I have a secret fear that I will win a huge lottery prize, but never know it because I had stuffed the ticket in a coat pocket or a drawer. I deal with this fear by not buying lottery tickets. But this actually happened to a man who lives near Chicago. He says that he had stuffed old lottery tickets in a cookie jar, then took them to the store to see whether they had maybe won a couple of bucks for hitting a few numbers. They had: one ticket won $3. Yay, he could almost buy a gallon of gas! Then another ticket in the pile won more than $4 million. [More]
Man Stuffed $4 Million Lottery Ticket In Cookie Jar, Forgot About It For 3 Months
By May 16, 2013
Homeowner Tries To Get Mortgage Adjustment, Ends Up Owing $14,500 More On Her House
By February 19, 2013
When a retired Michigan homeowner applied for a mortgage adjustment back in 2009, little did she know that it would result in years of ongoing legal wranglings, a sizable increase in the amount of her mortgage and possible eviction. [More]
46 States Will Share $120 Million As Result Of Robo-Signing Settlement
By January 31, 2013
Another day, another business hit over the head with a multi-million settlement over faulty foreclosure practices. We’ve already seen big retail banks and heavy-hitting investment banks pay the price for robo-signing foreclosures and engaging in other suspect loan servicing activities and now Florida-based business Lender Processing Services will be paying $120 million to 46 states to settle similar allegations. [More]
Man Buys All 650 Foreclosed Properties In One County For $4.8 Million In Back Taxes
By August 6, 2012
Why settle for scooping up one tax-foreclosed property when you can nab say, 650 of them in one fell swoop? Of course, being a millionaire helped in the case of one Michigan man who plunked down $4.8 million to buy every foreclosed property in a recent county sale. All he had to do was pay off the total amount of back taxes owed, and voila! He’s got a bunch of property and is the only one in county history to have pulled off such a feat. [More]
Bank Of America Tries To Undo Foreclosure On Home It Didn’t Hold Mortgage For, Fails
By July 6, 2012
Seems like it’s just so darn easy for banks to accidentally foreclose on a home and force the residents to move out, but when it comes to making it right everything gets quite difficult. Bank of America has tried to rescind a foreclosure from April 2010 on a home it didn’t hold the mortgage for, but turning back the clock isn’t possible for the family that used to live there. [More]
California Goes Gangbusters Against Abusive Lending, Passes Sweeping Foreclosure-Protection Law
By July 3, 2012
Hey, rest of the country that isn’t California! This is how you do it: California legislators went ahead and approved a sweeping bill on Monday that is basically a homeowner bill of rights, including ending abusive practices by mortgage lenders while at the same time helping homeowners evade the abyss of foreclosure. California ain’t kidding around. [More]
Condos Sold Without Owners’ Permission For 1/3 Their Value
By June 28, 2012
Imagine that you’ve recently purchased a condo for $100,000. The complex where it’s located is about 90% rented, and 10% owner-occupied. The complex’s owner struggles, and the whole neighborhood goes up for sale in a foreclosure auction. The new owners dissolve the condo association, since they own all of the rentals, or 90% of the homes in the complex. This gives the owners permission to sell the entire complex at once, including what used to be condos. Your proceeds from having your home sold out from under you: $33,000. You still owe the rest of your mortgage, but have nowhere to live. Condo owners in Reading, Pennsylvania experienced this nightmare recently, and there is no legal way out for them. [More]
Church Buys Foreclosed Property, Ends Up With $170,000 Tax Bill
By June 18, 2012
Members of a Dallas-area church congregation thought they had done their due diligence when they looked into buying some foreclosed property. They were told that all the back taxes had been cleared off the books; so why are they now facing a tax bill for $170,000? [More]
78-Year-Old Woman Forced To Leave House She & Her Husband Built In 1956
By May 16, 2012
After the story of a 78-year-old grandmother being evicted from the home she and her husband built in 1956 hit the news, public outcry over the story has granted her a bit of a reprieve. The tricky part of all of this? Her daughter says her mental faculties are making it hard to figure out who exactly holds the mortgage. [More]
Bank Meltdown Forces Eviction Of Blameless Homeowner
By April 25, 2011
The grease fire that is the home mortgage business is reportedly set to claim a Wisconsin homeowner who paid his mortgage on time. [More]
Couple Uses Legal Loophole, Gets House Practically For Free
By April 20, 2011
How did an Iowa couple with two foreclosures already under their belts get to own their house free and clear after making only one mortgage payment? By taking advantage of a law designed to keep married couples from making huge financial commitments without the other’s consent. Since the wife was late to their closing and didn’t sign the mortgage, the couple now owns their house free and clear after making only one payment. [More]
Consumer Lawyers Drawn to Foreclosure-Fighting Bootcamp On Remote Farm
By October 27, 2010
A growing band of consumer lawyers have been pilgrimaging to a farm located in the depths of the North Carolina mountains to learn the secrets of fighting foreclosures by exploiting lenders’ flawed document trail. [More]
Understand The Essential Players In The Foreclosure Scandal
By October 25, 2010
Having trouble keeping track of all the different players and abbreviations and names in the latest foreclosure fraud mess? ProPublica offers a handy primer. [More]
Foreclosure Prevention Program Still Having Trouble Preventing Foreclosures
By July 21, 2010
The government program that is supposed to stop 4 million foreclosures continues to have trouble keeping homeowners in the program. [More]
Letting Mortgage Go Delinquent To Qualify For Short Sale Damages Credit
By July 9, 2010
In order to qualify for a “short sale,” in which the lender agrees for the house to be sold for less than the remaining amount owed and takes a loss, the lender sometimes requires the homeowner to be several months delinquent on their mortgage payments. But while getting out of a house you can’t afford can be a good idea, bear in mind that the delinquency will stain your credit report. [More]
Cops Break Down Door To Foreclosure Protest House, Carry Away Homeowner
By May 7, 2010
The cops in Wood County, Ohio have broken down the door to the foreclosure protest house and arrested the homeowner and several protesters who had spent the week barricaded inside. As you can see here, the homeowner was literally carried off the property by the authorities. [More]
Pam Anderson Owes $493K In Taxes; Nic Cage Loses His House To Foreclosure
By April 13, 2010
Times are tough everywhere, it seems. Even behind the gilded gates of Hollywood estates, the tax man cometh and the shadow of foreclosure looms large. Now, two of Tinseltown’s higher-profile oddballs, Pamela Anderson and Nicolas Cage, are both feeling the sting of the economic downturn. [More]
Data Shows Horrifying Bank Of America Refinance Story Actually Typical
By March 18, 2010
The Chicago Reporter is a publication that reports on race and poverty in Chicago. This issue’s cover story is about mortgage modifications and the struggles that homeowners face when trying to access the Obama Administration’s refinance program. Apparently, banks are so incompetent that it can be almost impossible to actually modify your mortgage.
The article tells the story of a small business owner who thought he would always be able to pay his mortgage, but whose work dried up with the economy, and his wife, who was laid off from her full-time job. The husband was injured on the job, and the medical bills piled up. [More]
