Foreclosures Archives - Page 32 of 56

Consumer Win! Ocwen Financial Ordered to Pay $2 Billion over Foreclosure Abuse Practices

Posted on December 26, 2013by Admin

In a recent agreement with federal regulators, Ocwen Financial Corporation will reduce struggling borrowers’ loan balances by $2 billion over foreclosure abuse practices. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and state attorneys general announced the deal last week.

Ocwen, one of the largest U.S. mortgage servicers, is accused of pushing borrowers into foreclosure through illegal actions, such as failing to promptly and accurately credit mortgage payments. The company also miscalculated interest rates and charged borrowers improper fees, according to regulators.

The CFPB, 49 states and the District of Columbia signed the agreement with Ocwen. The largest share of the $2 billion mortgage relief, an estimated $342 million, is expected to go to Florida. The decision is in alignment with the ultimate goals of preventing foreclosure abuse and helping struggling families keep their homes.

Click here to read more on this story.

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.

Miami’s Foreclosure Rate Continues to fall

Posted on December 24, 2013by Admin

According to a recent report by CoreLogic, the foreclosure rate for the greater Miami area fell sharply in October from a year ago. However, Miami’s foreclosure rate continues to remain far above the national average. In the Miami, Miami Beach, Kendall area, 19 percent of outstanding mortgages were in some stage of foreclosure, compared with 15.06 percent a year earlier.

Florida’s foreclosure rate fell to 6.98 percent in October from 10.65 percent a year earlier. The national average was 2.15 percent, down from 3.06 percent in October 2012. For the Miami, Miami Beach, Kendall area, 15.69 percent of mortgage loans were delinquent by more than 90 days. That compares with 21.66 percent a year earlier.

Click here to read more on this story.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act Set to Expire: Underwater Homeowners will likely Face New Tax Bill

Posted on December 19, 2013by Admin

Beginning in January, homeowners with “underwater” mortgages will likely face a new tax bill if they sell their house, modify their mortgage or lose their home in foreclosure. The 2007 federal law that waived income taxes on unpaid mortgage debt is set to expire December 31, 2013.

Without the waiver, homeowners will be forced to pay income taxes on any mortgage amount forgiven by the lender, including foreclosure. Homeowners also will have to pay tax on mortgages that are unpaid because of a short sale or a loan modification, which lowers monthly payments. So this means that a typical homeowner who sells a house for $100,000 but still has a $200,000 mortgage could face a tax bill of $28,000.

Click here to read more on this story.

Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Trend Alert: U.S. Mortgage Trouble Threatens

Posted on December 17, 2013by Admin

Mortgage trouble threatens as U.S. borrowers are reportedly missing payments on home equity lines of credit taken out during the housing bubble. The loans are a problem now because many are hitting their 10-year anniversary, at which point borrowers usually are required to start paying down the principal on top of the interest, they have been paying all along.

This trend could deal another blow to the country’s biggest banks, as more than $221 billion of these loans from Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co, Citigroup Inc, and JPMorgan Chase & Co will hit this mark over the next four years. Approximately 40 percent of the home equity lines of credit are now outstanding. This shift could more than triple the average consumer’s monthly payment. Another problem, these loans usually carry floating interest rates.

For example, a consumer with a $30,000 home equity line of credit and an initial interest rate of 3.25 percent would see their required payment jumping to $293.16 from $81.25, analysts from Fitch Ratings calculate.

Banks aggressively marketed home equity lines of credit before the housing bubble burst. Big banks, including Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co, Citigroup Inc, and JPMorgan Chase & Co have more than $10 billion of these home equity lines of credit on their books each, and in some cases more than that.

That is why the loans are starting to be problematic: For home equity lines of credit made in 2003, missed payments have already started increasing. A high percentage of home equity lines of credit went to people with poor credit — more than 16 percent of the home equity loans made in 2006, for example, went to people with credit scores below 659, seen by many banks as the dividing line between prime and subprime.

Click here to read more on this story.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

LA Sues Wells Fargo, Citigroup Alleging Mortgage Discrimination

Posted on December 11, 2013by Admin

The Los Angeles city attorney has sued Wells Fargo and Citigroup alleging the companies engaged in mortgage discrimination that led to an increase of foreclosures in minority communities during the housing crash.

The city attorney’s suits allege a “continuing pattern of discriminatory mortgage lending practices” in Los Angeles that violates the federal Fair Housing Act. They claimed Wells Fargo and Citigroup at first refused to grant mortgages in minority neighborhoods- a practice known as redlining. Later, they targeted black and Hispanic neighborhoods for predatory loans, a practice known as reverse redlining.

The lawsuits contend that “vulnerable, undeserved borrowers” denied by years of redlining jumped at the chance to obtain subprime home loans they could not afford, then were hit with foreclosures when the housing bubble burst and they were denied refinancing.

Both lawsuits seek unspecified reparations and damages. A report by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and the California Reinvestment Coalition is cited in the lawsuit that estimated the mortgage crisis resulted in more than 200,000 foreclosures from 2008 to 2012, with $481 million in lost property tax revenue to the city, and $1.2 billion in Los Angeles for “increased costs of safety inspections, police and fire calls, trash removal and property maintenance.”

