Foreclosure Notice Requirement
The National Mortgage Settlement’s Pre-Foreclosure Notice Requirement for servicers
Servicers must now provide the homeowner with a pre-foreclosure notice at least fourteen (14) days before referring the case to a foreclosure attorney.
*The notice must:
- Set forth facts supporting the Servicer’s or holder’s right to foreclose.
- Include an itemized summary setting forth account information (i.e. reinstatement amount/arrears, date of the last full payment, description of any late fees).
- Include a statement that upon written request the borrower may receive certain information (i.e. payment history, copy of the note, copies of any assignment of the mortgage, the name of the investor that holds the loan).
- Include a statement outlining the loss mitigation efforts the service has undertaken before foreclosure.
- State why the borrower was denied a loan modification or other loss mitigation.
- Include contact information to obtain more information from servicer.
- Include contact information for counseling agencies.
We have seen several of this notices and believe that they provide useful information to homeowners and their attorneys.
Long Island Foreclosure Defense Attorneys
Call the Law Firm of Vaughn, Weber & Prakope, PLLC at 516-858-2620 today.
*The above is a partial list.
National Mortgage Servicer Settlement Progress Report
We previously wrote about the 25 billion dollar National Mortgage Servicer Settlement and how it, supposedly, helps distressed NY homeowners.
The affected servicers are:
- Bank of America: 877-488-7814
- Citibank: 866-272-4749
- Chase: 866-372-6901
- GMAC/ALLY: 800-766-4622
- Wells Fargo: 1-800-288-3212
The above servicers have agreed to provide at least $25 billion in relief to distressed homeowners, the 49 participating states, and the federal government.
Well, have they?
Joseph A. Smith, Jr., the Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, recently released a “Progress Report” that outlines progress made by the five banks that are parties to the settlement. The Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight stated the following in a recent Press Release:
“The report discloses that the banks have granted $10.56 billion in consumer relief to borrowers between March 1 and June 30, 2012. Additionally, first lien principal reduction trials were offered and begun for about 28,000 homeowners, totaling approximately $3 billion of potential relief,” said Smith. “This information is self-reported and has not been confirmed by the professional firms working with me. Further, it represents gross dollar amounts and cannot be used to evaluate progress toward the banks’ $20 billion obligation.”
In addition, the report provides an update on the banks’ implementation of the settlement’s servicing standards.
“As of July 5, the servicers reported to me that 56 servicing standards have been incorporated into their business processes,” continued Smith. “Implementation of the mortgage servicing standards outlined in the settlement can be an important contribution to reform of the mortgage finance system.
Our take: We find some of the language used and statements made in the press release somewhat vague and troublesome. Moreover, we have not seen much relief, under the Mortgage Servicer Settlement, for our clients facing foreclosure. However, it is our understanding that all the the new servicing standards must be implemented by October 3, 2012. Hopefully, we will see more help for distressed homeowners soon thereafter.
See the Press release here.
See the Progress Report here.
If you have any questions about this or other legal issues, call the Law Firm of Vaughn, Weber & Prakope, PLLC today, at 516-858-2620, for a free consultation!
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