When you are served with foreclosure documents, calling a lawyer may not be your first thought. In fact, calling a loan modification lawyer may not occur to you at all. What is a loan modification lawyer anyway? A loan modification lawyer is an attorney that negotiates with your bank to convince the bank not to foreclose on your home. Of course, you can apply for a loan modification on your own. However, here are a few things loan modification lawyers do, and how they can benefit your case.
Explaining Your Legal Rights
As the borrower of the loan, you have rights afforded to you that you may not even know about. The bank will not make you aware of any that they are not legally required to, so unless you are an experienced legal researcher, these rights can be hard to pinpoint. An experienced loan modification attorney knows all of the rights available to you to use as defenses against foreclosure, and will use each defense in accordance with the lender's foreclosure case against you.
Stopping Foreclosure
A loan modification attorney can stop the foreclosure process in a number of ways ranging from filing for bankruptcy to filing an order to show cause. The route that the attorney takes to put a pin in the process depends on the facts of your case. To stop your foreclosure case specifically, the attorney will evaluate the facts of your case alongside the bank's complaint against you to determine which is the best option for you.
Individualizing Attention
The financial institution that you borrowed your money from is likely bombarded with communications on a daily basis. It can be difficult to get them to respond to you if you have questions about your loan. When you hire an experienced loan modification attorney, the process is much smoother because they know a lot about loan modifications already. Loan modification attorneys are well-versed in the foreclosure process, which in turn means that your problem will be solved much faster. If there is a mistake on the lender's part such as unauthorized rate increases, loan fraud or coercion, your attorney will hold the lender accountable.
Negotiating with Lenders
Getting the lender to modify your loan requires negotiation. Loan modification lawyers negotiate with banks regularly on behalf of homeowners from various situations. A loan modification attorney knows what to say to reassure the bank that if they help you with your loan, you will help the bank with your continued business. A loan modification can be a mutually beneficial arrangement. The bank can avoid the costs of foreclosing on your home and can continue collecting payments on your home, while you get a more affordable monthly payment and you can stay in your home.
Completing Paperwork
Loan modifications require extensive amounts of paperwork. Cenlar's loan application alone is about 70 pages long! Aside from just the application you have to submit, there is a long list of additional documentation you must send out regarding your loan. If your application is incomplete, incorrect, or if you fail to send over even just one document, the bank will not look into your application further. If you hire a loan modification attorney, they will take care of this for you. Also, if the lender made a mistake in denying your application, your attorney will detect the mistake right away and resolve it for you.
Appealing a Denied Application
If you applied for a loan modification and were denied, you have some time to appeal the denial. A loan modification attorney will be able to present your case on appeal in the best light possible to you.
Foreclosure defense attorneys usually defend against foreclosure by getting their clients qualified for loan modification attorneys. For this reason, the terms loan modification attorney and foreclosure defense attorney are usually interchangeable. Before you turn to Google with these two phrases in mind, check out Amerihope Alliance Legal Services and schedule your free consultation today.
