foreclosure – Page 5

Foreclosure Defense Information

November 5, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

Economic Injury in Foreclosure Lawsuits

I have personally spoken to hundreds of homeowners with regard to issues and injustices they have been subject to related to mortgages, mortgage modifications, and foreclosure lawsuits against their homes. However, there is a concept most homeowners do not seem to understand. There is a principle of law which states when you bring a lawsuit you must allege monetary damages. To prove monetary damages you must show there has been an economic injury to you and a certain amount of money is required to redress your grievance for this economic injury (damages). Unfortunately in most foreclosure cases it is extremely difficult for the homeowner to allege economic damages in a countersuit against a financial institution.

Destroying Title To One’s Home

In the counter lawsuits brought by our law firm, we allege there has been economic injury to the homeowner because the financial institution, upon initiating a foreclosure proceeding, filed what is called a lis pendens. A lis pendens is a notice to the world a foreclosure lawsuit has been initiated. The filing of a lis pendens has a negative impact on the title to one’s home. It provides notice to all people interested in any transaction concerning the home that it is involved in a foreclosure lawsuit. Destroying the title to one’s home can be the basis for countersuing the bank for monetary damages.

Fraud

In cases where the bank has engaged in fraudulent activities, has violated truth in lending laws and/or has been involved in predatory lending, there is potential for economic injury the homeowner can recover. Unfortunately the cases do not currently allow a homeowner to set aside a mortgage based on any of those aforementioned theories of recovery. The courts have not granted homeowner’s applications in the past to set aside mortgages and remove the liens from the homeowner’s homes. This is still an avenue which is being pursued by our law office and other law firms defending beleaguered homeowners in foreclosure defense lawsuits brought by financial institutions.

Filed Under: Foreclosure Tagged With: defective foreclosure lawsuits, defective mortgages, foreclosure, foreclosure defense lawyers, foreclosure proceedings, mortgage modification attorneys, New York foreclosure attorney

Foreclosure Law

October 31, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

In New York State there is a statute known as the New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 1304. This statute, in June of this year, was extended for five additional years. This section of the law requires a financial institution provide “at least 90 days before a lender, an assignee, or a mortgage loan servicer commences legal action against the borrower…such lender, assignee or mortgage loan servicer shall give notice to the borrower”.

90 Days Notice to Homeowner

The section requires the notice to the homeowner provide a warning they are on the verge of losing their home in a foreclosure lawsuit. In addition, this notice requirement gives key information concerning how long the homeowner is in default on their mortgage and how much is due and owing on their mortgage. The law requires service of this notice be given to the homeowner and they be given a reasonable opportunity to take action to save their home such as by negotiating a mortgage modification.

Prerequisite for Foreclosure Lawsuit

The service by the financial institution and/or its representatives of the notice under this section of the law is a necessary prerequisite before a foreclosure lawsuit can be initiated. In the event the financial institution fails to fully comply with this requirement, a homeowner in a foreclosure proceeding can move to have the foreclosure case dismissed.

Settlement Court Conferences

In June of this year, the settlement court conference requirements in foreclosure lawsuits was also extended for five years. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules section 3408 had established a mandatory settlement court conference requirement in all foreclosure lawsuits. Upon the service of a summons and complaint in a foreclosure lawsuit, the Supreme Court within twenty days of proof of filing of this foreclosure lawsuit, is required to schedule a mandatory foreclosure conference. The purpose of the foreclosure court conference is to have settlement discussions between the homeowner and the representatives of the financial institution. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules section 3408 requires both the homeowner and the representative of the financial institution negotiate in good faith to reach a solution to the foreclosure case by having the mortgage modified. It is the court’s responsibility to see to it both parties negotiate in good faith and there are not unreasonable delays caused by either party.

Lenders Not Compelled To Provide Mortgage Modifications

Unfortunately, even though a lender must attend a foreclosure court conference they have no obligation other than negotiate in good faith. Simply stated, they do not have to grant a mortgage modification. They can deny it for any reasonable reason. Unfortunately for homeowners, courts cannot force a lender to grant a mortgage modification under New York law.

Elliot S. Schlissel is a foreclosure defense attorney helping homeowners stay in their homes throughout the Metropolitan New York area.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure defense lawyers, New York foreclosure attorney

Underwater Homes and the Housing Market

October 12, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

To watch today’s video blog, please click on the link below:

http://youtu.be/PqKONpMSmBc

Elliot S. Schlissel is a foreclosure defense lawyer. He can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802 or by email to schlissel.law@att.net.

