MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE - AVOID SCAMS

Once again, as a volunteer attorney at Nassau Supreme Court, for mandatory settlement conferences, I consulted with victims of mortgage modification scams. This is from an April 26, 2010 post from "preventloanscams.org:

"According to the New York Times the State Supreme Court in Manhattan issued a permanent injunction to stop Sal Pane, Jr. and his companies, Amerimod Inc. and the American Modification Agency, from continuing to scam homeowners looking for foreclosure assistance. Using well-known tactics of false promises and grandiose success rates, Pane scammed some 3,000 homeowners in the State of New York.

One of Pane's victims, Ms. Catus, a distressed homeowner learned of Amerimod during a local N.A.A.C.P chapter meeting. Facing a possible home foreclosure, Catus thought she "had found a godsend." Instead she found herself out $3,200 in upfront fees and no help with her loan. In fact, once the last installment of the arranged fee was automatically debited, the Amerimod representative never called Catus again.

The representative touted Amerimods work as having "a 95 percent success rate in saving people's home from foreclosure." Catus was unaware that only a small amount of its 3,000 clients actually received loan modifications. She was also unaware of the free housing counseling and loan modification services available to homeowners facing foreclosure.

Last week Pane was referred to the Manhattan criminal courts for investigation. Enforcement authorities are also moving on shutting down his operations in the state of Maryland. The Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network applauds the New York State Supreme Courts for its efforts and will continue to work with law enforcement partners to stop loan scammers from preying on distressed homeowners across the country."

MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE - MANDATORY CONFERENCE - MAY 23

These are the Nassau County Bar Association's list of suggested free housing counselors for those homeowners to contact seeking loan modification, etc.:

"COUNSELING ORGANIZATIONS

Community Development Corp. Of L.I.
2100 Middle Country Road, Centereach, NY
(631) 471-1215

Hempstead Hispanic Civic Association
236 Main Street, Hempstead, NY
(516) 292-0007

Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre
59 Clinton Avenue, Rockville Centre, NY
(516) 766-6610

La Fuerza Unida, Inc.
1 School Street - Suite 302, Glen Cove, NY
(516) 759-0788

Long Island Housing Partnership
180 Oser Avenue - Suite 800, Hauppauge, NY
(631) 435-4710

Long Island Housing Services, Inc.
640 Johnson Avenue, Bohemia, NY
(516) 292-0400

Nassau County Office of Housing
40 Main Street - Suite B, Hempstead, NY
(516) 571-4663 or 572-0858

New York Mortgage Advocates
112 Spruce Street, Cedarhurst, NY
(516) 374-4564"

MORTGAGE FORCLOSURE - SETTLEMENT CONFERENCES

Yesterday, I was a Volunteer Attorney again and I note the following:

1) Several homeowners did not seek our assistance but went into conferences themselves. We are volunteering our advice at no cost to homeowners. Ask for help - the bank's lawyer may sometimes be of help, sometimes not - but the bank's lawyer is not your attorney but the bank's attorney.

2) Many homeowners are seeking loan modifications on their own. There are certified home counselors to assist you in seeking loan modifications also volunteering at the conferences. You can also get referrals for housing counselors from the Nassau County Bar Association, where I will be this afternoon at the Mortgage Foreclosure Clinic, along with housing counselors.

Again, ask for help.

MORTGAGE FORCLOSURE - DEC. 15

FREE Mortgage Foreclosure Legal Consultation Clinics on December 15 - Nassau residents caught in the growing mortgage foreclosure crisis can have their questions answered by attorneys at a free clinic sponsored by the Nassau County Bar Association at the NCBA headquarters, 15th and West Streets, Mineola, NY. Attorneys have volunteered to provide one-on-one guidance, advice and direction to any Nassau County homeowner who is concerned about foreclosure matters or is already in the foreclosure process involving property in Nassau County. Attorneys have volunteered to review individual foreclosure issues with Nassau homeowners, help them sort things out, and give advice or refer them to agencies and programs, right in the same room, that may be able to help. This is not legal representation. The attorneys will help the homeowner find out if indeed, they need a credit counselor or a lawyer, and get them in touch with available resources. In addition to meeting one-on-one with a volunteer attorney, housing counselors from the Nassau County Homeownership Center and representatives from Nassau/Suffolk Law Services -- which provides free legal services for those who meet certain income guidelines -- will be on hand to provide assistance. Reservations are required by calling the Bar Association at 516-747-4070 between 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. All clinics 4-6 p.m. I will be one of the volunteer attorneys.

MORTGAGE FORCLOSURE

I have consulted with many people who are unhappy with the Making Home Affordable program. The Making Home Affordable Program is supposed to work this way: in return for billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout money, banks would offer loans that would reduce troubled borrowers' monthly mortgage payments to 31 percent of their income. To qualify, a homeowner must have an income and must live in the house, and that house can't be worth more than $730,000. But there are lots of problems:
1. The program is not mandatory.
2. Bank staff and servicing staff is low.
3. The homeowners who most need the program are the riskiest bets.
4. Banks don't always have the final say. Many of these mortgages are held by private investors, and the bank simply acts as a middleman. If investors think they can make more money by foreclosing than modifying the loan, experts say the bank is powerless to override that decision.
5. Banks who do participate and break the program's rules have not been penalized.
If you are seeking this type of relief, don't attempt it on your own. Contact the Homeowner’s HOPE™ Hotline: (888) 995-HOPE. In earlier blogs, I've also pointed out where Nassau County residents can also get assistance.

A WORD OF CAUTION ON THE MORTGAGE MODIFICATION COMPANIES

At the heart of the President Barack Obama's ambitious plan to rescue the housing market is the conviction that restructuring distressed mortgages will keep struggling borrowers in their homes and help insert a floor beneath plummeting property values. Whether you call it a loan modification, mortgage modification, restructuring, or workout plan, it’s when a borrower — who is facing great financial hardship and is having difficulty making their mortgage payments — works with their lender to change the terms of their mortgage loan. The workout plan could result in temporary or permanent changes to the mortgage rate, term and/or monthly payment of the loan as the plan’s goal is to help the borrower reduce their monthly mortgage payments. One word of caution: this new bill has spawned a whole new wave of loan modification salespeople who might be perfectly fine and those who are not. Be careful. Also, it’s always good to hire legal counsel. Get a referral from your local bar association. Because when dealing with anyone who specializes in this field, it may be best to deal with someone who is local in the event any problems arise - it is easier to speak to someone who has an office a mile away from you than someone who has an office at the other end of the country.