Foreclosures Archives - Page 5 of 56

How to Purchase a Home After Foreclosure

Posted on June 17, 2019by Admin

One of the biggest fears people have after going through a foreclosure is how it will hurt their chances of purchasing a home again in the future. While the effects of foreclosure can be far-reaching, it does not mean that all hope is lost for that person ever owning a home, again.

What Are the Consequences of a Foreclosure?

A foreclosure can affect different aspects of a person’s life. It can make finding and purchasing a new home more difficult. Many consumers also suffer from the hit their credit scores take from a foreclosure. Some can be hit with a surprise tax bill following a foreclosure. Even more pervasive are the emotional effects that come with a foreclosure. Our Miami foreclosure defense attorneys fight for homeowner rights, help alleviate these concerns and get you back on track financially.

Rebuilding Credit

Following a foreclosure, a consumer should expect to see his or her credit take a significant hit. If that person wishes to purchase a home or car in the future, it is important that he or she works to rebuild his or her credit so that the consumer can get loans with decent interest rates in the future. Credit can be rebuilt, although it takes time and effort. The first step is to review your credit report. Consumers can get free copies of their credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus annually. Reviewing your credit report gives you a chance to monitor your progress when it comes to improving your credit score. It can also help with making sure that no mistakes exist on the report that could hurt the consumer later.

It may seem counter intuitive, but credit can be rebuilt through using a credit card. Many consumers find success in using a secured card initially after a bankruptcy or foreclosure, which requires a deposit be paid by the cardholder. Many banks offer secured credit cards for their customers. The deposit for the card usually limits how much the person can charge on the account, but secured cards are not normally meant for the long-term. They can help a person establish a credit base before transferring to a regular credit card with a lower interest rate. If the consumer uses a credit card, it is important to ensure that the balance does not get out of control. Make sure payments are made on time. Many financial experts recommend that consumers pay their balances off in full every month to boost their credit scores.

Financing a Home

Lenders normally require a certain period of time pass after a consumer goes through a foreclosure. A mandatory waiting period for a conventional mortgage is usually seven years. However, a consumer may be able to get a mortgage sooner than seven years, depending on that person’s life circumstances and the type of mortgage he or she wants. Fannie Mae does allow a shortened waiting period of three years if the purchaser can show that the foreclosure was due to circumstances beyond his or her control, such as a sudden job loss, death in the family resulting in loss of income, or major medical crisis. The requirements for obtaining a three-year waiting period are much stricter and do require a larger down payment.

Another option is an FHA loan for consumers wishing to purchase a home after foreclosure or bankruptcy. The minimum time period between foreclosure completion to purchasing a home is three years. If extenuating circumstances exist, it is possible to request an even shorter waiting period, although these situations are rare. FHA borrowers do need to show that they have been exercising good financial habits since foreclosure to qualify for the loan, demonstrating that they are not a financial risk to the lender.

If the borrower had his or her mortgage discharged through bankruptcy instead of foreclosure, the waiting period is shorter. Fannie Mae guidelines allow a lender to approve a new mortgage for someone who had their mortgage discharged in bankruptcy to receive a new loan after four years or two, with extenuating circumstances.

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 McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Related Resources:

https://www.bankrate.com/mortgage/life-after-foreclosure/

Foreclosures

Florida Sees an Increase in Foreclosures for the Eighth Consecutive Month

Posted on June 3, 2019by Admin

While overall foreclosure activity has declined nationwide, Florida has seen a steady annual increase for eight-consecutive months (one in every 1,415 housing units), according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ US Foreclosure Market Report. Major metros in Florida in which foreclosure activities increased from last year included Orlando, Fla. (up 90%) and Miami, Fla. (up 45%).

Receiving a notice of delinquency in the mail does not automatically mean that you are going to lose your home. Florida has what is called a judicial foreclosure process, which means that every homeowner is entitled to a hearing before the court to determine whether or not the bank is entitled to foreclose. The most important thing to remember is that the homeowner has rights. There are things you can do to slow down the foreclosure process and even keep your home, while getting your financial life back on track.

