Loan Modification

You CAN defend against your mortgage foreclosure

By David Leibowitz, Illinois and Wisconsin Bankruptcy

If you are facing mortgage foreclosure, your best defense can be a good offense.  Mortgage lenders who file foreclosure cases count on you to do nothing.  They count on you to ignore their complaint.  They count on you to default.  That way, they can easily go to court and get a foreclosure judgment without having to prove anything. 

You can fight back.  You’ll need a good lawyer to represent you in court although some people have been successful representing themselves.  You might even need to get the protection of the bankruptcy court, especially in non-judicial foreclosure states like Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, California and Arizona among others.

Still, there are many viable defenses to foreclosure.  Here are some:

• The plaintiff can’t produce the note and so can’t show that they have the right to sue
• The plaintiff can’t prove that you owe the amount that they claim you owe
• The plaintiff may have failed to follow required local procedures to the letter
• The plaintiff may have violated the Truth in Lending Act
• The plaintiff may have violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
• The plaintiff may have violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act
• The plaintiff may have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices ACt
• The claim may be subject to claims that you were defrauded when you made the loan
• The plaintiff may have failed to follow procedures it was required to when it accepted TARP government bailout money.

Full post as published by Mortgage Law Network on May 28, 2009 (boomark / email).