32 More Foreclosures Dismissed for Lack of “Documentation”

By Moe Bedard & Aaron Krowne

In another Ohio ruling on November 14th, State District Judge Kathleen Mc Donald O’Malley dismissed 32 more foreclosures for lack of “documentation”. Read the ruling... [Read More]

Chevy Chase Bank Scores Victory in Predatory Mortgage Lending Case

Cary Spivak
September 25, 2008

A Maryland bank scored a major victory in a mortgage lending case Wednesday when a federal appellate court rejected class-action status for a Cedarburg couple's suit against Chevy Chase Bank. In a 2-1 decision, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago reversed a 2007 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman, who granted the suit class-action status -- a certification that could have resulted in the rescission of more than 8,000 mortg... [Read More]

Does Your Lender Have the Right to Foreclose on You?

By Moe Bedard
October 15th, 2008

This is the question of the day floating throughout the legal blog sphere and I wanted to elaborate on this subject that we have covered extensively “first” on LoanWorkout.org in the past. In federal court, written proof of who holds the mortgage must be presented at the time the foreclosure is filed. In county common pleas courts, proof must be presented before a judgment is issued. Our past “missing not... [Read More]

Deutsche Bank Foreclosures Tossed Out of Ohio Federal Court - “They Own Nothing!”

Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the Eastern Ohio United States District Court, on October 31, 2007 dismissed 14 Deutsche Bank-filed foreclosures in a ruling based on lack of standing for not owning/holding the mortgage loan at the time the lawsuits were filed.

Judge Boyko issued an order requiring the Plaintiffs in a number of pending foreclosure cases to file a copy of the executed Assignment demonstrating Plaintiff (Deutsche Bank) was the holder and owner of the Note and Mortgage as of the da... [Read More]

California Civil Code 1632 and What it Means to Non-English Speaking Borrowers

There is a little known law in the state of California that was set in place to protect non-English speaking borrowers against predatory lenders. The funny thing is that it was never, ever followed and I have yet to see one case of a lender or broker following this law. Many homeowners could stop foreclosure if they only knew about this law that protects them against these abuses.

The law in particular that relates to non-English speaking borrowers is California Civil Code 1632.... [Read More]

Rescission in a Class Action Under TILA - Andrews v. Chevy Chase Bank

Andrews v. Chevy Chase Bank, FSB (2007 WL 112568, E.D. Wisconsin,
January 16, 2007).

Plaintiff filed a class action against Chevy Chase Bank alleging various violations of the federal Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA).

Borrowers alleged that the lender:

(1) failed to properly disclose the paymentschedule because the schedule did not reflect that the required payments were duemonthly;

(2) did not clearly disclose the APR and variable rate feature, based in part on disclosures refle... [Read More]

Servicers Are Lying to Struggling Homeowners When Will it Stop

It is a story that happens time and time again, even though it shouldn't. Struggling homeowner reaches out to the lender in hopes of working something out before the house goes into foreclosure. They are hearing in the media how the lenders are working with the homeowners in distress so they call the servicer, thinking that they are the owner of the note, and ask for the Loss Mitigation Dept. in hopes of working something out. In the meantime they receive a foreclosure complaint in the mail.... [Read More]

Bank of America Settles Lawsuit For Predatory Practices

Bank of America will begin modifying loans for customers in 11 states as a result of a lawsuit over deceptive mortgage practices. Bank of America Corp. is agreeing to pay more than $8 billion to modify hundreds of thousands of loans to keep people from losing their homes. The Charlotte NC based bank says it will modify troubled mortgages with up to $8.4 billion in interest rate and principal reductions for nearly 400,000 customers of Countrywide Financial Corp., the troubled mortgage lender it a... [Read More]

California Real Estate Firm Sues ALS Over Short Sale

It is definately not a secret to anyone that specializes in Short Sale transactions that lenders are very unwilling to negotiate. Short Sale transactions require lenders on outstanding mortgages to accept a loss by selling the home for less that the balance owed. In a case that is the first of its kind, a California based Real Estate Firm is suing Aurora Loan Service over a Short Sale that fell through. Aurora holds a $587,000 loan on the Tucson, Ariz., home and accepted the short sale offer of ... [Read More]

Summary judgment proper in certain cases

Q: I was sued by my lender, and the judge decided that a jury did not need to hear my case. I lost my house and owe $50,000, with the judge awarding the lender everything by "summary judgment." Is this "summary judgment" legal? Don't I have a right to have a jury hear my case?

A: Summary judgment is legal, and you are entitled to have your case decided by a jury - unless a judge determines that it's not necessary and he can decide your case through a summary judgment.

It may sound un... [Read More]

HUD Federal Lawsuit Under RESPA Settled

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that it has settled its federal lawsuit under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) against Property I.D. Corporation, a large hazard reporting company in California, Realogy Corporation, Cendant Corporation (now known as Avis Budget Group, Inc.) and Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Corporation.

The settlement will conclude with the filing of Consent Orders in the Central Distric... [Read More]

Using Violations for Help With Modifications

The adjustments for adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) will continue through 2009, 2010, and 2011. Most homeowners will be unable to refinance due to loss of equity in their home, their job, or other hardship. So, their best option is to negotiate with their loan servicing company or let the home go into foreclosure. Homeowners need to understand that when they send in a payment to the lender or loan servicer, that their primary business is to collect debts not negotiate with the public to change ... [Read More]

Homeowners Taking on Lenders TILA Violations

Questionable mortgages appear headed for court
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Last updated 12:57 a.m. PT
By PHUONG CAT LE



Michelle Miran didn't realize that there was something wrong with her mortgage until the interest rate reset last year. Her truth-in-lending statement – the legally required disclosure of loan rates and estimated costs – noted a 30-year fixed rate with monthly payments of $1,311 for 359 months. But two years in... [Read More]

Countrywide Agrees to Settlement in Pa. Probe

Countrywide agrees to pay trustee $325,000 to settle lending suit in Pittsburgh
July 16, 2008: 02:47 PM EST



NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Countryw... [Read More]

The RESPA mess: how the Good Faith Estimate has everyone in an uproar

A single sheet of paper has the real estate industry in an uproar.


Every time a potential home buyer applies for a mortgage, he or she receives a document known as the Good Faith Estimate, which spells out the thousands of dollars in fees the buyer is expected to pay when the deal closes.

The problem is the document is confusing, lenders use different versions, and there is plenty of room for abuse, if not outright fraud.

"The unnecessary complexity of mortgages has actually greatly co... [Read More]

FBI: 200 agents working on mortgage fraud probe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI has more than 200 agents and 33 task forces addressing mortgage fraud, has more than 1,300 cases under investigation and has targeted 19 large companies, FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Friday.

"Clearly, in the last couple of years, we have seen a substantial increase in mortgage fraud cases, and my anticipation is that we will continue to see that increase," he told a question-and-answer session after addressing the National Press Club.

Mueller said there... [Read More]

In 1968, Congress passed Proxmire’s Truth in Lending Act

By Moe Bedard

Will the Truth in Lending Act be the law that saves the American consumer from foreclosure and financial death? Will attorneys finally get a clue and learn this area of ”mortgage law” and start the massive wave of class action lawsuits that have yet to make noise in our Federal Court system?

The facts are that this law is very uncharted territory and it is a new and exciting frontier for those of the legal cloth that wish to explore this potentially lu... [Read More]

California Lawsuits Against Countrywide

By Moe Bedard
October 20th, 2008

“San Diego will become ground zero for mortgage fraud litigation,” a very happy Michael Aguirre, San Diego’s city attorney, said Wednesday.

San Diego, CA— All lawsuits filed across the nation against Countrywide Financial Corporation alleging predatory lending practices were ordered today to be consolidated and heard in San Diego in the Southern Federal District Court. Lawsuits have been brought by the San Diego City ... [Read More]

Mortgage Brokers’ Association Sues HUD Over RESPA

On Nov. 10, 2008 - HUD announced it would now require lenders and mortgage brokers to provide consumers with a standard three page Good Faith Estimate (GFE) that discloses key loan terms and closing costs. HUD estimates its new regulation, one that has been hotly contested on both sides, will save consumers about $700 at the closing table.

On December 19, 2008 – The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (H... [Read More]

Suit Blames Loan Servicer WaMu for Pending Foreclosure

By Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff
August 5, 2008


A Boston-area couple who are in foreclosure, despite their herculean attempts to prevent it, have filed a lawsuit against Washington Mutual, one of the nation's largest mortgage servicing firms. In the suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Lori and Mark Pestana of Westford allege the loan servicer was unresponsive to their repeated phone calls and to their applications to negotiate an arrangement that would have allo... [Read More]

Helping Burned Borrowers

Regarding the July 18 story,
Foreclosure defense buys homeowners time:

As a foreclosure defense and consumer-protection lawyer, I know that proper foreclosure defense involves more than just delaying the process.

As the attorneys general of Florida, California and Illinois have recognized in recent lawsuits against mortgage giant Countrywide Home Loans, the increase in the number of foreclosures largely is a consequence of abusive and illegal l... [Read More]

HUD: Defunct mortgage broker broke federal law

July 24th, 2008 @ 6:00am




by Associated Press




Defunct mortgage lender First Magnus Financial Corp. broke a federal law by providing incentive payments to mortgage brokers, according to a report.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's report issued July 14 said Tucson-based First Magnus violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act by providing volume-based incentives for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans.
HUD found that First Magnus paid $58,571 in i... [Read More]

Florida Foreclosure defense buys homeowners time

By MONICA HATCHER
As foreclosures continue to mount, borrowers who have run out of options are turning to attorneys to fight back -- and they're living mortgage-free for months in the process.
Although the chances of ultimately keeping a foreclosed home are slim, for $1,500 to $3,000 some lawyers are offering to defend borrowers in court, causing the wheels of justice to turn more slowly.
Duking it out can add months and sometimes years to a foreclosure process that in Florida already takes an... [Read More]

AHMSI and WL Ross and Co. LLC Announce Support of Streamlined Modification Plan

Wilbur L. Ross, chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co. LLC (WL Ross), and David M. Friedman, president and CEO of American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. (AHMSI), issued the following joint statement today in response to the streamlined mortgage modification plan (SMP) introduced on November 11 by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the HOPE NOW Alliance.

"We strongly support this new program, which will make it easier an... [Read More]

Wells Fargo to Modify Wachovia Pick a Payment Loans

With the Dec. 31, 2008 completion of the Wells Fargo / Wachovia merger, Wells Fargo has begun to aggressively use current streamlined approaches and new customized solutions to avoid preventable foreclosures for Wachovia mortgage customers. In total, 478,000 Wachovia customers – including those with Wachovia Pick-a-Payment loans – will have access to the program, primarily those whose loans are delinquent or are likely to become delinquent will be eligible for assistance. Given changing... [Read More]