New Massachusetts Law Pending Limits Foreclosure Challenges

Well, my home state, Massachusetts, is considering a bill to limit time available to homeowners to challenge the foreclosure of their homes. It is intended to do so to make a final determination on title validity easier to allow future sale of said properties by avoiding potential foreclosure-related clouds on title. It would also shorten the time a homeowner about to be foreclosed on has to challenge the validity of the pending action, although it would not preclude foreclosed homeowners from suing for recovery damages related to the value of the foreclosed home. If you live in the Bay State and are facing possible foreclosure, you may want to contact your legislator and oppose this bill before it becomes law. As always, Good Luck.

JP Morgan Chase Offers Help

As part of their recent settlement with the Justice Department, JP Morgan Chase Bank is offering assistance to homeowners, including forgiveness of debt and other mortgage relief for homeowners. The relief comes in a number of areas, including loan modifications, interest rate reductions, low income and disaster lending and blight relief lending. As Chase makes various types of loans, it gets credit under the JD settlement, but not all relief gets the bank dollar for dollar relief. So, obviously, they are happier doing one form than some of the others. ultimately, assistance under the terms of the settlement will total $4 Billion, and the bank has until 2017 to get it all completed and disbursed. The first 100 cases are now underway, and are regarded by both government and bank officials as a 'test' of how the settlement will work. If you have a home loan with Chase and think you may qualify under the terms of the settlement, or if you're not certain if you qualify, get in touch with Chase as soon as possible and get the discussion going. As always, Good Luck.

Good News for Current & Former Citibank Borrowers

Well, if you are or were a Citibank borrower, yesterday's news is potentially good for you. As part of a $7 Billion settlement with the Department of Justice. Of that $7 Billion figure, $2.5 Billion will go to provide financing for construction of low income multi-family rental housing. Part of the $2.5 Billion reportedly will also go toward helping home owners who financed their homes with Citi. This part of the settlement will provide loan mods and principal reductions of existing loans. If you have questions, contact Citibank or the Department of Justice in Washington, D. C. As always, good luck.

More Help to Avoid Foreclosure in NY

The New York state Atty. General, Schneiderman, has announced a new plan to grant targeted small loans to help families remain current on their mortgages by qualifying for a loan mod they might not otherwise be approved for, thus avoiding foreclosure. The program is called New York State Mortgage Assistance Program (NYMAP). Loans will be for a max of $40,000, and be used to pay off other financial obligations that might be preventing the homeowner from qualifying for a loan mod on his/her mortgage. For more info, contact the NY State Atty. General's office. As always, good luck.

REO Properties Increasing Again

For the first time in several months, the total number of homes lost to foreclosure has shown a marked increase. Rising 15% since last August, there are now 430,000 foreclosed homes nationally, up from August's 375,000. Now, even the increased number is far below the totals at the worst of the Great Recession, but an increase such as this is troubling, and not only to home owners. What is more troubling is that the increase was felt across most of the nation, with 46 out of the 50 states showing increases. Leading the rise was Idaho, which nearly doubled its REO inventory. Other states with large increases included Maryland, Oregon, Nevada, and North Dakota. There are likely many reasons for the increase, but one thing it tells me here is that people who are trying hard to keep their heads above water are having trouble for any of a variety of reasons. It also tells me that it is time to remind folks in this situation that there is a book that can recommend ways to avoid having this specter creep up on you. The book is a short one, less than 80 pages total (let's face it--if you're facing foreclosure, you're not interested din reading War and Peace), and not very expensive. It can be ordered on Amazon.com . OK< so you're wondering what the name of this book is. It's called, "Save Your House From Foreclosure" , and is written by yours truly. Basically, it has a number of bits of advice that I have gleaned from my careers in lending and real estate over the years. There are no guarantees in life, but the small cost of this book can possibly make a difference if you're one of the unfortunate folks again facing the terrible prospect of default and foreclosure. As always, good luck.

FHA Plans to Expand Credit Access

Since its inception, this blog has sought to assist homeowners in avoiding foreclosure. One way to do so is to help them avoid getting into credit trouble with their mortgage lender. With that in mind, today we have a brief blurb on a new plan to expand credit access for borrowers without increasing risky situations that normally such expansion could create. The FHA has announced a new program to help counsel borrowers to avoid the possibility of loans becoming seriously delinquent, a major step toward possible foreclosure. A new program, Homeowners Armed With Knowledge (HAWK) is including counseling in the home buying process as a means to avoid risky decisions or loans. This will be on FHA-insured loans. For more info, contact your lender or go to FHA's web site: www.fha.com . As always, good luck.

Lender Problems? Call CFPB

Well, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, CFPB if you like initials, has just released its latest report on complaints from consumers. While it's showing that things may be slowly improving in financial services, including mortgages, it's also showing that there's a long way to go until every institution is walking the "straight and narrow". Complaints rose 80% in 2013 from 2012, reaching a total of 167,300. Not al of these are mortgage related, but 37% of them are. Over half of these were related to borrower inability to pay or loan mods and foreclosures. Eight per cent of mortgage complaints were from consumer complaints on application related issues. These included rate-lock disagreements and lenders charging penalty fees when a loan failed to close or to close "on time". So, the advice from here is that if you feel you have a gripe over your mortgage in any way, get in touch with the CFPB. That's what it's there for and it may be able to help you get that issue resolved. Good Luck.