Amerihope Alliance Legal Services and attorney Greg Nordt warn consumers: 
Do not pay fees to debt relief companies that promise that they can negotiate a pay off and stop the payday loan companies from calling you. They can't. They charge a consumer for an attorney to send their payday loan company a cease and desist letter and a letter of negotiation. Neither of these letters with help you in any way more than you can help yourself. These type of scam companies are preying on payday loan consumer's fears.
Has HB 87 Solved Florida's Foreclosure Problems?
Florida experienced the most intense and widespread ravages of the mortgage crisis in 2008, and new foreclosures are still occuring at an alarming rate a half decade later. Even worse, Florida is a judicial foreclosure state. This means that all foreclosures have to proceed through a set process in the court of law, which can take years for each individual case. In addition to the new cases that are entering the courts daily, there are over 100,000 cases still waiting to be re-tried after the "robo-signing" scandal shut down all Florida foreclosure proceedings in late 2010. These factors combined to create a perfect storm of epic proportions in Florida's courts: so large, in fact, that there are currently over 328,000 foreclosures languishing within Florida's judicial system.
Been Through the Short Sale, Bankruptcy, or Foreclosure Process? FHA Will Help You Get a New Home Loan.
It's a lot easier for formerly troubled homeowners to get an Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan. That's because FHA has formally announced that potential borrowers will qualify for an FHA-backed mortgage only a year after bankruptcy, foreclosure, or the short sale process was complete. In years past, potential homeowners would have to wait two years after bankruptcy and three years after foreclosure or short sale to qualify for a new FHA mortgage; that was simply just regarded as an extended part of the foreclosure process. This program is called "Back to Work", and will be getting to work for soon-to-be homeowners immediately.
Florida may be in the Southernmost part of the United States, but it was and still is the center of the foreclosure crisis. Even today, thousands of Floridians are served with foreclosure papers every month. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, meaning that foreclosures have to proceed through through the court system in order to be completed. This combination of judicial foreclosure and the severity of the foreclosure crisis has created what is consistently the nation's largest backlog of foreclosure cases; a problem which Florida's government had not addressed until recently.
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.
Which has worse consequences, a foreclosure or a short sale? Are there any consequences that come with mortgage modifications? Here's what your realtor and bank won't tell you.
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.
What would you do if you were emerging from the shadows of bankruptcy, had already lost one of your cars to repossession, and your house was now in danger of being foreclosed? If you're like this couple, then you fight back.
Emerging From The Shadows
We met this married couple when they retained (hired) us in late 2011. They couldn't afford to pay their $2,600 mortgage payment and were several months behind.
Foreclosures are never pretty. They destroy a homeowner’s credit. They ruin a neighborhood’s sense of closeness. When you or someone that you know is in financial trouble, you feel like you’re living in a nightmare. The purpose of this post is to assist homeowners in understanding the process in this unfortunate circumstance.
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.
