foreclosure

If you had a Mortgage with CountryWide you may get a Refund

(CNNMoney) — Borrowers who were overcharged by Countrywide Financial over three years ago are finally going to get reimbursed.

The F TC said Wednesday that, as a result of a settlement reached with the mortgage lender over a year ago, it is sending out checks totaling nearly $108 million to more than 450,000 former Countrywide borrowers. This was for overcharges the company made before it was bought by Bank of America.

There were two types of overcharges, according to Frank Dorman, an FTC spokesman. The first were tied to inspections, home maintenance, lawn mowing and other services that Countrywide provided to homes of borrowers in default.

Instead of directly hiring local vendors for those tasks, the company used their own subsidiary companies to hire the vendors — and then had the subsidiaries mark up the fees, sometimes doubling them or more. They passed along the overcharges to the homeowners. