Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Blog

A judge of the Supreme Court of New York has ordered HSBC to pay a penalty of $10,000. HSBC allegedly filed a false document and then claimed they knew nothing about it. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack's opinion compared HSBC's defense to the false document to what many remember from Sgt. Schultz in Hogan's Heroes "I know nothing."

A senior vice president of HSBC later submitted a sworn affidavit stating that HSBC had no knowledge of the loan in question and placed blame of the false document on the loan servicer. Nonetheless, Judge Schack stood behind his decision stating HSBC is still responsible for the actions of its agents. Shapiro DiCaro & Barak, a Rochester-based law firm who represented HSBC in this matter, was also ordered to pay $5,000 for its involvement.

This isn't the first instance of Judge Schack sanctioning HSBC. Earlier this year, Judge Schack caught lawyers for HSBC filing documents signed by "robo-signers" who supposedly worked for HSBC but were in actuality employed by the loan servicer.

There has been so much fraud regarding loan documents in foreclosure actions filed by the banks, it is imperative that you contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyeror risk becoming a victim of an improper foreclosure.

The Occupy Wall Street movement that has rapidly spread across the nation has seemingly found a few new streets to occupy, all streets that have foreclosed residences or residences facing imminent foreclosure. All across the US, Occupy protestors have been "reclaiming" foreclosed homes and boarded up properties in what some are calling a "tactical shift" in the movement which has targeted the inequality in the distribution of wealth in the US.

Occupy protestors have held rallies on behalf of homeowners facing foreclosure evictions in more than 25 cities within the last month. Some observers are saying the shift of the Occupy movement has resulted out of necessity, as many Occupy groups are finding it increasingly difficult to camp in public spaces.

Jeff Ordower, one of the organizers of the "Occupy Homes" movement has stated "it is clear the fight is against the banks...so occupying space that should belong to homeowners but belongs to the banks seems like the next logical step for the Occupy movement." The events have been boisterous and echo the frustrations of the national housing crisis. Signs have popped up stating things such as "foreclose on banks, not people" and in Atlanta protestors used whistles and sirens to disrupt the auctions of foreclosed homes at the count courthouse.

If you are one of the thousands of Floridians facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today for a complimentary case review in order to determine what foreclosure defense options may be available to you.

On December 1,the Attorney General for the State of Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, filed a lawsuit against the five largest U.S. lending banks, Bank of America, Wells Fargo JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., and GMAC, for their roles in the foreclosure crisis which has plagued the country for the last several years. This suit marks the first major legal action that has been taken against major mortgage lenders since settlement negotiations began between the nation's biggest banks and the 50 state attorneys generals in Spring 2011.

The lawsuit disappointed most of the lenders named, who have pledged to continue working towards reaching a settlement agreement with the 50 states attorneys general.. Spokesman Lawrence Grayson of Bank of America stated, "We continue to believe that the collaborative resolution rather than continued litigation will most quickly heal the housing market and help drive economic recovery." GMAC on the other hand has vowed to fight the suit in court stating, "GMAC Mortgage believes it has strong legal and factual defenses against these claims and will vigorously defend its position in court."

Nevertheless, Ms. Coakley states she had no choice but to file the lawsuit as negotiations have reached a standstill. She, and many others contend the banks have not offered any meaningful compensation while continuously insisting on extensive protection from liability for the foreclosure crises.

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today for a complimentary case review to determine what potential foreclosure defenses may be available to you.

After the Florida Bar News published an article about robo-signing in the mortgage industry in the September 15th edition, State Attorney Dennis Ward of the 16th Judicial Circuit in Florida has decided to take a closer look. For those of you not yet familiar with the term robo-signing, it is a practice where banks and their counsel create documents relating to foreclosures that are often questionable in nature and have low level employees sign them without verifying their contents or correctness. Since robo-signing has caught the attention of the media in late 2010, there has been a temporary decrease in foreclosure filings throughout the state of Florida.

Mr. Ward stated his ultimate concern is protecting the integrity of the legal system and land title records. He believes when a home owner is not paying their mortgage, the bank should be able to foreclose on the property as soon as possible; provided that banks do so with valid paper work and with regard to due process.