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5 Steps to Slow Down the Foreclosure Process in Florida

Posted on May 23, 2019by Admin

Educate yourself. Read over everything you have received from the lender, including the mortgage itself. Many notices will contain information on foreclosure prevention options. It is only after you have not paid your mortgage for a period of 90 days that foreclosure proceedings will start. Remember, Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, meaning the lender must file a lawsuit against you before moving forward with the proceedings.
Contact your lender. The lender will likely be willing to work with you as the foreclosure process can be lengthy and costly in Florida. There are different options they may extend to you, which include: refinancing, a repayment plan, forbearance or a loan modification.
Contact a HUD approved housing counselor. There are federally funded agencies in each state that work with a variety of lenders to secure affordable repayment options for struggling homeowners. But with this option, beware that there are many non-legitimate companies looking to scam borrowers. Research these options carefully and use caution. Make sure you are working with a free, federally approved agency.
Consider doing a short sale. If you do not see yourself being able to repay your mortgage with a loan modification or repayment plan, a short sale may be a good option.
Consider filing for bankruptcy. Filing for bankruptcy will not only eliminate your unsecured debt, but as soon as you file for bankruptcy an “automatic stay” goes into effect, which stops all collection attempts and halts the foreclosure process.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

‘Hardest Hit’ Federal Funding Money Spent on Luxury Hotel Stays by Florida Officials

Posted on April 5, 2019by Admin

Florida officials have come under fire after it was discovered that they were using money from a federal fund meant to help homeowners struggling with finances and facing foreclosure to pay for vacations and luxury hotel stays.

This information was discovered by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The alleged misuse of funds took place between 2011 and 2016. Officials from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. used money from the Hardest Hit Fund to pay for all costs to attend conferences in Orlando, Miami, Boston, Nashville, and San Diego. While this part may seem appropriate, it was later discovered that only two hours of the total four days charged were related to the Hardest Hit mortgage relief program. The remainder of the time was spent for relaxation and enjoyment.

The expenses totaled $40,000 for what they claimed were “routine meetings” in some of the finest hotels and luxury resorts in Florida, including stays at the Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg & Golf Club and the Hyatt Regency in Orlando. The expenses are considered a direct violation of federal regulations in how the relief funds should have been used.

Florida currently has one of the highest rates of foreclosures, as well as highest rates of denying funding from the Hardest Hit Fund to struggling homeowners who need it the most. “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,” according to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Unfortunately, this is the not the first time a misuse of funds has occurred when it comes to The Hardest Hit Fund. Back in 2017, it was reported that millions of dollars in foreclosure assistance was squandered by government agencies.

The Hardest Hit Fund was created in 2010 by the U.S. Treasury Department. The fund carried $9.6 billion at the time of its creation to help 18 states specifically, including Florida, who were hit hardest by foreclosures during the end of the recession. In Florida, the money is disbursed by the Florida Housing Finance Committee. However, since its creation, Florida has come under scrutiny for how slowly the agency disburses money to homeowners in need. Back in 2015, it was reported that only 20 percent of the applicants who requested relief in Florida were accepted. The national average acceptance rate is about 48 percent. At the same time, money is being used by federal employees for bonuses and vacations.

Stephen Auger, executive director for Florida Housing, was forced to resign in 2016 after an audit showed he allowed the agency to pay for a $52,000 lobster and filet mignon dinner to honor the lenders who worked directly with lower-income borrowers.

All this information was disclosed in an 85-page report from the federal special inspector general. Florida was one of the states that had a “culture of inappropriate spending” of the Hardest Hit funding. Florida Housing charged the fund approximately $18,000, which was the most of any state, just to send their employees to national housing conference that had nothing to do with the fund at all.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

National Foreclosure Scam Results in 11 Indictments

Posted on March 27, 2019by Admin

Eleven people involved in a national foreclosure scam were indicted this week by a federal grand jury in connection with a scheme to defraud homeowners desperate to save their homes. These 11 people come from five different states in connection with the scam. They stand accused of making promises to homeowners that they would negotiate with their mortgage lenders to protect them from losing their homes in foreclosure but never did anything on behalf of the homeowners after money was paid. This is a common scam we have seen so many times before.

