One of my 60 year plus rituals is a nice relaxed breakfast Sunday mornings, while carefully perusing the Sunday papers. In the midst of all the reportage of wars, crime, protest, 'who-cares' gossip, pepper spray and protest, you sometimes find something truly GOOD! Sometimes. Today is one of those times!
There is a charitable foundation established and run by a financial services firm based in Minnesota called Gradient Gives Back. Each year since its founding, the program assists families that find themselves in deep financial trouble by paying their mortgage or lease for 12 months--a full year. In some cases, they will also provide free lifetime full financial service for the people they help.
As I have mentioned in many public comments, as well as my book, Save Your House From Foreclosure!, most folks at risk of foreclosure are not there because of financial profligacy or being deadbeats. Most of the folks hurting are in their situation because they were hit by one of the Deadly Four: Life, Wife, Health or Wealth. Somehow something in these major areas of their lives went south and, as a result, they find themselves in dire straits including possible loss of their homes to foreclosure. When it happens, often the homeowners are unable to pay their mortgages and so risk loss of the home to foreclosure.
When something like Gradient Gives Back shows up, it is refreshing to report. They don't have funds to help everyone out there, and they do have a limited period each year for those in need to apply for help. This year's applications are full, but 2012's will commence shortly. For more info, visit their website: www.gradientgivesback.com , or call them at: (800) 407-4137.
As always, Good Luck.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Good Holiday News
Well, I hope you all had a pleasant Thanksgiving holiday with friends & family. Going forward, I came across the following good news this morning about foreclosures, evictions and lockouts during the holiday season.
Wells Fargo has suspended evictions from its foreclosed properties that it owns or services for other lenders from November 23 to the 25th, and again from December 19 to January 2, 2012.
JP Morgan Chase Bank said it won't complete foreclosure sales or evictions between December 22 and January 2, 2012, except for Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac loans. Fannie, in turn, said it will soon announce a suspension of evictions "for the holiday period", although they have yet to specify the exact dates for the suspension.
Bank of America issued a statement to the effect that on its own loans and those it services, unless the owning lender instructed otherwise, it has "a policy and procedures to avoid foreclosure sales or displacement of homeowners or tenants around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays." Exact specific of the 'policy and procedures' have not been announced, so if your loan is connected to BofA, you'll have to check with them directly.
Ally, parent of GMAC Mortgage, hasn't committed to any program and Citigroup and Freddie have not yet announced what, if any policy they will follow for the holidays.
Irrespective of who your lender is, the best advice is to contact them directly to see if they have such a policy in place, and how you can qualify under it. In fact, even if your lender has not announced this type of policy, contact them and see if they can make some accommodation for your holiday needs.
Good Luck.
Wells Fargo has suspended evictions from its foreclosed properties that it owns or services for other lenders from November 23 to the 25th, and again from December 19 to January 2, 2012.
JP Morgan Chase Bank said it won't complete foreclosure sales or evictions between December 22 and January 2, 2012, except for Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac loans. Fannie, in turn, said it will soon announce a suspension of evictions "for the holiday period", although they have yet to specify the exact dates for the suspension.
Bank of America issued a statement to the effect that on its own loans and those it services, unless the owning lender instructed otherwise, it has "a policy and procedures to avoid foreclosure sales or displacement of homeowners or tenants around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays." Exact specific of the 'policy and procedures' have not been announced, so if your loan is connected to BofA, you'll have to check with them directly.
Ally, parent of GMAC Mortgage, hasn't committed to any program and Citigroup and Freddie have not yet announced what, if any policy they will follow for the holidays.
Irrespective of who your lender is, the best advice is to contact them directly to see if they have such a policy in place, and how you can qualify under it. In fact, even if your lender has not announced this type of policy, contact them and see if they can make some accommodation for your holiday needs.
Good Luck.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Good News For Foreclosed Servicemembers
Not sure how I missed this announcement, particularly since I am a Vet (armor platoon leader), but the day before Veteran's Day (11-10-11), the Department of Justice announced that it had arranged for Bank of America to settle with a number of Service Members whose homes were illegally foreclosed upon, as per the rules under the Service Member Civil Relief Act (SCRA). This law was designed to protect active duty service personnel from losing their homes to foreclosure while serving on active duty in the military. Each claimant under the settlement will receive $116,785 plus payment for any lost equity as a result of the wrongful foreclosure. Overall, this will cost BofA $20 million covering 160 wrongfully foreclosed service members. These foreclosures happened between 2006 and 2009, and were done by Countrywide Bank, subsequently purchased by BofA. Thus, BofA must cover the former Countrywide liability.