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure Tagged With: defective mortgages, foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure defense lawyers, New York foreclosure attorney

Default Interest Rate in Foreclosure 24%

August 6, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

In a case before Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom in the Eastern District of New York (a Federal Court) a borrower named McLaughlin had borrowed $184,000 and provided a note and mortgage to the financial institution regarding the mortgage. The financial institution brought an application for summary judgment claiming there were no issues of fact.

In the summary judgment motion, the attorneys for the financial institution cited a portion of the promissory note which said “in the event of default of the note specified that a 24% per annum ‘default rate’ should remain in effect until such time as all events regarding default were cured.”

Statutory Interest Rate in New York 9%

McLaughlin argued to the court the bank’s calculation of interest at the rate of 24% was improper. He claimed when judgment was granted on the summary judgment motion to the financial institution, they should have used the default rate of interest under New York statutory law of 9%.

Magistrate Bloom considered McLaughlin’s arguments. However, she found the 24% default rate of interest in the note would apply in this situation. She rejected McLaughlin’s argument the New York rate of interest of 9% on judgments was appropriate. She took this position because the contract clearly stated the interest would accrue at the rate of 24% per annum in the event of default until such time as the entire amount of the note was fully paid. She found even after a judgment was entered in the bank’s favor, they would continue to be entitled to an interest rate of 24%.

Conclusion

I find a 24% interest rate of a mortgage is outrageous. Most people do not carefully read mortgage notes when they enter into them. Often, attorneys who represent clients at closings on real estate transactions don’t go into detailed explanations concerning the potential for an interest rate raising from a reasonable rate to 24%. I disagree with this court’s decision. However, Judge Bloom’s decision is now the law of this case.

Elliot Schlissel is a foreclosure lawyer. His office has represented scores of New Yorkers successfully in bank foreclosure proceedings. Elliot strives to keep his clients in their homes!

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: financial crisis, foreclosure, foreclosure defense, New York foreclosure attorney

Low Cost Loans Designed to Stop Foreclosure On Long Island Are Now Available

July 30, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has recently held a news conference with regard to the new low cost loan program designed to stop foreclosures. At his news conference he stated “we are going to provide loans to families that prevent them from losing their homes.” He went on to state “we know how hard Long Island was hit by the foreclosure crisis this was the worst of the worst. There was a big boom and a big bust.”

Foreclosures on Long Island

The foreclosure rates in Nassau and Suffolk Counties are among the highest in New York State. The highest rate of foreclosures is in the Village of Hempstead in Nassau County. Hempstead residents have a mortgage delinquency rate approaching 30%.

The New Program

Under the new program, families whose mortgages are overdue can borrow up to $40,000. These low cost loans can be used to bring mortgages up to date and deal with property tax issues. These loans will not be payable until the house is sold or the entire mortgage is repaid. These loans will be interest free. However, the amount due and owing will be adjusted to account for inflation. Applications for these loans will start being processed on September 15, 2014. Applications for Long Island residents will be processed first and a month later residents of other parts of the state can apply for this program. There is a requirement that individuals applying for this program earn less than 120% of the area’s median income.

Elliot Schlissel is a foreclosure attorney. Elliot has been helping New Yorker’s stay in their homes for more than 45 years. Elliot and his staff of lawyers litigate foreclosures, deal with predatory lending issues, and assist clients in applying for mortgage modifications. His phones are monitored 24/7 and free consultations are offered.

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: foreclosure, foreclosure attorney, mortgage, mortgage modification, mortgage modification attorneys, Mortgage Modifications new york

Second Mortgage Foreclosures

July 25, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

A financial institution can bring a foreclosure lawsuit on a second mortgage. Home improvement loans and lines of credit against a home are examples of two different types of second mortgages. Second mortgages are subordinate to first mortgages. Even if you make payments on your first mortgage and are up to date, the financial institution holding the second mortgage can still foreclose on your home and take it back from you.

Second Mortgages and Short Sales

Even if you move forward with a short sale with regard to your home on your first mortgage, you still will owe your second mortgage lender. This means, unless you negotiate a deal with both your first mortgage holder and your second mortgage holder to do a short sale, you will be responsible for paying off your second mortgage. Issues involving second mortgages are somewhat different than issues involving first mortgages. If the first mortgage on your home is secured by all the equity in your home, or your home is under water with regard to the first mortgage (worth less than the amount of your first mortgage) the second mortgage is liening on air. Why is it liening on air? Because all of the equity in your home is being liened on by the first mortgage so there is no equity left for the second mortgage holder to lien on. This creates a situation where your second mortgage is more of a personal obligation such as a personal loan or credit card debt.

