Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog

The Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog previously wrote about a recent Bloomberg investigative piece that revealed the $1.2 trillion in secret loans that banks got in public cash without taxpayers even knowing about it.

Part Two of the Secret Bank Loans blog series looks at which banks got the money and how the Federal Reserve doled it out on the public's dime. The third part of the series will investigate why the plan hasn't worked to stop foreclosures in Miami and throughout the nation as well as why the public never knew.

Our Miami Foreclosure Defense Attorneys are committed to helping homeowners fight back against foreclosure and holding the banks accountable for their mistakes. They have taken billions in taxpayer dollars and yet have done nothing to help the borrowers who made them so much in profit when times were good.

The Bloomberg piece found that lending banks and other businesses received as much as $1.2 trillion in public money -- about the equivalent of what is owed by U.S. homeowners who are in foreclosure -- in order to keep them afloat. And the loans were kept secret from the public, until now.

Part Two of this series of blogs will detail which banks got money, how much and how the Federal Reserve determined who would get these public taxpayer dollars. The blog will also detail why the public never knew it was lending its money to the banks who have used robo-signing and shady tactics to take people's homes away.

Here's a look at the top ten companies in terms of the bailout and how much each company received in loans from the government, according to Bloomberg:

• Morgan Stanley: $107 Billion


• Citigroup: $99.5 Billion


• Bank of America: $91.4 Billion


• Royal Bank of Scotland Group: $84.5 Billion


• State Street Corp.: $77.8 Billion


• USB AG: $77.2 Billion


• Goldman Sachs Group Inc: $69 Billion


• JPMorgan Chase & Co.: $68.6 Billion


• Deutsche Bank AG: $66 Billion


• Barclays Plc: $64.9 Billion

That's a staggering amount of money -- $805.9 billion -- for just ten companies to get from the government. Also amazing is the amount put into perspective. According to Bloomberg, the balance was more than 25 times when the government loaned out on Sept. 12, 2011, the day after terrorists attacked the country. That day, the government doled out $46 billion. In $1 bills, $1.2 trillion would fill 539 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Government officials told Bloomberg that the investment didn't incur any losses. A February report states that the bank netted $13 billion in interest and fee income between 2007 and 2009.

While that may be true, the tactics used by the government -- a supposed watchdog for the people's money -- were less-than-desirable. In most cases, the Fed would require collateral for its loans. Typically, that was treasuries or corporate bonds and mortgage bonds that would be seized if the borrower defaulted.

But as the crisis with banks got worse, the nation's bank began taking "junk" bonds and stocks, which are the first to go during a liquidation. Junk bonds are those below investment grade and typically are the least desirable. The Fed also began making loans at a 1.1 percent interest rate, a third of what banks were charging in interest at the time.

So, the country's national bank was giving out loans to banks, who, in turn, have pummeled the average homeowner. The Federal Reserve has done little to help Americans, whose tax dollars the bank used to help these private banks get by. The bottom line is the homeowner wasn't protected then and he is not protected now.

But Miami Foreclosure Defense Lawyers are ready to fight by your side to point out the shady practices these banks have used in order to try to take hard-working people's homes away from them. If you are in this situation, call today.

Continue reading "Part Two of the Secret Bank Loans Series on Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog " »

Remember the "bailout" from years ago, when banks, motor companies and others received hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government because they couldn't properly run their companies?

There was public outrage at the amount of public tax dollars that was going to these companies and the lavish bonus executives were taking, despite the money being on the public dime.

A recent article by Bloomberg details how banks -- who have since been trying to kick people out of their homes through foreclosure proceedings with robo-signed documents and incorrect paperwork -- received $1.2 trillion in secret loans that taxpayers never knew about. The Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog will detail, in a three-part series, the massive bailout and reliance on the Federal Reserve that these banks have.

It's not a shock that many people in South Florida and nationwide are struggling with foreclosure. But the situation is made even more frustrating when banks have gotten so much taxpayer money and yet are still unwilling to help homeowners. But if you are looking to fight back against your bank to protect your home from a Miami foreclosure, trust in an experienced Miami Foreclosure Defense Lawyer who will stand by your side and hold the bank officials' feet to the fire.

In 2006, at the peak of the real estate market, Bank of America and Citigroup led banks and brokers with $104 billion in profits. It was a great year, as they were doling out loans left and right.

