Avoiding Forclosure

These are Tips for from the HUD Foreclosure page:

Are you having trouble keeping up with your mortgage payments? Have you received a notice from your lender asking you to contact them?
Don't ignore the letters from your lender
Contact your lender immediately
Contact a HUD-approved Housing Counseling Agency
Toll FREE (800) 569-4287
TTY (800) 877-8339

If you are unable to make your mortgage payment:
1. Don't ignore the problem.The further behind you become, the harder it will be to reinstate your loan and the more likely that you will lose your house.

2. Contact your lender as soon as you realize that you have a problem.Lenders do not want your house. They have options to help borrowers through difficult financial times.

3. Open and respond to all mail from your lender.The first notices you receive will offer good information about foreclosure prevention options that can help you weather financial problems. Later mail may include important notice of pending legal action. Your failure to open the mail will not be an excuse in foreclosure court.

4. Know your mortgage rights.Find your loan documents and read them so you know what your lender may do if you can't make your payments. Learn about the foreclosure laws and time frames in your state (as every state is different) by contacting the State Government Housing Office.

5. Understand foreclosure prevention options.Valuable information about foreclosure prevention (also called loss mitigation) options can be found on the internet at portal.hud.gov/portal/page?_pageid=33,717348&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL .

6. Contact a HUD-approved housing counselor.The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds free or very low cost housing counseling nationwide. Housing counselors can help you understand the law and your options, organize your finances and represent you in negotiations with your lender if you need this assistance. Find a HUD-approved housing counselor near you or call (800) 569-4287 or TTY (800) 877-8339.

7. Prioritize your spending.After health care, keeping your house should be your first priority. Review your finances and see where you can cut spending in order to make your mortgage payment. Look for optional expenses-cable TV, memberships, entertainment-that you can eliminate. Delay payments on credit cards and other "unsecured" debt until you have paid your mortgage.

8. Use your assets. Do you have assets-a second car, jewelry, a whole life insurance policy-that you can sell for cash to help reinstate your loan? Can anyone in your household get an extra job to bring in additional income? Even if these efforts don't significantly increase your available cash or your income, they demonstrate to your lender that you are willing to make sacrifices to keep your home.

9. Avoid foreclosure prevention companies. You don't need to pay fees for foreclosure prevention help-use that money to pay the mortgage instead. Many for-profit companies will contact you promising to negotiate with your lender. While these may be legitimate businesses, they will charge you a hefty fee (often two or three month's mortgage payment) for information and services your lender or a HUD approved housing counselor will provide free if you contact them.

10. Don't lose your house to foreclosure recovery scams!If any firm claims they can stop your foreclosure immediately if you sign a document appointing them to act on your behalf, you may well be signing over the title to your property and becoming a renter in your own home! Never sign a legal document without reading and understanding all the terms and getting professional advice from an attorney, a trusted real estate professional, or a HUD approved housing counselor.

Visit the Hud page for more information.

Fighting Foreclosure

Fight Foreclosure!

The following information is from The Consumer Warning Network and it has a couple of great videos on this post. If you are facing Foreclosure, or late on your mortgage, please use this information to HELP YOURSELF!!

Steps To Follow:
Using the “produce the note” strategy is something all homeowners facing foreclosure can do. If you believe you’ve been treated unfairly, fight back. We have created templates for a legal request, a letter to your lender and a motion to compel to help you through the process.

WHO OWNS THE NOTE?
Your goal is to make certain the institution suing you is, in fact, the owner of the note (see steps to follow below). There is only one original note for your mortgage that has your signature on it. This is the document that proves you owe the debt.
During the lending boom, most mortgages were flipped and sold to another lender or servicer or sliced up and sold to investors as securitized packages on Wall Street. In the rush to turn these over as fast as possible to make the most money, many of the new lenders did not get the proper paperwork to show they own the note and mortgage. This is the key to the produce the note strategy. Now, many lenders are moving to foreclose on homeowners, resulting in part from problems they created, and don’t have the proper paperwork to prove they have a right to foreclose.

THE HARM
If you don’t challenge your lender, the court will simply allow the foreclosure to proceed. It’s important to hold lenders accountable for their carelessness. This is the biggest asset in your life. It’s just a piece of paper to them, and one they likely either lost or destroyed.
When you get a copy of the foreclosure suit, many lenders now automatically include a count to re-establish the note. It often reads like this: “…the Mortgage note has either been lost or destroyed and the Plaintiff is unable to state the manner in which this occurred.” In other words, they are admitting they don’t have the note that proves they have a right to foreclose.
If the lender is allowed to proceed without that proof, there is a possibility another institution, which may have bought your note along the way, will also try to collect the same debt from you again.
A Tennessee borrower recently had precisely that happen to her. Her lender, Ameriquest, foreclosed on her in July of 2007. About three months later, another bank sent her a default notice for the mortgage on the house she just lost. She called to find out what was going on. After being transferred from place to place and left on hold for lengthy periods of time, no one could explain what happened. They said they would get back to her, but never did. Now, she faces the risk of having her credit continually damaged for a debt she no longer owes.

