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:
Proper Foreclosure Procedures Weren't Followed
The law requires that when the bank files for foreclosure, they must follow very strict guidelines when doing so. If the bank knows that you are not represented by legal counsel, they may try to use loopholes and gray areas to speed up the process. An experienced foreclosure defense attorney knows all of these shortcuts and how to defend against them. In some cases, if the bank has done a really poor job, your attorney may even get the foreclosure case dismissed!
Foreclosing Party Cannot Prove Ownership
In order to have the legal grounds to foreclose on your home, the bank must prove ownership of your home. If your loan was bundled and securitized, it can be very hard to determine who exactly owns the loan when it is time to foreclose. Your attorney will know how to decipher these mistakes by the bank and use them to show the judge that the bank has no right to your home.
There Was a Loan Servicing Error
Your loan servicer is run by human beings, and like many of us sometimes they make mistakes in calculation and communication. These mistakes, however small, can be grounds for defending against foreclosure.
You May be Eligible for a Loan Modification
After evaluating your case, your attorney may decide that you are a good candidate for a loan modification. This is a great option for the bank as well as the homeowner because you get to keep your house and the bank gets to keep you as a paying borrower.
You May Have to Attend Foreclosure Mediation
Foreclosure mediation is a meeting held between the lender and the homeowner to try to work out an alternative to foreclosure. This requires negotiation skills and knowledge of what the lender is hoping to achieve at the meeting. Your attorney will know how to present your case to the bank in a way that makes the bank want to let you keep your house. You can go to the mediation conference with your attorney or they can go on your behalf and you don't have to deal with it at all.
Your Attorney Can Protect You From a Deficiency Judgment
Let's say that you end up not being a good candidate for a loan modification and you end up having to let the home go. This will have consequences on your credit and your finances that your attorney will know how to mitigate for you. For example, if your home doesn't sell for the full amount of the debt you owe, the bank can sue you for the deficiency. This is a deficiency judgment, and means that you must pay the bank however much the house did not sell for. If the bank takes back your home, your attorney can work it out with the bank so that the bank just accepts the loss and agrees not to pursue the deficient amount.
Most foreclosure defense attorneys charge flat fees instead of hourly rates because they are aware that if you are hiring them you are probably in financial distress. At Amerihope Alliance Legal Services, we keep our clients updated on each step of the case so that you can see the work that we are doing for you. You can also contact Legal Aid and they can help you with the initial paperwork needed to respond to your lawsuit properly.