But within two years, the housing market collapse -- led by the banks' collective poor judgement in loaning practices and sloppy bookkeeping -- turned the lenders into borrowers. Bloomberg reports that they borrowed $669 billion -- six times their profit from two years earlier -- from the Federal Reserve. That number is nearly four times the amount the U.S. Treasury gave to the top 10 banks in public bailouts.

The sad reality of these numbers is that the $1.2 trillion of public money that the Federal Reserve gladly lent to the major banks is roughly the same as what U.S. homeowners owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages.

Why this is so troubling is that these banks took public money and yet have taken a hard-line stance against these homeowners and taxypayers, by going after them tooth-and-nail.

They aren't likely to modify a loan and they aren't using government-backed programs to help come to some kind of agreement with homeowners about the problems they're facing. Instead, they try to steam right through the foreclosure process -- violating homeowner rights in the process with shoddy practices and outright fraud.

Part two of the series will look at who got paid and how it worked. Part three will look at why the plan hasn't worked and why only government officials knew about it until recently.

Continue reading "Secret Bank Loans Blog Series By Miami Foreclosure Lawyers" »

Sadly, scammers are everywhere: After a disaster strikes, preying upon the elderly and when homeowners are at their most vulnerable.

Mortgage loan modification scams and other ways to help distressed homeowners have been popping up for years. But they've been much more frequent as the economy has collapsed and people have lost their jobs and grown desperate.

Make sure you know who to trust if you're fighting foreclosure in Miami. If it's too good to be true, it probably is. Companies have been set up by schemers to try to get people's money up front while offering a false promise of helping them get a loan modification or getting the bank to reduce the amount the borrower owes on the house.

In reality, these people have little chance at getting a bank to do anything. They are powerless. But an experienced and aggressive Miami Foreclosure Defense Lawyer can fight a bank with the law, in the courtroom and by challenging the lending institution to prove ownership and conduct a foreclosure in accordance with the law.

In a case out of West Kendall, four people are accused of stealing more than $750,000 from more than 500 homeowners. Four people have been arrested and are charged with running a phony loan modification company. They are charged with conspiracy under teh Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.

The company, called Best Value Homes, allegedly promised to help struggling homeowners modify loans between 2008 and 2009. They charged homeowners upfront fees and after taking the money, did nothing to help these people, the Florida Attorney General's Office alleges.

It's too bad that it usually takes a few years of investigation before scams like these are broken up. Homeowners must report the problem to authorities and after compiling complaints, the state must then conduct an investigation. It all takes time. And in the mean time, a homeowner who threw away a mortgage payment on a false promise is now stuck in foreclosure.

But it's not all bad news. There are ways to fight back. And the first step is finding an experienced and aggressive Miami Foreclosure Defense Attorney who has taught other attorneys how to help struggling homeowners.

Not all lawyers have the experience and aggressive approach to take on the banks head-on. Banks have a lot of money on their side, but they also have a lot of problems. Robo-signed documents, shady paperwork dealings and the use of poorly run companies to process paperwork are just a few of the most common problems.

These have been revolutionary times. There are millions of foreclosed homes on the market and experts believe many more may be coming. The rise and fall of the real estate market, especially in Florida, has been historical. And in this time, there have been seemingly unreal problems with the foreclosure process.

Even if a homeowner has missed mortgage payments, they still have rights and they still must be treated fairly. And that simply can't be done on their own. An experienced foreclosure defense attorney will stand by your side and fight the banks.

Continue reading "Four From West Kendall Arrested in Loan Modification Scam Affecting Miami Homeowners" »

A mortgage servicer run by billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross recently sued Lender Processing Services Inc., alleging it used improperly signed documents affecting more than 30,000 mortgages, which cost his company millions in legal bills.

The Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog for many months has been reporting about the problems with banks' documents in residential mortgage foreclosure filings in Miami and throughout South Florida. People's homes have been taken away even though banks are using mortgage servicing companies and processing companies that have falsely filed documents that weren't signed by the people who were supposed to review them for accuracy.

Our Miami Foreclosure Defense Lawyers have seen the rights of homeowners threatened by these practices. But we are committed to standing up and fighting back on behalf of the people. These big banks must be held accountable for their actions.

This recent lawsuit is a spat between companies used by the banks as they point the finger at each other about who is at fault. The lending processing company provides software and services to the mortgage industry, news wire service Reuters reports, while a mortgage service is a company that homeowners would pay their payments to. They are responsible for recording payments and keeping paperwork.

