What Homeowners Should Know About Foreclosure Defense

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Many homeowners across the nation are finding themselves in a difficult predicament and facing foreclosure on the home that they have worked so hard to attain for their family and loved ones.  Receiving a notice of intent to foreclose can be a devastating event; however, not all hope is lost.  Foreclosure defense is a way of actively fighting back against the lender to either stall the process of foreclosure or stop it altogether. 

Since banks have significantly changed the way in which they conduct business, working with your lender during times of financial distress is not as easy as it used to be.  Through mortgage securities, lenders package and sell pools of mortgages to investors and only act as “servicers” who collect payments and issue default notices.  The system is set up in such a way to where these servicers (that you think of as your lender) are making money by foreclosing on your home and losing money in working with you to modify the terms of your mortgage.  Put simply, foreclosure defense has become a necessity if you want to keep your home. 

 

Mortgage defense consists of a process in which an attorney who understands the laws and regulations around the mortgage and lending industry requires your lender to prove they have the right to foreclose on your home.  This works as a stalling tactic, especially since many lenders have already sold the mortgage to an investor as part of a mortgage pool, and might have difficultly proving on paper that they own the mortgage. 

This process often reveals errors on the part of the lender, such as an inability to produce the original note or proof that they have participated in “robo-signing” of documents.  Such errors allow the homeowner additional time to get caught up financially, which often results in saving their home.