Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog

Miami Foreclosure Attorneys Warn: Be Selective When Choosing Foreclosure Services

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:40:13 -0500

Our Miami foreclosure attorneys know that scammers don't take a break just because times are tough.

In fact, those battling a Miami foreclosure may be even more at risk because they are dependent on the services of others to walk them through the process. For many, this is the first time they've ever gone through something like this. They don't know the ropes, and they're eager to reach out for a helping hand. This leaves them vulnerable to being taken advantage of, as some south Florida residents have recently found in their dealings with the Florida Default Law Group.

As our Miami foreclosure attorneys understand it, there are more than 240 complaints against the organization and its lead attorney. This has led the state's attorney general to open an investigation into the organization's practices.

A recent investigation by WFTV 9 in Orlando showed that some individuals were promised thousands of dollars in cash to move out of their soon-to-be foreclosed homes - only to later be told the money wasn't there or the homeowner or tenant didn't qualify.

Meanwhile, the Florida Default Law Group was collecting money for these deals. Since the complaints have been filed, the firm has changed its name, according to the news channel. The company said it expects to be vindicated.

Florida Default Law is a big plaintiff's foreclosure mill, filing thousands of cases annually.

But all of this highlights a very important point for those facing foreclosure: Be diligent in choosing your law firm - or really any entity that you are entrusting with your personal information and finances.

A recent article on MSN Money recently addressed this kind of issue - specifically, how you find help with your foreclosure.

The first step is to get organized. You may want to first meet with a HUD-certified housing counselor who can help you get your paperwork in order and explain some of the processes. This will not replace the need for an experienced Miami foreclosure attorney, but it may help you get a better handle on the process.

Next, you'll want to get all your papers in order. You might start with a one-page chronology of your situation. What were the circumstances that landed you in the position you're in? You'll want to include key facts, such as did the lender use a bait-and-switch and ensnare you in a predatory loan? Or maybe you were unjustly turned down for a mortgage loan modification? After that, you'll want to gather up the supporting documents. This will include any correspondence you've had with the bank or loan servicers.

In finding a skilled Miami foreclosure attorney, check with your local Bar association to see whether the attorney you are thinking of hiring has any prior complaints.

Be careful about any lawyer who immediately promises to save your house, particularly when you clearly don't have the income to support staying in that house. A good lawyer will carefully weigh your options and be frank and fair with you.

What a good Miami foreclosure attorney can help you do is help you formulate a plan of action. That could be to negotiate a mortgage loan modification. It may be to file a complaint of fraud against the mortgage company with the attorney general. It may be to delay the foreclosure for a time by challenging the ownership rights of the home.

There are a number of tactics that a good attorney can take to come up with the best option for you. However, you need to be wise about choosing that attorney.

Make sure he or she is qualified, experienced and has a good track record.

Miami Mortgage Modification: Bank of America Begins Reducing Balances

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:31:35 -0500

Our Miami mortgage modification lawyers want to inform you about reductions in mortgage payments being extended to certain underwater homeowners whose loans were held by Bank of America and the now-defunct Countrywide Financial.

A Miami mortgage modification can mean the difference between keeping your home and spiraling further into debt, and possibly being forced into a Miami foreclosure situation.

Bank of America has started sending out letters to customers, letting them know they plan to forgive part of their principal balance on their mortgages.

Back in 2008, BofA purchased Countrywide for about $4 million. Back then, Countrywide was financing some 20 percent of all the mortgages in the country - more than any other single lender. The problem was that the majority of those mortgages were toxic.

So now, BofA is reaching out to more than 200,000 individuals who may qualify for assistance. Some of those could see savings of up to $150,000 or a 30 percent reduction.

All of this stems from the $25 billion settlement that BofA and four other major financial institutions made with attorneys general from 49 states, following evidence of widespread fraud and abuse within the mortgage system - the same abuse that ultimately led to the housing bubble burst and the economy tanking.

Our Miami mortgage modification attorneys believe this is a baby step in terms of making it right, but it is a step forward nonetheless.

It's important to note that not everyone who had a Countrywide or Bank of America mortgage is going to qualify. Here's what the guidelines are:

The homeowner must owe more on the property than it is currently worth;
The homeowner must have been at least two months behind on payments as of this past Jan. 31st;
The homeowner has to have a contractual monthly payment for interest, hazard insurance, principal, property taxes and any other home association fees that total a value of more than 25 percent of their total household income;
The homeowner has to have a loan that is owned and serviced by BofA or another investor that has given BofA the authority to delegate such modifications.

That last part means that homeowners whose loans were backed by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the FHA/VA aren't going to be eligible.

When the process started in March, the bank started just with homeowners who were already in the process of applying for a mortgage modification. Within that program, there have been roughly 5,000 individuals who have been offered modifications, which amounts to about $700 million in principal payments that have been forgiven.

