Jacksonville Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

An attempt to pass a law that would allow Bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages never made it passed the Senate. So a judge cannot automatically modify the terms of your existing mortgage. However, filing bankruptcy in Florida can help in other ways.

First, if you are behind on payments, filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows you to catch up the arrearages over time so you are no longer in default. Second, filing bankruptcy oftentimes serves as a strong negotiation point with lenders. Lenders might be willing to work with you more if they know that there is a strong possibility that you might just walk away from the house if they do not work with you. Third, your Orange Park bankruptcy attorney can file a motion within your bankruptcy proceeding to require your mortgage company into mediation with you. So the judge cannot automatically change the terms of your mortgage, but s/he can order your mortgage company into mortgage modification mediation with you. Finally, if your home is in foreclosure, filing bankruptcy will halt the foreclosure proceedings. The automatic stay will go into effect immediately and all activity in the foreclosure case will cease.

To see if filing for bankruptcy is in your best interest, contact an Orange Park bankruptcy attorney today to discuss the particulars of your situation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a legislative proposal that would authorize bankruptcy courts to order mediation between homeowners and lenders before proceeding with the foreclosure process. The potential legislation, titled the Limiting Investor and Homeowner Loss in Foreclosure Act, passed by a slim 10-8 margin and would give the federal bankruptcy judges the ability to order the homeowners and their creditors to mediation in an effort to open the lines of communication between the two sides in hopes that the sides will survey options other than foreclosure.

The legislation would not give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify mortgages of write-down or "cram-down" mortgage principle like other foreclosure prevention measures that have failed gain approval over the last few years. The bill is modeled after a similar law being used in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island bill does not require settlement, just "good faith negotiation". To date, the law has been credited with saving at least 120 homes from foreclosure.

It seems as though the members of the House and Senate are now hearing the cries of struggling homeowners and are beginning to do something about it. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today to see what foreclosure alternative options may be available to you.

According to the latest statistics from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the mortgage delinquency rate on single-family homes fell to its lowest rate since the fourth quarter of 2008, falling to 8.22% for the fourth quarter 2010. The MBA's chief economist, Jay Brinkmann, said the fourth quarter stats represent "significant across-the-board" decreases in delinquent mortgages in the U.S. Mortgages one payment behind have fallen to late 2007 levels and loans three payments behind have dropped to the lowest levels of 2010.

The MBA delinquency statistics do not include the mortgages that have already received a foreclosure filing but Brinkman noted that "every state but two (North Dakota and Arkansas) saw a drop in the 90-lus day delinquency rate and the two increases were negligible." The number of loans in foreclosure or are at least one payment past due was 13.56%, a significant decline from the third quarter 2010 numbers.

Brinkman stated that the improvement in the delinquency rate should be attributed to the improvement in individual earnings due to the increase in private sector job growth and that "absent a significant economic reversal, the delinquency picture should continue to improve during 2011. If you are already facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit or are delinquent on you mortgage loan, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today to see what foreclosure alternative options may be available to you.

The Tampa Florida Tribune has posted an interesting article about the actual effects of the early stages of the statewide, mandatory foreclosure mediation program. According to statistics compiled by the Tribune, between March and June 2010 there were 13,417 cases referred to mediation statewide. Of those cases only 1%, 768 total, resulted in an agreement between the borrower and the lender!

The primary question many are asking is why is the program not working as intended. While there are several factors that may be contributing to the low success rate of the program, most mediation administrators are point to the sloppiness of the lenders attorneys' and their process servers as the most obvious reasons for the breakdown of the program. The sloppy paperwork has made it difficult to locate borrowers in order to determine their desire to participate in the mediation program, which is problematic because the mediation program must contact the borrowers within 60 days of the lawsuit being filed or the case goes back to regular court proceedings.

While only 7 of the 20 Florida Circuit Courts submitted data for the Tribune report, there is enough data to determine that there are major flaws in the program. A Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer thinks that mediation is a good alternative for many struggling homeowners and hopes the trend reverses. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today.

With news from RealtyTrac that lenders repossessed more the 1million homes in 2010 many homeowners may believe that the worst of the housing crisis is over, but industry experts say it will get even worse. Statistics from the fourth quarter of 2010 showed a significant drop in the number of foreclosure filings, most of which has been attributed to the foreclosure freeze due to the robo-signing scandal.

