Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Blog

On May 28, 2010 the 2nd DCA reversed a lower court decision for Summary Judgment to quiet title and ejectment in favor of Ed Bebb, Inc. In order for Summary Judgment to be granted the Plaintiff must prove that the Defendant cannot raise any genuine issues of material fact. In this instance Ed Bebb, Inc. filed and was granted its Motion for Summary Judgment before the defendant could even file its Answer to the Complaint!

The 2nd DCA stated that it appears that the lower court used the wrong standard in granting Ed Bebb's Motion for Summary Judgment and reversed its ruling. By not allowing the Defendant the opportunity to raise the necessary factual issues and defenses the Court improperly entered the order for ejectment of the Defendant.

Hopefully this type of judicial thinking is becoming a growing trend. If you have been served with a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit or anticipate being served with one in the future, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer to help identify any genuine issues or defenses that may be available to you.

Wells Fargo, one of the nation's largest lenders, is facing a class-action lawsuit that could end up costing the company more than a billion dollars. The class-action lawsuit claims that Wells Fargo committed fraud and practiced predatory lending within their mortgage lending department. Wells Fargo allegedly deceived borrowers about the impact that their loan modification would have on their mortgage payments and their credit scores. Other claims included in the lawsuit include violations of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Violations of this type have a detrimental effect on many homeowners' ability to stay current on their mortgage payments. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit due to the deceptive practices of your lender, contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer for a consultation. A Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer will know your rights and will defend your rights.

A real party in interest is the only person that has standing to bring a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit. In order to be a real party in interest, the Plaintiff must be the owner of the Mortgage and the Note. Since mortgages are sold many times, it may be hard if not impossible for the lender to show the chain of title on your Mortgage and Note. If the lender is not the real party in interest or they cannot show documentation of the chain of title proving they are a real party in interest, their lawsuit can be defeated with a Motion to Dismiss.

To determine whether or not your lender is the real party in interest a homeowner may use Discovery and/or a Request for Production. Showing that the lender is not the real party in interest is one of the most common defenses used to successfully defeat a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit. Discovery and Requests for Production are technical legal documents that usually require legal expertise to create.

If you have been served with a Florida Foreclosure Complaint and would like properly defend your rights contact a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer. They will help you properly file Discovery and Requests for Production. If the lender that is trying to foreclose on your home is not the real party in interest a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer will uncover this and help you defeat the lawsuit.

Recently, Florida courts and in particular the Florida Supreme Court have gotten tougher on the attorneys for the banks and lenders! The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled that attorneys must verify the allegations and paperwork in a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit are accurate and complete.

This has been a problem that many people facing foreclosure have faced for a long time. Often times the attorneys filing Florida Foreclosure Lawsuits do not attach the basic documentation including the paperwork showing the bank even owns the mortgage. This lack of documentation has slowed Florida Foreclosure cases down greatly and some experts have stated that these continued problems could affect how quickly the housing market recovers. Judges have said that they only catch a few of these errors due to the extremely high volume of cases before them

The bottom line for those facing or potentially facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit is not to give up easily. Contact a Florida Foreclosure Attorney or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer today because often times there are defenses that can be raised to save your home.

Some loans which are Stated Income Stated Asset (SISA) or No Income No Asset (NINA) have false, inaccurate, and misleading information about the borrower. Some of the methods used by lenders are estimated income, enhanced job title, inflated job history, or falsifying bank balances. Oftentimes this allows a lender to qualify the borrower for a loan that they were incapable of paying off. These types of loans can be indications of predatory lending.

If your lender simply had you tell them of your income and assets or they did not ask about them your loan may be a SISA or NINA loan. If this is the case, and you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer to discuss any recourse you may have against your lender.

Many homeowners are under the impression that filing bankruptcy will stop their home from being foreclosed. Bankruptcy only puts a "stay" on foreclosure for the time that the bankruptcy claim is being administered in court. At some point after the bankruptcy claim has been adjudicated by the court, the homeowner will be responsible for making their mortgage payments or the lender will be allowed to foreclose on the home. Bankruptcy is not a permanent solution to foreclosure.

The most important thing when defending a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit is to know the defenses available to you and when and how to assert those defenses. Some bankruptcy lawyers are untrained in foreclosure lawsuits and may not be aware of the defenses that could keep your lender from foreclosing on your home. If you are considering bankruptcy as an alternative or solution to a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer prior to finalizing your bankruptcy.

Florida has mandated that homeowners and lenders participate in mediation prior to a foreclosure lawsuit going to court. Lenders will often times try to take advantage of the borrower in these mediations by getting them to agree to waive their rights and defenses to foreclosure. A Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer will know and protect your rights during these mediations.
The newest tactic employed by the lenders is to get the homeowner to agree to voluntary mediation prior to the court ordering it. In these instances, the homeowner often does not feel that it is necessary to contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer because it is not court mandated mediation. The lender will almost always take advantage of a homeowner's lack of knowledge in the area of foreclosure and the absence of counsel.
If your lender contacts you for voluntary mediation talk to a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer prior to agreeing to any terms laid out by the lender. A Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer will know your rights and will protect your interests. If you are going to mediation with your lender, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer for a free consultation.

All new residential foreclosure lawsuits in Jacksonville, including Duval, Clay, and St. John's Counties, are required to go to "Mediation with the Lender." When a homeowner must participate in mediation with a lender it is essential that the homeowner consults a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer prior to the mediation.

Foreclosure mediation with a lender without a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer can lead to disastrous consequences for the homeowner. There are many cases where the purported owner of the note got the homeowner to agree that they were the real party in interest, meaning they had the right to foreclose on the property, when in reality they had no right to sue. Lenders have also been known to get the homeowner to waive all future rights to defenses and counterclaims against the lenders. Another trick employed by the lenders is to modify the loan and let the interest rate float 3-5 years after modification. This will likely make the home-owner's future payments much higher than they presently are.

Mediation without a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer who understands the terms of these agreements can often times lead to an outcome that is worse than the home-owner's current agreement. If you have been served with a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer for a free consultation.

The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) is a federal law that standardizes the way that creditors disclose the terms of credit to their consumers. If a lender fails to comply with the strict standards of the TILA the penalties may be severe for the lender. Penalties for violations of the TILA can range anywhere from a monetary penalty to rescission of the mortgage.

The TILA is a very important tool used by Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyers to defend a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit. However, violations of the Act are not always easy to spot. If you feel that your lender did not properly disclose financial information to you regarding your mortgage, contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer.

Predatory lending encompasses a wide variety of abusive acts by the individuals involved in originating a loan. Predatory lending practices may include refinancing that causes the borrower to lose the benefit of special terms in the loan, excessive or hidden fees, mandatory arbitration clauses, inadequate disclosures, failure to verify borrower's financial information, to name a few.

No single act of abuse will rise to the level of predatory lending. If the facts and circumstances surrounding the loan, taken as a whole, rise to the level of predatory lending you may be entitled to relief from your mortgage. In a case where predatory lending has been established by the homeowner, the court can cancel the debt or modify certain terms of the loan.

If you have concerns that the practices of the individuals that originated your home mortgage loan rose to the level of predatory lending contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer for a free consultation.