Keep in mind that a number of scams are currently being run by individuals claiming to be BofA. They request a great deal of personal information, which they then use to commit identity theft.

The best way to see if you might qualify is to either call BofA at 1-877-488-7814. Additionally, even if you don't qualify, our Miami mortgage modification attorneys may be able to help you uncover other options.

Miami Foreclosure Watch: Court to Hear Landmark Foreclosure Fraud Case

Sun, 13 May 2012 12:16:45 -0500

Our Miami foreclosure lawyers aren't surprised that a bank is being accused of foreclosure fraud.

What does prompt a pause is a Florida foreclosure case that a state appellate court is pushing to hear - even after both parties agreed to settle.

Here's what we know so far:

The case involves Bank of New York. Originally, the south Florida homeowner was being sued for foreclosure. But then, the homeowner filed a complaint, contended that the mortgage assignment the bank was relying on in his foreclosure case was fraudulent. That would be nothing new, as many banks have been caught red-handed forging documents and attesting to details concerning ownership that they actually had no knowledge of.

The bank, apparently conceding the strength of the homeowner's case, agreed to dismiss the foreclosure suit.

But then, less than half a year later, the bank again filed for a foreclosure against the man's home, using a mortgage assignment document that was dated after the dismissal of the first lawsuit.

So the homeowner sought sanctions for both cases.

This ongoing dispute worked its way through the court system, and made it to the 4th District Court of Appeals. Then, the homeowner agreed to settle with the bank and dismiss the case.

Usually, that would be the end of it.

However, the state supreme court has ordered those involved to press on with the case, saying the homeowner's brief had already been filed in the appellate court.

The court said that even though both parties had agreed to drop the issue, it still has the discretion to make a decision on what the power of a trial court is in regards to the issue of fraud - particularly because whatever the court finds in this case will set a precedent for future foreclosure fraud cases in Florida.

In fact, the court deemed the matter one of "great public importance" which was in need of being resolved.

That means they don't get to just drop it.

This is an extremely rare move by the state's supreme court, and one that illustrates the severity of the housing crisis in this state and the court's recognition that something must be done to address the widespread fraud that is still impacting tens of thousands of homeowners - despite banks' claim that such actions have vastly dissipated.

Oral arguments in the case are scheduled to begin soon. Interestingly, this case will have implications not only in the realm of future foreclosure cases, but also with regard to the power of trial courts to impose sanctions on real estate matters that have been previously dismissed. lenders and real estate agents say if the court is given that authority, it could have devastating consequences to their industry, and subsequently the overall economy.

To be sure, the state is already bogged down with these cases. It's possible that if the state was required to relitigate cases that are already closed due to allegations of prior misconduct, it may open the flood gates for even more cases bottlenecked into the system. What's more, it could slow the regrowth of the housing market if individuals couldn't purchase new homes due to title uncertainty.

One thing is certain: Our Miami foreclosure attorneys will be watching this case closely.

Miami Foreclosure Lawyers: Bank Drops the Ball

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:53:35 -0500

Our Miami foreclosure lawyers know well that banks almost never give anything for free, despite the damage their greed has done to our economy, resulting in thousands of Miami foreclosures.

So that's why we read with interest the details of a case out of California, in which an underwater homeowner now apparently has been given a free house, by virtue of a bank's inaction during a foreclosure lawsuit.

This seems to be a relatively rare situation, but it's worth noting because it's possible if you have the right Miami foreclosure attorney, the outcome of your case could turn out quite favorable. (Maybe not "free house" favorable, but at least a better situation than you're in now.)

Here's what happened: The woman's home was in foreclosure. She in turn filed for what is known as a quiet title. This is a lawsuit that is brought in a court that oversees land disputes. Basically, the intent here is to establish who owns the title to the real property. What that will do is "quiet" any other legal claims or challenges to that title.

In this case, JP Morgan and its subsidiaries were at the center of it. But they never responded. So the woman won the lawsuit, essentially by default.

That means she basically owns the title, without the obligation of a mortgage payment. Of course, she may still be responsible to repay that mortgage debt to the bank if they choose to go after her for it, but the debt would be considered unsecured, rather than secure. That means it could be purged if the woman qualifies and decides to run for bankruptcy.

So how did this happen? Did the bank simply forget to show up?

What we do know is that when the lawyer tried to argue that point, the judge countered that the lawyer had been in possession of the file for nine months before there was ever a single court date in the matter.

In this case, a bank has the option to seek remedy of the situation with an appeal, saying they weren't properly served notice of the impending action - which they did, adding that the lawyer never informed of the action. The problem here was that even after the lawyer DID inform them, they waited nearly a year to file their appeal. What that means, according to the appellate court, is that they failed to establish diligence in fighting the case.