FIGHT FOR FAIRNESS
This process is not intended to help you get your house for free. The primary goal is to delay the foreclosure and put pressure on the lender to negotiate. Despite all the hype about lenders wanting to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, most borrowers know that’s not the reality.
Too many homeowners have experienced lender resistance to their efforts to work out a payment structure to keep them in their homes. Many lenders bear responsibility for these defaults, because they put borrowers into unfair loans using deceptive, hard-sell practices and then made the problem worse with predatory servicing.
Most homeowners just want these lenders to give them reasonable terms on their mortgages, many of which were predatory to begin with. With the help of judges who see through these predatory practices, lenders will feel the pressure to work with borrowers to keep them in their homes. Don’t forget lenders made incredible amounts of money by using irresponsible practices to issue and service these loans. That greed led to the foreclosure crisis we’re in today. Allowing lenders to continue foreclosing on home after home, destroying our neighborhoods and our economy hurts us all. So, make it hard for your lender to take your home. Make ‘em produce the note!

STEPS TO FOLLOW
A. If your lender has already filed suit to foreclose on your home:

1. Use the first form. It’s a fill-in-the-blank legal request to your lender asking that the original note be produced, before it can proceed with the foreclosure. In some jurisdictions, the courts require the original request to be filed with the clerk of court and a copy of the request to be sent to the attorney representing the lender. To find out the rules where you live, call the Clerk of Court in your jurisdiction.
2. If the lender’s attorney does not respond within 30 days, file a motion to compel with the court and request that the court set a hearing on your motion. That, in effect, asks the judge to order the lender to produce the documents.
3. The judge will issue a ruling at your hearing. Many judges around the country are becoming more sympathetic to homeowners, because of the prevalence of predatory lending and servicing. In the past, many lenders have relied upon using lost note affidavits, but in many cases, that’s no longer enough to satisfy the judge. They are holding the lender to the letter of the law, requiring them to produce evidence that they are the true owners of the note. For example:
In October 2007, Ohio Federal Court Judge Christopher Boyko dismissed 14 foreclosure cases brought by investors, ruling they failed to prove they owned the properties they were trying to seize.
B. If you are in default, but your lender has not yet filed suit against you:
1. Use the second form. It’s a fill-in-the-blank letter to your lender which also requests they produce the original note, before taking foreclosure action against you.
2. If the lender does not respond and files suit against you to foreclose, follow the steps above.

myLot User Profile

It's the End of The World As We know it...

and I feel fine...At least that is way the song goes. We might have a United States president named Barack Husein Mohammed Obama-in the old days some one would have said that's rad. We are in a recession, at least in Florida, whether anyone cares to say it out loud or not.

George W. Bush has had more disasters, natural and otherwise to provide relief for than any other president in history. He had to respond to the call of an act of war on our soil-unheard of for years, since World War II in fact. I still support him, I think he's done everything he could.

Yes I believe it IS the end of the world as I've known it. I am fighting to keep my home, the beginning of the foreclosure process has started. I get letters from attorneys, Realtors etc and now it's time to take action. I cannot seem to communicate with my mortgage company-it takes 45 minutes on hold to get a human being that doesn't know anything and that actually will LIE to you. I'll bring you up to date on where I am later today.

Help me out if you can-buy my e-guide. It will help me and my friend Maddy at the same time. Call it a Foreclosure Sale if you want. http://www.guruetteonthenet.com/PowerSafelisting.htm If you have a good list and would consider a JV let me know-I'll share.

Have a GREAT day, and God bless you!
Marianne
Success Consultant
http://www.GuruetteOnTheNet.com
http://www.InternetMarketing-Mavens.com
http://mctmgchristianradio.com
http://guruette.ws

I thought this would be a way to help-give back

I read an interesting Blog post the other day from one of my associates at the Social Marketing Central called where have all the Bloggers Gone? and it made me think of this Blog.

I had planned to post details of my journey through the total loss of any money, thinking it might be helpful to others that find themselves here. How I dealt and am dealing with my mortgage company, how I am trying to fight foreclosure, how to rebuild your credit after total devastation. I haven't done much posting here, it's tough to be personal about these things. And to be honest, I haven't had much of a following on it either so I decided "What's the point?"