Many industry analysts believe that the delay from the foreclosure freeze will be over by the end of the first quarter of 2011 and clearing up those delayed foreclosures will cause 2011 to be another record year. Some figures show that 250,000 foreclosures were delay by the foreclosure freeze and this may cause a significant spike in the number of foreclosures in early 2011. This will only add to the overall number of bank-owned properties, which some industry insiders already estimate to be worth to close to $31 billion.

If you are currently facing or fear that you will be facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit in the immediate future, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today to see what defenses may be available to you.

Judge J. Rich Leonard recently fined Bank of America $126,000 for contempt of court after Countrywide Home Loans flagrantly violated the terms of a court order. The fines included $63,000 in punitive damages. The Kirkbride family filed for bankruptcy and signed a consent order with Countrywide Home Loans in which Countrywide would foreclose on two of their properties. In the consent order, Countrywide agreed to release the family from the mortgage debts on both properties.

Only three days after the order was entered in court, Countrywide began violating the order. The Judge found it "particularly frustrating [that Countrywide] actively negotiated the terms of the consent order with the debtors, signed the order, and later, through its agents, repeatedly acted as if the order did not exist." Fines were levied for over 400 phone calls from Countrywide to the family, improper written demands, wrongfully causing homeowner association bills and tax problems for the family. Bank of America is responsible for these fines because it acquired Countrywide Home Loans.

In many cases the answer to this question is yes. Often times homeowners find themselves "underwater" in the home and are afraid that if they surrender their home in satisfaction of their first mortgage their second mortgage lender will pursue a deficiency against them or they will file a form 1099(c) creating tax liabilities for the amount of the second mortgage.

One of the most effective ways a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer has found to prevent that from happening is for a homeowner to file a chapter 13 bankruptcy surrendering the house in full satisfaction of the first and second mortgage before the house if foreclosed on. By doing this, the homeowner prevents the holder of a second mortgage company from filing a deficiency claims because the house has not yet been sold and the funds dispersed. This method is especially effective for those homeowners who have little other debt and are looking to protect assets.

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit and are considering your foreclosure alternatives, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today for a review of your case and explore what alternatives may be available to you.

In recent weeks bankruptcy courts and the associated United States Trustee Program have begun to increase the scrutiny with which they are looking at requests to proceed with foreclosures and requiring the foreclosing lender to prove that they are the proper party to foreclose on the property. Bankruptcy courts in New Jersey and Georgia have denied to remove the automatic foreclosure stays that are put in place when a court confirms a debtor's bankruptcy repayment plan because banks have been unable to satisfactorily prove they were the parties that actually owned the mortgages.

In order for the lenders to foreclose on a home once the homeowner has an approved repayment plan, the lender must file a motion to remove to stay and prove they are entitled to foreclose. Spokeswoman for the U.S. Trustee Program Jane Limprecht verified the Program's increased scrutiny by stating it "is engaged in an enhanced review of mortgage servicer filings in bankruptcy cases to help ensure the accuracy of the claim to repayment."

This is a positive step for those homeowners facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit and are considering bankruptcy. Contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today to explore your foreclosure alternative options.

Last week, Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty signed into law an emergency act aimed at slowing the dramatic rate at which homes in the District of Columbia are being foreclosed upon. The Act, titled "Saving DC Homes From Foreclosure Emergency Act of 2010" puts into place several key processes that lenders and homeowners must complete before a foreclosing on a home and proceeding to a foreclosure sale.

One such process the Act creates is a mandatory foreclosure mediation program, much like the one created in Florida, whereby lenders and homeowners must meet before the lender can proceed with the foreclosure action. Delinquent borrowers have 30 days from the initial notification to opt into the mediation program and pay the $50 fee. If a borrower elects to not participate in the program the foreclosure and accompanying foreclosure sale can proceed but it a completed foreclosure or a foreclosure sale is completed before the entire process is complete it will be considered null and void.

With this new law Washington, DC joins an ever-growing group of states that are requiring processes where lenders and willing homeowners to explore foreclosure alternatives before a house can be foreclosed on and sold. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit and wanted to find out what foreclosure alternative options may be available to save your home, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today.

New data from foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac reveals that foreclosure activity rose in 133 of the 206 largest U.S. metro areas in the third quarter 2010, including 11 of the 20 largest metro markets. That means that foreclosure activity rose an astonishing 65% over the July to August time period. The four most foreclosure plagued states; Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona, claimed 19 of the 20 metro's with the most foreclosure activity with Boise City-Nampa, Idaho coming in at number 14.