The case did eventually make it to the appeals court on the grounds of a separate statute, however, that motion was ultimately denied on a technicality.

One possibility for the delay, of course, is the fraudulent mess that so many of these large financial institutions have gotten themselves into. If they realized that the documents pertaining to the case were forged or otherwise unverifiable, they may not have been eager to press the matter.

The state's supreme court is unlikely to overturn this decision (the likelihood is so remote, it's likely not even worth the bank spending the money to request a hearing). That means this decision is final.

As mentioned above, the bank could still likely go after the homeowner for the remaining balance of the mortgage, so she will still benefit from having a skilled foreclosure attorney by her side in this matter.

Miami Foreclosure Watch: Banks Pushing Homeowners Off Foreclosure Cliff

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:32:23 -0500

Miami foreclosure attorneys for some time had shared frustration with underwater homeowners, struggling to dig their way out of debt and a Miami foreclosure, that lenders were utterly unhelpful in the process.

They made it exceedingly difficult for these individuals, harmed by the collapse of the housing market (which was fueled by these same institutions), to get loan modifications or other assistance.

Now, however, it appears that not only were lenders impeding the process - they were often actively setting those roadblocks.

How so, you ask? According to Bloomberg News, these large financial institutions have been imposing sky-high rates for insurance policies for homeowners whose coverage is determined to be insufficient or who have lapsed on their payments. In fact, these agencies were charging in some cases five times as much as what they were paying before. This is called force-place insurance, and it's coverage that is required of homeowners, many of whom are already treading water as it is. These measures are enough to push many over the edge and into a foreclosure.

The basic idea behind force-place insurance is that banks need to protect their investment (i.e., the home) in case a disaster strikes. If a homeowner lapses on that coverage or if it's not enough to cover damages if there is a major disaster, the banks are within their rights to mandate coverage. While this is understandable, the fact that they are shoving quintuple the regular rates down homeowners' throats is unconscionable.

Now, why would a bank do this? After all, don't they lose money when a homeowner tumbles into a Miami foreclosure?

The truth is, the banks win out on this. That's because mortgage services and banks work out exclusive agreements with insurance agencies, though which the bank will purchase expensive policies on behalf of homeowners who have lapsed on their coverage. The bank then advances the premium to the insurer. The insurer, in turn, pays the bank a commission. Research is now showing that banks earn about 15 percent on these deals. The homeowner is stuck with the bill.

And it's good business, too. Force-place insurance premiums netted these companies more than $5.5 billion (with a "b") in 2010.

But these banks take it even a step further. They get an additional portion of those proceeds to re-insure that policy through one of its subsidiaries. That means that the bank is requiring insurance to protect its investment, but then it also has a financial incentive never to pay out a claim.

So what are homeowners getting for all this insurance? Not much. In both California and New York, regulators there have discovered that these banks are paying out far less than what they told state governments they expected to. In fact, while most insurers said they predicted they would pay out about 55 cents for every dollar they collected, the actual number is closer to 20 cents on the dollar.

Homeowners can avoid the whole thing if they stay up-to-date on their insurance coverage, but honestly, who among us has not had a rough month or two financially, particularly in the current fiscal climate?

What all of this illustrates, once again, is that banks are capable of great ethical lapses. You absolutely can't count on them to do the right thing. So if you're facing a Miami foreclosure, you need an attorney who is familiar with the system, the tactics of these large financial institutions and will fight aggressively for your interests.

Miami Foreclosures: Maps Show Florida's Losses

Fri, 04 May 2012 10:38:02 -0500

Miami foreclosure attorneys realize there is barely a corner of the country that hasn't been touched by the foreclosure crisis.

However, recent Google Maps feature allowing site visitors to actually see the destruction in the form of satellite maps, pin-pointed with red dots that represent foreclosures in the region.

Miami foreclosures are in the top five in the nation. In fact, Florida cities holds seven of the top 20 spots in terms of the rate of foreclosures.

Here's a closer look at those figures:

Sarasota was number 19, with 1 in 21 homes in foreclosure;
Tampa was number 17, with 1 in 20 homes in foreclosure;
Naples was number 14, with 1 in 18 homes in foreclosure;
Deltona was number 13, with 1 in 17 homes in foreclosure;
Orlando was number 9, with 1 in 15 homes in foreclosure;
Miami was number 5, with 1 in 14 homes in foreclosure;
Cape Coral was number 2, with 1 in 12 homes in foreclosure.

The only place that topped Florida in terms of foreclosures was Las Vegas, NV, which reported 1 in 9 homes in foreclosure. The nationwide average is 1 in 46 homes in foreclosure. That means Florida - even in some of the better-case scenarios, is about double the national rate of foreclosures.

The Miami foreclosure crisis is epidemic, and shows little signs of slowing.