I am so amazed at how people who are supposed to be helping you mostly lie to you. My mortgage company for one. I filed bankruptcy several years ago, and it was never as bad as it seems now. Trying to do the RIGHT things for you and your family have become major hurdles. Who to believe. The world is changing so fast. People all seem to be out for themselves. At least my walk with the Lord improves daily, and I am still trusting in Him to guide my path. I know how to rebuild credit-been there and done that. I also know that where I am now is temporary, as is everything in this life, even this life itself.

I have reduced my e-guide 25% to generate some sales and help my friend Maddy I would love to sell a thousand of the e-guides in May, that is one of my current goals.

Working for Rob Hannley currently as a client of InternetMarketing-Mavens.com has also been keeping me busy when I am not at work. I love Internet Marketing. It's such a rush to see your work on page one of Google for someone's selected keywords.

Life is really a celebration of victories, small and large, and miracles-the ordinary miracles of everyday and the incredible ones that you know in your heart God provided just for you. I hope you have many!

Have a GREAT day, and God bless you!
Marianne
Success Consultant
http://guruette.ws
http://www.GuruetteOnTheNet.com
http://www.InternetMarketing-Mavens.com
http://mctmgchristianradio.com

BEWARE Temporary Employment

As I have been explaining, I had an unfortunate thing happen to me this past summer and it left me below BROKE. Because I had been self employed (a contract wasn't paid) I was left without income and couldn't even file for unemployment.

I have an incredible 16 year old son (I am truly BLESSED to be his mom) and I am trying to keep our home. I went to work IMMEDIATELY for Accountemps, a division of Robert Half & Associates; whom I also registered with as they list 80% of the jobs in the north end of the county-the cream of the crop. I had to keep food on the table, lights and yes Internet...it's the best tool for generating an income, and for finding a REAL job!!

I have been a temp now since August. One can only live on half of their regular pay for so long, now I get another day behind for every day I work. I cannot get off square one with Robert Half, it would be bad for Accountemps as they would have to replace me and they make great money from my labor. It is a catch 22. I think some of the jobs they post are really fakes anyway, just a means of increasing their data base of potential employees.

I realize I am not their client, that the companies doing the hiring are. But I am a damn good accountant, ready willing and able to work my butt off for someone so that I can pay my mortgage. I have been doing it for 30+ years, and now I am beginning to feel "DEFECTIVE" in some way. I've had some really excellent interviews and I know the competition is stiff, but WOW...I want work!!!

I HAVE to trust in the LORD to lead me out of this place. If you stop by-pray for us!!

Did I mention I hate banks?

I never imagined getting to this point in my life and having NO BANK ACCOUNT. When they shut mine down for being overdrawn, it went to collections, and left me with no way to open a new one. For people that don't have a lot of money, banks really do "fleece" you. My overdraft tripled before they shut the account down, with daily charges for remaining overdrawn. The first money I made as a Temp had to go for food, electric...necessities and there wasn't enough to even ponder trying to cover the growing hole at the bank.

I love Internet business. With no bank account-well no payment processors. It's tough to keep going like that. All of my marketing tools that I subscribed to were instantly canceled, my memberships in MLM type companies...INSTANTLY canceled. WOW, major bummer for me.

I slowly built up some funds for paying JUST the necessities, my car and insurance. Then, what to do about my mortgage. I have owned this house for 10 years. I don't want to refi anymore, the closing costs and extras just keep increasing the principle debt. Of course...at this point who would qualify me?? It is frightening trying to hang on and keep going.

My faith and trust in the Lord has kept me going-that's the main thing. My church helped me that first month to pay my necessities so I could accumulate a little cash. A lot of the women at the church help me, too. I don't know where we would be without them. God is good...all of the time. I know he is teaching me through this experience. I wish I was a faster learner so I could maybe move up a notch, you know what I mean?

Working with mortgage companies is really an amazing experience. I'll tell you about mine next time.

It started in July-WOW 7 months and still clawing my way up

I was on vacation. Sent out a few payments to my creditors because I KNEW I would have money before they could hit the bank. July 16th was payday, by direct deposit. No worries. Monday came, NO MONEY. I made some calls, was assured there would be some tomorrow.

Tuesday...no money and now my checks were hitting the bank. OVERDRAFT!!! I again made calls, and it was becoming apparent that there would be no money coming. I had been working diligently to rebuild my credit from a bankruptcy. I had one credit card with me-we lived on it until we could get home. Then I had to max it out to reclaim my beautiful dogs from boarding at the vet's office. (I still owe the other half of that..).

My first order of business was to go to my bank. I hate banks do you?