Wells Fargo is meeting today at noon with the Philadelphia homeowner who “foreclosed” on them, The Consumerist has exclusively learned. Patrick says he “received a call from upon high” late yesterday and that he now has an appointment, “with a very senior Wells Fargo person.” It will be interesting to see how this plays out. But how did Patrick go from embattled and ignored homeowner to seated across the negotiating table with leverage? I spoke with him to find out more about both how and why he did what he did. His story is an inspiration to anyone who’s dreamed of going toe-to-toe with the big banks and winning. Turns out that armed with persistence, and a little legal know-how, Davids can take down Goliaths. [More]
Wells Fargo Meeting Today With Philly Homeowner Who "Foreclosed" On Them (Here's How He Did It)
By February 18, 2011
New York State Guarantees Legal Assistance In Foreclosure Cases
By February 15, 2011
While defendants in criminal cases are guaranteed lawyers, folks involved in foreclosure cases either have to go out of pocket for a lawyer or try to fend for themselves. Now the state of New York has become the first state to guarantee legal representation to all residents involved in foreclosures. [More]
Did You Rent A Foreclosure-To-Be?
By February 3, 2011
Personal finance blogger Romeo of How We Prevent Wealth recently had a lucky near miss: he put down a deposit on a new rental home, then purely by chance learned that the same home was about to enter foreclosure. He was able to avoid the situation and get his deposit back, but he might not have been so lucky. [More]
The Top 10 Foreclosure Hotspots In The U.S.
By February 2, 2011
We already know which states were hit hardest by last year’s foreclosure boom, but today CNN.com has a look at the 10 cities with the fastest-growing foreclosure rates in the country. [More]
A Miserable Life Inside A Foreclosed Apartment
By February 2, 2011
Living inside an apartment building that has been foreclosed on can become a living hell when the building crumbles into disrepair around you and there’s no landlord to call. Bursting heat pipes, cockroaches, mice, hunks of ceiling falling on you, and black mold seeping up the walls have become the new neighbors to tenants in one low-income apartment building in the Bronx where the landlord has long since checked out. [More]
Whopping 11% Of US Homes Are Empty
By February 1, 2011
The vacancy sign is blazing over house divisions across the US. About 1 in 10 houses in America have no one living inside them, according to new data from the Census, CNBC reports. (Update: while technically correct, this number includes other kinds of properties like abandoned farm house. The more typically used number, the home-vacancy rate, is 2.7%, up from 2.5% the previous quarter). [More]
Ally Bank Withdraws Maryland Robosigner Foreclosures
By January 20, 2011
If you’re one of 250 Maryland homeowners with a foreclosure order signed by Ally Bank’s Jeffrey Stephan, you’ve just been granted a reprieve. The bank is withdrawing all Maryland foreclosures authorized by Stephan, who admitted that he casually signed off on thousands of foreclosures each month. But homeowners aren’t completely off the hook. Ally plans to restart the foreclosure process with new filings. [More]
Now Banks Are Also Walking Away From Foreclosures, Just Leaving Them To Rot
By January 14, 2011
It’s not just underwater homeowners just flat out walking away from their houses. Now some mortgage servicers, having decided certain properties would be too expensive to try to foreclose, secure, maintain and market, are just abandoning the properties entirely, to let nature, and whatever else, take its course. [More]
Guy Recreates Steve Carell Bit To Save House From Foreclosure, Fails
By January 14, 2011
All he wanted was to delay things just a little bit more so that his dad would have some more time to try to work out a deal between the lender to get that holiest of holies, a loan modification. So, in a desperate attempt to save his dad’s house, a guy shows up at the foreclosure auction and tries out two classic comedy bits. [More]
5 States Accounted For 51% Of Foreclosures In 2010
By January 13, 2011
2010 was a record-setting year for foreclosure filings in the U.S., with almost 2.9 million properties being forecloses on nationwide. But more than half of those filings happened in California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois, or Michigan. [More]
Banks Lose Foreclosure Case Over Bad Docs, More Could Come
By January 11, 2011
In a potential foreshadowing of things to come, Massachusetts’s Supreme Court upheld the voiding of two home seizures this week because the banks couldn’t prove they owned the mortgages at the time they foreclosed. [More]
FTC Wants To Ban Mortgage Mod Services From Charging Up-Front Fees
By December 30, 2010
To combat mortgage relief fraud, the FTC would like to make a new rule that would ban mortgage modification services from charging up-front fees. “Homeowners facing foreclosure or struggling to make mortgage payments shouldn’t have to contend with fraudulent ‘companies’ that don’t provide what they promise,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. “The proposed rule would outlaw up-front fees so companies can’t take the money and run.” Indeed, there are some shady operators in this area and consumers need to beware. [More]
BofA Tries To Foreclose On Couple That Never Missed A Payment
By December 28, 2010
Bank of America told this couple that their house would go into foreclosure on Christmas Eve, which came as something of an anti-Christmas Miracle to them considering they had never missed a single mortgage payment. [More]
Here Is Why Bank Of America Is Being Sued
By December 23, 2010
Last week, the attorney general in Arizona filed suit against Bank of America, alleging that it hadn’t made good on its promise to implement a functioning loan modification program. And while Christine doesn’t live in Arizona, her story should give her state’s attorney general reason to consider joining the legal fray. [More]
In Foreclosure Bungle, Banks Accused Of Illegally Breaking Into Homes, Stealing All Your Stuff
By December 22, 2010
A new batch of lawsuits are accusing banks of essentially burglarizing people’s homes, reports the NYT. Before a foreclosure has been properly filed and processed, people behind on their payments have come home to find their locks changed and some or all of their possessions gone, taken by contractors working for the bank. [More]
Scams: Do You Know About Mortgage "Flopping?"
By December 21, 2010
You’ve heard of “flipping” houses, well now there’s “flopping.” While the first was speculative, this one is outright fraud. [More]
Arizona Sues Bank Of America Over Home Loan Modifications
By December 17, 2010
The attorney general for Arizona is none too pleased with Bank of America. Earlier today, he filed a lawsuit against BofA, alleging the bank misled customers about its home loan modifications. [More]
Man Dares Bank To Foreclose Unless They Reverse Bad Fees, Wins
By December 15, 2010
About a month ago we brought you the story of a man who was willing to risk his house going into foreclosure unless the bank refunded a $25 fee it had wrongfully charged. He crossed his arms and stopped paying his mortgage. Fees mounted. The bank ignored his letters. His house was scheduled for foreclosure. It was the ultimate in real estate brinkmanship. Now, four days before the auction, the bank has blinked. [More]