The continued abuses in foreclosure paperwork, which banks said were ended last year after they were put under great scrutiny, is what has grabbed Mr. Ward's attention. He also recognizes that his agency does not have the resources to address this issue fully and that it is better suited for Attorney General Pam Bondi. Nevertheless, it is time for State Attorneys' to address the issue however they can. Looking into the individuals who actually sign or file these questionable documents who know them to be false of intentionally deceptive is going to be State Attorney Ward's focus.

If you are facing foreclosure, contact a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today for a free case review in order to determine what foreclosure defense options may be available to you.

The Florida Fair Foreclosure Act, a potential bill which could potentially remove many foreclosure proceedings from state courts, may have more consequences for ordinary Floridians other than its intended effect of speeding up the foreclosure process. Florida has one of the longest average foreclosure processes in the U.S., with an average foreclosure taking 638 days in contrast to an average of under 400 days for those states which do not utilize judicial foreclosure processes.

Proponents of the Act justify their support of the bill citing the need to speed up the foreclosure process in order to strengthen the overall economy by getting foreclosed homes back onto the market more quickly. Foreclosure defense advocates point to lenders and mortgage servicers as the primary reasons the judicial foreclosure process is slow. Practices such as "robo-signing" foreclosure documents, bring suit without proof of ownership of the loan are just a few of the acts perpetrated by banks which have caused much of the delay.

If the Act is passed, it may have a significant negative fiscal impact on the state court system. In the last fiscal year, over 60% of the operating budget was derived from foreclosure filing fees. Non-judicial foreclosure systems shift the costs of initiating litigation to already financially burdened homeowners, a move which could cost homeowners and the state court system dearly.

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today for a free consultation to determine what foreclosure defense options may be available to you.

According to the latest numbers from mortgage industry tracking company RealtyTrac Inc., the number of households that received an initial default notice, which is the first step that must be taken to begin the foreclosure process, jumped an incredible 33% from July to August. The spike represents the largest percentage increase in four years and constitutes a 9 month high.

RealtyTrac senior VP, Rick Sharga, has stated that this is the first time they have seen such a increase in default notices. While it may be an aberration, Sharga said "I think its much more likely we're seeing the beginning of a trend here." New foreclosure actions were slowed down last fall as allegations of shoddy foreclosure processes by the nations largest lenders came to light.

All to,ld, 78,880 properties received a default notice in August. While August's numbers are up, they are down 18% from the August 2010 numbers. While the foreclosure numbers are on the rise, RealtyTrac says it may be beneficial for housing recovery, as overall home prices are not likely to rebound while there are still potentially thousands of unaddressed foreclosures "hovering over the market."

If you are one of the thousands of new homeowners who have received a default notice from your mortgage company, contact Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today for a free consultation in order to determine what foreclosure defense options may be available to you.

In the year 2073, courts in New York will finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief: that's the year they will finally be rid of all of the foreclosure cases currently on their dockets. That is, at their current pace, it will take another 62 years for lenders to finally be rid of their current foreclosure cases!! This is the longest waiting period in the country.

Other states facing long waiting periods are New Jersey, which will take 49 years, and Florida, Massachusetts, and Illinois, all of which would take nearly a decade. This is in contrast to states that don't use their courts for foreclosure proceedings. For example, California has a 3-year waiting list, while Nevada and Colorado have 2-year lists.

Some legal authorities in Florida have suggested that banks aren't even doing anything to clear their cases. One South Florida attorney currently has 1,275 foreclosure clients; last year he had only 350. All but 75 of his current cases remain pending. J. Thomas McGrady, Sixth Circuit Chief Judge, says banks are largely to blame for the backlog. "We're here to do what we're asked ... [But] the banks aren't asking."

Banks claim the delay is due to the legal hoops and regulations in the law they have to jump through. However, this does not excuse banks from using illegal methods such as "robo-signers" to mass-produce documents. We've written before about the robo-signing scandal and how it does not seem to be completely over. If you are facing foreclosure, contact a Florida Foreclosure Defense Attorney to discuss the best legal and financial options which may be available for you.

