Foreclosures Archives - Page 31 of 56

Big banks meet obligations of robo-signing settlement, Homeowner relief falls short

Posted on March 20, 2014by Admin

Big banks are cheering now that they have fulfilled their obligations under the National Mortgage Settlement. However, new reports reveal the $20 billion “robo signing” deal has fallen short, leaving many struggling borrowers underwhelmed.

While the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said in 2012 that a million homeowners would see reduced mortgage principals or refinanced loans, data show only 630,000 homeowners across the country have seen any sort of relief.

In Florida, approximately 120,000 homeowners were offered $9.2 billion in relief, the nation’s second-highest level of assistance behind California. However, much of this money went toward short sales or second-mortgage forgiveness- relief, which did not help distressed borrowers stay in their homes.

Nearly $3.5 billion went toward eliminating second-loan debt that the lenders likely would have never collected. Banks earned another $3.5 billion in credit though short sales, by approving sales of distressed homes for less than the homeowners owed. Investors are the ones who largely benefited from banks’ focus on short sales. Approximately 11,000 of the 120,000 Florida homeowners offered settlement aid were allowed principal forgiveness.

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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.

Florida still No. 1 in Foreclosure Activity

Posted on March 14, 2014by Admin

The most recent data from RealtyTrac reveals that Florida remains the No. 1 state in the nation in foreclosure activity for the month of February. This activity includes initial filings, auction notices and lender repossessions. The number has dropped 24 percent from a year earlier.

One in every 372 residences in Florida received some sort of filing during the month of February; a rate more than three times the national average. In Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach, foreclosure activity fell 33 percent in February compared with a year earlier and was down 27 percent from the previous month.

Nine of the 10 major U.S. metro cities with the highest rate of foreclosure were in Florida. At the top of the list was Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. Tampa ranked No. 2; Jacksonville, No. 3, and Miami, No. 4-with one in every 328 residences seeing some type of foreclosure activity during the month. Port St. Lucie was No. 5.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

NEW bill protects renters from foreclosure-related evictions

Posted on March 11, 2014by Admin

Receiving a foreclosure notice as a homeowner is devastating. But imagine losing your home or apartment to foreclosure as a renter, when you paid your rent on time every month. Congress is pushing for permanent protections for renters who find themselves in this very situation.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is a cosponsor of a bill that would permanently extend the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009, which gives temporary protection against eviction to families renting houses that go into foreclosure.

Tenants who work hard and are responsible rent payers each month deserve protections for themselves and their families. The problem lies with the landlords, who failed to make mortgage payments on these properties.

Up until 2009, if the houses were foreclosed upon and resold, almost always at a discount, the new owners could evict the tenants, often giving the renters no recourse or very little notice to move. The 2009 law ended that by saying if the tenants had leases and were abiding by their terms, the new owners had to honor those leases. There was an exemption if the new owners intended to occupy the properties, but it required giving the tenants 90 days’ notice before eviction.

Tenants would gain a new protection in the latest legislation that they currently do not have: the explicit right to sue the new owners if they believed the owners violated the law. Tenants would have what is called a “right of action,” giving them a clear right to sue.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Wells Fargo Pays the Consequences in “Shocking” Foreclosure Case

Posted on March 10, 2014by Admin

A New Mexico judge issued a $3.2 million judgment against Wells Fargo & Co. for foreclosing on a man’s home after his death, even though he had a purchased insurance policy through the bank that would have covered the remaining balance on the mortgage. The judge called the bank’s conduct “shocking” and so reprehensible that in addition to damages, attorney’s fees and court costs; she awarded James Dollens’s estate $2.7 million in punitive damages.

Dollens had purchased an accidental death mortgage insurance policy for his Rio Rancho home that was marketed by Wells Fargo and issued by Minnesota Life. His death was reported immediately to Minnesota Life and to Wells Fargo to make a claim under the insurance policy.

However, instead of collecting funds from the insurance policy, Wells Fargo sent notices about the loan being in default and sent the loan to foreclosure. There was $125,000 owed on the mortgage.

When the bank received a $133,559 check from the insurance company in May 2011, it collected delinquent payments, late fees, and fees for lawyers and for 18 property inspections, leaving only $4,400 for Dollens’s estate ‘‘because of misapplication of the insurance proceeds,’’ the judge said.