The formal indictment listed MVP Home Solutions, also known as “Stay In or Walk Away,” Bolden Pinnacle Group Corp, also known as “Home Advisory Services Network” and “Home Advisory Services Group,” and Silverstein & Wolf Corp, as parties to this legal matter.

What these parties are accused of doing is using multilevel marketing schemes for recruiting homeowners facing foreclosure. The companies encouraged their employees to be aggressive in pushing homeowners to get on board with the program. They would search court records and online databases to find people who they know were facing foreclosure and were vulnerable and desperate to do whatever necessary to stay in their homes. The individuals targeted were living in states where foreclosure rates were particularly high- including Florida.

The reports show some examples of how persistent these companies were at recruiting homeowners to cooperate with them. In southern Ohio, more than 22,000 postcards were mailed to homeowners, indicating that the company could stop the foreclosure from proceeding or could stop a sheriff sale if the homeowner paid a fixed fee to the company first. In addition, these companies made promises that they could also negotiate the release of mortgage loans for a deed in lieu of foreclosure sale or a short sale or could stop a foreclosure sale from proceeding. They also made statements that, for a fixed fee, the company could achieve the short sale price at a fraction of what the homeowner owed on the mortgage.

Once the victim of the scam paid the upfront fee, there was never any negotiation done on their behalf. It was a typical “take the money and run” scheme, and the homeowner wound up not only losing their home but additional money in the process that they paid to the company.

The released indictment included charges involving conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, seven counts of wire fraud, one county of bank fraud, 12 counts of bankruptcy fraud, and even one count of aggravated identity theft.

So far, eight of the 11 individuals listed in the indictment have been arrested in Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York. Three others named in the indictment, including a Rafiq Bashir from Jacksonville, FL, have not yet been arrested.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

National Mortgage Delinquencies on the Decline While Foreclosure Rates Spike

Posted on February 27, 2019by Admin

Mortgage delinquencies are on the decline nationwide, according to the most recent Black Knight First Look report. The mortgage delinquency rate fell 3.75 percent for all loans in the month of January, which is down 3.45 percent from December 2018. While that decrease may not seem significant, it is when compared to one year ago. In fact, mortgage delinquencies are down nearly 13 percent from January 2018.

Black Knight, Inc., provides integrated technology services in addition to data and analytics to mortgage and real estate industries. They provide this First Look report annually to review where statistics are nationally and from state-to-state when it comes to foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies.

According to the report, approximately 1.945 million properties were 30 days or more past due in January 2019. This figure is down 68,000 from December 2018. When compared to January 2018, the numbers are down by approximately 257,000.

Additionally, Black Knight reported that 504,000 homes were at the point where they were considered “seriously delinquent,” which means the mortgages were more than 90 days past due but were not yet in foreclosure. This figure is down 7,000 when compared to December 2018 but 203,000 from January 2018.

Homes that were reported in the pre-sale inventory category, meaning homes that were in some stage of the foreclosure process, were down approximately 60,000 from December 2018 and down 72,000 from January 2018, which is in line with the rest of the trends reported. The foreclosure inventory rate was 0.51 percent of all homes still holding a mortgage. This figure shows a 2.20 percent decrease from the prior month and a 22.43 percent decrease from January 2018.

Interestingly enough, Black Knight did report that approximately 50,200 foreclosures were started in January 2019 nationwide. This figure is actually an 8.42 percent increase, as compared with December 2018. It is still down 19.42 percent, however, when compared with the previous year.

The rate for monthly prepayment was at a 10.15 percent decrease in January, as compared to December 2018. It also showed a decrease of about 25 percent from January 2018, which was also the lowest level reported since before the end of 2000.

Why is the decrease in the monthly prepayment rate significant? A prepayment is a settlement of a debt or installment payment made before the payment’s due date. It can be made for either the entire balance owed or for an upcoming payment that is paid in advance of the due date. The fact that these prepayments have gone down is unusual since prepayments are typically more common when delinquency rates decrease. It would go along with the trend for the prepayment rates to go up rather than the other way around.

