Are you having trouble with your mortgage? Has it adjusted and you cannot afford the new payment? Were you placed into a bad loan and you can’t refinance into a good one?

The first thing that a homeowner should do is identify that the mortgage on their current property is a lawful one. Meaning that there are no Truth in Lending Act Violations or RESPA violations and there wasn’t fraud involved on behalf of the lender or broker that originated your loan. When you are trying to Stop Foreclosure, you need to have as much ammo as you can to go up against your lender.

Learn the Foreclosure Process – The foreclosure process varies in every state and it’s imperative that homeowners understand this process. One thing is for sure, time is NOT on your side. But, an educated consumer is always an informed consumer who can make a “good” decision based on facts. Learn everything you can because this will affect you in every which way and it is something that should not be taken lightly.

Foreclosure Laws by State – This section is dedicated to the various foreclosure laws to help you understand the legal process

Avoid Foreclosure Scams- OCC Consumer Tips for Avoiding Foreclosure Rescue Scams.Foreclosures are increasing nationwide, and so are scams that promise to “rescue” homeowners from foreclosure. What these scams do is take your money, ruin your credit record, and wipe out any equity you have in your home.

Example Hardship Letter- One of the items your lender or servicer will ask for during the loan workout or mortgage/loan modification process is a hardship letter. A hardship letter is a written explanation as to what “event” has caused you to fall behind on your mortgage and it vital in helping you stop foreclosure.

Foreclosure Defense Tactics – Get your gloves on and start training for the fight of your life because foreclosure defense is going to be no easy battle.

Lender & Loss Mitigation Contact Information – Find your lenders contact information.

Qualified Written Request- Section 6 of RESPA provides borrowers with important consumer protections relating to the servicing of their loans. Under Section 6 of RESPA, borrowers who have a problem with the servicing of their loan (including escrow account questions), should contact their loan servicer in writing, outlining the nature of their complaint. The servicer must acknowledge the complaint in writing within 20 business days of receipt of the complaint.

Short Sale Tips – The term “short sale” is very popular in today’s mortgage and housing market. There are potentially millions of people facing foreclosure and a lot of these homeowners are under water on their mortgages. Some will choose to stick it out and fight. However, many will decide to choose to walk away. Short sales are becoming more and more popular as an exit strategy for homeowners. Learn the methods, software and magic it takes to navigate the foreclosure process and get the help you need.

Real Estate Short Sales the Right Way – If you find yourself in a difficult real estate situation where your home and loan is underwater, don’t fret, a short sale might just be the answer to help cure your mortgage woes.

Can a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure Cure Your Mortgage Woes? – For home borrowers (”mortgagors”) facing foreclosure, a deed in lieu of foreclosure provides an alternative solution to the standard default process. In particular, the deed grants the lender (the “mortgagee”) full rights to the property title.

Mortgage Bankruptcy – Wipe Out Your Second Mortgage With Bankruptcy -If the courts remove this 2nd mortgage, this is known as “stripping” the lien, “cram down” or “strip down,” which can also occur if the loan is secured by other collateral that is part of the filing or if the home is not your principal residence, or even if the payment structure on the 2nd mortgage falls heavily during the bankruptcy filing itself.

 

From the New York Times:

DAN A. BAILEY JR. was desperate when he sat down on May 19 to send an e-mail message to his mortgage lender, the Countrywide Financial Corporation, pleading, yet again, for help.

Behind on his payments and fearful of losing his home of 16 years — a 900-square-foot bungalow in Wilmington, N.C. — Mr. Bailey had spent the previous six months unsuccessfully lobbying Countrywide, at the time the nation’s largest home lender and loan servicer.
Mr. Bailey, 41, promised in his e-mail message that he would pay every nickel he owed if Countrywide would modify his mortgage in a way that allowed him to keep his home. He sent the message to a grab bag of Countrywide e-mail addresses, which he had received from www.LoanSafe.org, an online forum for borrowers.

Among the recipients of his e-mail was someone he had never heard of before: Angelo R. Mozilo, Countrywide’s co-founder and chief executive. Lo and behold, Mr. Mozilo replied — inadvertently, as it turned out.

“This is unbelievable,” Mr. Mozilo said in his message. “Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the Internet. Disgusting.”

Within days, Mr. Mozilo’s e-mail was widely circulated on the Internet and in the news media, offering a rare instance when candid comments from a powerful C.E.O. entered the public realm. For Mr. Bailey, however, the disdain that Mr. Mozilo expressed was depressingly familiar.

