Foreclosure and Loan Modification Blog

Jake Sterling

Jake Sterling is Amerihope Alliance Legal Services' Homeowner Liaison. He helps to bring awareness and teach homeowners about foreclosure defense and options to save their homes.

Recent Posts

What's The Best Way to Pay Your Trial Loan Modification Payments?

A trial loan modification is usually the next-to-last step for homeowners who have successfully applied for a loan modification. Lenders give homeowners trial loan modifications to test their ability to pay a mortgage payment under terms that have been optimized to fit a homeowners' financial situation. Trial loan modifications usually last for 3 months, and if all 3 payments are paid in full and on time, then the mortgage lender will begin the process of offering a permanent loan modification.

For most people, a trial loan modification is like a bridge into the "promised land" of financial stability. If they're able to successfully cross over that bridge after fighting to reach it for several months, then their financial lives will be in a much better position than before.

Seven Ways to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

By Barbara Pronin

 

Identity theft is a serious crime that can wreak havoc with your credit. Preventing it starts with managing your personal information carefully and sensibly. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends seven simple precautions: 

  1. Carry only essential documents – On any given day, go not carry extra credit cards, your Social Security card, a birth certificate or passport with you outside the house unless they will be needed.
  2. Keep new checks out of the mail – When ordering new checks, pick them up at the bank, if possible, instead of having them sent to your home.

Loan Modification Success: Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Saved with Chase/Ocwen

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.

One of the biggest public misconceptions at the beginnings of the foreclosure crisis was that banks were well-equipped to handle loan modifications. Perhaps even the banks themselves believed this, because it has taken them years to even slightly improve their loan modification processes. The ineptitude of the loan modification departments at major banks has been well-documented, and has resulted in many homeowners losing their homes.

The Wells Fargo Grinch Who Wrongly Foreclosed at Christmas

If loan modifications were the holidays, then Wells Fargo would be the Grinch. While the other big banks have been known to make life difficult for homeowners who are facing foreclosure, Wells Fargo's loan modification unit is among the worst. How many American  homeowners have they spoiled Christmas for this year?

Does Foreclosure Stop When You Get a Trial Loan Modification?

If you are paying for a trial loan modification, then the cold, hard, truth is that your lender does not have to stop the foreclosure process on your home. In fact, expect foreclosure to proceed as if you hadn't done anything, unless you've otherwise been informed by the courts. This is for 3 reasons:

5 Ways to be Ready for Whatever the Economy Brings

 

Regardless of how the economic landscape progresses in the coming months, there are certain steps consumers can take to safeguard their own financial well-being. Nonprofit firm InCharge Debt Solutions advises following these five steps:

 

1. Reduce your debt – Paying for debt instead of life's necessities (food, shelter, utilities) is counterproductive, particularly during a recession. Take steps to pay down your debt as much as possible before another downturn.

2. Create an emergency fund. Even if you only have a small amount of "extra" money every time you receive income, put as much as you can away.

3. Cut your expenses. It is amazing how many things you can save on when you really put your mind to it - cable, insurance, entertainment. There are always ways to cut back.

3 Things You Needed To Know About New Jersey Foreclosures in 2013

It's hard to believe, but 2013 is already coming to a close. This has been quite an eventful year for New Jersey homeowners- especially because the events of 2012 have started a ripple -- or better yet, a wave of effects that lasted into 2013. For example:

Loan Modification Success: 20 Months Past Due with Ocwen? No Problem

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.

Would you believe that there are actually critics who blame homeowners for the foreclosure crisis? These critics are so detached from real life that they forget to project a human face onto the numbers. Nobody wants to lose their home to foreclosure; the foreclosure crisis was comprised of a lot of people who faced extenuating circumstances (including unfair mortgage lending) that caused them to lose their homes.

Several Hardships Led to Foreclosure

The New York homeowner in our story certainly faced extenuating circumstances of his own. His family had faced death within the family, and was also enduring the financial effects of serious extended sickness. He was no longer able to pay his $786 payment to GMAC (his loan was eventually sold to Ocwen Financial) on his home that he and his wife shared, and was over 8 months behind and far into the foreclosure process by the time he and his wife retained us.

As if to add insult to injury, the homeowner's interest rate was an astronomical 9.0% (his home loan was one of the infamous adjustable-rate loans that played a large part in starting the mortgage crisis), and the homeowner had been planning to retire in early 2013 for years; this now seemed like a bleak prospect. The homeowner retained us in late 2012, and our home retention department began working with he and his wife to compile a loan modification package. Simultaneously, our legal team began to prepare a legal defense for the homeowner.

What Can I Do If My Loan Modification Is Denied?

If your loan modification has been denied, be assured: you're not the first person to experience denial, and you certainly won't be the last. Loan modifications may be one of the hardest things to get approved without an experienced attorney's assistance. After denial, your next step depends on the reason why you were denied and where your home is in the foreclosure process.

Fraud Facts: Keep Yourself Safe Online

Fraudsters have discovered new ways to steal money and information thanks to the popularity of social networking sites, unsecured public Internet access points and online activities like shopping, buying and selling, dating and gaming. Online fraud may be the latest way to scam people, but it is not the only approach that is used.

"The best way to avoid becoming a victim of fraud is to protect your personal and financial information at all times. Whether you're at home, in a public place, on the phone or online, keep in mind that someone could steal personal information if it is not properly protected," says Ursula Menke, Commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC). "Fraud can be committed by anyone—someone close to you, someone in your community, or a distant stranger," she adds.

About this Blog

Amerihope Alliance Legal Services is a leading loan modification and foreclosure defense law firm with attorneys licensed in 5 states. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners fight back and keep their homes.

Click to Read Our Super Loan Mod Success Stories

Our goal is to provide valuable information to help homeowners who are trying to obtain a loan modification or to stop foreclosure. You may schedule a free consultation at any time.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Lists by Topic

see all
Quick Foreclosure Quiz

Foreclosure Process Handbook