According to a report by federal regulators, the Sunshine State is behind other states when it comes to disbursing foreclosure relief. Florida has $1 billion set aside in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, supplied by taxpayers. The federal government created the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) that has $7.6 billion in TARP funds, to help families in the states that were hardest hit following the housing market crash.
In a new report, TARP finds that “Florida has the lowest homeowner admission rate for relief funds offered by the organization, one of the highest withdrawn application rates and has consistently denied homeowners at higher rates than the national average.” With these findings, the report says that HHF Florida has not been as effective in helping homeowners in distress as the funds in other states.
According to the report, only 20 percent of the applicants for relief are accepted in Florida. The national average acceptance rate is about 48 percent. Florida is supposed to disburse its $1 billion in taxpayer loans by December 2017. However, five years into the program’s existence, Florida has spent only half of the funds, leaving many homeowners still in “critical need,” according to the report.
Florida homeowners were some of the hardest hit following the housing market crash; 18.3 percent of the 2.8 million homeowners who received foreclosure filings were in Florida. Nearly 6 percent of Florida households were in foreclosure- about three times the national average.
The report also reveals that the Treasury relies on homeowners to comply with a federal regulation prohibiting anyone convicted of a mortgage-related crime within 10 years from receiving HHR funds, which means homeowners must self-report if they have been convicted of a mortgage-related crime. This makes the fund “vulnerable to fraud and thwarting the intent of the Dodd-Frank Act,” according to the report.
Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.
Related Resources: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2015/10/06/florida-is-slowest-state-to-disburse-foreclosure.html