Wells Fargo argues the family should have continued making payments regardless of the insurance policy. The judge called this case “a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing- The bank’s unwillingness and failure to hold off on the foreclosure even when requested to do so by the insurance company was shocking.”

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Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Foreclosure Nightmare Far from Over

Posted on March 7, 2014by Admin

The revival of the U.S. housing market has produced a sigh of relief for much of the economy, as home prices and construction have finally rebounded. However, for some homeowners the foreclosure crisis has never ended. The worst of the foreclosure crisis passed years ago, but it has continued to cast a shadow over homeowners in places like Maryland, where many old cases have yet to work their way through the system.

Last year, Florida’s foreclosure rate was the third-highest in the country, behind Nevada and Illinois, according to RealtyTrac. Nationally, it is estimated that 5.2 million foreclosures have been completed since 2007. But the vast majority happened in the early years of the recession, with 2013’s foreclosures making up just 9% of the U.S. total.

Maryland’s high foreclosure rate is actually linked to the state’s attempt to remedy the process for underwater homeowners. In 2010, the state passed a law requiring mediation if homeowners requested it, and some foreclosure cases from early in the housing crisis are now going through the program.

Consumer advocates believe that these reforms are an important preventative measure against abusive practices that abruptly forced people out of their homes. Mortgage servicers have continued to employ abusive practices, which plague underwater homeowners and prolong the pain.

The Moody family, for example, missed one payment in February 2009 after Paul Moody suffered a back injury and lost his job. Five years later, after dealing with three different mortgage servicers, two foreclosure attempts and more than a dozen different applications for loan modifications, there is still no resolution in site. Attempts to seek relief from state and federally backed programs have gotten the family nowhere.

The major rules for mortgage servicers only went into effect in January 2014, allowing many abuses to continue despite intense scrutiny and demands for reform at the height of the housing meltdown. For instance: servicers are now prohibited from “dual-tracking” homeowners by offering them a loan modification while moving forward with a foreclosure at the same time. Mortgage companies are now required to ensure their customer representatives can actually answer question and access relevant documents to eliminate red tape issues, mixed messages and unreturned phone calls.

The good news is, the Moody’s have been able to stay in their home while negotiating with their lenders. A quicker resolution could be far worse- at least from the homeowner’s perspective- Legislative attempts to fast-track foreclosures have denied homeowners their rights and took their properties away before they could save them.

The end is slowly coming into sight for others as well. Nationally, foreclosures have hit a six-year low. Though many Maryland homeowners are still underwater, the delinquency rate for loans that aren’t yet in foreclosure is dropping, falling from about 11% of all mortgages in 2009 to 8% by the end of 2013, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Rising property values in the area means that fewer foreclosed houses remain vacant for long.

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Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Two “Real Housewives of New Jersey” cast members admit to mortgage and bankruptcy fraud

Posted on March 5, 2014by Admin

Teresa and Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice, the couple on Bravo’s hit reality TV show, “Real Housewives of New Jersey” both pleaded guilty this week to mortgage and bankruptcy fraud. The popular reality show featured a handful of “supposedly” wealthy cast mates flaunting their lavish lifestyles for five seasons. The Giudices, in particular, flaunted cash freely on the show.

Teresa, 41, and Joe, 43, admitted to conspiring for years to defraud banks and other lending institutions while seeking nearly $5 million in construction loans home equity loans and mortgages. They also admitted to misleading a federal bankruptcy court. After applying for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 2009, the Giudice’s failed to disclose Teresa’s true income from the “Real Housewives” show and personal and magazine appearances. They also concealed businesses they owned and money made from rental income.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Joe Giudice is facing a recommended prison sentence of 37 to 46 months. Teresa’s lawyer is pushing for a much lesser sentence of only probation, saying she bears less responsibility than Joe for their decade of fraud and noting that the couple has four daughters who need to be cared for. Under the sentencing guidelines, it is recommended that Teresa receive less than 2 ¼ years in prison.

During the 75-minute hearing, before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, both of the Giudices admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, one count of bankruptcy fraud by concealment of assets, one count of bankruptcy fraud by false oaths, and one count of bankruptcy fraud by false declarations.

