You Can Avoid Foreclosure And Stay In Your Home

If you need to understand how to avoid foreclosure and retain possession of your home, you'll want to read this article a couple times. Each of the following methods have been used thousands of times by people in your same situation.

Each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. When deciding which solution is most appropriate for you, consider the following:

- Will your mortgage payment go up, down, or stay the same?

- How much of a payment can you afford month after month?

- What will you do about your other bills and expenses?

Remember, these programs are meant to be long-term solutions. Any solution that you choose must fit your budget. You won't get approved for some of these options unless you can make a consistent monthly payment.

How to Bring Your Loan Current Again

1. Reinstatement - You bring the loan current by paying back everything you owe in one large installment.

2. Repayment Plan - You catch the mortgage up over a period of a few months with payments that are larger than your usual mortgage. Many lenders will initially offer you repayment plans of 3-6 months. Some will go as long as 12 or 18 months if you can show them that you need more time.

3. Forbearance - This program is really helpful when your financial problems are short-term. A forbearance gives you a smaller mortgage payment for a specific number of months. Some lenders may even let you go without making any payment for a short time. When the forbearance is over, you are generally expected to bring the loan current with a reinstatement or repayment plan.

4. Modification - For many, this is the program of choice. A modification occurs when your lender changes one or more of your loan terms to bring your mortgage current again. It can get you a lower payment if you've had a permanent reduction in income. You can also use a modification to move all the money you presently owe to the end of the loan. With this kind of modification, you just make your regular mortgage payment again.

5. Partial Claim - If you are behind on a FHA loan, you may qualify for an interest-free loan from the government. This loan is used to bring your first mortgage current again. The best part of this program is that the loan from the government doesn't require a monthly payment. You pay it off whenever you sell or refinance.

It may surprise you, but most lenders have no desire to foreclose on your home. They are in the business of lending money, not fixing up and selling homes.

First of all, lenders almost always lose money in the foreclosure process. Some industry experts estimate an average of $40,000 per foreclosure. Secondly, when a bank has a non-performing asset on its books, they can't lend out as much money. That again costs them money.
For these reasons and others, most lenders have a loss mitigation department. This department works with troubled borrowers who are months behind on their mortgage. Their job is to get you into the program that is most appropriate for your situation. You have the option of working with them directly or using a professional service.

Refinancing and Bankruptcy
There are two other ways to avoid foreclosure and retain possession of your home when the options listed above won't work.

6. Refinancing - A new loan can give you a fresh start, but there are many restrictions. As a borrower, you become a greater risk as you fall further and further behind on your mortgage. As a result, any new lender is only going to loan you a certain percentage of your home's value. You may end up with a higher monthly payment than the one you had before. One way around the issue of a higher payment is to pay off some other debts with the new loan.

7. Bankruptcy - Because of its long-term credit implications, a bankruptcy should only be considered as a last resort. A Chapter 7 will only stall the foreclosure process for 30-90 days. It's not an effective long-term solution. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy can force your lender to accept payments on the past-due amount. But, you would also have to make your regular mortgage payment as well. Be sure to seek qualified legal council if this is an alternative you are considering.

Taking the Next Step

No matter what solution you use to avoid foreclosure, you need to take action quickly. Some of these solutions take weeks to implement. Remember to keep track of when the property will be auctioned off or turned over to the bank.

Author: Nicole Williams




Visit the National Debt Solution Center Website
Resources and Information About Loan Modification
Find the Answers You Need and Get Help Today
Lower Your House Payments with Expert Attorney Assistance

Tips and Tricks of a Loan Modification

Is your mortgage causing you trouble?
Are you having difficulty making the payments?
Has it adjusted and you cannot afford the new payment?
Are you unable to refinance to a loan that would better suit your financial situation?
Then it is probably time for your to investigate modifying your loan.