For the individuals who are battling a Miami foreclosure, that means you need an attorney who has a breadth of knowledge and experience in this realm, to help you navigate the common pitfalls - which you will cross inevitably, seeing as how many are intentionally set by large financial institutions to protect their interests and bottom line.

What does it mean for everyone else? In a word: blight.

The Sun-Sentinel recently reported that there have been more than 10,000 property code violations lodged in 10 South Florida cities over the last five years.

In many cases, the cities cited the banks - who possessed the title to the home. These are things like overgrown lawns, facade disrepair and even crumbling structures.

And yet, they frequently get around having to pay for any repairs or fines. How is that?

Through a tactic that Miami foreclosure attorneys have become increasingly familiar with: passing the buck.

Unlike you or I, who would have to complete the work ourselves or pay for it to be done immediately or face costly fines, the banks simply point the finger at the next one down the line, usually the loan services. They can also evade or delay accountability because they are large institutions, typically based out of state.

In many cases, the Sun-Sentinel found that even though the banks kick-started the foreclosure process years ago - forcing families from their homes - they refuse to complete the process and take the title to properties that aren't likely to sell quickly. That allows them to avoid responsibility, and in some cases, the unfortunate, underwater homeowner who no longer even lives there is stuck with the bill.

Miami Foreclosure Watch: The Role of the Notaries

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 08:57:37 -0500

For anyone facing down a Miami foreclosure, you know how critical it is to have all your paperwork in proper order.

You know that having a trusted Miami foreclosure attorney is of the utmost importance to making sure all your documents are correct and verified.

Verification is what is at the heart of the housing foreclosure crisis that has this country in a death grip. And who does the verifying?

Notaries.

These are individuals who are sworn to verify that a person is who they say they are when he or she signs a document. Prior to the bubble burst, that wasn't happening, at least with regard to the large financial institutions.

In fact, banks created a system in which rubber stamping - or "document execution" was part of the way they handled foreclosures. This meant that notaries weren't doing their jobs - to the point where it's been discovered that many people had signed documents claiming to be the same person. Notaries were even instructed to sign documents using a certain name, and then notarize their own false signature.

This is against the law.

Namely, it goes against the decision that was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bernal v. Fainter, Secretary of State of Texas.

This was a case in which the central question was whether legal permanent residents (not solely U.S. citizens) could serve as notaries. It was ultimately decided they could. But the relevance here is what else that case determined about the role of notaries in the public sphere.

The court first outlined the basic duties of a notary: signing off on deeds, wills, mortgages and leases. They can take out-of-court depositions. They can administer oaths. They are also granted the discretion of refusing to perform any of these acts if they have reason to believe that someone isn't who they say they are.

The court went on to say that the community depends on notaries to ensure that people signing off on documents are identified accurately and that they will refuse to approve any document where that identity is either false or not certain. In fact, the integrity of the notary determines the integrity of property succession and land titles. The court even went so far as to say that there is a "critical need for a notary's duties to be carried out correctly and with integrity," and that failure to do so has the potential to result in considerable damage.

Now, two states - Nevada and Missouri - are taking legal action against notary firms, saying they did in fact cause considerable damage by failing to properly carry out their duties.

While this is appropriate, the bigger concern (aside from the communities who are left to deal with the mess) is why aren't the banks being held accountable for their actions in this regard as well?

If you intentionally falsified documents in a legal proceeding, you could be jailed. And yet, the banks face no repercussions.

This just once again underscores the immense position of power that these financial institutions are in - and why it is so crucial for you to have a Miami foreclosure attorney who understands their practices and is willing to fight aggressively.

The Miami Foreclosure Factory: Part 2

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:49:37 -0500

What does it mean to be a vice president of a large financial institution, with the power to sign off on Miami foreclosures?

Our Miami foreclosure lawyers would assume it means years of education, managerial experience and expertise in the industry.

However, if you work at any of the large five banks notorious for wrongful foreclosure on countless homeowners, it probably means you're an entry-level process specialist who makes somewhere in the neighborhood of $31,000 annually.

In this second of two parts on The Miami Foreclosure Factory, we're looking at the processes that were considered systemic problems within the banking industry that resulted in the forcible removal of families from their homes - even in instances when banks could offer no proof that they had legitimate claim to that home.

MSNBC's exclusive look inside the banking industry - and the practices of Wells-Fargo in particular - stems from inside information from lower-level employees of the bank, who were given important-sounding titles and sworn to attest to personal knowledge of facts in foreclosure case of which they could not possibly have known.

This practice was part of what led to a $25 billion settlement among the five major lenders in the country and 49 state attorneys general, to be partially paid to those who had been wrongly foreclosed upon. But what's concerning is those practices are still taking place - underscoring the vital importance for borrowers of securing strong legal counsel in these matters.

