Foreclosure Mediation

Michigan set to extend mortgage mediation process

December 20, 2011 By Steve Dibert Leave a Comment

Kerri Panchuk, Housing Wire

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to sign three bills to extend and reform the state’s foreclosure mediation process through 2012, while changing some of the deadlines for homeowners and financial firms.

Attorney Michael Woods with Potestivo & Associates sent out an advisory, noting the Michigan House of Representatives approved three bills, which now await the governor’s signature.

When enacted, HB 4542 and 4543 will extend the foreclosure mediation process through next year, while adding a new guideline that allows a borrower or housing counselor to contact a servicer’s designee to schedule a pre-foreclosure mediation hearing.

In addition, the legislation extends the time period for a borrower or housing counselor to respond to a pre-foreclosure notice by three days, pushing the deadline to 30 days from 27.

Woods said after a borrower asks for mediation, “there continues to be a 90-day stay to the foreclosure process … borrowers are now required to return a completed financial package, if requested, no later than 60 days after the date of the mailed pre-foreclosure notice.”

However, the Detroit-based law firm said if a financial package is not returned by the deadline, a bank can proceed with the foreclosure by advertising the filing without having to wait the full 90 days.

Read more here

Filed Under: Michigan, Mortgage News Tagged With: economic meltdown, financial crisis, foreclosure, foreclosure crisis, foreclosure defense, foreclosure help, foreclosure help Michigan, foreclosure mediation, foreclosure rescue, foreclosures, HB 4542, HB 4543, Housing Crisis, illegal foreclosures, illegal michigan foreclosures, mfi-miami, michigan document fraud, michigan foreclosure fraud, Michigan foreclosure problems, Michigan Foreclosure Task Force, michigan foreclosures, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, michigan mortgage fraud, michigan robo-signers, mortgage backed securities, Mortgage Crisis, mortgage fraud, mortgage help, mortgages, Potestivo & Associates

Florida Supreme Court Admits Failure And Ends Foreclosure Mediation Program

December 20, 2011 By Steve Dibert 1 Comment

Jeff Ostrowski, Palm Beach Post

Florida’s foreclosure crisis lives on, but a statewide mediation program for troubled borrowers is dead.

Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Canady issued an order Monday ending the effort to encourage lenders and borrowers to avoid foreclosure.

The program was a flop. Only 3.6 percent of cases referred to mediation statewide yielded a written agreement between the lender and homeowner. In Palm Beach County, which began its program in July 2010, a mere 1.6 percent of the 4,632 cases sent to mediation resulted in a written agreement.

Often, lenders couldn’t even reach borrowers to propose mediation. Of 78,076 cases referred to mediation statewide, lenders managed to get in touch with just 42 percent of borrowers.

“The court has reviewed the reports on the program and determined it cannot justify continuation of the program,” Canady wrote.

Lenders and borrowers can continue to haggle over loans already in the mediation program, but it will take on no new cases, he said.

Lenders blamed economic reality for the program’s failure. Home prices have plummeted and jobless rates have soared since the real estate bubble burst, creating financial obstacles that were just too great for many to overcome, said Anthony DiMarco, executive vice president of government affairs at the Florida Bankers Association.

“It was a well-intentioned program that just didn’t work,” DiMarco said. “If someone’s lost their job, a substantial part of their income, I don’t know how they can work that out.”

But foreclosure attorney Tom Ice of Royal Palm Beach said the program failed not because of a moribund economy but because of the way it was designed.

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Filed Under: Florida, Mortgage News Tagged With: Anthony DiMarco, Charles T. Canady, financial crisis, Florida Bankers Association, florida foreclosure fraud, florida foreclosure mill law firms, Florida foreclosure mills, Florida Foreclosure Mitigation, florida foreclosures, Florida Supreme Court, foreclosure, foreclosure crisis, foreclosure defense, foreclosure filings, foreclosure fraud, foreclosure help, foreclosure help florida, foreclosure mediation, foreclosure mills, foreclosure rescue, foreclosures, Housing Crisis, Ice Legal, illegal foreclosures, matt weidner, mortgage backed securities, Mortgage Crisis, mortgage fraud, mortgage help, mortgages, Tom Ice

PB Post Says Florida Barbie Has Wrong Priorities

November 14, 2011 By Steve Dibert Leave a Comment

Bondi has wrong priority

Rhonda Swan for The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s effort to play catch-up and clear her name following the revelation that her office fired two highly praised foreclosure fraud attorneys suggests that she is more concerned with her image than her job.