While no criminal charges have been filed against BofA, although they theoretically could be, a number of states have commenced civil legal action (suits) against the bank to further hold it liable for actions related to this and similar situations. Bottom line: if you're military active duty and/or were from 2006 onward and have been foreclosed upon, sit down with your JAG officer, or call a civilian attorney and check out your situation as regards possible compensation under an SCRA violation.
As always, Good Luck. Happy Thanksgiving.
While no criminal charges have been filed against BofA, although they theoretically could be, a number of states have commenced civil legal action (suits) against the bank to further hold it liable for actions related to this and similar situations. Bottom line: if you're military active duty and/or were from 2006 onward and have been foreclosed upon, sit down with your JAG officer, or call a civilian attorney and check out your situation as regards possible compensation under an SCRA violation.
As always, Good Luck. Happy Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
More News on Scams!
A few days ago, I commented on how the Special Inspector General of TARP (SIGTARP) had begun to take a really major swipe at on-line scams related to loan mods. Subsequent to this, it intervened to block at least 40 such scams that had been advertised on Yahoo or Bing. As a result of this action, Microsoft, owner of Bing and a major tech supporter of Yahoo acted immediately to terminate 400 advertisement contracts that scammers had entered into solely to their (scammers) benefit. Again, if you've recently gotten short changed by some on-line loan mod deal that you feel was not above board, contact your consumer affairs officer of your local atty general.
Good Luck and a Happy Thanksgiving!
Good Luck and a Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Nevada Foreclosure? Call Your Attorney!
The following may be a good reason to contact an attorney if you live in Clark County, Nevada.Nevada Attorney General Catherine Masto has filed criminal charges against two title officers employed by Lender Processing Service (LPS) for robosigning involving tens of thousands of allegedly fraudulent documents. The allegedly fraudulent docs were passed through the Clark County recorder's office between 2005 and 2008. The accused officers, Gary Tafford and Gerri Sheppard, are each charged with at least 100 counts of criminal action. According to Masto's office, they allegedly instructed employees to forge their names on documents and then notarize the forged signatures. Once this was allegedly done, the docs were then filed with the Clark County Recorder's office.
LPS reportedly acknowledges that "the signing procedures on some of these documents were flawed,” but then insists that "these documents were properly authorized and their recording did not result in a wrongful foreclosure.” While the accused will have their day in court and it will be up to a jury of their peers to decide on the validity of these charges, it would appear that an investigation into this situation might be advisable if you happened to lose your home to foreclosure during the above mentioned time period, feel you were wrongly foreclosed upon and your property was in Clark County.
Good Luck.
LPS reportedly acknowledges that "the signing procedures on some of these documents were flawed,” but then insists that "these documents were properly authorized and their recording did not result in a wrongful foreclosure.” While the accused will have their day in court and it will be up to a jury of their peers to decide on the validity of these charges, it would appear that an investigation into this situation might be advisable if you happened to lose your home to foreclosure during the above mentioned time period, feel you were wrongly foreclosed upon and your property was in Clark County.
Good Luck.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Good News & Bad
Well, today's update has good news and bad, depending on where you are located. If you are in Michigan and trying desperately (or any other way) to avoid foreclosure, the news is anything but good. The Michigan Supreme Court, in a reversal of a lower Michigan appellate court ruling, ruled that MERS does have the legal right to initiate foreclosures in Michigan. It said that as long as MERS has the legal position as mortgagee, it has the legal right to proceed in foreclosures related to those properties. It also ruled that any related suits trying to stop MERS-based foreclosures must now be dismissed. If you are involved, you and your attorney (call Legal Aid if you can't afford one via normal means) should immediately look at the possibility of a further appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Now, for the good news! One of the problems whenever folks get in trouble en masse is that all of the slime crawls out from under whatever rock it's been hiding under. The foreclosure crisis is no different. Every day there is another horror story or ten about some homeowner that contacted a person or firm that had claimed to be able to save their home from foreclosure, only to find out that the only thing that individual/firm did that it had promised to do was take the homeowner's money. Usually, it/he then disappeared and the home was foreclosed. I have often said here and in a number of other locations that if something appears too good to be true, it usually is. The place I have recommended for these slimeballs is prison--for as long as possible! I also am always available for anyone and their attorney, as well as any prosecutor, to act as an expert witness to put these clowns out of business and behind bars where they belong! Now, for the related good news: the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) yesterday announced that it has recently shut down 85 scams operating on-line that promised to help troubled homeowners obtain loan modifications. As always with these guys, no mods were forthcoming--just a loss of the homeowners' cash and, frequently, their homes.
