RESPA stands for Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act. Especially in Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases, you need to know the correct numbers on your mortgage(s). Some provisions relate to how mortgage companies must handle escrow accounts, and various notices they must provide, and the timing for same. My favorite part requires your mortgage company to…
Tag Archive: foreclosure
Bankrupt MIchiganders Eligible For Mortgage Assistance?
There may be some for Michigan homeowners caught in the foreclosure crisis. And filing bankruptcy does not disqualify your, automatically, from the program. I am not sure why government bureaucrats like long names for programs, perhaps, it makes them feel more important. This is about Michigan’s Helping Hardest Hit Homeowners program, otherwise known as…
Hope And Change Two??
(I am an Amazon affiliate, so click on the link if you want to buy the album or book) Foreclosure crisis continues, the election produces: another Republican House, another Democrat Senate, and the same president. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. I have been railing against the mortgage villains, industry, organized…
Automatic Stay
utomatic Stay. Upon filing bankruptcy, whether Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 13, an automatic stay is imposed preventing creditors from taking ANY collection action against you: telephone calls, letters, lawsuits, garnishments, repossessions, foreclosures, all stopped. Automatically. No judge even looks at the paperwork. Although there is no paper anymore, all bankruptcy courts now use electronic…
Homeowner Help? Or Government Sellout?
The long awaited on again, off again, multi-state settlement between the Attorneys General of our various states and the mortgage company rapists, uh, crooks, is apparently on again. Unless this is your first trip to this blog, let me end the suspense: the proposed settlement is: image credit: dreamstime Sorry to ruin the ending. What…
How Much Is Your Home Worth?
H is for home value, in the Alphabet Game, bankruptcy experts across the country blog on different topics. I always ask potential clients this question, how much is your home worth?, I mean, really, and the response frequently is something like: well, it is worth $200,000, but right now, I can only get maybe $160,000…
Forgiveness Of Debt Income, What Everyone Ought To Know
DISCLAIMER: NOTHING IN THIS POST IS MEANT AS TAX ADVICE, CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL Some of my clients were about to pay income tax because of 1099-C forms received on rental properties they had abandoned. I was stunned. These people were bankruptcy clients, who had already filed Chapter 7 and received discharges. So they no longer…
Mortgage Balance Not Reaffirmed?
Had a different question last week, from someone who did not reaffirm her mortgage in her Chapter 7 case, kept current on the payments, but wanted to pay off the balance for less than what was owed on the mortgage balance. REAFFIRMATION Just to review, reaffirmation is the process for you to obligate yourself…
MERS Says No Mas! To Michigan Foreclosures
No mas! MERS is folding up its tent as far as foreclosing in its own name, or filing pleadings in bankruptcy court in its own name, as it told is clients they have to get an assignment from MERS, and then file stuff in their own name. No more MERS foreclosures in Michigan. Our Michigan…
Michigan Bankruptcy Mortgage Options (Part Two)
This is the conclusion of a two part series, part one on bankruptcy mortgage options can be found here. Now, you cannot force the mortgage company to foreclose, or take your house back. They might agree to a short sale, but, as with a modification, you cannot force it on them. They might accept a…
