Foreclosure Defense and Mortgage Abuse
Attorney in Fairhope ALExperienced Foreclosure Defense Attorneys in Alabama
At our firm, our attorneys focus on protecting the rights of individuals who have been wronged by mortgage companies, lenders and loan servicing companies. The following information is solely provided to give you a general idea of the law under Mortgage Fraud and Wrongful Foreclosure. If after reading the information below, you believe you need a lawyer or need further information please contact our office for a free consultation.
Wrongful Foreclosure: We Represent You!
There are several types of wrongful foreclosure cases taking place throughout the country today. Here are a few that we have seen in our practice:
- A borrower has made all of their payments on time. Sometimes the owner has come out of a bankruptcy and is current, or there is a transfer of the loan servicing company. Many times there are multiple transfers, only compounding the problem of a servicing company keeping a proper record of payments. In any event, the mortgage servicing company has failed to apply all payments properly to the account, placing the borrower behind on the loan. After numerous contacts by the borrower, the loan is not updated, and the borrower is placed into foreclosure.
- A widespread issue we see is the misapplication or miscalculation of the escrow on mortgage loans. If a mortgage is a escrow loan, it means that the servicing company takes out of your monthly payment funds for the taxes and home owners insurance due on the property. Many times, the servicing company fails to take out the proper amount, or improperly calculates the amount to come out, causing a homeowner to pay more per month. After a period of time, the borrowers become delinquent on the loan and the home is placed into foreclosure.
- Finally, the majority of cases involve modification. Under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) or other variations of the modification programs, lenders have caused borrowers to lose their homes to foreclosure. In these type of cases, borrowers contact the loan servicing company and are asked to provide large amounts of paperwork such as proofs of income, bank statements, income taxes, hardship letters and other items. Once the homeowner sends in the requested items, they usually receive no response and are forced to contact the lender weeks later to determine if the documents were even received. Generally, the homeowners continue to send in the documentation, only to be frustrated by the lack of communications with the lender. Some homeowners are placed into a trial payment program under HAMP with the promise of a permanent modification. However, many times a permanent modification never takes place and the homeowners continue making trial payments for years. Finally, the foreclosure proceedings begin while the borrowers are informed that a permanent modification will soon be approved. The homeowners, trusting the lender, ignore the foreclosure as instructed only to find out weeks later that their home was indeed foreclosed.
How our firm can help
On a typical case in Alabama, in order for the lender to eject or remove a homeowner from the property after foreclosure, a lawsuit has to be filed in Circuit Court. Once that is filed, if after reviewing the facts of a case, we determine that there are willful or negligence claims we can bring on behalf of the borrowers against he lender/loan servicing company, we file an Answer on behalf of the client and counterclaims against those entities for wrongful foreclosure, breach of contract, fraud and other violations.
We have been successful in aiding clients in these types of situations. There are other types of mortgage fraud problems, such as violations of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and other Federal guidelines that govern mortgage loans in our country. If you believe you have been a victim of mortgage fraud or a wrongful foreclosure, please contact us immediately to know your rights.
Mortgage Fraud/Foreclosure Defense FAQ’s
A lady called today and said I owed them $ 8000. They threatened to take my home and said they had a big file on me at the police office. This is the first time I ever heard from them.
No. This is a typical threat from collection agencies. This is also a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) violation. They cannot threaten you with actions that they cannot legally make. You should contact an attorney in your area that handles those types of cases or feels free to contact my firm.
The contract I signed said if I paid on time for my three-month trial I would get the modification. Isn’t this breach of contract and do I have recourse?
They accelerated the loan and I paid it from retirement funds to prevent foreclosure. Isn’t this a breach of contract? Do I have any legal recourse?
You may have a breach of contract claim and fraud against Wells Fargo. My firm has filed numerous cases similar to your situation for the past year in Federal and State court and continuing to do so. The mortgage companies are using in-house modifications and the HAMP government modification program to foreclosure on your home. Some of my clients have sent in their mortgage modification paperwork 10-15 times and are told its lost or cant be found. Some have even been modified and still face a foreclosure. Please contact my office immediately to discuss your options as we may be able to help you with this matter.
They accelerated the loan and I paid it from retirement funds to prevent foreclosure. Isn’t this a breach of contract? Do I have any legal recourse?
The mortgage company told me we didn’t qualify for HAMP, but after we lost the house I did some research and found out that we did qualify for HAMP. My question is can we sue the mortgage company for lying and denying us the right to help we qualified for?
Possibly. My firm has been filing many complaints and Answers and counterclaims for clients the past year based on violations under the HAMP program or similar modification programs being offered by the mortgage companies such as Bank of America or Wells Fargo. You would have to contact my firm or a firm in your area handling these cases to do a closer review to determine if you may have a claim.
..and she moved out and he has been late on the payment, so the mortgage co. won’t let her get her name taken off the house. Is there anything she can do to not let this wreck her credit?
Unfortunately, no. If the mortgage company won’t remove her then she will be responsible for the debt and the charges on the account as well as her ex-boyfriend. So, if he misses a payment, it’s going to report on her credit as well. If he gets behind, they will come after her and if they foreclose on the property, it will report on her credit as well. Her best option to rid herself of the debt is for him to sell the property and have the mortgage paid off.