1. As a home owner it is vital to identify that the mortgage on your current property is a lawful one. Be sure that there are no Truth in Lending Act Violations or RESPA violations and Lender wasn't fraudulent who originated your loan. Have a professional, experienced mortgage attorney and/or legitimate, credible law firm focused in loan modifications examine your loan documents for these potential violations.

2. Develop and maintain a complete written life of loan history attempting to highlight all phony charges and fees included in your mortgage balance. Also, you should make sure that any inflated appraisal and/or loss of property values are included and calculated.

3. Compare the loan you got with the one you thought you were getting. Are the terms the same? hat is, is your Annual Percentage Rate ("APR") the same as the one you were quoted? Are your total monthly payments the same as you were told they would be? Is there a prepayment penalty, and if so, were you told about this prepayment penalty?

4. If you have ever refinanced, then the first thing you should look at is the "notice of Right to Cancel" which is also called the "Three Day Right of Rescission." You usually has three days after signing loan documents to change your mind and cancel the loan. The borrower must be told of this right in writing. If the creditor fails to properly provide notice of this right to cancel, the right of rescission may be extended for up to three years. When the right is extended for three years you can rescind the loan at any time before three years, meaning that the loan is treated as if it never existed. Essentially, you become entitled to all profits made by the creditor as a result of this loan. This means that the creditor must refund all interest paid, all closing fees, all broker fees, and even pay for your attorney fees. As you can imagine, this amount can be quite significant. The extended right of rescission is a powerful tool to help borrowers who have been victims of predatory lending, and helping our clients exercise this right is often the first step in holding a creditor responsible for illegal behavior.

If it is determined that no laws have been violated on your mortgage, then it's time to approach your lender for a possible loan modification. Here are the factors that will be looked at and addressed:

Hardship causing your mortgage issues
Loan amount
Amount owed
Ability to pay
Equity in the property
Debt to income ratio
Future financial situation

Which approach will best benefit the lender in the long run - to foreclose or pursue a loan workout with you and or modify your loan

A loan modification generally occurs where all parties involved with a problem loan mutually agree to create a new and better loan. The loan modification should concur previous financial issues, ensuring new obligations are met seamlessly.

When applying for a loan modification, make a game plan on how exactly you are going to approach your bank or lender. When working via phone, your lender has at least two levels of employees who talk with delinquent borrowers. The first is usually the collections department, which consists of people who are trained to force money out of you and get you current on payments. The second group should embody loss mitigation specialists. Depending on your lender, some other frequently used labels of these departments include; foreclosure prevention, loan resolution and delinquency customer service. It can be difficult to get through to the loss mitigation department, hence the need for a professional, experienced mortgage attorney and/or legitimate, credible law firm as mentioned above.
Once you get a live person, you need to work your way up to a decision maker. This is sometimes harder to do for a homeowner than a 3rd party authorized professional. Sometimes to get to this point you have to put up with level 1 collection departments through a process of filling out their forms and information. They will ask for you to provide them with items such as pay stubs, tax returns and a multitude of all types of other personal financial information. At this point, some lenders will assign the file to someone higher up in the loss mitigation department.

The most crucial element to this whole process is your budget and if you have done your due diligence, you'll be ready. They will ask you for a detailed list of your monthly expenses. If your financial situation is too tight, you may not get approved. If you have too much extra income you are going to have an outrageous payment plan and should agree to it!

Do your research, be prepared and trust that the attorney you chose to retain to assist you in this matter will do the best they can to rectify your current home loan and financial issues.

Author: Bill Baskin




Visit the National Debt Solution Center Website
Resources and Information About Loan Modification
Find the Answers You Need and Get Help Today
Lower Your House Payments with Expert Attorney Assistance

In Foreclosure and Want to Keep Your Home? Try a Short Refinance

This is definitely one of the big banks and lenders best kept secrets. But with the recent increase in foreclosures and the tightening of lender guidelines, which makes it even harder to qualify in today’s market for a refinance, and not to mention the drop in property values in such areas as Fort Lauderdale and Miami has brought the short refinance to the front lines. While some might have heard the term Short Sale – which is the process you would go thru if you are trying to sell but you owe more than the house is worth. Now the Short Refinance – is the process you would go thru if you want to keep you home, but you need a better loan program that will be more affordable and you owe more than your house is worth so you can’t do a regular refinance. Similar to the short sale, the short refinance is a negotiation with your current lender to reduce the amount you owe to facilitate a refinance with a new lender.

Not to be confused with a loan modification. With a loan modification you will stay with your current lender and just renegotiate the terms of you loan, with the short refinance you are getting the lender to reduce the pay off, so you can get a loan with a completely new lender.

Now with any loss mitigation process, including loan modification, short sale, and short refinance, they are all on a case by case basis and the lender has the final say. So don’t expect to get the same results as your neighbor or family member received. Any company out there that offers you a guarantee that you will be approved for any of these loss mitigation options or tell you to stop making payment, you should stay clear of……and I mean run.

Now it is important to note, that you don’t have to be behind on payments or in Foreclosure to qualify for a short refinance, although majority of the people that get approved are normally in foreclosure. Today, with lenders having an abundance of non performing loans on their books has caused them to be more flexible when working with home owners to come to win win agreement for both borrower and lenders.

Also South Florida home owners in such areas as Fort Lauderdale and Miami that have found themselves with either an adjustable rate mortgage or have found themselves upside down on their homes, which has prevented them from doing a regular refinance, now have this option, that if approved, can refinance into a more affordable fixed rate mortgage and avoid foreclosure Because of the increase demand for loss mitigation, it has been taking most lenders a minimum of 45 days and up to 90 days to complete the process.

Normally when a homeowner finds themselves in foreclosure, they would only hear about 2 options either file bankruptcy or try and sell. Lately, loan modifications have become more popular, but that still doesn’t mean that is best solution for most homeowners. Here’s why, we offer the lender a short-refinance offer first and if for any reason it is not successful, then we will proceed with an offer to negotiate a loan modification for the client.

A short-refinance can basically create equity in a property, as we are getting the amounted owed to the lender reduced. It reduces the mortgage to the current market value, while eliminating the upside-down loan. While A loan modification can keep the homeowner’s interest rate down to a comfortable level and put them into a fixed rate loan, while also placing any arrearages back into the loan.

But if the property is upside-down and by the adding the arrearages back into the loan, it could be in worse shape than before. Now don’t get me wrong, if the homeowner’s intentions are to keep the property long enough for the market to turn around, then this is a win win situation for both lender and homeowner. The main purpose of a short-refinance or a loan modification is that the home owner is allowed to stay in their home.

A lot of Fort Lauderdale and Miami homeowners are realizing that their property is not worth nearly what they owe on it, several of them have opted to just walk away. A short-refinance gives homeowners’ hope, that they can get themselves from an upside-down mortgage problem, and in some cases can save their home from foreclosure. This keeps them in their home, gives them a peace of mind, and allows them to get on with their lives as the possibility of foreclosure in now behind them.

While Loss Mitigation may not be for everyone, it is important to work with an expert in the field that can analyze your situation and help you determine the best loss mitigation for you and your family.

Author: Marlon Baugh


Visit the National Debt Solution Center Website
Resources and Information About Loan Modification
Find the Answers You Need and Get Help Today
Lower Your House Payments with Expert Attorney Assistance

Stop Foreclosure! Know What To Do

Stop Foreclosure! Is it possible? Yes, you can stop foreclosure if you take the appropriate actions immediately. Consider the following steps you can do to stop lenders from foreclosing your home:

Call your lender right away and request to speak with someone from the Loss Mitigation Department. This is the department that particularly handles foreclosure properties. Explain why you have missed on your monthly payments especially if you’ve been through difficult circumstances.

Know your options. Usually, you may request for some options to stop foreclosure. One option would be to ask for Forbearance. This is where your lender can waive some fees on your debts to help you keep up with the payment.