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If you are in a financial crisis and are considering filing 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, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Proposed ordinance in Coral Gables requires banks to maintain foreclosed homes

Posted on February 26, 2014by Admin

City commissioners tentatively approved an ordinance Tuesday that will require banks to maintain foreclosed homes in Coral Gables. This new ordinance will increase the annual cost of keeping a property on the city’s registry of abandoned homes, allow police to issue trespassing warnings on those properties and allow the city attorney and city manager to take legal action against lenders.

The move is in an effort to keep banks focused on dealing with the amount of abandoned properties and get them back on the market quickly so property values do not suffer. The registration fee is increasing from $200 to $600 annually. This will cover the city’s “additional costs in monitoring the property,” according to the ordinance. This registration will also give police the ability to issue trespassing warnings to squatters. At present time, 94 homes in Coral Gables are listed as bank-owned, according to RealtyTrac.

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Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

NEW Mortgage Protections for Members of the Military

Posted on February 17, 2014by Admin

The responsibilities of home ownership and having a mortgage are demanding enough for the average consumer, but the process becomes increasingly more complicated for borrowers who are serving our country.

To help ease these hardships- which include job and relocation stress, along with time constraints- the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has written new mortgage protections for these consumers, which are now in place for military men and women.

Holly Petraeus, head of the CFPB’s military office said the new rules have come after the CFPB conducted nationwide listening sessions and heard stories from military families about poor mortgage servicing practices, inconsistent foreclosure practices and sloppy recordkeeping by lenders. These new rules will help military families struggling with a mortgage and those that just got orders requiring them to relocate.

Some of CFPB’s new rules include:

• Require a servicer to evaluate a borrower for all available options as soon as they receive an application for mortgage help.

• Servicers must have policies in place to ensure consistent and constant contact with borrowers.

• One of the big changes relates to what is known as dual-tracking. In the past, a member of the military struggling to make a mortgage payment might have been working on a potential loan modification at the same time their servicer was moving to foreclose on the home. This practice is now restricted under the new rules.

• Eliminate the issue of misplacing documents and other factors that make it hard for borrowers to get accurate and consistent answers regarding their mortgage.

• Mortgage servicers are now required to train their employees to be more readily able to answer questions for borrowers who run into trouble and must assign someone to help military borrowers to ensure a positive experience.

• In the past, service members had to apply multiple times for programs to help keep their homes. The new rules require mortgage servicers to evaluate a borrower who files a complete application for help for all the options that are available to that borrower. This will eliminate multiple rounds of applications.

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Bankruptcy Law, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Foreclosures Hit Lowest Level in More than Six Years

Posted on February 14, 2014by Admin

Banks took back 30,226 homes last month, a 4 percent drop from December, according to RealtyTrac. Lenders have repossessed fewer U.S. homes in January, bringing the number of foreclosures down to its lowest level in more than six years.

Even with the recent drop, many states posted a sharp increase in the number of homes entering the foreclosure process for the first time, a trend that raises the likelihood that those states will see a surge in foreclosed homes later this year.

It looks as if the U.S. housing market has finally emerged from its slump. Home prices have steadily increased, there has been steady job growth and more homeowners are keeping up with their mortgage payments.

Florida and New York, two states which continue to have a backlog of homes with unpaid mortgages, are only now entering the foreclosure process or being scheduled for auction. Foreclosures peaked in 2010 at 1.05 million and have been declining ever since.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Homes in Foreclosure Hit 6-year Low

Posted on January 21, 2014by Admin

Foreclosures are on the decline, according to the latest evidence from RealtyTrac. The U.S. housing market continues to emerge from a deep slump, aided by rising home prices, steady job growth and fewer bad loans. More homeowners are keeping up with their mortgage payments, leading fewer homes to enter the foreclosure pipeline.

Foreclosures totaled 747,728 last year, which is down 33 percent from a year earlier and is the lowest annual level since 2006. As of December, more than 1.2 million properties nationwide were in some stage of the foreclosure process or owned by banks, but not yet sold. That is a decline of 19 percent from a year earlier and 44 percent below their peak of more than 2.2 million homes in December 2010, Realty Trac said.

Florida continues to remain the nation’s foreclosure hotbed and had 306,018 homes in some stage of foreclosure or owned by banks in December. That amounts to a quarter of the national total.

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