Never one to miss an opportunity to better their service, Google then jumped on the bandwagon and has been working with SIGTARP to suspend fraudulent advertisers from placing their ads on Google. Google claims to have suspended over 500 such advertisers so far, and intends to maintain the pressure to clean up their clients' posted ads in this regard. A loud "THANK YOU" to both SIGTARP and Google. If you think you have been scammed in this manner, call or email SIGTARP immediately! Also, notify your local law enforcement officials. Usually the local district attorney or state atty general has a consumer fraud division that would be only too happy to help you by getting these sleazy folks off the street.
Good Luck!
Now, for the good news! One of the problems whenever folks get in trouble en masse is that all of the slime crawls out from under whatever rock it's been hiding under. The foreclosure crisis is no different. Every day there is another horror story or ten about some homeowner that contacted a person or firm that had claimed to be able to save their home from foreclosure, only to find out that the only thing that individual/firm did that it had promised to do was take the homeowner's money. Usually, it/he then disappeared and the home was foreclosed. I have often said here and in a number of other locations that if something appears too good to be true, it usually is. The place I have recommended for these slimeballs is prison--for as long as possible! I also am always available for anyone and their attorney, as well as any prosecutor, to act as an expert witness to put these clowns out of business and behind bars where they belong! Now, for the related good news: the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) yesterday announced that it has recently shut down 85 scams operating on-line that promised to help troubled homeowners obtain loan modifications. As always with these guys, no mods were forthcoming--just a loss of the homeowners' cash and, frequently, their homes.
Never one to miss an opportunity to better their service, Google then jumped on the bandwagon and has been working with SIGTARP to suspend fraudulent advertisers from placing their ads on Google. Google claims to have suspended over 500 such advertisers so far, and intends to maintain the pressure to clean up their clients' posted ads in this regard. A loud "THANK YOU" to both SIGTARP and Google. If you think you have been scammed in this manner, call or email SIGTARP immediately! Also, notify your local law enforcement officials. Usually the local district attorney or state atty general has a consumer fraud division that would be only too happy to help you by getting these sleazy folks off the street.
Good Luck!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
An Assist from Fannie & Freddie
Well, the two federal government supported mortgage entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, just announced a number of steps designed to ease the way for homeowners trying to refinance under the Government's HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) program. These steps were taken to make it a bit easier for homeowners struggling with high interest rate loans to be able to make their mortgage payments on time, and thus not have to worry about a default and possible foreclosure.
With the revisions, Fannie & Freddie have raised, and in some cases, eliminated the loan to value cap on refi's. What this means is that at a minimum, the amount relationship of the loan to the total value of the financed home can be higher, so borrowers can borrow a higher percentage of the appraised value of the home as part of their refi. In some cases, the cap is now eliminated completely.
These two entities have also relaxed representation and warranty stipulations. This latter step is expected to heat up competition among lenders to make new refi loans, and thus drive down borrowing costs for homeowners.
For more details, either check these items with your lender or contact Freddie or Fannie, whichever institution is backing your loan.
Good luck.
With the revisions, Fannie & Freddie have raised, and in some cases, eliminated the loan to value cap on refi's. What this means is that at a minimum, the amount relationship of the loan to the total value of the financed home can be higher, so borrowers can borrow a higher percentage of the appraised value of the home as part of their refi. In some cases, the cap is now eliminated completely.
These two entities have also relaxed representation and warranty stipulations. This latter step is expected to heat up competition among lenders to make new refi loans, and thus drive down borrowing costs for homeowners.
