will list local foreclosure prevention event sin your area,counseling on housing, Fannie Mae resources, information on your credit score, as well as a whole bundle of forms, instructive videos and calculators, to mention just a few things. If that's not sufficient for you, the site also will provide good advice on recognition of and avoidance of the many foreclosure scams currently circulating that all are trying to separate you from your home illegally and NOT provide the claimed help they loudly trumpet they'll provide.
Hopefully, this will help those of you tied to Fannie Mae. Good luck!