President Donald Trump has signed the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act (H.R. 1815) into law, giving veterans new tools to avoid losing their homes. For veteran homeowners who are struggling to keep up with mortgage payments, this law creates a partial claims program under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Loan Program.
Summer is meant to be a time for relaxation—but if you’re behind on mortgage payments or have received a foreclosure notice, it can feel like the walls are closing in. The good news is: foreclosure is not the end of the road. You have options—and the sooner you act, the more of them you’ll have.
Approximately 250,000 families enter into foreclosure every 3 months due to delinquent home loan payments or delinquent property taxes. Each of these homeowners has one thing in common: they have to make the decision of whether or not to fight for their home. However, if you want to fight the foreclosure and keep your home, it's time to find a foreclosure defense attorney. Here are some reasons why:
Until a foreclosure takes place you have the right to live in your home. Sometimes you can even remain in the home for a period of time after the foreclosure auction if your state has a post-sale redemption period. Until you are evicted you should continue to maintain your home. Read on for a few reasons why.
Amerihope Alliance Legal Services, which focuses on providing foreclosure defense and loan modification assistance, is proud to have accepted numerous awards for providing excellent service to our clients over the last 12 years.
When your bank serves you with a foreclosure complaint for not paying your mortgage, you have a right to answer it and deny its charges, which you should.
You should also include something called affirmative defenses in your response to the complaint because they are a vital part of a good foreclosure defense strategy.
An affirmative defense in a civil lawsuit is a fact that defeats or mitigates the consequences of a charge. For example, in a foreclosure complaint the plaintiff will charge that you haven't been paying your mortgage and they're entitled to foreclose because of that. An affirmative defense wouldn't deny that (though the answer probably would), but it would basically say that it doesn't matter for some reason, like the plaintiff doesn't have the right to foreclose.
If you tell people that you're trying to get a loan modification to avoid foreclosure and keep your home, inevitably some of them will offer advice, whether they know what they're talking about or not.
Acting on bad guidance for something so important can be harmful to your chances of getting the outcome you want.
Here's some of the worst advice we've heard about loan modifications and foreclosure:
Homeowners who are current on their mortgage have been told that they need to stop paying their mortgage to be eligible for a loan modification.
This is wrong.
You do need to show that you've had a hardship that's making it hard to afford your mortgage, but you do not have to be in default to get a loan modification.
You did the hard work of applying for a loan modification and making your trial modification payments. Congratulations!
After making that last trial payment, the only thing to do is wait for the bank to send you a final modification offer, then you can finally put your foreclosure nightmare behind you forever and move on with life. Right?
Unfortunately, your permanent modification offer may not come right away. Why is that?
Applying for a loan modification is no easy task. You have to submit a package of documents called a Request for Mortgage Assistance or RMA. Often the servicer will require the homeowner to continually resubmit newer versions of the same documents such as bank statements while the application is under review.
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.
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.
