older home….we had a business in town with rents, etc….finally able to eliminate the over head…we borrowed against the house for the growing business..who knew..looking at a quick sale to avoid foreclosure..bank wants too much to catch up in too short a time

Olivia (more…)

HTDI Financial is AWESOME!!! While running my annual credit report last year, I discovered that a medical bill that I thought was paid by the insurance company, was actually sent to a collection agency, and that was now on my credit report. I, of course, freaked out, because I always had perfect credit before this. This really dinged my credit score hard, and no one would extend me any credit after this, even after I paid the bill in full. I started searching the internet for any assistance. I ended up at www.brokencredit.com. They had some suggestions on what to do, but none of them applied in my situation. I saw the advertisement for HTDI Financial on their site. They offered a free consultation. I figured it couldn’t hurt anything. I spoke with Brian, and he explained the entire procedure. He explained that there was no magic bullet, but they would do all they could to help. I really felt at ease with Brian, although I still had some doubt as to if this was going to do any good or not. I am extremely happy to report that on the first round of letters, the collection agency entry was removed from my credit report from all 3 credit bureaus. I couldn’t believe it! I ordered my credit report again just to be sure, and now all 3 credit bureaus now report my score over 770 again!!! I am soooo happy and excited, I can barely type this. I now have my life back!!

Thomas

we were served a foreclosure notice. my husband does not want to talk about it. what should i do next. My name is also on the mortage

Bertha (more…)

I wrote an article a few months ago about whether or not Florida attorneys could be considered ‘foreclosure rescue consultants’ under FS 501.1377.  My question at the time was: “what was the legislative intent behind removing the attorney exemption in FS 501.1377?”

Well, three months later we have a better idea, as there are presently some changes to FS 501.1377 and Chapter 494 underway with CS/SB 2226.  Based on what’s been added and marked up as of today’s date in CS/SB 2226, attorneys will now be required to become “a loan originator, mortgage broker, or mortgage lender” when completing loan modifications for clients unless the attorney negotiates the loan modification “as an ancillary matter to the attorney’s representation of the client”.  So basically any of the attorneys that are advertising ‘loan modifications’ will be required to become licensed in the mortgage business.

I also noticed that the present changes to FS 501.1377 have removed the definition of ‘foreclosure rescue consultant’ from the Act and since it appears the amendments to Chapter 494 F.S. referenced above apply to ‘loan modifications’, it would appear that companies engaged in short sale processing in Florida would no longer be subject to its provisions or at least that might have been the intent.  Only problem with that is a ‘loan originator’ is defined (in part, emphasis added) as: “an individual who, directly or indirectly, solicits or offers to solicit a mortgage loan, accepts or offers to accept an application for a mortgage loan, negotiates or offers to negotiate the terms or conditions of a new or existing mortgage loan on behalf of a borrower or lender, processes a mortgage loan application, or negotiates or offers to negotiate the sale of an existing mortgage loan to a noninstitutional investor for compensation or gain.”  So, it appears that every Florida licensed real estate agent who negotiates a short sale must also obtain a Florida loan originator license. Rut-roh!

It should be noted that as of the date of this post we don’t have the final version yet and since that’s the case, I’m going to recommend that everyone in Florida who objects to this provision send an email to Senator Mike Fasano fasano.mike.web at flsenate.gov with a link to this post stating that ‘short sales’ should be specifically exempted from the definition of ‘loan originator’. 

This author is not an attorney and this information should not be considered legal advice.  Please consult an attorney for legal advice.

Paul,

Is it true that voluntary agreements the banks are sending to clients to modify their loans may have traps in giving away clients valuable legal rights to sue them after the acceptance to go after them later for TILA, GFE or other violations and infractions?

thank you

William (more…)

I landlord, my aunt, is trying to sell her property with the help of a loss mitigation company. They finally found an end buyer but they will be using FHA financing. They have an option contract on the property but apparently they have a 90 day seasoning issue in order to have their loss mitigation fee paid out. Will they need get filed under land trust then close in 90 days or will a separate form to option contract suffice?