Another option would be Loan Modification. A Loan Modification is much like Loan Refinancing but instead of going through the re-application process, your lender can grant you a new loan without re-applying. This can save you money from application costs and it greatly speeds up the loan processing.

If you want, you can also request for a Reinstatement. With a reinstatement, your lender will give you an extended period to submit all the payments you’ve defaulted. However, a reinstatement requires you to pay your debts in full.

These are just some of the adjustments on your mortgage loan that you can ask from your lender. Of course, it would depend on your lending company which one among these options they would prefer. Just remember that these are just temporary options to buy you more time for repayment before the actual foreclosure. See to it that you’ll be able to come up with the solution to secure the payments you need.

Sell your home. If you see that there’s no way you can secure the amount you need to repay your mortgage in time, you still have the choice to sell your home before your lender forecloses it. But you need to be aware about the risks of dealing with foreclosure scammers or home buyers who are simply out to take advantage of you.

As much as possible, make sure that the purchase price you’ll put into your property will be fair enough for its market value and that you would have enough money to pay off the debts you’ve defaulted including other fees involved. If you’re going to sell your home, it would be better if you can buy as much time as possible before your lender files foreclosure. This way, you’ll also have more time to come up with a better deal from a buyer.

Study contracts carefully. Before you sign up any agreement, especially if you’re selling your home, never forget to scrutinize every detail included in the contract. Don’t sign a document which has blank spaces or blank lines.

Do not go into an agreement if the buyer promises to pay back your default and all you have to do is sign over the title of you property. This puts you at great risk that the buyer will not be submitting any payment to your lender. He can use your property for lease and keep the money for himself until your lender forecloses your home completely. Always remember, that you cannot pass your accountability for your debts just by signing over your property.

Author: Namisa Roberts


Visit the National Debt Solution Center Website
Resources and Information About Loan Modification
Find the Answers You Need and Get Help Today
Lower Your House Payments with Expert Attorney Assistance

Loan Modification (For those already LATE on payments)

Lenders are known to be difficult when it comes to loan modifications but if you're behind on your house payments and can show that lowering those payments will make the home affordable again, you have a great chance of getting back on track with your lender. Did you know that lenders benefit at least as much from the process as you do? With the new help for homeowners programs, you can get your late payments made up and have a fresh start with you lender and your lender gets incentives from the government programs by helping you get back on track. Everybody wins.

Loan modification is faster and cheaper. In a foreclosure, there are specific wait times that allow the borrower to get current with their mortgage. It's not uncommon for the process to drag on for almost a year. These delays can cost your lender a good deal of money. A loan modification, on the other hand, takes an average of 30 to 60 days. All they have to do is go over your documents, talk to your loan modification attorney, and see if you qualify. The negotiations are the hardest part, but they don't cost quite as much as foreclosure expenses.

Stop foreclosure proceedings and get foreclosure assistance right away. You and your Loan Modification Attorney will do most of the work and provide most of the documentation. Often, all they have to do is assess your case and decide what kind of mortgage assistance you will need.

It helps keep investors. Foreclosures are as damaging to your lender as they are to you. It may benefit them for now, but with the recent housing bubble, it will eventually weigh them down. Investors don't want to deal with banks that have too many foreclosures on record. If they grant you a loan modification instead, your payments will keep showing up on their records instead of being written as bad debt.

Of course, this doesn't make it any easier to get what you want from your lender. After all, you're still a liability—and it's important to prove that you can get back on your feet. To get the best loan modification deal, you need a good lawyer who knows the what lenders need and can convince them that it's the wiser choice to settle a loan modification. Get the help you need today. Avoid foreclosure and get help to stop foreclosure now with help from a loan modification attorney.

We never want to be part of your problem. NDSC will always give you the right advice so you can make the right decision about if modification could work for you. We have the solutions you need. National Debt Solution Center Let our attorneys fight for YOU!