In this lawsuit, American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. v. Lender Processing Services Inc et al in Dallas County, Texas, Ross' company alleges LPS improperly signed and notarized mortgage assignments on its behalf in all 50 states.

The lawsuit states LPS allowed non-designated workers to sign signatures of others on documents and employed notaries who improperly signed off on the paperwork. LPS denies the allegations.

It appears from this lawsuit that just about everyone was at fault for trying to take away a person's house without proper documentation. The banks hired these companies to process paperwork and it's likely that many of these companies cut corners to deal with the onslaught of foreclosure cases that hit the court system throughout the Great Recession.

The sad result is many people lost their homes without due process. But what we've come to realize now is that every case must be scrutinized even more thoroughly. That means reviewing all documents, making sure homeowners' documents are compared to lender documents and following the paper trail to ensure the Is were dotted and Ts crossed.

Problems with documentation can actually be advantageous to homeowners. Many judges have begun holding banks accountable for their actions and not completing foreclosures because banks can't prove who owns the loan on a house. Likewise, banks are being penalized for using "robo-signed" documentation and other shady practices.

If you are months into missed mortgage payments and don't know what's going to happen to you and your home or if you've just now considered missing next month's payment, call. Our lawyers can review your case and help you fight to keep your home. If you no longer want it, we can come up with an exit strategy that best protects you in the future. Whatever the need, we can help.

Continue reading "Mortgage Servicer Sues Lending Processor Over Robo-Signed Docs in Miami Foreclosure Cases" »

At a workshop recently, dozens of foreclosure defense attorneys from throughout Florida listened as Miami Foreclosure Defense Attorney Bruce Jacobs led a discussion aimed at teaching lawyers how to defend foreclosures in Miami and throughout Florida.

LawReview CLE, a nationally recognized program that puts on seminars across the country, held a seminar July 28 at the Hyatt Hotel in Coral Gables. It was designed for lawyers and other law professionals, like law students, paralegals and others, and it focused on the foreclosure crisis, including the predicted second wave of foreclosure filings that experts believe will begin by the end of this year.

The program was a success, as Mr. Jacobs, a member of Max Gardner's Army, a nationwide group of lawyers that shares tactics and information about foreclosures in real time, discussed foreclosure tactics as attorneys look to help their clients avoid foreclosure, defend foreclosure and seek alternatives to foreclosure. The class allowed lawyers to learn from and ask questions of Mr. Jacobs, who has extensive experience handling foreclosure defense in Miami.

Mr. Jacobs has been a practicing lawyer in Florida since 1997 and has been lead counsel in more than 50 trials throughout South Florida; he has handled many appeals. Starting his career as a prosecutor for the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office, Mr. Jacobs has spent many years now dedicated to foreclosure defense, tax deed actions, landlord-tenant disputes and fraud cases. Before opening his own law firm, he headed up the foreclosure department of Camner, Lipsitz and Poller, P.A. in Coral Gables. He is an experienced foreclosure attorney who handles many Miami foreclosure cases.

Among the topics that were discussed by Mr. Jacobs:

•Latest statistics on the problems with foreclosure and the emerging profile of a foreclosure candidate.

•Why lenders are resistant to loan modifications and why lawmakers don't understand.

•Mortgage Securitization issues that affect a lender's standing to pursue foreclosure.

•Current developments on federal programs and agreements with lenders to assist homeowners.

•Cutting-edge litigation strategies to properly defend a foreclosure action from start to finish.

•Overview of Federal lending laws and emerging foreclosure case law.

•Alternatives to foreclosure.

•An overview of the relationship between bankruptcy and foreclosure.

•Ethical considerations and effective communication with the client.

Mr. Jacobs also discussed the present state of the foreclosure crisis, mortgage securitization issues, understanding basic substantive law, client relations, judicial foreclosures, loan modifications, bankruptcy issues and ethics.

CLE stands for continuing legal education and the Florida Bar requires attorneys to continually gain education in their specific area of practice to stay up on the latest trends, court case rulings and rules for handling cases. During the training session, lawyers also got first-hand knowledge from Mr. Jacobs about the latest trends for defending foreclosure cases in Miami.

With Mr. Jacobs' experience fighting foreclosure cases in Miami and throughout South Florida, he was asked to lead the seminar to provide knowledge to other attorneys throughout Florida so they can continue the battle against banks that are continuously trying to take people's homes.

