The firm is open to taking on clients who can demonstrate that they have been wrongfully denied a loan modification under the terms of the Obama administration's Home Affordable Mortgage Program or HAMP, or where the loan service has failed comply...

Continue reading "Emerging legal theory: Suing your loan servicer for breach of the HAMP contract" »

I can tell you from the frontlines of the foreclosure crisis, that the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Plan or HAMP is a large scale failure.  Consider these facts from the ACORN and the Center for Responsible Lending:  -A family loses...

Continue reading "Don't expect your loan servicer to play by the rules...until there is a real consequence of litigation" »

Source:  http://financialstability.gov/docs/report.pdf Go this link and find specific loan mod performance results on your loan servicer. The charts on page 5 of the the HAMP Modification Activity by Servicer shows the relative performance of the top 20 loan servicers that have signed...

Continue reading "Check your lender's loan mod performance history..." »

Through December 2009, out of the 1,164,507 trial mods offered to date, only 6% or 66,465 homeowners received permanent loan mods under the HAMP plan.  However, the government claims that an additional 46,000 permanent offers are awaiting borrower acceptance as a...

Continue reading "National loan mod results: 6% of trial mods were converted to permanent through Dec. 2009" »

The article below takes a year end snapshot of the foreclosure situation.  However, the California numbers deserve a deeper look.  Typically, properties move through the minimum 111 day non-judicial foreclosure process at a steady rate.  Moratoriums, loan mod programs and...

Continue reading "Foreclosures ramping up...prices headed down...a huge wave of sales looms in 2010" »

From the front lines:  This is a timely and informative article on the likelihood of principal reduction for borowers in distress.  Wells Fargo and its subsidiary Wachovia remain the most willing, having cut $2billion of principal in 2009.  While permanent loan...

Continue reading "Negative equity tops $745Billion; Pressure on lenders for principal reduction or deferment may be growing..." »

By Professor Jean Braucher Jean Braucher is the Roger C.  Henderson Professor of Law at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College  of Law.  This article is based on a longer paper, available for free at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1518098). The Obama...

Continue reading "National conversion rate of loan mods from trial to permanent status is only 8% " »

The judicial mortgage modification amendment supported by NACBA in the House of Representatives failed on a 188-241 vote on Friday, December 11, 2009.  Oddly, similar legislation passed the House earlier this year on a 224-191 vote. Today, 50 Democrats who had...

Continue reading "Congress shoots down judicial loan modification...AGAIN!" »

Behind the curve as usual, Congress will again reintroduce bankruptcy cramdown in an effort to deal with the foreclosure crisis.  This is a good article that describes what we already know:  the HAMP plan is not a good solution to...

Continue reading "Obama Loan Mod Plan "destined to fail"; Bankruptcy cramdown revived in Congress" »

Source:  Wall Street Journal, August 2009  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125166830374670517.html   To encourage banks to pick through the wreckage of their collapsed competitors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has agreed to assume most of the risk on $80 billion in loans and other assets....

Continue reading ""Sweet heart" Loss sharing deals between banks and governments hurting loan mods" »