In July, The Post’s Kim Miller broke the story of the firings, which happened in May. On Tuesday, Ms. Miller reported on emails related to the firings. In one, Ms. Bondi responds to a statement detailing that June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards were fired because of “shoddy legal work” by saying, “I can finally go to sleep now and quit worrying about how these women will attempt to destroy me.”

In another email, Ms. Bondi wrote that she learned about the firings during a “two-minute phone call” and that she “did not even know the details, nor should I have needed to know.”

Therein lies the problem.

Ms. Bondi wants to be too far removed from the firings, which the attorneys have suggested were politically motivated after foreclosure attorneys complained that Ms. Clarkson and Ms. Edwards were too aggressive. Our translation: They were doing their jobs. As attorney general, Ms. Bondi should have wanted to know the details. It shouldn’t take media attention to pique her curiosity.

Jennifer Meale, Ms. Bondi’s communications director, said the attorney general was upset by what she called “false accusations” by the attorneys. “The attorney general,” Ms. Meale said, “wanted to make sure that the record was set straight.” She also pointed out that the agency has more than doubled the staff dedicated to foreclosure improprieties.

Ms. Bondi’s defensiveness is telling. She never has adequately explained how Ms. Clarkson and Ms. Edwards went so quickly from receiving strong performance reviews to doing “shoddy legal work.” Ms. Bondi had been on the job for just four months when the women were fired. Rather than worry “about how these women are going to destroy me,” Ms. Bondi, who always notes that she is a former prosecutor, ought to wonder why she still can’t present a credible case for the firings.

Read more here

Filed Under: Mortgage News Tagged With: economic meltdown, financial crisis, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Florida Bankers Association, Florida Barbie, florida foreclosure fraud, florida foreclosure mill law firms, Florida foreclosure mills, Florida Foreclosure Mitigation, florida foreclosures, foreclosure, foreclosure crisis, foreclosure defense, foreclosure filings, foreclosure fraud, foreclosure help, foreclosure help florida, foreclosure mediation, foreclosure mills, foreclosure rescue, foreclosures, Housing Crisis, illegal foreclosures, Mortgage Crisis, mortgage fraud, mortgage help, mortgages, Palm Beach Post, Pam Bondi

S. Florida judges brace for a possible fallout of the foreclosure mediation program

October 26, 2011 By Steve Dibert Leave a Comment

Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post

Palm Beach County Chief Judge Peter Blanc said weeding out borrowers who have abandoned their homes and enforcing a “good faith” requirement on lenders may improve a foundering statewide foreclosure mediation program.

Last week, a judicial committee recommended the mandatory program be eliminated, suggesting instead that each of the 20 circuit courts be allowed to opt-in to a newly created uniform plan.

While Florida’s Supreme Court justices mull the advice to end their once-heralded 2009 program, chief judges statewide find the ball may soon be in their court as to how to handle foreclosure mediation in the face of bank resistance and weak homeowner participation.

“I agree the process can be approved, as can just about any process,” said Blanc, whose 15th Circuit Court has a backlog of about 23,700 foreclosure cases in Palm Beach County. “It also seems to me that we should spend some time trying to address some of the factors mentioned that can have a negative impact on the mediation success rate.”

The report noted several reasons mandatory mediation has not lived up to expectations, including lenders’ failure to send representatives with full authority to negotiate a settlement and a refusal to consider more than a narrow range of settlement options.

Another concern is that borrowers under siege by companies offering foreclosure prevention assistance were uncertain of the legitimacy of the court-ordered program and didn’t respond to invitations to participate.

Just 14 percent of all eligible borrowers participated in mediation.

Banks pay up to $400 per case for mediation managers to locate borrowers and have them participate in financial counseling – a requirement under the program. Another $350 is paid by lenders to complete mediation.

Read more here

Filed Under: Florida, Mortgage News Tagged With: financial crisis, Florida Bankers Association, florida foreclosure fraud, florida foreclosure mill law firms, Florida foreclosure mills, Florida Foreclosure Mitigation, florida foreclosures, Florida Supreme Court, foreclosure, foreclosure crisis, foreclosure defense, foreclosure filings, foreclosure fraud, foreclosure help, foreclosure help florida, foreclosure mediation, foreclosure mills, foreclosure rescue, foreclosures, Housing Crisis, illegal foreclosures, Judge Peter Blanc, Mortgage Crisis, mortgage fraud, mortgage help, mortgages

Michigan set to extend mortgage mediation process

Florida Supreme Court Admits Failure And Ends Foreclosure Mediation Program

PB Post Says Florida Barbie Has Wrong Priorities

S. Florida judges brace for a possible fallout of the foreclosure mediation program

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