Foreclosure Defense and Loan Modification Blog

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 5,000 homeowners, here is one of their stories.

Aside from the infamous "subprime mortgages," one of the major contributors to the foreclosure crisis was banks giving out home loans at unfair terms. Many homeowners simply couldn't afford their homes once the economy slowed. One homeowner had experienced problems with getting on top of his loan for years; his entire situation changed when he spoke with us.

This homeowner hadn't paid on his mortgage since around the start of the mortgage crisis. In fact, he hadn't paid his mortgage for six years. In addition to being over $150,000 behind on paying his $2,000 monthly mortgage payment, our homeowner was paying an astronomically high 9.34% interest rate. Somehow, he had managed to stay out of foreclosure during that time, but he knew that wouldn't always be the case. That's when the homeowner retained (hired) us to help him modify his home loan in June 2013.

By Ralph R. Roberts, RISMedia Guest Columnist

In 2009, President Obama introduced the Home Affordable Modification Program (also known as HAMP). The program was designed to help struggling homeowners either to refinance their mortgage or modify their existing mortgage. The program was designed with incentives to the servicers/mortgage lenders and homeowners. However, many servicers were not seeing the program through, and as a result, many homeowners experienced multiple obstacles in getting a HAMP loan modification.

HAMP adapts to protect homeowners from foreclosure

The HAMP program, unveiled in 2009, was considered by many to be a failed experiment (in part due to the servicers lack of participation and implementation of the rules as well as many stringent program guidelines). Due to many failed modifications, in June of 2012 the Obama administration unveiled HAMP Tier 2 in an attempt to provide assistance to struggling homeowners. Tier 2 came with some much needed eligibility changes.

By Barbara Pronin, RISMedia Columnist

With home prices languishing and mortgage interest rates still at historic lows, this may be the year you will want to buy your first home. But getting a mortgage can be a daunting process, especially if the terms associated with getting a loan are new to your vocabulary.

This is the final installment in a three part series about free loan modifications. You can read Part 1: Free Loan Modifications: Hope Now and Part 2: Free Loan Modifications: NACA Know How?

In Brief:

• Hope Now, NACA, and other free loan modification services have helped thousands of homeowners.
• There are 3 main drawbacks to these free services.
• These companies can't help you the way a foreclosure defense attorney can.

Are Homeowners Being helped by Free Loan Modification Programs Hope Now and NACA?

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 5,000 homeowners, here is one of their stories.

A single, mature homeowner was attempting to get her home loan modified and was having issues with Bank of America. She had been involved in an auto accident with an uninsured driver which had created financial difficulties, which eventually led to her not being able to pay her mortgage on time. Even though BOA had promised to help the homeowner, they strung her along for over a year, and the homeowner was now being threatened with foreclosure. This homeowner was paying a mortgage payment of over $2000 monthly with a high 9.375% interest rate, and was over $20,000 behind on her mortgage. Once she hired Amerihope Alliance Legal Services, her entire situation began to change.

This is a three part series about free loan modificaitons. See last week's article: Free Loan Modifications - Part 1: Hope Now Alliance

In Brief:

• NACA started as a grassroots homeowner advocacy group.
• Like Hope Now Alliance, NACA has ties with the big banks.
• Homeowners are better off using other methods of foreclosure defense.

NACA's Story

The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, or NACA for short, is as different from Hope Now (the subject of our last blog post) as can be. NACA started in the late 1980's as a local grassroots organization in Boston. It worked in concert with local trade organizations and unions to help rehabilitate neighborhoods and change housing laws, and the results of its work created positive ripples for homeowners throughout the United States. NACA continued to expand into a national entity into the mid 2000's, and forged agreements with most of the USA's top lenders to create favorable situations for homeowners in need. NACA even took the step of creating their own "fair" mortgage for homeowners, which was backed by the same big banks that NACA had signed agreements with.

Many homeowners are reducing their living expenses and applying those savings to their monthly mortgage payments. Others are seeking a mortgage loan modification, which can be a lifeline for any homeowner faced with foreclosure.

"It's critical that homeowners understand exactly what they can afford because a loan modification that is ultimately unaffordable hurts everyone," says Michelle Jones, Senior Vice President of Counseling for Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of Greater Atlanta. "We help consumers create a lean, sustainable budget that will support the family's housing costs."

Here are some simple steps that many homeowners have taken to help qualify for a loan modification:

In Brief:

• Hope Now Alliance was created by the Bush administration to save people from foreclosure.
• Due to its ties with the big banks, Hope Now isn't the best foreclosure defense alternative.
• Homeowners are better off using other methods of foreclosure defense.

In the wake of the foreclosure crisis, it's no surprise that there have been many "foreclosure rescue" schemes- some illegal and some legitamate- that have victimized homeowners in foreclosure, such as what that we've covered here and here.  This has been especially true in states such as Illinois, Florida, and New Jersey, where the mortgage crisis was and is still at its worst. While the government has made an extensive effort to reign in illegal schemes, the government has never made a legitimate effort to change its own foreclosure recovery program for the better. Although Hope Now Alliance has assisted hundreds of thousands of homeowners, the question will always be "what if". What if it was more efficient? What if it offered homeowners better solutions? What if it wasn't bankrolled by the large banks? No one will ever know.

We often receive questions from our readers about the Foreclosure Process in Illinois. 

Below are 5 common questions about foreclosure in Illinois.

Remember, if you have a question you can leave it in the comments below, or contact our law firm at 877-882-5338 us for a more private matter.

1.) How Does the new Illinois Foreclosure Law Affect Me?

From a reader in Bloomington, Illinois

The new foreclosure law in Illinois affects you because it protects you from a wrongful foreclosure.

It's no surprise that Bank of America has been taking advantage of homeowners for years. Now that we past the halfway mark of 2013, let's look at a few Bank of America loan modification problems that have come to light this year.