For more details, either check these items with your lender or contact Freddie or Fannie, whichever institution is backing your loan.
Good luck.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Positive Note From NY
New York, the home of the Giants, Yankees and wonderful hot dog push carts (Used to love lunch at those things), has reached agreements with three major mortgage servicers. The agreements were made by the state's Department of Financial Services. The servicers voluntarily agreed to abide by improved mortgage servicing standards that are focused on fairer treatment of borrowers whose loans they service. The servicers in the agreements are: Texas-based Saxon, a Morgan Stanley subsidiary, and American Home Mortgage Servicing, and Oklahoma-headquartered Vericrest Financial. These new standards are the same as those previously agreed to by Ocwen and Goldman Sachs. They include termination of robo-signing and "dual tracking". The latter is proceeding on a foreclosure course with a homeowner while simultaneously negotiating a loan modification. Also provided for is a single point of contact at the servicer for borrowers who are involved in one or more of these processes. Past violations still may not be investigated, however.
If you need more info, check with your servicer, or contact the New York Department of Financial Services. Its web site is: www.dfs.ny.gov . As always, Good Luck.
If you need more info, check with your servicer, or contact the New York Department of Financial Services. Its web site is: www.dfs.ny.gov . As always, Good Luck.
Latest News On California Help
Well, here's the latest on the Keep Your Home California program which we've talked about previously. As I mentioned about a week ago, some of the restrictions and limits in the program have been relaxed. Now we have the details!
The time period during which a homeowner can receive assistance from the program has been extended from the previous six months to nine months. Amounts available have been raised to $3,000 per month. So far a total of 8,000 homeowners have been assisted through one part of the program or another.
It operates through four sub-programs: the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program, the Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program, the Principal Reduction Program, and the Transition Assistance Program. In these sub-programs, many prior limits have been eased. The Mortgage Reinstatement program has increased its maximum assistance level from $15,000 to $20,000. The Principal Reduction program will help reduce a homeowner's mortgage by as much as $100,000, providing up to half that amount as long as the servicing entity matches it.
For homeowners who complete servicer-approved short sales or deeds in lieu of foreclosure, the Transition Assistance program will provide up to $5,000 in assistance, intended to aid in the homeowner's transition from the prior home.
Overall, the Keep Your Home California program will now also allow owners of more than one home to apply for assistance.
For more info, contact your servicer or the California Housing Finance Agency.
As always, Good luck.
The time period during which a homeowner can receive assistance from the program has been extended from the previous six months to nine months. Amounts available have been raised to $3,000 per month. So far a total of 8,000 homeowners have been assisted through one part of the program or another.
It operates through four sub-programs: the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program, the Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program, the Principal Reduction Program, and the Transition Assistance Program. In these sub-programs, many prior limits have been eased. The Mortgage Reinstatement program has increased its maximum assistance level from $15,000 to $20,000. The Principal Reduction program will help reduce a homeowner's mortgage by as much as $100,000, providing up to half that amount as long as the servicing entity matches it.
For homeowners who complete servicer-approved short sales or deeds in lieu of foreclosure, the Transition Assistance program will provide up to $5,000 in assistance, intended to aid in the homeowner's transition from the prior home.
Overall, the Keep Your Home California program will now also allow owners of more than one home to apply for assistance.
For more info, contact your servicer or the California Housing Finance Agency.
As always, Good luck.
Friday, November 11, 2011
More Help in California
The following helping homeowners save their homes program info (some of which has been discussed here before) is an update from the San Diego Union Tribune. It includes web addresses for more detailed info as well.
Mortgage aid open to more Calif. borrowers
The state-run program, “Keep Your Home California,” which helps homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages now has broader eligibility guidelines. Borrowers who did “cash-out” refinances and own multiple properties now are eligible for the program, according to California Housing Finance Agency officials.
Making sense of the story
• To date, Keep Your Home California has helped approximately 8,000 low- and moderate-income households that are behind on loan payments or close to default.
• There are four parts to the program: Mortgage help for the unemployed, mortgage aid for homeowners with documented financial hardship, relocation help for those in the midst of a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, and reduction of principal.
• Homeowners who completed “cash-out” mortgage refinancing now are allowed to take part in the four programs outlined above, and borrowers who own more than one property also can apply for the program. Previously, these two groups of borrowers were excluded from participation.