Continue reading "Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Teaches Other Lawyers to Defend Foreclosure" »

Three Florida communities -- Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Naples -- are expected to be in for a collapse of their housing markets in the coming years, based on an analysis by 24/7 Wall St.

Florida has already been hit hard by the housing market's downward trend as well as a hit in unemployment because of the Great Recession. At 10.6 percent, only Nevada, California, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico had higher unemployment rates in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And with unemployment rates showing little sign of going down and housing prices continuing to take a hit, many people are being forced into foreclosure in Miami. But hiring an aggressive Miami Foreclosure Defense Attorney to fight a foreclosure is necessary in order to ensure the homeowner's rights are upheld.

The analysis done by 24/7 Wall St. was based on unemployment rates with little help for recovery on top of already weak housing values. The top 10 list is of cities that are expected to see housing market drops by at least another 10 percent by 2012. Real estate activity, a forecast of housing prices that would drop between early 2011 and early 2012, along with June unemployment levels, median household income and other factors went into the predictions.

In the top 10 list, inventory is high and demand is low as those who are unemployed can't afford to buy. Fear of prices dropping further also hurts these cities, the article reports and government programs have done little to help.

10. Fort Lauderdale: The analysts expect an 11.1 percent price drop as unemployment in June was 11.8 percent and the median family income was $58,800, while the median home price was $196,000. The home prices ranked 55th highest, while the income level was 194th. The low is expected to hit in the second quarter of 2013. From 2006 to 2011, home prices have dropped by 50 percent.

9. Bethesda, Md.: They expect an 11.5 percent drop, with the low coming at the same time as Fort Lauderdale. The median income is $114,100, the highest, but the median home price is $417,000, the fifth highest.

8. Salinas, Calif.: The authors expect an 11.8 percent drop, with unemployment at 12.8 percent. This suburb of San Jose has seen housing market drops of more than 61 percent and layoffs may be coming.

7. El Centro, Calif.: This is one of the poorest counties in the country, with a $43,300 media income and a 28.6 percent unemployment rate. Prices are expected to drop up to 12.1 percent by early 2012.

6. Miami: The median family income level is $47,800, 32nd lowest, yet the median home price is $175,000, good for 76th highest. The jobless rate was at 13.4 percent in June. Home prices are predicted to drop 13 percent by early 2013 and then take another 10.1 percent hit, making it the greatest depreciation of property values in the country.

5. Merced, Calif.: The June unemployment rate was a staggering 18.6 percent, with the median family income at $42,900. It is projected to hit rock bottom during the second quarter of 2012.

4. Detroit, Mich.: Housing prices are only a median $42,000, the lowest among major cities in the country. So, while the area hasn't had a sharp decline like many California and Florida cities, it is still expected to see a drop by next year.

3. Las Vegas, Nev.: Las Vegas has been hit hard by the recession, with home prices falling 42.3 percent between 2008 and 2011. It is expected to drop 13.9 percent by 2012 and another 6.3 percent in 2013.

2. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.: Unemployment sits at 13.7 percent and despite a rather high $59,700 median family income, median home prices sit around $181,000. In the last five years, house prices have split in half.

1. Naples: This Southwest Florida city tops the list because of a high unemployment rate (10.5 percent), very high median home price of $225,000 and a median family income of $62,800. Prices are expected to drop 16.6 percent and hit rock bottom at the end of 2012. Home prices are expected to drop another $40,000 in that time.

Continue reading "Miami, Fort Lauderdale Housing Markets Expected to Collapse, Analysts Say" »

Fourteen states now have mediation programs in place, a U.S. Department of Justice report states, but they are rarely used, as banks would prefer to forge ahead with a foreclosure than take the time to work with homeowners, an article published on MSNBC.com reports.

Miami Foreclosure Defense Attorneys have seen that mediation programs typically don't work. In 2009, the Florida Supreme Court ordered that all foreclosure cases in state courts that involve residential homestead property must be sent to mediation, unless there is an agreement between the homeowner and lender. It's called the Statewide Managed Mediation Program. Under the program, however, the homeowner can opt out, but the lender must pay for the costs of mediation.

The purpose of the program was to ease the burden of the courts by trying to get many of the hundreds of thousands of foreclosure cases (there were 369,000 in December 2008 and 456,000 by the end of 2009, the state's high court wrote) out of the system. But the program has no mandatory elements, meaning that those who are fighting foreclosure in Miami and throughout Florida may go into mediation and come out with no resolution.

