Appellate Court Ruling Could Spur HAMP Lawsuits
And so it begins. Or rather, so it turns. Like a soap opera that never ends. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners have been led to believe that the Home Affordable Modification Program was here to help them. There were misled. All too often we have clients that come into the firm having worked in good faith with the lender, just to be denied a HAMP loan modification, when they know they meet all of the guidelines or worse the made their Trial Modification payments just to have their home foreclosed right from underneath them. This article describes one such homeowner that did not take it lying down and sued.
At some point a homeowner has to take control of the process. It is true that a homeowner is not owed a loan modification. There is no contractual requirement for a lender to complete a loan modification for a homeowner, but what happens when the homeowner contacts their lender and requests a loan modification and the lenders begins the process leading the homeowner to believe that there is a process that is beginning. Including ceasing payments, making trial mod payments etc. Somewhere along the way, there becomes an agreement or contract if you will and if the lender suddenly sends the payments back, forecloses or misrepresents the homeowner’s qualifications for the program, the homeowner deserves their day in court to save their home.
The author of the article contemplates that somehow this will be a deterrent from the lender participating in the HAMP program. That is laughable as most of the lenders have FAILED miserably in complying with the program to start with. It is time to take control and take it to the lender.
“Are you or do you know someone that is upside down in their home? Facing foreclosure? Considering walking away? Arizona has unique foreclosure and deficiency laws you should know. Contact me to understand your legal rights and obligations.”
