Foreclosures Archives - Page 14 of 57 - Kingcade Garcia McMaken, P.A. Bankruptcy Attorneys

Credit, Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Mortgage Rates Surge after Donald Trump’s Election Win

Posted on November 25, 2016by Admin

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said that the average rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan rose to 4.03 percent, which is the highest rate since July 2015. It is up from 3.94 percent the previous week. Rates on 15-year home loans also rose to 3.25 percent, up from 3.14 percent last week, which is the highest rate since January.

Long-term mortgage rates have been increasing each week since Donald Trump was elected as President on November 8^th. Experts believe that investors are fearful of the president-elect’s plan to cut taxes and spend massively on roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure could provoke inflation. As a result, investors demand higher long-term rates and pay lower prices for bonds.

The anticipation of economic stimulus has also caused a surge in stock prices. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 19,000 for the first time.

However, rising mortgage rates pose a threat to the housing market and the economy. In the past, lower mortgage rates have fueled the real estate market by causing an increase in home sales. According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales rose two percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.6 million, which was the highest rate since February 2007.

Real estate experts believe that mortgage rates will continue to rise until there is more understanding of where the economy and housing policies are headed during Trump’s presidency.

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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.

Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

October Shows Surprising Increase in Foreclosures

Posted on November 15, 2016by Admin

Foreclosure filings increased in October from the previous month in Southwest Florida and the recent Florida Supreme Court ruling could lead to even more foreclosures in the coming months. Lenders reported 469 foreclosure actions last month in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties- up 33 percent from September.

According to the October 2016 Foreclosure Market Report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a total of 105,481 foreclosure filings, default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions took place in October. This is up 27% from September’s 129-month low, but it is still down 8% from last year.

The state with the highest foreclosure rate is Delaware, with one in every 355 houses having a foreclosure filing, followed by New Jersey with one in every 564 housing units, Maryland with one in every 679 units, Illinois with one in every 704 units and South Carolina with one in every 801 units.

Florida could soon be joining the states with the highest number of foreclosures, given the October ruling by the state supreme court, which favors lenders and allows them to re-file a foreclosure action against a homeowner in default even if a previous foreclosure case against that homeowner was dismissed and that original foreclosure case was filed more than five years ago, outside the state’s statute of limitations for foreclosure.

The loans used in the housing recovery that are most susceptible to foreclosure are the FHA and VA with low down payments. Data from ATTOM Data Solutions shows FHA and VA loans combined represent 49% of all active foreclosure inventory for loans originated in the seven years ending in 2015.

Related Resources:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20161110/foreclosure-filings-rise-in-october

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/38512-october-shows-surprising-30-increase-in-foreclosures

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Florida Supreme Court Decision Could Cause a ‘New Wave’ of Foreclosures

Posted on November 9, 2016by Admin

In a recent decision made by the Florida Supreme Court, servicers may now file new foreclosure actions against borrowers who won foreclosure cases more than five years ago if the borrowers default again within five years of the first case’s dismissal. That means the lender can make another attempt to collect, as long as it is within the next five-year period and the borrower had started paying again and then stopped.

The case, Lewis Brooke Bartram v. U.S Bank National Association was decided in favor of the mortgage servicers as borrowers argued a five-year statute of limitations should apply.

The court’s ruling, authored by Justice Barbra Pariente, determined that when foreclosure actions are dismissed, servicers and borrowers return to their ‘pre-foreclosure’ complaint status. This allows homeowners to continue to pay back their loans in installments, rather than all at once. But it also revives the lender’s right to seek acceleration and foreclosure based on any subsequent defaults, saying:

Accordingly, the statute of limitations does not continue to run on the amount due under the note and mortgage.

This decision is expected to cause a new wave of foreclosure cases within the next year or so, basically giving the banks a ‘do-over.’ The ruling applies to tens of thousands of foreclosures in South Florida alone, those hardest hit by the Great Recession.