Alex (more…)

Dear Paul,

My husband Gary and I are both Christian’s and while I was trying to research the question I am about to petition you concerning, I came across your site and realized you are a man of GOD and that this must not be a chance encounter.

My husband had worked for his former employer for over twenty years when another company took interest in him several states away. Long story short, my husband accepted this position and with him took his 401k account.

With the 401k we purchased our new home for our family. The company had taken a hefty amount out which we had expected, as we had heard this would happen.

Well, when it came time for tax season we learned that they had only taken half for some reason, and that we still owed the other half. So we ended up taking out a home equity line of credit against our home to pay for this.

Over the last three years we have also ran up other debt and had to use our credit cards to help with property taxes.

It has been a cycle of trying to get out of the toilet with the credit cards, and never having enough to get out from under, yet my husband works for a major company and is a Senior Industrial Engineer.

We are faithful to tithe our first ten percent and seed beyond that even. Sure, some of your readers might say that this is where we are messing up, but we know that is not true. We have seen GOD show up when we are faithful and trust HIM like this, not when we trust the dollar.

There is another answer to how to figure another way through this and I am praying you can help us with some solution. My poor husband has called banks and credit card companies.

If we take out the loans some are offering, we would be paying more than we are now for several years to come. We just want to find a way to consolidate our debt into one payment.

The debt we have is the current loan mentioned which is at 50,000 currently, and the debt to add which is 35,000. The tax office estimates our home valued at 191,000. Also we live in a city that has not be affected much by the fall of the housing market. Ours is holding steady. in fact, our city is listed by Forbes to be one of the leading in the top economic cities to live in.

Is there any way we might obtain a home owners loan that does not come due in five years, but maybe gives us a longer homeowners option? It seems banks would be looking for borrowers like us who are not looking to borrow a substantial amount of money towards their home.

Can we get a homeowners loan towards a home we already own? We are prepared to consolidate all the debt and pay one payment a month. We really would like to begin saving again and banking the money we are throwing away every month.

We never seen this coming. Never before did we have this problem and enough is enough. Please help us with any suggestions you might have.

GOD bless you!
 
Sherry (more…)

Hi Paul!

In your response to Breath Inside the House–the Qualified Written Request, you stated that rescission in bankruptcy would only net the lender 10cents on the dollar. Can you explain how that happens?

Do you know of any cases where this was done?

Jeramiah

Hello Paul! First of all I want to say thank you for all the invaluable information you continue to give…you have made a true difference!

My question is this: I have succeeded to get two 30 day lates off of my credit report, but when I checked my report they also deleted all my payment history! This of course sent my scores way down. How would I get it back? Do you think this is what sent my scores down?

Thanks so much!

Reyna

This is gonna take me a minute  I got divorced in 2005, and there was a house with a mortgage involved.  In the divorce papers, my ex-husband was supposed to sell the house, but guess what – he didn’t.  The home mortgage was a “rural development/USDA backed” loan…. So it took a while for the foreclosure process to happen, and I was in the dark meanwhile – and then the stimulus checks came out in 2008.  I didn’t get mine and I’m thinking “WHY NOT?!?!”  So I start calling around and find out that my stimulus check had been offset because of this house that was supposed to have been sold and now I owe 37,000 on it!!  ahh!! 

Well I filed bankruptcy in October of 2008, and my lawyer advised me that my tax refunds…etc shouldn’t be offset anymore.  So I got my final discharge papers and I figured it was safe to go ahead and file my 2008 taxes.  I waited until the date it was supposed to be deposited into my account, and guess what– another stinkin offset!!! 

So here it is, end of March, and I have called every one-eight-hundred number KNOWN TO MAN trying to find my money.  I’ve hit a dead end and don’t know who to contact now, and my lawyer and his paralegal say they are working on it, but I’ve been doing some reading on the internet and it almost seems as if USDA  backed loans aren’t eligible for discharge in bankruptcy…am I wrong in thinking this??  If that is the case, then I wasted a TON of money filing bankruptcy AND…..ruined my credit for what 10 years AKA FOREVER!!  anyway, any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated!! 

Thanks,
Deidre (more…)