The entry-level employees at Wells-Fargo are bestowed with the title of "Vice President of Loan Documentation." The bank's board has approved this practice as a means to grant legal authority to sign off on documents as corporate officers.

This might not even be so bad if these individuals were adequately trained and given enough time to carefully review all of the documents and ensure the information contained therein was correct. However, internal communications indicate that bank officials regularly mandated a quota for each of these "vice presidents" of 10 to 11 foreclosures every single day.

One e-mail refers to a daily afternoon "pulse check," reminding staffers that they are required to sign off on 11 new foreclosures by the end of the day. If you are struggling right now with a Miami foreclosure, you know how much documentation is involved in a single case, and how impossible it would be to accurately review and sign off on 11 files in an 8-hour workday. The end result is going to be inevitable mistakes.

Processors are even brought in on weekends and urged to sign off on 8 new foreclosures within a 6-hour time frame.

An agreement signed by the five major banks at the beginning of this month promising to enact stricter, higher standards within their foreclosure process. Despite the fact that the banks have shown very little good faith in recent years to indicate they would actually make good on those promises, they have three more months to work out a plan and then another 180 days to implement them. So in the meantime, Miami foreclosures continue at breakneck pace, with no guarantee that their paperwork has been correctly filed and approved.

Since January of this year, there have been more than 575,000 new foreclosure filings across the country. Considering South Florida was the heart of the bubble burst, we are seeing the effects of this even more acutely than other areas of the country.

The problems that plague the mortgage lending system are widespread, and our Miami foreclosure lawyers have no confidence they will be altered anytime soon. If you're facing a foreclosure, contacting an experienced attorney is going to be critical to ensuring that your rights are protected.

The Miami Foreclosure Factory: Part 1

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:14:15 -0500

Huddled in their tiny cubicles, hundreds of "vice presidents" churn out a quota minimum of Miami foreclosure documents every single day - 10 is generally the minimum.

Our Miami foreclosure attorneys know how complicated the foreclosure process can be - and at that rate, there are bound to be a host of mistakes, any one of which could wrongly force someone from their home.

A recent article by a senior producer at MSNBC offered a rare, inside look into these so-called "foreclosure factories," particularly at Wells-Fargo, although we know the same general practices are prevalent at each of the major banking institutions. Here, in the first of two Miami Foreclosure Lawyer blogs on the expose, we're going to break down what this report revealed, and what it means for you.

The news agency started investigating deeper after one of these Wells-Fargo "vice presidents" contacted a reporter there, saying that she was horrified at the ongoing practices within the bank. She still works there, so her comments were all under the cloak of anonymity, but her statements were backed by numerous internal memos, e-mails and faxes.

According to her, the loan modifications of many families - those left in a deeply precarious financial situation following the burst of the housing bubble - were denied after merely cursory reviews. In other cases, borrowers who were trying to get a break on their underwater home mortgages were sending highly-detailed and extremely sensitive financial information to the bank - to a fax that no one had checked for weeks. In other cases, customers were falling into foreclosure for owing paltry interest payments - sometimes as astonishingly little as $1.20.

There is precious little that shocks our Miami foreclosure attorneys anymore when it comes to the egregious actions of these large banking institutions. But it's infuriating to know that it's still happening - even after widespread enforcement actions last year by the country's most powerful banking regulators and then a recent $25 billion settlement among the nation's five biggest banks and 49 states attorneys general, which was specifically aimed at wrongful foreclosure problems attributed to employees attesting to facts of which they had no firsthand knowledge.

While banks say that these wrongful foreclosures are less likely to happen, if the paperwork is never challenged in court by an experienced Miami foreclosure attorney, there is absolutely no way a homeowner would know whether a mistake was made - or even if the bank had legally proven that it was the owner of the loan and had foreclosure rights.

While regulatory investigators back in 2010 reported that Wells-Fargo's document processors were regularly signing off on affidavits containing facts they had no personal knowledge of, the banks have insisted things are better. Those who work there, however, tell a different story.

Not only do they not have personal knowledge of the facts in the documents, the internal system is specifically designed so they can't have that knowledge. In fact, they are copying-and-pasting information in a manner that would suggest that rather than the "vice president" titles they own, they are merely data entry clerks.

Jones v. Wells Fargo: Highly Reprehensible, Indeed

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:36:57 -0500

Our Miami foreclosure attorneys know that the $3.1 million judgment in the Jones v. Wells Fargo case is unlikely to have much impact on the inner workings of the mammoth banking institution.

Now, for those struggling with a Miami foreclosure, we're sure that sum would feel justified. But the fact of the matter is, it's a small drop in the bucket for a large institution like Wells Fargo. Like most large banks, they have deep pockets and shallow ethics.