A Hundred Years of Combined Experience

Our attorneys have more than 100 years of combined legal experience. If you default on your second mortgage, we can provide you with a list of options to deal with this problem. Our law firm offers personal services to our clients and free consultations to individuals facing foreclosure problems. Call us for a free consultation. At your initial meeting we will layout a strategy, and game plan as to how to protect your home.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: foreclosure, foreclosure defense, New York foreclosure defense lawyers, second mortgage bankruptcy, second mortgages

Hurricane Sandy Buyouts Moving Forward

July 8, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

In the month of May 2014, New York Rising, the agency that is involved with utilizing federal funds to pay for damages caused by Superstorm Sandy, purchased 34 homes. The agency is now in the process of hiring an auction company to sell off some of the homes which were purchased, in addition to several hundred others. The homes sold will either be fixed up or totally rebuilt to make them resistant to future hurricanes.

New York Rising Buying More Damaged Homes

New York Rising is in the process of buying about 500 homes on Long Island. The average price to be paid for these homes is $360,000. There is an additional 500 homeowners who have submitted applications to have their homes purchased. Many of the homes that are being purchased by New York Rising will not be resold. These homes will remain vacant and the land will not be developed. These properties will be used as a buffer against future storms.

Michelle Mittleman, a lawyer who represents a Facebook group of Sandy victims, indicates although New York Rising is paying reasonable value for these homes, they are moving too slowly.

Barbara Brancaccio, a spokesperson for New York Rising, stated they have “moved aggressively to work with homeowners to ensure that we provide them with a fair price, and comply with federal regulations.”

Elliot Schlissel is a foreclosure lawyer. He represents homeowners whose homes are in foreclosure. He litigates foreclosure lawsuits, helps homeowners obtain mortgage modifications, and gets great satisfaction helping families stay in their homes.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure proceedings, Mortgage Modifications attorney, real estate market

The Effect of Bankruptcy on Foreclosure

July 1, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

If my debts are discharged in bankruptcy, is the foreclosure over? Even if your debts are discharged in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding, your foreclosure problems are not over. If you discharge your unsecured debts and you enter into an arrangement to reaffirm the mortgage and make your mortgage payments your problems with the bank foreclosure may be over. In most cases involving a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the personal obligation portion of the mortgage debt is discharged (erased) but the lien portion of the mortgage on your home still exists.

The Mortgage

A mortgage actually involves two separate and distinct documents. The first document is the promissory note which can be simply described as an I Owe You (IOU). The second item is a lien. Liens on real property in the State of New York are referred to as mortgages.

The Promissory Note

The purpose of the promissory note is to lay out the terms of the financial transaction, such as the amount you are borrowing, the interest rate, and the payment arrangements. The promissory note is actually the document that creates the personal financial obligation to the bank.

The lien which is placed on your home acts as a type of collateral to secure your repaying the IOU (personal obligation portion of your debt). The lien gives the bank security in your home. Even if you file a chapter 7 bankruptcy and discharge the personal obligation (IOU portion) of your debt, the lien still exists and the bank, when obtaining the release from the automatic stay from the federal bankruptcy court, can move forward with the foreclosure on your home.

The benefit of the chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge will prevent the bank from obtaining a deficiency judgment against you. A deficiency judgment involves a situation where the bank sells your home for less than is owed and goes after the balance of the funds they are owed.

Conclusion

A discharge in a chapter 7 bankruptcy discharges all of your personal obligations, except those which are designated as non-dischargeable by statute. After you receive a discharge, the automatic stay from the bankruptcy court will eventually be lifted. Once it is lifted, the bank will still be able to move forward with the foreclosure in a New York State Court unless you have made a payment arrangement with the financial institution.

So what can you do? Meet with a skilled foreclosure attorney. Find out what your rights are, your remedies are, and the best way to proceed.

Filed Under: Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: bankruptcy, Chapter 7, foreclosure, foreclosure defense attorneys, foreclosure proceedings, New York foreclosure attorney

Wrongful Foreclosures

June 19, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

There have been a significant number of lawsuits brought by attorney generals in states throughout the country as well as the federal attorney general’s office involving numerous financial institutions acting inappropriately with regard to foreclosure lawsuits. Lenders such as Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, PNC Financial Services Group, Wells Fargo and GMAC mortgage company, have actually admitted to improprieties in the way these financial institutions handled the processing of foreclosure paperwork. These financial institutions and many others, including many mortgage servicing organizations, failed to verify the court documents they used to justify foreclosing on homes. In numerous situations, individuals referred to as “robo-signers” signed hundreds of documents which they did not read or were not familiar with. Far worse than that, many of these robo-signers were signing foreclosure documents for financial institutions they were not affiliated with.