The U.S. metro area with the largest percentage increase in foreclosure activity was Seatle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington, an alarming 71% increase in foreclosure activity, followed by Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Illinois, a 35% increase, and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas with 26% increase. James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, stated that until the problems of unemployment, underemployment, negative equity and toxic loans are solved "these historically high foreclosure rates will continue." Cape Coral-Fort Meyers, Florida holds the distinction of having the nations second highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 35 homes receiving a foreclosure complaint in the third quarter alone.

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer to discuss your situation and circumstances to see what defenses and options you have with your case.

According to Davidson County Sheriff David Grice, a Denton, NC man facing foreclosure hired a Virginia man to burn his house in order to collect the insurance money. The fire occurred on August 16 and fire investigators became suspicious of foul play when they learned that a flammable liquid had been used to start the fire. During the course of their investigation, police and fire officials were able to determine that the homeowner hired the other man to burn his home down before the bank repossessed it.

Police have arrested and charged the Virginia man with second-degree arson and homeowner has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. The homeowner's mother, who drove the Virginia man to the home in order to start the fire, has also been charged with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud for her role in the episode.

This is not the most effective way for homeowners to avoid a foreclosure lawsuit. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit it is in your best interest to contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer for a free consultation to determine which foreclosure alternatives that may be available to you.

Jacksonville homes underwater. This is a question that we hear often as Florida Foreclosure Lawyers. In short, a deficiency judgment is a judgment for a debt that is owed after a foreclosure, i.e. the amount of money the bank was not able to recover after it forecloses on a home. Lenders are even allowed to add interest, fees and other expenses to that amount as long as their is an outstanding deficiency. While some states have laws that prevent lenders from seeking deficiency judgments, Florida is one of the states that does allow deficiency judgments to be pursued.

It is possible that there may not be a monetary shortfall after a lender has taken and sold a home through foreclosure but that is becoming less and less likely as national home prices have continued to decline. This may seem like a no-win situation for a homeowner but there are alternatives that homeowners can pursue to avoid a deficiency judgment. Foreclosure alternatives such as short sales, deeds-in-lieu, and loan modifications are just a few of the ways a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer may use to help homeowners avoid deficiency judgments.

If you are one of the thousands of Florida homeowners who are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit and potentially a deficiency judgment, contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer today to explore your potential foreclosure alternatives.

A new cooperative study from state attorneys general and lending insiders from across the country has found that greater than 60% of homeowners who are seriously delinquent on their mortgage payments are not involved in any foreclosure alternative with their lender. On its face this news is disturbing, but coupled with the other findings of the study, that loan modifications are leading to few re-defaults, shows just how misplaced many lenders focus is.

The study, conducted by the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group, found that loans modified in 2009 were 40 to 50 percent less likely to be seriously delinquent after six months than loans modified during the same period in 2008. The group also found that mortgage modifications that lower the amount of principle have significantly lower default rates than overall mortgage modifications. The federal HAMP program recently announced a principle reduction alternative for lenders but the group says it has been very slow to find favor with lenders with only 1 in 5 modifications including a principle reduction.

If you are one of the thousands of Florida homeowners who is delinquent on your mortgage and you are considering a foreclosure alternative, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer today to review your circumstances to determine the best course of action for you.

For more information see the complete State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group report.

As the numbers of Americans considering strategic defaults rises, more and more mortgage brokers are fielding calls asking about the possibility for "buy and bail" purchase. A "buy and bail" purchase is where a homeowner is considering a strategic default on their home, often due to an extreme drop in their home's value, purchases another home before they default on their current home. By completing a "buy and bail" purchase, a homeowner is able to get into another home, often at a steep discount due to low home values, before their credit rating is ruined because of the default.

Mortgage brokers are seeing an increase in "buy and bail" purchases even though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have attempted to set up standards to prevent it. The borrowers most likely to take advantage of buy and bail purchases are those with high credit scores and who have jumbo loans that fall outside of Fannie and Freddie funding limits. Many mortgage brokers ask about the potential for "buy and bail" purchases during the application process and if homeowners lie on their application, a "buy and bail" purchase constitutes fraud. While "buy and bail" purchases are becoming more popular, the FBI and other federal agencies are investigating allegations of "buy and bail" purchases aggressively.

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, there are foreclosure alternative options that may be available to you. Contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today to review your case and options.