What perhaps stands out more is the statement made by the federal bankruptcy judge in the case: that Wells Fargo's actions in this matter were not only "reprehensible," but "highly reprehensible."

Commentator Martin Andleman highlighted this rebuke in a recent entry on his Mandleman Matters blog. He jokingly said that for a condemnation of that magnitude, surely jail time would ensue. Of course, we all know that banks are rarely held to the standards as the rest of us.

As we recently reported on our Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog, this was a case involving a New Orleans man who was entangled in a five-year litigation with the bank. What happened in this situation was (and probably still is) happening to countless other borrowers. It's a situation called rolling debt. The borrower fell into default on his mortgage - an all-too-common occurrence in this housing climate, where millions of homeowners across the country are underwater on their homes. But once that happened, the bank began applying the balance of his subsequent payments to only his fees and interest, rather than the principal. Even when he filed for bankruptcy protection, Wells Fargo continued to falsely apply these amounts. This is rolling default.

As Andleman put it, "I think this should be called, 'boiling default,' because once it's boiling, you're goose is most assuredly cooked."

But it wasn't even enough for the bank when they had been caught red-handed to simply fess up, and begin correctly apply the balance. Not only has this practice continued, but their arsenal of lawyers filed dozens of motions, briefs and other filings that were an obvious effort to slow the legal proceedings to a snail pace. Obviously, the ultimate goal was a message to borrowers: Don't even think about trying to take legal action against us, because we will make it so difficult as to be nearly impossible.

They aren't the only banker with this mindset, and that's why it's so critical if you're facing a Miami foreclosure to consult with an experienced attorney who knows the tactics of these institutions well, and who has the legal muscle to back them down.

The federal bankruptcy judge in this case told a Huffington Post reporter that she had personally reviewed the loan files of some 20 borrowers, finding errors in each and every case.

In light of these egregious violations of ethical and legal conduct, those who currently bank with Wells-Fargo should seriously reconsider - not only on moral grounds, but because they've made it clear it doesn't matter who they harm in their efforts to enrich themselves.

Miami Foreclosures Could Slow if Payment Reductions Enacted

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:31:55 -0500

Our Miami foreclosure lawyers are cautiously optimistic about the results of a recent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage analysis, conducted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

For those who may be underwater or facing Miami foreclosure from one of these two government-sponsored enterprises, loan modifications may be on the horizon.

As you may recall, the $26 billion settlement reached by five major banks and the attorneys general for 49 states was designed to, in part, require that banks work with homeowners who were underwater on their homes, yet current with their payments, by modifying those monthly mortgage payments to a lower rate. And yet, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-holders were in the same boat as the others, they were essentially out of luck on the deal.

But that may soon change.

Edward DeMarco, who is the acting director of the FHFA announced at a Brookings Institution speech that reductions on principal for mortgages held by the two government-sponsored enterprises could ultimately save taxpayers nearly $2 billion.

It sounds tricky, and the numbers are complicated, but basically, here's how it breaks down:

The research looked at the situations of about 700,000 borrowers, and based on what they found in those cases, have estimated that Freddie and Fannie could likely lose some $64 billion if loans aren't modified and no other action is taken. That's because if people can't pay their mortgages, they'll have to simply walk away from them. That's not only lives wrecked and homes lost, but taxpayer money down the drain as well.

When the government applies the tripled-incentive payments that would reduce monthly payments under the Home Affordable Modification Program (or HAMP) those losses were mitigated by about $10 billion.

The U.S. Treasury could save about $4 billion in incentive payments to both Freddie and Fannie after factoring in redefaults. In looking at the details of the current market, the analysis discovered that by reducing monthly payments for homeowners who were significantly in over their head on their mortgage could ultimately save Fannie and Freddie nearly $2 billion.

This could have some fairly positive implications for a good chunk of underwater homeowners. It's estimated that there are about 11 million people who are underwater on their homes - that is, they owe more on their property than what it's worth. Of those, about 2.5 million hold Freddie or Fannie mortgages that have a loan-to-value ratio of more than 115 percent. Of those, about 2 million are staying current on their monthly payments.

What that means is there is about 500,000 or 600,000 people who haven't been able to keep up on their payments. These loan modifications likely wouldn't do much for them. What it would do is assist those who are at least trying to maintain their monthly payments.

Now, government analysts say there are some outside factors that could have an impact on the effectiveness of the program. That means it's possible that the benefits to the government could be mitigated, and the whole plan could be scrapped.

Our Miami foreclosure attorneys are crossing our fingers this doesn't happen. But regardless, a struggling homeowners' best bet is always going to be seeking qualified legal representation to thoroughly explore all the options.

Miami Foreclosure Lawyers Disappointed in Task Force Delay

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:40:13 -0500

Back in January, the federal government announced it was launching a new, prosecutorial task force that would go after banks for the mortgage and securities fraud that spawned the housing crisis and led to thousands suffering Miami foreclosures.

Our Miami foreclosure attorneys were hopeful this task force would finally stem the abuse of power issues that plagued these large banks and allowed them to commit crimes on such a massive level - crimes that continue to impact average people on a very real level on an every day basis.

However, we've been paying close attention to all the developments pertaining to issues that effect those struggling with foreclosure in Miami, and we've noticed that not a whole lot is happening with this task force. In fact, two months after making a splashy announcement regarding the implementation of this new team, not only does it appear stagnant - they haven't even hired a supervisor.

That's right.

This is a task force that President Obama rolled out in his State of the Union Speech. This was a task force that was supposed to slap criminal sanctions on banking institutions for the harm that they inflicted on the country's very stability through unethical and illegal practices. This was a task force that planned to use the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 to prosecute the key players.

And while this is all great in theory, words don't mean much unless you back them with action. In this case, by the time Obama made his speech, you would have thought the pieces would have been aligned.

At this point, however, we should probably come to expect such response from a government that appears all but complicit - from the blind eye to their initial actions, to the bailouts and now an utterly impotent prosecutorial effort.

While we knew this task force couldn't possibly right all the wrongs committed by these financial institutions, we had hoped it would pack a punch that would make these banks think twice before stepping outside the law. However, not only does the top supervisory position of this task force remain unfilled, so do a number of the other 54 positions.

While the task force has apparently gone ahead with issuing subpoenas in certain cases, that is a very incremental beginning to what would anyway be a long and arduous process - even if you had all the right people in place.

What this makes very clear is that the announcement - and perhaps the entire task force - was all merely for show, rather than a serious step at tackling some very real systematic problems.

While our Miami foreclosure attorneys are disappointed, we aren't surprised. And again, this just further illustrates why, if you're facing foreclosure, you need an aggressive attorney who knows the system well. We've seen it over and over again - these banks will continue to push the limits of the law (to say nothing of morality) unless they are challenged by someone who is familiar with their tactics and the system.

Miami Foreclosure Watch: Don't Let Banks Off the Hook

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:15:59 -0500

Most people battling a Miami foreclosure don't have the ability to simply sign a massive check to save their home.

Just because the banks do have that ability, our Miami foreclosure attorneys know it doesn't mean they should automatically be forgiven of the deceptive and illegal practices that led so many homeowners into this expensive quagmire.

What we're namely referring to is the $26 billion settlement that was reached by five major banks - JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally - and attorneys general from 49 states, including Florida. This settlement was intended as a peace offering of sorts, although, as we've previously written in our Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog, it amounts to little more than hanging up curtains at the home of a hoarder. It barely scratches the surface of the greater problems, and is really a drop in the bucket for the profit these institutions are known to rake in.

That being said, one thing the settlement thankfully didn't do was prevent future criminal investigations and prosecutions as well as civil cases to be brought to court on behalf of individuals.

Let's consider the following facts that have recently been revealed:

These banks made it the industry standard to sell loans to buyers who were unqualified. These loans became toxic investments, which they then sold to unsuspecting buyers. When the mess hit the fan in 2008 and all those homeowners could no longer keep up on their payments, these banking giants engaged in robo-signing techniques and document fabrications that allowed them to foreclose on homes, even when they couldn't prove they owned it.

According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, although it has been the banks' practice to blame low-level employees for all of this, they can't say that anymore.

In reality, the banks even gave high-level titles to low-level workers to make it seem as if they were actually qualified to sign all the thousands of legal documents they generated that were never checked for accuracy. Even on records that specifically certified that the signatures belonged to those who had personal knowledge of certain facts - it's been proven that wasn't true. In some cases, records were notarized by individuals who never actually saw the signatures being put to paper. At one bank, a manager in the foreclosure department attested to the fact that there were some 10,000 affidavits signed every single month that were never properly reviewed.

Perhaps even more infuriating, these practices continued even after the robo-signing debacle became known to the public.

Such actions demonstrate the brazen nature of these financial institutions to act unethically, and sometimes illegally, especially when they think that they can simply write out a check to make it Ok.

It also shows what you are up against if you are struggling with a Miami foreclosure. That's why it is so critical that you contact a Miami foreclosure attorney who has had experience in dealing with these institutions and who can fight for your interests through ever step of what is a complex process.

Miami Foreclosure Suits May be Impacted by Wells Fargo $3.1 Million Fine

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:36:02 -0500

This should give those facing a Miami foreclosure something to smile about: A federal judge has ordered Wells Fargo to pay a whopping $3.1 million for what she termed the "reprehensible" mismanagement of a single mortgage.

Our Miami foreclosure attorneys think it will be interesting to see whether the decision, made in a U.S. Eastern District of Louisiana court, will be upheld, and if so, what the implications could be for future cases.

It's no secret that large banks have exploited their customers, as well as homeowners' inability to mount a massive foreclosure defense to match the bank's titan legal teams. They have stretched legal loopholes and in many cases broken the law.

The problem for many judges, particularly in district or state courts, is they haven't had the time or financial expertise to dissect each case for each accounting error - intentional or otherwise - made by the banks in foreclosure cases. Combing through a single home loan history can be a huge headache for a judge who has hundreds of foreclosure cases on his or her docket.

But here, in a Louisiana federal bankruptcy court, one judge was simply fed up.

The case involved a New Orleans homeowner who has been ensnared in a six-year battle over his foreclosure case. Way back in 2007, U.S. Judge Elizabeth Manger ordered Wells Fargo to pay nearly $25,000 in fees because of a systematic accounting error that was used to figure out the homeowner's monthly mortgage payments.

What happened was that when the homeowner went into default, the bank improperly applied the mortgage payments he was making to his interest and accrued fees, rather than to his principal. In turn, this resulted in a flood of additional interest and fees piling up - something that's known as "rolling default." And when the homeowner was forced to file for bankruptcy, the bank continued to misapply payments.

What made this even more egregious was that the bank refused to communicate with the homeowner, even as it was improperly charging him. They filed motion after motion with the court to slow the process down to an inchworm's pace. And what's more, Magner says, the bank still refuses to own up to its mistake - one that it continues to make with homeowners. She said when she conducted a close review of 20 loan files in her district, every single one contained accounting mistakes that were the fault of the bank.

She cited all of this as reason for her $3.1 million punitive damages order against the bank - solely for this one case. It's considered one of the largest fines ever handed down for misconduct involving mortgage servicing.

She wrote that rather than admit its mistakes and return the money it gained through unfair methods, the bank continues to fight.

The bank has said it will likely appeal.

Magner had previously ordered the bank to conduct a complete audit and provide a full accounting of some 400 mortgages in her jurisdiction, but an appeals court has overruled that decision.

Miami Foreclosure Lawyers: Beware of Force-Placed Insurance Scam

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:36:05 -0500

As if people battling a Miami foreclosure weren't enduring enough, many are also forced to contend with force-placed insurance.

Our Miami foreclosure attorneys are familiar with this shady practice, whereby banks and other lenders can impose their own, cherry-picked insurance policies for homeowners who lapse on their mortgage and insurance payments. This is legal, and it's called force-placed insurance. The problem, however, has been that in far too many cases, these entities exploit the homeowners' vulnerable position by overcharging them for this insurance. This is illegal.

Now, a financial regulator in New York is expanding the scope of its investigation into this practice, after finding evidence that insurers and lenders abused their authority. The New York Department of Financial Services has been sending out formal document requests and subpoenas to a host of insurance companies, demanding that they answer how their loss ratios and rates were determined.

A loss ratio is basically the percentage of premiums that an insurance company collects that is then paid out to the policy holder. When regulators first started looking into this last fall, they realized that the loss ratio was as little as 20 cents for every dollar - versus the 55 cents for every dollar that was reported to the regulators.

This legal loophole has long been criticized, even before the mortgage crisis, because it is so easy to exploit, given the close relationships that exist between mortgage servicers and their brokers and insurance companies and their agents. The New York agency is taking a close look at these relationships, as well as the rates that were charged.

In addition to charging very high rates, these policies also rarely have solid protections in place for the homeowner. Here again, they take advantage of people who are already struggling.

What's more, many individuals have had this high-rate, low-protection insurance forced upon them when it wasn't legally allowable. In fact, New York officials found that insurance and mortgage companies erroneously forced the coverage on an astonishing 30 to 40 percent of homeowners since 2006.

The ongoing investigation was the reason federal mortgage servicer Fannie Mae started to create distance between itself and the banks when selecting force-placed insurance companies. The idea is to lower costs for both Fannie Mae and borrowers.

This is not simply a New York problem. The insurance commissioner in California recently instructed the 10 force-placed insurance companies there to lower their rates.

With so many homeowners across the country struggling in the wake of a real estate boom, the amount of force-placed insurance increased from $1.5 billion in 2004 to about $5.5 billion two years ago.

Lawsuits have been filed by homeowners, who have claimed in some instances they were charged at a rate of nine times higher than they paid before. Of course, insurance companies say these instances are few and far between, but Miami foreclosure attorneys are aware of other similar cases as well.

For example, a Palm Beach homeowner has alleged in a recent federal lawsuit that when he lapsed on his insurance payments, he was given a force-placed insurance plan that charged him a whopping $10,000 for about a half a year of coverage. Once he reinstated his own coverage, his payments plummeted to about $2,500 for the entire year.