Florida, much like in Maryland, where the story is based, has a program that has done little good. In Maryland as of May 31, only 56 homeowners had gotten a modification of their home loan. Most borrowers complain that lenders would prefer to foreclose on their house than negotiate. One woman's house was sold in the midst of the mediation process there, the article states.

The article is based in Prince George, Maryland, the country's richest majority-black city. According to statistics there, after a slow down in the foreclosure process nationwide, more than 7,100 notices of foreclosure were filed in March alone, more than twice as many as had been filed in any month since 2008.

Many experts believe that the slowdown in foreclosures came as banks and lenders were dealing with accusations of "robo-signing" and filing false documents in foreclosure proceedings across the country. Mortgage servicers -- companies hired to process documents for the banks -- were forging the signatures of bank officials in order to quickly pass through documents to the court, leaving many inaccurate, yet "signed" by a person who should have actually taken the time to verify correct information.

The banks have also dealt with the struggles of MERS -- Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems -- a system created by lenders in the mid 1990s to more quickly keep track of purchases and sales of homes than county clerks of court. But the shoddy filings have caused problems today, as many banks haven't been able to properly foreclose on a homeowner's property because the information wasn't cataloged correctly into MERS.

Aside from the shoddy practices of banks, the article goes on to highlight the stories of several Maryland homeowners, who have gotten very little help from the banks. They tell of bank representatives who simply use mediation as a "formality" before moving on to foreclosure. Some homeowners have tried desperately to stay in their homes, only to have lenders rebuke those efforts and move on with foreclosure.

The same thing is happening in Miami and throughout South Florida. If you want to fight back against foreclosure, meeting with an experienced Miami Foreclosure Defense Lawyer should be your first step.

Continue reading "Mediation Touted As a Key to Stopping Miami Foreclosures, But It Rarely Works" »

It's been four months since banks and states last floated a remedy to fix the mess banks created with robo-signed documents and shoddy recordkeeping and little has happened publicly, yet The New York Times wonders how a settlement will keep banks protected from future lawsuit.

Miami Foreclosure Lawyers wonder how homeowners will be protected throughout this mess. People have been tossed out of their homes with their rights trampled because banks and lending institutions have used falsified paperwork, documents reportedly signed by people who never saw them, and other incomplete paperwork. Now, they're hoping to send money into state coffers as a way to satisfy state attorneys general who are investigating. But the question remains -- what will be done to protect Miami homeowners who are fighting foreclosure?

According to the news article, bank officials and state attorneys general met recently in Washington to try to settle their differences. In March, the initial terms of how much would be paid was $20 billion. The deal would be contingent upon the terms of future potential lawsuits against banks and what will happen to MERS -- Mortgage Electronic Registry Systems.

Miami Foreclosure Lawyer Blog has discussed this system, which was created in the mid 1990s as a way to better keep up with the influx of purchases and sales compared to county clerk offices. But the private registry has been fraught with problems because when information is registered in MERS, no assignment is recorded. During a foreclosure, it has led to banks losing the battle because they can't prove who actually owns the home.

The article states that MERS eliminated the need to record changes in property ownership in local land records, which ramped up lender profits. Over 10 years, MERS -- owned by major banks -- it is said to have saved $1 billion. About 60 percent of all home loans were registered to MERS. But as noted above, MERS has faced problems.

The article debates whether state prosecutors will release banks from liability created by MERS as part of a settlement. It notes that investigators haven't looked into MERS as part of investigations ongoing in all 50 states.

It is our hope that states don't go soft and allow banks to get away with these injustices simply by writing a check. Without accountability, homeowners' rights will again be trampled under the next bank-run catastrophe. It's obvious there are problems in the lending industry, and aside from Miami Foreclosure Defense Lawyers pointing out these problems on a case-by-case basis, a large-scale lesson would go a long way toward cleaning up the mess.

Meanwhile, our firm will continue helping homeowners who are thrown into the middle of the fray with banks who seek to take away a person's home. Pointing out problems with MERS, robo-signing, mortgage-backed securities and other issues can lead to saving people's homes and we will investigate and scrutinize the banks who continually try to cut corners in the process.

Continue reading "Banks Still Looking For a Break Even After Foreclosure Mess in Miami, Nation" »