Florida was ranked No. 1 in the country for completed foreclosures in 2015-16, with 55,000 actions, according to real estate data tracking firm CoreLogic.

Related Resources:

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/226274-supreme-court-new-wave

http://www.dsnews.com/daily-dose/11-06-2016/state-spotlight-floridas-supreme-court-ruling-win-servicers

Credit, Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Law Firm Sues Wells Fargo over Foreclosure Work

Posted on November 3, 2016by Admin

A New Jersey law firm has filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo, claiming that the bank’s delayed efforts to fix its robo-signing problems led to the law firm’s demise. The law firm, Zucker, Goldberg & Ackerman, claims to have helped the lender foreclose on thousands of homeowners.

The lawsuit alleges that Wells Fargo took several years to comply with a 2010 New Jersey Supreme Court order that called for lenders to show that they were properly submitting mortgage details before foreclosing on a property. The law firm has since laid off most of its 335 employees within the last year.

According to the law firm, Wells Fargo’s delay in responding to the 2010 court order caused significant financial problems for the firm. The lawsuit states that under the bank’s agreement with mortgage lenders, the law firm would advance most of the foreclosure-related expenses and be reimbursed later. The lawsuit also states that the lender has refused to pay more than $2.5 million for work that Zucker, Goldberg & Ackerman did for the bank.

The firm was hired to file court pleadings, ensure compliance with state and federal regulations and research information such as ownership, payment history and title history for each case, according to the lawsuit.

Wells Fargo’s spokesman Tom Goyda released a statement that said the bank disagrees “with the claims regarding fees owed to the firm” and said that the lawsuit’s other allegations “should not be viewed as credible.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christine Gravelle scheduled a hearing on December 21^st.

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Bankruptcy Law, Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Mortgage Fraud on the Rise- Florida Remaining the State with the Highest Risk

Posted on October 17, 2016by Admin

Fraud is on the rise in the mortgage industry, with Florida remaining the state most at risk, according to new data from CoreLogic. More than 12,000 mortgage applications were estimated to have fraud associated with them, according to the company’s 2016 Mortgage Fraud Report.

The mortgage application fraud risk index was up 3.9% year over year from the second quarter of 2015, continuing an upward trend in fraud since 2010.

“This is consistent with the loosening of credit policy after historically tight credit policies post-crisis,” CoreLogic stated in its report. CoreLogic cited a number of factors contributing to the increase in fraud risk, including an increased share of purchase loans, the availability of higher loan-to-value mortgages and the loosening of GSE credit policies.

Florida had the highest application fraud risk, followed by New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Washington, D.C.

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Credit, Debt Relief, Foreclosures

Florida Offers Homeowners Facing Foreclosure a Free Assistance Program

Posted on October 6, 2016by Admin

According to CoreLogic, Florida had the highest number of completed foreclosures of any state last year, with a total of 57,000 foreclosed homes. South Florida led the state with 9,603 in September alone. As a result, the Florida Housing Finance Corporation is offering a free statewide assistance program designed to help homeowners facing foreclosure called the Foreclosure Counseling Program.

The program provides struggling homeowners with one-on-one counseling and financial education services. Residents in all 67 counties are eligible.

“Foreclosure is still an issue facing thousands of homeowners in every county of our state,” said Florida Housing Communications Director Cecka Rose Green. “As a participant in the FCP, homeowners can expect to receive extensive housing and financial counseling services that can help them save their homes and become more financially stable.”

The Florida Legislature allocated $10 million from the state’s National Mortgage Settlement funds to implement the program. More than 40 agencies are available to assist interested homeowners across the state.

Click here to read more on this story or click here to visit the Florida Housing website for a full list of participating agencies.

Bankruptcy Law, Debt Relief, Foreclosures

Ditech Financial Fined $1.4 Million for Abusive Debt Collection Practices

Posted on October 5, 2016by Admin

Last week Ditech Financial was ordered to pay the state of Massachusetts $1.4 million to settle charges that the company engaged in “abusive debt collection practices.” The company was allegedly using tactics such as excessive calling and failing to properly notify borrowers of their mortgage information, according to the state’s attorney general.

