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Mortgage Foreclosure Help for Florida Homeowners

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Help for homeowners with underwater mortgages is the goal of the Obama Administration’s revised Home Affordable Refinance Program. HARP 2.0, scheduled for implementation in March, aims to help homeowners who are current with their mortgage refinance loans backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

A key feature of HARP 2.0 is the elimination of the loan-to-value (LTV) cap, which was previously set within a range of 80 to 125 percent. Lender participation in the program is voluntary, meaning that some banks may choose to stay within lower LTV ratios.

Homeowners who qualify for refinancing at a lower interest rate will see reductions in their monthly payment, which gives them the option to either save on monthly expenses or accelerate repayment of the mortgage.

In Florida, 182,000 properties were in foreclosure in 2011, according to RealtyTrac. The situation is particularly acute in South Florida, where one in every 261 homes across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties is in foreclosure.

The Administration also announced a Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) pilot program to transition Real Estate Owned (REO) properties into rental housing.

The HARP 2.0 proposal requires Congressional approval before it takes effect.

If you owe more on your house than it is worth and are in or at risk of mortgage foreclosure, contact Fort Lauderdale foreclosure defense attorney Marcy Resnik, Esq., to discuss your legal options.

National Mortgage Settlement Claim Deadline is Friday

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Florida homeowners who lost their home to foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2011 and had their mortgages serviced by Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase or Wells Fargo may qualify for financial compensation under the $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement. The filing deadline is this Friday, January 18, 2013.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office is making outbound calls to reach Florida borrowers who may be eligible for cash payments under the national mortgage settlement.

“We want every borrower who may be eligible for a cash payment under the national settlement to submit a claim. Currently, approximately forty-four percent of the people to whom claim forms have been mailed have submitted their claims,” stated Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The National Mortgage Settlement Administrator mailed Notice Letters and Claim Forms in late September through early October 2012 to those borrowers who lost their home due to foreclosure between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011 and whose loans were serviced by one of the five mortgage servicers mentioned above.

Forms must be completed and returned by Jan. 18, 2013, in the envelope provided, or they can be filed online at NationalMortgageSettlement.com. Claims received after January 18th may be considered, but payment to those claimants is not guaranteed.

Payment checks are expected to be mailed in mid-2013. The amount of the payment will be the same for all claimants and depends on the number of eligible claims received. Payments will be a minimum of $840, but higher payments to each eligible consumer are expected.

This $25 billion settlement between the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers and the federal government and 49 states and the District of Columbia, earmarked approximately $1.5 billion in payments for 2 million borrowers nationwide.

In Florida, approximately $170 million is available for cash payments to Florida borrowers. All available funds will be distributed to those who file claims; none of this money will be returned to the banks or used by the states for any other purpose.

More information about eligibility and filing a claim is available at the National Mortgage Settlement website, or via email to administrator@nationalmortgagesettlement.com. You can also call toll-free: 1-866-430-8358 (hearing impaired: 1-866-494-8281). The line is staffed Monday through Friday from (7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central).

Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure Defense Attorney

Choosing the best approach to protecting yourself and your family from a mortgage foreclosure involves many legal considerations. Contact Fort Lauderdale mortgage foreclosure attorney Marcy Resnik to discuss how you can defend your legal rights in a foreclosure. You can contact Ms. Resnik online or call her at 954-321-0176.

New Mortgage Rules Issued by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has issued “Ability to Repay” rules designed to make mortgages more affordable for homeowners. Key features of the new guidelines include the following:

  • Potential borrowers have to supply financial information, and lenders must verify it;
  • To qualify for a particular loan, a consumer has to have sufficient assets or income to pay back the loan; and
  • Lenders will have to determine the consumer’s ability to repay both the principal and the interest over the long term − not just during an introductory period when the rate may be lower.

In addition to the Ability-to-Repay rule, the CFPB also issued a proposal for potential adjustments. There are two key parts to the proposal:

  • First, a proposed exemption for designated non-profit creditors and homeownership stabilization programs, as well as certain Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal agency refinancing programs. These programs generally appear to be already subject to their own specialized underwriting criteria, and they are designed to help consumers refinance into a more affordable home loan.
  • Second, a proposed a new category for certain loans made and held in portfolio by small creditors, such as small community banks and credit unions, called “Qualified Mortgages.”