In the great majority of foreclosure cases, the first mortgage holder is usually the one that brings the foreclosure action. But what about when there is a second mortgage involved? The second mortgage may file a foreclosure just to protect interest in the property, but this is a rare occurrence for several reasons.

While a second lien holder can file for foreclosure, due to the dramatic decline in home prices, only the first mortgage holder will usually get paid via any sale or auction that takes place. Since these home sales usually involve interested buyers looking for relatively cheap homes, the house usually sells for much more than is owed on the mortgage. Since there is likely not enough money to even pay off the property taxes, and potential homeowners association arrearages and first mortgage after the sale, it just doesn't usually make financial sense for the second mortgage company to initiate the foreclosure proceeding. But of course, that doesn't mean that second mortgage holders cannot or will not file a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit.

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit from the holder of the second mortgage on your home, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today to determine what options are available in your particular case.

What is going on in with all of the Foreclosure craziness? This has been the question for millions of homeowners dealing with the potential loss of a home right now. People have heard the horror stories of predatory lending, and the other stories of unqualified homeowners working with brokers to deceive lenders to get financed. But many mortgages fall somewhere in between, leaving big question marks in place of answers the housing market desperately needs.

As a greater number of questions are pouring in, however, searching for answers has become a daunting task. MIllions of homeowners are in a struggle to hold onto their loans while batting off multiple lenders. The problem is many of the original brokers and lending companies have since gone out of business or been the subject of criminal charges stemming from their faulty practices. Often times, the loans in question have been securitized into a mortgage-backed trust. The issue underlying this confusion is that no one knows whom the owner of the note and mortgage actually is. This is largely because of one four-letter acronym, MERS.

MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System), a service created to track mortgage transfers, was created in 1994. MERS replaced the old system of "walking" every important mortgage document to the County Clerk's office. With this shortcut in place, lenders were able to save millions of dollars in local recording fees and started transferring mortgages at a pace that, we would later learn, was far too much to handle. So grueling, in fact, MERS failed to properly follow state and local laws in documenting these transfers. Now when it comes time to foreclose instead of documenting each transfer, MERS allegedly signs the mortgage from the original lender to the most recent owner.Many courts are now deciding whether MERS has actual standing to foreclose.

There are things you can do to be prepared for or stave off a potential foreclosure. One of the most important is to communicate with your lender. If you are facing the prospect of foreclosure, contact a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today to determine what foreclosure defenses may be available in your specific case.

Much of the recent foreclosure crisis news has centered on homeowners and investors and their fight to get compensation compensation from banks due to foreclosures. But in the coming months, mortgage servicers will be undergoing drastic changes that every interested homeowner should know about. Primarily, the changes will surround the addition of thousands of sub-servicers to what has become a busy foreclosure docket.

Wells Fargo, for example, has brought its loss mitigation team up from 6,000 to 16,000 members. The bank has also dedicated a mortgage specialist to manage each modification from beginning to end, a practice heralded in the mortgage service industry as award winning and the first of its kind. Wells Fargo's endeavors include the addition of 27 home preservation centers in the hardest-hit communities around the country.

Some companies have hired even more representatives. JP Morgan Chase hired 10,100 new employees to help mitigate its increased workload. The company also plans to have 82 "Chase Homeownership Centers" since the end of Summer 2011. Bank of America has expanded its homeowner assistance team from 3,900 in 2008 to a whopping 35,000 employees by the end of this year. Bank of America also opened 23 new customer assistance centers and promises to bring that number to 40 by the end of the summer.

Working with your servicer and attending any workshops they might offer is always a good idea when behind on mortgage payments. The fact that there are more servicers available to work with you might be a great help, but it may also accelerate the foreclosure process. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit and are interest in exploring your foreclosure options, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today.

The fourteen top U.S. mortgage lenders are reportedly near an agreement with federal regulators which would call for an servicers to completely revamp their foreclosure practices and handling of delinquent borrowers. The investigation and impending agreement stems from numerous allegations of foreclosure abuses, most notably rampant "robo-signing" that has plagued the foreclosure process. Insiders have stated that the regulators, which include the Office of the Comptroller of Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Federal Reserve, could potentially announce the agreements as early as next week.