Black Knight does not believe this is cause for concern since housing turnover tends to go down in January and February traditionally. Prepayments could pick up again throughout the spring so long as delinquency rates remain low or where they are.

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Related Resources:

https://www.blackknightinc.com/black-knights-first-look-at-january-2019-mortgage-data/

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Foreclosure Rates Reach Pre-Recession Record Low

Posted on February 6, 2019by Admin

Good news has come from the housing market involving mortgages and delinquencies across the nation. According to a recent report, the rate of foreclosures and loan delinquencies is now at the lowest it has been since before the 2008 financial crisis.

The report comes from the Data and Analytics division of Black Knight, Inc. and showed that just shy of four percent of mortgages nationwide were delinquent as of 2018, which is down 18 percent from 2017. One word of caution from the report was that it was possible that these figures could be inflated by the after-effects from the 2017 and 2018 hurricanes. The effect could not be too significant, however, since areas that were not impacted by hurricanes were also down 11 percent from 2017. It is anticipated that these rates will decrease even more and could even go lower than they were before the recession.

Mortgages that were seriously delinquent also went down as of the end of 2018. A mortgage is said to be seriously delinquent when the payment is more than 90 days past due. Foreclosure starts, as well as foreclosure sales, were at an 18-year low, according to Black Knight’s reports.

Of all of the states, Colorado reported the lowest serious delinquent rate at 0.37 percent, while Mississippi was at the highest at 3.06 percent. The national foreclosure rate was also down 19 percent over 2018, dropping 0.52 percent from 2017. Even more promising were reports that five states experienced more than 30 percent declines in their foreclosure rates, including New Jersey, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Utah and D.C.

States that reported the highest number of non-current home loans, meaning loan obligations that were in some level of delinquency or were past due, were from southern states, including Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Colorado, North Dakota, Idaho, Washington and Oregon reported the lowest number of non-current loans.

As of the end of 2018, 60,000 loans were in foreclosure to the point where the borrower had not made a payment in over two years. Over 40,000 loans had not received a payment in at least five years. These figures may seem high, but the report also showed that the aged foreclosure inventory rate was dropping, as well.

In fact, foreclosures that were ongoing for five or more years dropped by 35 percent from 2017 to 2018. Interestingly enough, the aged foreclosures seem to be from two states, including New York and Florida. These two states alone claim 40 percent and 20 percent respectively of aged foreclosure loans.

Many borrowers are taking this opportunity to refinance their mortgages. The report indicated that the lower rate of mortgage foreclosures in the last two months alone led to a 50 percent increase in the number of borrowers seeking a refinance on their mortgages.

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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 McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Call Being Made To Halt Foreclosures During Government Shutdown

Posted on January 22, 2019by Admin

Now in its fifth week, an estimated 800,000 government employees have been caught in the political crossfire of the government shutdown. Roughly 380,000 federal workers have been furloughed and 420,000 are working without pay. Many of these individuals, who are now facing an extremely stressful financial situation due to the lack of income, were already in a difficult financial situation prior to the shutdown.

Housing advocates are urging that it is only fair that the foreclosure process is shut down while the federal government remains on a partial shutdown. In fact, 15 organizations across the U.S. are now asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to pause all foreclosure proceedings during the shutdown for its home loans where borrowers are behind.

This request was made this week in a letter submitted to the USDA. The USDA operates a home loan program that focuses on rural home ownership.

The USDA lending program offers options for borrowers who fall behind in their mortgage payments in an effort to avoid foreclosure. However, one of these alternatives is a servicing center that has now stopped operating during the shutdown, thus leaving these homeowners in a major bind. Without the assistance and no end in sight, these homeowners are facing the possibility of foreclosure.

In response, the advocates who have reached out to the USDA believe that a stay on foreclosure is completely justified. However, until now, the USDA has not made any public statements regarding foreclosures during the shutdown, so it is hard to say how they will respond to this most recent request.

