February 2010

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Authorities say a man is accused of illegally taking possession of foreclosed homes in Pasco County and renting them to unsuspecting tenants. Authorities say 48-year-old Stephen Thomas Bybel was arrested Wednesday for one count of [...]

The owners of a San Diego loan modification business, who allegedly collected advance fees from customers, were facing a charge of misdemeanor theft Tuesday. Borzou Hamzaviabedi and Esteban Arjona, co-owners of Fair Lender Audits, are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday [...]

While many of these 4 million homeowners really can’t afford to stay in their homes, there’s an emerging group who are making a strategic decision to walk away from their homes. It’s hard to pinpoint the numbers but lawyers for [...]

It looks like President Obama is running another illegal loan modification firm. I am wondering how long it will take the FTC and AG to catch up with his the Presidents cunning ability to start foreclosure rescue websites designed to scam homeowners? [...]

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle has launched a series of lawsuits against Wall Street banks, seeking to force them to buy back souring mortgage-backed securities. In 11 separate lawsuits filed in late December in King County Superior Court [...]

Mandy’s paperwork shows Wells Fargo granted her a temporary modification in July 2009. She says she had a new job by then and paid all the modified payments as agreed. Then, a mix-up happened. “They told me I called them [...]

Months ago, Danette Armstrong qualified for a trial modification program reducing her payment from $3,000 a month to $1,600. Now, she’s been told she doesn’t qualify anymore but is still required to make the monthly payment and is basically paying [...]

“When the mortgage reaches $1,600, I have no choice,” he said. “It could be next month or it could be in six months. This is my dream home and I don’t want to walk away. It’s not something I can [...]

A 73 year old bank robber said he only did it because he wanted the money to pay off his mortgage. Times are tough for anyone, but robbing a bank to pay off your mortgage is certainly not recommended. That [...]

Armando Alvarez is a former amateur boxer who scored a knockout in his toughest fight — getting a bank to modify his adjustable-rate mortgage. Alvarez, who turns 55 in March, was able to cut his monthly payments from $1,655 to [...]

There is an emerging consensus among financial experts and policy makers that the key to successful modifications is to reduce the amount of the borrower’s loan balance, rather than merely reducing the monthly payment. The goal is to lower the [...]

CORTEZ – Frank and Judi Viola’s determination paid off after a four-year struggle to save their home from repossession. “We didn’t want to leave this house. We love it,” Mr. Viola, 54, said as he and his wife sat at [...]

Hold it or fold it? It’s one thing to throw back lousy cards in a poker game and quite another to walk away from a money-losing home that you can still afford.   Yet, more people are doing just that [...]

A year ago this week, President Barack Obama was at Dobson High School in Mesa to announce federal initiatives to help distressed homeowners and reduce foreclosures, including the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Albrant hoped the program would help him [...]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Lenders will be required to pick up the tab for investigating and verifying ownership and then try mediation before foreclosing Florida home mortgages under new rules approved Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court.

Counseling services usually are free or low cost. A counselor can assess your situation, answer your questions, go over your options, help you prioritize your debts and prepare you for discussions with your lender or loan servicer.

While suffering through the Great Depression, my grandparents never faced the challenge of making a fixed mortgage payment. Instead, they rented and moved every year. Their circumstances dictated whether it would be a move to a larger or smaller apartment. [...]

One of the key problems with a short sale is making sure the buyer is an unrelated party; “an arm’s length transaction”. I’m aware of a property being offered as a short sale in SoCal where the agent is the [...]

As if the foreclosure mess weren’t enough to keep you up at night, today we’re also digesting a new report from the Congressional Oversight Panel (that’s Elizabeth Warren & Co, the TARP watchdogs) about the looming storm in the commercial [...]

A man indicted for allegedly running one of the largest mortgage fraud schemes in state history pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the 27 charges filed against him in federal court in Minneapolis. Michael Prieskorn, who cleared out his Minnetonka office [...]

I posted this a couple months ago and it appears they are still very much in the foreclosure business. This is a marketing company looking for loan modification lead closers to work from home. It doesn’t get any more shady [...]