• Mortgage aid to unemployed borrowers also has been extended to nine months, instead of six. Such homeowners can receive up to $3,000 a month. To qualify, borrowers must be receiving unemployment benefits.
• Additionally, the program has reinstated up to $20,000 in past-due mortgage payments instead of the previous $15,000 cap.
• To review qualification guidelines, visit www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org.
As always: Good luck.
Mortgage aid open to more Calif. borrowers
The state-run program, “Keep Your Home California,” which helps homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages now has broader eligibility guidelines. Borrowers who did “cash-out” refinances and own multiple properties now are eligible for the program, according to California Housing Finance Agency officials.
Making sense of the story
• To date, Keep Your Home California has helped approximately 8,000 low- and moderate-income households that are behind on loan payments or close to default.
• There are four parts to the program: Mortgage help for the unemployed, mortgage aid for homeowners with documented financial hardship, relocation help for those in the midst of a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, and reduction of principal.
• Homeowners who completed “cash-out” mortgage refinancing now are allowed to take part in the four programs outlined above, and borrowers who own more than one property also can apply for the program. Previously, these two groups of borrowers were excluded from participation.
• Mortgage aid to unemployed borrowers also has been extended to nine months, instead of six. Such homeowners can receive up to $3,000 a month. To qualify, borrowers must be receiving unemployment benefits.
• Additionally, the program has reinstated up to $20,000 in past-due mortgage payments instead of the previous $15,000 cap.
• To review qualification guidelines, visit www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org.
As always: Good luck.
Friday, November 4, 2011
More Chances to Play the HARP
In a move to expand eligibility for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-California & Johnny Isakson (GA), have requested the Obama administration to expand eligibility to more homeowners who have higher equity in their homes. Currently, the highest equity level permitted is 20%. If their request is granted, as many as 12 million additional borrowers would be eligible for the program. Questions? Contact either Senator's office or your own Senator.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
"Independent" Foreclosure Reviews
I mentioned in some detail yesterday that independent reviews of foreclosure actions and foreclosures may be reviewed at the request of the affected homeowner, as per policy confirmed by the Office of the Controller of the Currency, the Fed and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Apparently, there is some question about how arm's length this process may turn out to be. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, joined by 15 of her colleagues, has called on the regulatory agencies involved and the participating lenders to make the process more transparent insofar as choice of the reviewers and their connections, if any, from prior or concurrent business with any of the lenders may possibly interfere with the degree of independence of the review. It is easy for one to envision, she argues, that a company that is picked to review a transaction or transactions may not be as inclined to support the legitimate complaints of a homeowner if that same firm has other business relationships with the bank that it is reviewing.
Questions: contact Ms. Waters at here congressional office, or your own representative.Good Luck.
Questions: contact Ms. Waters at here congressional office, or your own representative.Good Luck.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
This May Be the Big One!
In what appears to be a real break for homeowners who have lost their homes to foreclosure, a group of Federal agencies have mandated a new option for those who think they were foreclosed wrongly. Anyone believing their home was improperly foreclosed may now request a free, independent review of the foreclosure action. If the review does find improprieties, the aggrieved homeowner may be entitled to compensation. While no specific details on what the compensation will be have been released, it is assumed that it will be monetary. Three Federal agencies have mandated this process: the Office of the Controller of the Currency (regulates federally chartered banks), Federal Reserve (oversees U.S. monetary policy); and the Office of Thrift Supervision (regulates savings and loans and thrift institutions). The size of the compensation awards are also not yet specified, but appear to be limited to refunds of monetary loss and NOT include punitive damages. The payments will be directly from banks and there is no upper limit set for the awards. Eligibility for the program is limited to those whose foreclosures commenced in 2009 or 2010, and can include those where the actual foreclosure process is still underway but incomplete or those where it began but halted for some reason. Homeowners also must be customers of the 24 lending institutions and servicers that have agreed to take part in the program. For more info, log onto: www.independentforeclosurereview.com , or phone from M-F from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. at (888) 952-9105. Same number is also available on Saturdays from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Homeowners are allowed to apply until April 30, 2012, and the process may take several months, so get started NOW!
Good luck!
Good luck!
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