It is estimated that there are approximately one million individuals participating in the USDA direct home loan program, as well as another million enrolled in its insured loan program. These individuals are being hit hard during the shutdown, especially those employed by the federal government. If they were in the process of a foreclosure and working with one of these now closed servicing centers, these individuals are left without any other resources.

According to CoreLogic, approximately 4.1 percent of all mortgages are considered at least 30 days past due on their payments or are in foreclosure. However, foreclosures are said to be down at this point, although they still present a problem for many Floridians as delinquent payments on mortgages are on the rise.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Second Wells Fargo Glitch Leads to More Foreclosures

Posted on January 3, 2019by Admin

Wells Fargo is in the hot seat once again when it comes to home foreclosures. Recently, Wells Fargo said a computer glitch led to the bank wrongfully denying customers the chance to either request a loan modification or repayment plan on their home mortgage. Now it appears an additional glitch has led to even more foreclosures.

This most recent mistake involves loan modifications submitted to Wells Fargo between March 15, 2010, and April 30, 2018. The computer glitch Wells Fargo claims happened is responsible for hundreds of homes being denied modifications during this time period.

The announcement comes after Wells Fargo admitted in November to a separate error in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The company admitted that a computer glitch led to the bank denying mortgage customers the opportunity to request either a repayment plan or loan modification. They reported that these denials happened approximately 870 times. Because of these errors, 545 homes went into foreclosure.

In this SEC filing, Wells Fargo reported that it was a calculation error that occurred when the bank’s program implemented newer controls that resulted in an overestimation of attorney’s fees for the homeowners who were in the middle of foreclosure. Because of this error, the bank rejected these 870 loan modification requests.

This is not the first time that Wells Fargo has made this mistake. Back in August, the company disclosed that yet another calculation error in the underwriting software mistakenly denied 625 borrowers loan modifications under a federal assistance program, resulting in 400 homes being foreclosed.

With delinquent mortgage payments on the rise this past year, the need for loan modifications and flexible repayment plans is more important than ever to homeowners. Mistakes like the one made by Wells Fargo can have disastrous consequences for homeowners already in a tough spot.

Click here to read more on this story.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether 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 McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Foreclosures

Foreclosure Rescue Scam Targets Hispanic Homeowners in Florida

Posted on December 3, 2018by Admin

A Florida law firm has been accused of running a predatory loan scheme, specifically targeting Hispanic homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage.

A lawsuit was filed last week by the Department of Justice, naming the Advocate Law Groups of Florida, Jon Lindeman and Ephigenia Lindeman as parties accused of violating the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The lawsuit states that the Lindemans violated the FHA by intentionally discriminating against Hispanic homeowners through a predatory mortgage loan modification and foreclosure rescue services scheme, which the lawsuit states ran between 2009 and 2015.

Over the course of these six years, the firm and the Lindemans are accused of using Spanish-language advertisements to target Hispanic homeowners, claiming that the firm could cut their mortgage payments in half. If a Hispanic individual followed up on these advertisements and came in for a consultation, the firm is accused of then promising to lower their mortgage payments in exchange for payment of upfront fees, which could be in the thousands of dollars, in addition to monthly fees.

Once the Hispanic clients made these payments, the firm told them to stop making their monthly mortgage payments and to cease communications with their mortgage lenders. The firm would also follow-up with a packet of documents the borrowers needed to read to understand the process, but these documents were written in English only, with no translation. The borrowers were told that these documents were sent to their bank on their behalf, and they contained statements that included an offer to the bank to return the homeowner’s residence in exchange for a rescission or cancellation of the mortgage without the borrower’s consent. This resulted in many of their clients losing their homes to foreclosure.

These clients who paid high retainers and fees to the firm, in exchange the law firm did very little on their behalf to get loan modifications or reduce their monthly mortgage payments.

It was not until three former clients of the firm filed complaints with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD investigated the matter and then referred the issue to the DOJ.

The clients allege that they were targeted specifically because of their ethnic backgrounds then taken advantage of because of their lack of understanding of the English language. Had they understood the documents, they claim they would not have lost their homes and gone through the immense stress that followed with this scheme.

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 McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.