This round of agreements will likely come before any agreements made arising from the investigations being carried out by the 50 state attorney's general into the foreclosure practices of mortgage lenders. Any deal agreed to upon by the two sides will likely include new, mandatory minimum default servicing requirements as well as monetary penalties. Head of the Office of Comptroller of Currency John Walsh has stated that the banks emphasized "timeliness and cost efficiency over quality and accuracy" when pursuing foreclosures and they banks did not promote an environment "is consistent with conducting foreclosure process in a safe and sound manner."

Hopefully this settlement will be good news for the millions of struggling borrowers nationwide. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer today.

In a relatively shocking turn of events HSBC Bank USA and HSBC Finance Corp. have quietly announced that it has stopped "all home foreclosures until further notice" and may be facing fines after federal regulators found "certain deficiencies" in the company's foreclosure procedures. This news comes as a surprise as it was only a few months ago that HSBC stated that it would not suspend its foreclosure practices and that it was not affected by the "robo-signing" allegations.

The announcement of the suspension of its foreclosures came in its annual financial report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, called a 10-K, when it stated it "suspended foreclosures until such time as we have substantially addressed the noted deficiencies in our processes." HSBC spokesman Neil Brazil stated that it is expecting federal regulators to impose a consent order mandating the procedural steps the company must take in order to fix its foreclosure problems. Brazil also announced that the foreclosure suspension actually took effect in December and that the company will be changing its "affidavit and notarization procedures, tightening oversight of outside law firms, reviewing how it uses the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems."

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit were HSBC is the plaintiff, contact a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today for a complimentary case review and to determine the possible effects that this announcement may have on you.

New RealtyTrac national foreclosure data shows that new foreclosure filings for the month of November were the lowest they have been in over two years. New foreclosure filings dropped 21 percent from October and are down 14 percent from November 2009. There were 262,339 total foreclosures filed nationwide, the first time since 2009 that filings have dipped below 300,000 for a one month period.

One of the major factors contributing to the precipitous drop is the fallout from the "robo-signing" controversy which caused many lenders and servicers to suspend foreclosure filings while looking into those allegations, according to foreclosure experts. For the 47th straight month Nevada lead the nation in foreclosure filings, followed by Utah, Arizona, Florida, California and Michigan.

Even though this trend may be temporary as bank re-start many of the suspended foreclosure filings, it is still good news for thousands of Florida homeowners. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today to discover what defenses may be available to save your home.

Just days after a letter signed by the ACLU, the Florida Association of Broadcasters, the Florida Society of News Editors, the Florida Press Association, the Florida Times Union and the First Amendment Foundation spurred the Florida Supreme Courts to declare that all foreclosure courts be open to the public, the ACLU has filed an appeal asking the Second District Court of Appeal to reverse its injunction preventing a video deposition of "robo-signors" to be posted on YoutTube.

The depositions of three employees of National Title Company, taken by the Forest Law Firm in connection with one of its foreclosure defense cases, was put under gag order by Sarasota Judge Rick DeFuria. Addressing the importance of the videotaped depositions, Howard Siman, ACLU of Florida Executive Director stated "putting the videotaped depositions of "robo-signors" on YouTube gives the world an opportunity to see how the practices of banks and title companies are affecting homeowners facing serious financial problems."

The fight to get the word out on the dept of the "robo-signor" scandal is heating up. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today to review the circumstances surrounding your case.

Many homeowners who use foreclosure alternatives such as short sales or mortgage modifications in order to have a portion of their mortgage debt forgiven face the question "am I going to have to pay taxes on the amount of mortgage debt forgiven." In most instances that answer is no! The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 was enacted to help homeowners who were trying to escape toxic mortgages and the accompanying debt by not taxing the amounts forgiven as taxable income.

Homeowners who intend to claim the exemption must fill out Form 982 and attach it to their individual tax return in order to be eligible for the relief. Types of eligible debt are debts forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, debt forgiven due to a short sale as well as debt forgiven through a mortgage restructuring such as a HAMP modification. The Act was originally intended to only affect mortgage debt forgiven in 2007, 2008 and 2009 but was recently extended to include all forgiven mortgage debt through 2012!

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit and want to explore foreclosure alternatives that may reduce your mortgage debt and take advantage of the extension of the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today.