The new rules prohibit a creditor from making a higher-priced mortgage loan without regard to the consumer’s ability to repay the loan.

The final rule implements sections 1411 and 1412 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), which generally require creditors to make a reasonable, good faith determination of a consumer’s ability to repay any consumer credit transaction secured by a dwelling (excluding an open-end credit plan, timeshare plan, reverse mortgage, or temporary loan).

The rule also implements section 1414 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which limits prepayment penalties. Creditors must retain evidence of compliance with the rule for three years after a covered loan is consummated.

Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure Defense Attorney

Choosing the best approach to protecting yourself and your family from a mortgage foreclosure involves many legal considerations. Contact Fort Lauderdale mortgage foreclosure attorney Marcy Resnik to discuss how you can defend your legal rights in a foreclosure. You can contact Ms. Resnik online or call her at 954-321-0176.

Florida Homeowners in Foreclosure May Get up to $125,000 in Relief

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Fort Lauderdale area homeowners dealing with mortgage foreclosures may find some relief in a new federal housing settlement announced today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board.

Ten mortgage servicing companies will pay $3.3 billion in direct payments to eligible borrowers and $5.2 billion in other assistance, such as loan modifications and forgiveness of deficiency judgments. The ten firms involved in today’s agreement are:

  • Aurora
  • Bank of America
  • Citibank
  • JPMorgan Chase
  • MetLife Bank
  • PNC
  • Sovereign
  • SunTrust
  • U.S. Bank
  • Wells Fargo

The payments involve mortgage servicers operating under enforcement actions issued in April 2011 by the OCC, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

How Florida Homeowners in Foreclosure Qualify for Financial Assistance

To qualify for cash compensation, borrowers’ homes must have been in foreclosure in 2009 and 2010 with the participating servicers. Eligible borrowers are expected to receive compensation ranging from hundreds of dollars up to $125,000, depending on the type of possible servicer error.

For the ten participating servicers, fulfillment of the agreement would meet the requirements of the enforcement actions that mandated that the servicers retain independent consultants to conduct an Independent Foreclosure Review.

As a result of this agreement, the participating servicers would cease the Independent Foreclosure Review, which involved case-by-case reviews, and replace it with a broader framework allowing eligible borrowers to receive compensation significantly more quickly.

No Application is Required

Eligible borrowers will receive compensation whether or not they filed a request for review form, and borrowers do not need to take further action to be eligible for compensation.

A payment agent will be appointed to administer payments to borrowers on behalf of the servicers.  Eligible borrowers are expected to be contacted by the payment agent by the end of March with payment details. Borrowers will not be required to execute a waiver of any legal claims they may have against their servicer as a condition for receiving payment.  In addition, the servicers’ internal complaint process will remain available to borrowers.

Additional Mortgage Servicers May be Named

The agencies continue to work to reach similar agreements in principle with other servicers that are not parties to the agreement announced today, but that are also subject to enforcement actions for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing.

OCC and Federal Reserve examiners are continuing to closely monitor the servicers’ implementation of plans required by the enforcement actions issued in April 2011 to correct the unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices.

Click on the link to read about the OCC / Federal Reserve Board mortgage foreclosure settlement.

Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure Defense Attorney

Choosing the best approach to protecting yourself and your family from a mortgage foreclosure involves many legal considerations. Contact Fort Lauderdale mortgage foreclosure attorney Marcy Resnik to discuss how you can defend your legal rights in a foreclosure. You can contact Ms. Resnik online or call her at 954-321-0176.

Home Foreclosures Spike 28% over 2011

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Home foreclosures are up 28% in January 2012 over last year, according to Lender Processing Services.

Fort Lauderdale area homeowners who are at risk of default on their mortgage or already in foreclosure should be aware that banks and other U.S. lenders will be moving faster to resolve foreclosures this year.

The U.S. reached a $25 billion settlement with Ally Financial Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. in February. Now that claims of foreclosure process flaws and allegations of “robo-signing” are behind them, banks are trying to clear up their backlog of foreclosures.

Florida leads the nation in mortgages that are “underwater” by at least 25 percent, according to RealtyTrac.

If you are one of the more than 2.5 million homeowners in Florida whose mortgage is more than 25% underwater, contact Fort Lauderdale mortgage foreclosure attorney Marcy Resnik to discuss how you can defend your legal rights in a foreclosure. You can contact her online or call her at 954-321-0176.