Your Home

A family’s home is usually its most valued possession. No family should be forced from their home as a result of faulty bank practices. If your home has been foreclosed upon, is in the process of being foreclosed on, or is even being threatened with a foreclosure, it is important that you seek legal representation as soon as possible. There are numerous grounds to challenge foreclosures, numerous affirmative defenses, and potential lawsuits you may have available to you against the bank for financial damages. If you are the victim of a wrongful foreclosure lawsuit you owe it to yourself and your family to see to it your legal rights are protected.

Mortgage Servicing Companies

Many banks that make home loan mortgages do not service their loans. They either assign the loans to other financial institutions or they subcontract out the responsibilities to service the loans to mortgage servicing companies. Over the last 6 to 8 years, mortgage servicing companies have been overwhelmed with the large number of foreclosure cases they were required to service. Mortgage servicing is a high volume industry. The mortgage servicing companies sometimes hire employees with little formal training in handling these mortgages. In addition, many of them have inadequate supervision and have cut corners to make themselves more profitable. The unusually high number of mortgage defaults has added to this problem by overwhelming some of the mortgage servicing agencies. An example of the irregularities involved in servicing mortgages can be found with regard to Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in the country, admitting to thousands of mistakes made in foreclosure documents. However, in spite of Wells Fargo’s admissions, they never took any action to stop those foreclosures based on mistakes and fraudulent documents from moving forward.

Robo-Signing

It was indicated earlier in this article the term robo-signer refers to individuals signing documents without authority and without reading these documents. During the course of depositions taken by foreclosure defense lawyers, some robo-signers have admitted to signing more than 10,000 foreclosure affidavits during a month. Most of these affidavits indicated the robo-signers actually personally reviewed the files and determined the paperwork they were signing was correct. During the course of depositions, these workers acknowledged there was virtually no time to even look at the files. They just simply signed the documents claiming to have reviewed files they never looked at.

Are You The Victim of Predatory Lending or
Improper Bank or Foreclosure Practices?

If you feel you are the victim of predatory lending or improper bank or foreclosure practices you should immediately retain a qualified law firm to investigate the situation. There are a variety of remedies available to you. You can even take legal action under certain limited circumstances to set the mortgage on your home aside. It may be that the mortgage loan against your home is unenforceable. If you feel you have grounds to challenge a mortgage or foreclosure practice, call our law firm for a free consultation. Our phones are monitored 24/7. We can be reached at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645, or 718-350-2802.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: defective foreclosure lawsuits, foreclosure, foreclosure proceedings, Mortgage Modifications attorney, New York foreclosure defense lawyers

Avoiding Foreclosure

June 15, 2014 by Elliot S. Schlissel

Foreclosure for many homeowners is a threatening, harrowing experience they seek to avoid. If a homeowner fails to make mortgage payments, foreclosure will most likely occur. Foreclosure is the beginning of the initiation of legal proceedings by a lender to take back the property used to secure the loan. The property is usually the parties’ home. At the end of a foreclosure proceeding, if the family is still in their home, the purchaser of the property can bring an eviction proceeding in the landlord tenant court to have the family removed from their home.

Should the home be sold at a foreclosure sale for less than the amount of the mortgage, interest, late fees, and other penalties, the financial institution who held the mortgage can move forward to obtain a deficiency judgment against the mortgagors for the amount that is still owed to them after they receive the proceeds of the foreclosure sale.

What is the best way of dealing with foreclosure? Avoid it!

Falling Behind on Your Mortgage

If you are falling behind on your mortgage, you should contact your bank. You should ask your bank whether they have any programs that will be helpful to you in dealing with temporary financial setbacks. Most lenders have a variety of programs available to homeowners suffering from short term financial difficulties.

If you receive letters from your financial institution or threats of foreclosure by attorneys for the financial institution, you should carefully read these letters. Ignoring these notices is not a good idea. Respond to the correspondence either on your own or retain an experienced foreclosure lawyer to help you deal with the situation. There are a variety of rights homeowners have with regard to mortgages and foreclosures. An experienced foreclosure defense lawyer will be able to explain these rights to you. In addition, the attorney will be able to discuss with you defenses that can be raised in the event of a foreclosure lawsuit against you.

If you have financial problems you could discuss the possibility of a bankruptcy. Credit cards and other non-secured creditors should not be paid before you make mortgage payments. Your home provides security for you and your family. It should be one of the first bills to be paid by you.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure proceedings, New York foreclosure attorney

Foreclosure Defense Information

Foreclosure Law

Underwater Homes and the Housing Market

Default Interest Rate in Foreclosure 24%

Low Cost Loans Designed to Stop Foreclosure On Long Island Are Now Available

Second Mortgage Foreclosures

Hurricane Sandy Buyouts Moving Forward

The Effect of Bankruptcy on Foreclosure

Wrongful Foreclosures

Avoiding Foreclosure

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