Ditech Financial, formerly known as Green Tree Servicing, agreed to an “assurance of discontinuance.” This means the debt collection agency will stop making excessive debt collection calls, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

The order also requires Ditech to provide written notice to borrowers, regarding their right to receive detailed information about any debts the agency sought to collect. According to Healey’s office, Ditech has “routinely violated” state laws since 2012.

Ditech has agreed to change its procedures to prohibit calling borrowers in excess of the number permitted by the debt collection regulations and will implement technological controls to restrict outgoing collection calls when the limit is reached. The payout will be used to address the negative effects of foreclosure, debt collection and other consumer’s protection issues, according to the attorney generals’ office.

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If you are in financial crisis and considering filing for bankruptcy, contact an experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney who can advise you of all of your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade & Garcia, P.A. has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys’ help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild and recover. The day you hire our firm, we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Wells Fargo’s Bogus Accounts, Echoes of Foreclosure Abuses

Posted on October 4, 2016by Admin

Wells Fargo’s Chairman and Chief Executive, John Stumpf, sat through hearings with the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on Capitol Hill last month. During the hearings, Stumpf was drilled about the bank’s years long practice of opening bogus accounts for customers and charging fees to do so.

Throughout the hearings, many members of the Senate Committee took an opportunity to scold Stumpf. Senator Jon Tester of Montana told Stumpf, “You have done something I’ve never seen in 10 years, you have united this committee – and not in a good way.”

Financial experts are now saying that Wells Fargo’s latest scandal where they opened fake accounts and charged unknowing customers fees to do so is similar to the some of the elements in the foreclosure scandal. For example, both scams consisted of improper fees and forgeries.

A major difference between the two is that Stumpf has apologized to customers who were affected in the “account opening charade,” however, no such apology was made after the foreclosure scandal.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Seasonality Plays a Part in the Increase in U.S. Foreclosure Starts

Posted on September 27, 2016by Admin

Total U.S. foreclosure starts numbered 68,800 for the month of August with a 12.23 percent increase from July. While this may seem like a large increase, the 12 percent rise in foreclosure starts in August is actually more a product of just how low starts were in July, which saw the second lowest volume of foreclosure starts in over 10 years, according the Data & Analytics division of Black Knight Financial Services, Inc.

August still remains the fifth lowest month for foreclosure starts in 10 years. 90-day defaults tend to rise in the summer months, showing the effect seasonality has on foreclosure starts.

The report states that inventory of loans in foreclosure has been on the decline for 19 consecutive months and in 51 of the past 52 months with total U.S. loan delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure) currently sitting at 4.24 percent. This is a decrease of 6.04 percent from the previous month as well as a 11.41 percent increase from the past year.

Finally, the report states that the number of properties that are 30 or more days past due or in foreclosure sat at 2,678,000. This was a decrease of 158,000 properties in July and 483,000 properties in August of 2015.

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Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

6 Percent Increase in New South Florida Foreclosure Cases

Posted on September 26, 2016by Admin

For the past six months, new foreclosure cases have increased 6 percent in South Florida. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties had 7,354 new cases from March through August, compared with 6,934 during the same period of 2015, according to a report from ATTOM Data Solutions.

The recent increase is a sign that there is still distress in the South Florida housing market. Despite the increase, the number of new cases still remains below pre-recession levels. The number of foreclosures peaked in South Florida during 2009, when 133,250 new cases were filed, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.

Home prices bottomed out by the end of 2011, causing an increase in sales to buyers looking to capitalize on the bargains, which ultimately helped the housing market recover. During that time, the job market and the economy improved as well. With home sales leveling in recent months, some analysts predict the housing market has peaked and is facing an inevitable slowdown, which could mean more delinquencies.

But thanks to better underwriting standards, interest rates remaining low and incomes gradually increasing; this will not come close to mirroring the housing collapse of 2006-2011.

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