A year ago, I short sold my family’s home.  I had lost my job, fell behind on payments, and owed mored than the house was worth.  Unfortunatelly, 4 years prior, we had lost a second income and declared Chpt 7. 

We currently rent a home.  It is a nice home, but we cant own pets, paint, or do any of the things we took for granted when we owned a home.  I regret not doing everything I possibly could have done to keep my familys home. 

My question is, how do I get another mortgage?  If it is going to be years and years before I can get one, what other suggestions would you have?  Are there other alternatives, such as land contract, least to own, anything?? 

Thank you for your time.

Todd (more…)

As a welcomed follow up and update to Unintended Consequences of Florida Foreclosure Law, Florida’s Attorney General Bill McCollum has released this letter:

“It has come to the attention of the Department of Legal Affairs that there is some question about whether attorneys providing legal counsel to homeowners facing foreclosure, most particularly when such persons are in bankruptcy, are subject to the provisions of the Foreclosure Rescue Act, Section 501.1377, Florida Statutes (2008) effective October 1, 2008. In order to ensure that the attorney/client relationship is not adversely affected by this new provision, the Office of the Florida Attorney General, Department of Legal Affairs, provides as follows:

Pursuant to its authority under Section 501.1377(2)(b)2, Florida Statutes (2008), the Office of the Florida Attorney General, Department of Legal Affairs, hereby approves for exclusion from the definition in this provision of a foreclosure rescue consultant, a person licensed to practice law in this state, when such person provides legal representation to a client with respect to a foreclosure.

Please disseminate this information to members of the Florida Bar by any method you deem appropriate.”

OK, looks like we’re back on track stopping Florida foreclosures once again!

I’m attempting a shortsale with a real estate agent/broker.  The lender wouldn’t settle for cash offres of $300k and $250k.  Now they want to settle but for $237 and have asked that I sign an inrterest free unsecured note for $30k.  I declined and now the lender said they’ll just get a judgement for $100k (vice just $30k when I fail to pay the note).  Is there any relief for us?  I tried to make the lender somewhat whole (vice walking away like most people have done and this is thanks I get?

Melissa (more…)

hey i want to know about the credit restoration?

Sapp

Loss Mitigation Time, LLC is looking for short sale processors for our Clearwater, Florida office.

1. Do you live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida? 
2. Have you successfully closed at least one short sale?
3. Do you have a passion for helping people facing foreclosure?

If so, then Loss Mitigation Time, LLC would like to talk with you.

• We offer flexible hours.  One day per week of your choosing must be spent working in our Clearwater, Florida office and the remaining days may be working from home. 
• You may choose your caseload and number of files from a minimum of three to a maximum of thirty.
• Compensation of $1,750.00 to $5,000.00 per file.

For confidential interview, contact:

Richard Roberts at (727) 459-4800

Loss Mitigation Time, LLC
19321 US 19 N, C-412
Clearwater, FL 33764

Hi Paul,

I’ve had a subscription to True Credit for quite a while, and check it at least weekly, as I need to keep up with the score for business purposes.    I have a ton of  inquiries related to a commercial mortgage broker pulling multiple multiple times and passing my info around last year, but most had bumped off the TU account.     My TransUnion Score was 668 over the weekend,  and showed 4 inquiries.   Equifax and Experian were in the 625-640 range, both showing 20-30 inquiries.   

Today I pulled my score, and TU is now showing 17 inquiries, and my TU score has dropped to 625.   There are no new inquiries, the old ones are just back.     Nothing else has changed.    What gives?   I guess inquiries hurt a lot more than is generally advertised.    Can these be disputed any other way if they were NOT authorized?

Sarah (more…)

I’m on the mailing list of a debt collection industry publication called “Collection Advisor”.  Most of the articles are pretty creepy or downright sleazy.  In all fairness, here’s an article from page 18 of their most recent July 2008 edition titled “How Do I Respond to a Dispute?” that I actually agree with:

“Initially, a debt collector is entitled to rely on the representations of its client with respect to the amount and validity of the debt.  However, upon receipt of the dispute, the debt collector may no longer assume the debt is valid.  The debt collector must obtain additional information to support the validity of the debt.  Further, under section 807(8) of the FDCPA, the dispute of the debt must be reported to any consumer reporting agencies to which the debt has been reported.  This requirement under the FDCPA applies whether or not the dispute was received within the thirty-day validation period.  This section 807(8) requirement also applies whether the dispute was received in writing or verbally.”

There’s a first for everything.  I wonder if David the Debt Collector is listening?  I wonder…

Hello Paul,

I am beginning the process of obtaining a mortgage and pulled my credit reports only to find a car loan on them that I didn’t recognize.  The loan was listed as a joint account with my dad.  I spoke with my father who said that he had opened the account up when I turned 18 to help me build credit.  While I appreciate his thought process I am a bit disturbed about him doing it without my knowing. 

The 36 month loan was paid on time every month except one where it was paid within 30 days.  I’m wondering if having the loan on my report despite the late payment is better than not having a loan on it at all?  Can you please help me figure out if I should leave it on or dispute to have it removed.  Currently my score is 645 but should go up some as I have found a couple of errors.  I have 1 credit card that has been paid on time every month for 8 years and the rest of the information on my report relates to utilities so I don’t have alot of credit built yet.

Thanks in advance.
Lisa (more…)

Just a coment on Craig and his delinquent mortgage..PAY YOUR BILL DEBTOR!! If people like Craig would just DO THE RIGHT THING and make an arrangement instead of trying to delay or get out of paying their bill by questioning the agency, the world would be a better place. Craig’s tactics are the definition of DEBTOR!

David

I’ve just run across your site and am impressed with the information. As a Realtor in AZ where we are third in the nation for foreclosures, similar questions are asked of me every day.

Currently, I am working with a few clients where I am representing them through the short sale process. My question to you is what is the best way I can help them minimize the effect of the short sale on their credit?

For example: We had three offers in at the bank for both the first and second mortgage.  The second responded and approved the short sale in less than 10 days. It is now the 1st part of July and the 1st just now responded by ordering their BPO. During this process I contacted the bank a minimum weekly and asked that they note all my communication and manually recorded every person I spoke to. In the mean time, because I was authorized to speak on the borrower’s behalf, I was also receiving his collection calls. It seems that loss mitigation and the collections departments really do not communicate with each other.

Because the 1st has taken so long to respond, the borrower is now going to be 120 days plus behind on payments that he was unable to make. In addition, the first actually started the pre foreclosure process along with the trustee notice and a sale date!  All this while offers were sitting on their desks!  How can I best help or advise my client and/or work with the bank to fight the way in which this was handled so he will not have all those days late showing up when he was doing all he could to get the home sold as soon as possible.  He should NOT be liable for those lates as he was up to date with his payments just a few weeks before we received the offers.  Can we contest this with the credit bureau or the bank? 

The short sale process should be an indication that the borrower is trying to be responsible and it appears the banks are really shooting themselves in the foot with their delayed responses. Since the submission of the offers back in April, the home prices have declined even more and 2 of the offers were not able to sustain the wait. In addition, because the bank initiated pre foreclosure processes even though solutions were right there in front of them. 

Bottom Line: As Real Estate professionals, how can we help clients preserve as much of their credit (and dignity, for that matter)as possible while they are simply trying to do the right thing?

Tammy (more…)