After all, Mr. Bailey had received little else from Countrywide after he began trying to renegotiate an adjustable-rate loan that he could no longer afford. Until then, he says, the only guidance the lender provided was a suggestion from an employee of Countrywide’s “home retention team” that he cut back on groceries to pay his mortgage.

“I told her that I probably spend $10 a day on groceries,” Mr. Bailey recalls. “And she said ‘Maybe you can eat less.’ ”

Moe Bedard  Moe Bedard Loan Safe Solutions  Moe Bedard

Company Cashes in by Making Lenders Pay for Their Mortgage Mistakes

“An Inland Empire, California man cashes in with a new business model. He makes lenders and servicer’s lives a living hell, saves 138 homes in the process and becomes an online grass roots celebrity for struggling homeowners.”

American homeowners are getting the foreclosure shaft from uncooperative lenders and servicers. But many are getting free help online and giving their lenders the legal shaft from the advice of a rapidly growing grass roots effort and new venture created by a Southern California man.

Recently Moe Bedard, President and Founder of Loan Safe Solutions Inc., was asked by a local reporter why his company has become so successful in dealing with servicers and how his company has grown at such a rapid pace in only a short period of time?

He responded passionately, “We do what most of these non-profits and Hope Now groups will not do to help struggling homeowners. Loan Safe uses an adversarial approach by going after lenders and servicer’s legal jugulars by using consumer protection laws to fight for the disadvantaged homeowner. Loan Safe is here to educate and inform the homeowner and we definitely do not play Mr. Nice Guy with uncooperative lenders. “

Mr. Bedard also said, “Most of these non-profits such as 995-Hope and Hope Now are funded by lenders and servicers. So, how can they possibly have the consumer’s best interests at heart?”

 Bedard and his rapidly growing venture, Loan Safe Solutions Inc., now reside in a plush 6,000 square foot office space in the Inland Empire of California and the heart of foreclosure warfare country.  His staff consists of 35 employees; his pro bono help has netted 138 homes saved for free online and has regular conversations with lending executives and heavy weight reporters at news outlets such as the New York Times, CBS the LA Times and many more.

So what’s Loan Safe’s secret?

It’s a business model that lenders and servicers everywhere are deathly afraid of. It’s called the mortgage audit or forensic loan document review.

The service they offer is a very specialized and imperative in identifying if a borrower is a victim of predatory lending. Loan Safe’s team of specially trained mortgage experts review a homeowners loan documents and perform a thorough investigation for miscalculations and to determine if their loan terms are accurate, truthful, and met the requirements of the applicable federal statutes.

When asked how many loans they review have legal violations, Moe Bedard said, “Over 80% of the mortgages we audit have predatory lending and legal violations. So, a homeowner has an 8 in 10 chance that they will have legal issues with their loan. Now, that is a very high probability that your mortgage has legal issues and you can use these violations to get relief from your lender or servicer.

 The problem is that 90% of predatory victims do not know they are victims.

Bedard said, “If these violations are found, then the borrower may be eligible for complete relief of the predatory loan or a very favorable loan modification. Complete relief of the predatory mortgage is called as a loan rescission. Meaning the lender takes back the “predatory loan” and awards or credits back to the borrower all interest made on payments thus far, loan origination fees, all applicable lenders fees, penalties and attorney’s fees. “

When asked what is usually the end result of using this negotiation tactic, Bedard said, “The most common option is just to mediate the loan with your lender and fight for an affordable loan modification based on the legal violations on the loan. We have had rates approved as low as 2%.”

“Everyone wins here, “ he said.

Moe Bedard concluded, “The homeowner has their loan fixed and may have their principle balance may be reduced also. The lender does not lose their shirt because they have mediated the matter without employing their full legal staff on the file and wasting precious operating expenses.”

Ted Grose, a mortgage broker and past president of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers, said he is familiar with LoanSafe and finds it is a consumer-friendly resource that gives good information on alternatives to foreclosure and reassures people in crisis that they are not alone.

“It is very common for consumers to pull the sheets over their heads when what they need to do is reach out,” Grose said.

Moe Bedard is an expert in loan workouts and has written over 500 articles on loan workouts and modifications. He also operates several free consumer protection websites like www.LoanSafe.org and www.LoanWorkout.org and has been featured on CBS/KCAL, Fox Business News, LA Times and many more news outlets.

If you would like more information, please contact Moe Bedard at (951) 531-0148 or email Moe@LoanSafe.org