Click here to read more on the story.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

South Florida Home Prices Increase Giving Underwater Homeowners a Sense of Hope

Posted on December 10, 2013by Admin

South Florida home prices have increased by more than 20 percent in the past year, giving many underwater homeowners a sense of hope. According to Zillow.com, in the third quarter alone, more than 25,000 homeowners in Broward and Palm Beach counties saw their home values rise above what they owed, freeing them from “underwater” mortgages.

After peaking at $391,100 in November 2005, Broward County’s median home price plunged by more than 50 percent by the time the market finally hit bottom in early 2012. Palm Beach County’s peak median, $421,500, fell by nearly 60 percent for the same period. The steep declines, unleashed a wave of foreclosures. Many underwater homeowners opted for short sales, others were just stuck, continuing to make mortgage payments and unable to sell.

The market began to stabilize when investors and other buyers began looking for bargains. This rush eventually forced housing prices back up. Median prices in Palm Beach and Broward counties have jumped by double digits in every month this year, though the year-to-year increases have slowed since the summer. Analysts expect home values to appreciate closer to the traditional 4 percent a year by 2014.

Click here to read more on this story.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Top U.S. Banks Fail to Correct Foreclosure Abuse Practices

Posted on December 5, 2013by Admin

A report this week revealed that some of the top U.S. banks, including Bank of America and Citigroup, have failed to fully comply with the government settlement to correct mortgage servicing abuses. Bank of America failed to file accurate documents in bankruptcy proceedings and Citigroup’s mortgage unit failed to notify borrowers about missing documents within 30 days of a request for a short sale.

According to the monitor, the two banks have submitted plans to fix the problems and are in the process of correcting the failures. JPMorgan Chase was also cited in the recent report. The report revealed that the bank failed in some instances in 2013 to make decisions on borrower applications to modify loans within a timetable required, and it failed a test that measures whether a pre-foreclosure notice sent to customers was accurate.

Click here to read more on this story.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

A Heartwarming Thanksgiving Story- 1,000 Homes Saved from Foreclosure

Posted on November 28, 2013by Admin

1,000 homes have been saved from foreclosure thanks to Affordable Housing Resources, a Nashville-based non-profit. Dorothy Fisher was all smiles this week following a difficult year and a half. She worked as an administrative assistant at Meharry Medical College for 20 years, until the school let her go last summer. After losing her job, she exhausted what little savings she had trying to keep up with her mortgage payments.

At the end of her rope, Fisher reached out to Affordable Housing Resources, a non-profit that helped her fight off foreclosure and keep her home. Affordable Housing Resources announced Fisher was just one of 1,000 Tennessee homeowners the Nashville-based non-profit helped avoid foreclosure.

Fisher is still working to get back on her feet and says, “Being able to keep her home makes the light at the end of the tunnel shine a little brighter.” This year, she will be able to have her family over for Thanksgiving. “Without Affordable Housing, we wouldn’t have a Thanksgiving dinner and I wouldn’t have my granddaughter and my grandson over to enjoy that festivity.”

Click here to read more on this story.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Florida Home Values go Up as Foreclosures Loom

Posted on November 21, 2013by Admin

October’s single-family home sales for Brevard showed an increase of 9.3 percent over the year, to 727 sales, according to Florida Realtors. Median sales price- the point at which half the homes sell for less, half for more – in Brevard rose 3.4 percent in October, to $120,000, from a year ago. According to one realtor in Brevard County, most of her sellers are getting the full asking price or slightly more.

The positive sales numbers for October are the likely result of banks and lenders stepping up foreclosure activities against Brevard and Florida property owners who have been delinquent in payments. According to RealtyTrac, Florida continues to lead the nation in the number of homes threatened with foreclosure. In Brevard, RealtyTrac reports there were 10,184 properties in the foreclosure process, a nearly 22 percent increase from a year ago. That’s the highest the figure has been since at least 2009.

Housing experts say a key reason for the increase in local foreclosure activity is because banks and lenders are trying to free up properties to make them available to buyers, both investors and those who plan to live in a home.

Daren Blomquist, the Vice President of RealtyTrac, says “the banks realize they can get more money out of a property through a foreclosure than a short-sell and often prefer foreclosures because they can get paid in cash as opposed to depending on a traditional home loan.”

Click here to read more on this story.

Florida Bar, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Big Time Florida Foreclosure Lawyer Accepts Disbarment

Posted on November 20, 2013by Admin

Florida lawyer, David J. Stern, whose law firm handled tens of thousands of foreclosure cases during the height of the financial crisis is ending his fight to hold on to his law license. The disbarment will mark the most significant punishment for the attorney’s role in falsifying documents through fake signatures and backdating records and not giving homeowners proper notice that they faced foreclosure.

In late January, the Florida Bar found probable cause for 17 counts against Stern. The alleged violations included misconduct and failure to supervise non-lawyers properly. Stern’s attorney initially said that his client had done nothing unethical and questioned if the Bar could prove his client did anything to merit punishment.

But recently, Stern’s lawyer, Jeffrey Tew, filed a one page document with the Florida Supreme Court stating that his client has decided to end his fight against recommendations that he be disbarred. A referee has also recommended that Stern pay nearly $50,000 in costs to the Florida Bar, claiming that Stern’s actions had “created chaos” in the courts.

The October report included testimony from six judges complaining about Stern and his firm’s lawyers. Judge Nancy Perez contended that Stern’s failure to exercise care was not “isolated, but rather a representation of the culture of the firm, as to the low level of competence and ethics.”

Click here to read more on the story.