HUD announced the Final Rule for the SAFE Act (Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008) conveniently omitting the protections concerning loan modification bad actors. It seems like the all-powerful mortgage servicers got their way again. To understand this horrible decision by HUD, we need to understand a little history. SAFE Act […]

Lenders and their servicing companies created a ploy called Dual Tracking which dupes the foreclosure victim into thinking they are on track for a loan modification all the while the bank is still pursuing the foreclosure track. Hence the name…Dual Track. We all know banks are not particularly concerned about their reputation as long as […]

A few days ago the Treasury Department announced their unlimited support for the two GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Many speculate sticking this potential bombshell of a story in the holiday news cycle was intentional leading to even more sinister assumptions. The most ‘horrible’ rumor circling the banking industry is Obama wants to give […]

The Obama administration announced a new program they call The Mortgage Modification Conversion Drive which seeks to pressure mortgage servicers into converting all their trial loan modifications into a permanent restructuring of the mortgage. Good Luck…is all I have to say. I have written extensively on the mortgage servicers / lenders whose only desire when […]

An avid reader of The Mortgage Insider alerted my attention to a petition home owners seeking loan modifications can use to voice their frustrations with Americas foot-dragging lenders. I can surely empathize with home owners facing foreclosure in that they were told by the Obama administration at the beginning of the year, Obama’s Plan would […]

Loan mods and the cottage industry of foreclosure rescue are ripe with fraudsters seeking to scam those desperate home owners facing foreclosure. Loan mods are issued by the lender to either permanently or temporarily change the terms of the mortgage to remove the default and make it easier to pay. It is this “negotiation” with […]

The Obama mortgage plan now has a website to explain the refinancing and loan modification assistance in this convoluted government program. The website called Makinghomeaffordable.gov gets reviewed here, not the efficacy of the plan itself. Makinghomeaffordable.gov Reviewed First I'm not sure why the government picked this domain name. Doesn't it make more sense if you […]

A growing tactic in fighting foreclosure is the Produce the Note strategy which simply requires the lender to prove they have the right to foreclose by producing the actual mortgage note the borrower signed at closing. One Denver couple I read about here in Colorado hired an attorney who used this tactic with success. The […]

The housing recovery plan we were all waiting to hear about from Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, in his first big address to the American people this week was kicked down the road by Mr. Geithner barely mentioning the foreclosure assistance measures. Housing Recovery Stalled The responsibility to inform us of some of the details on […]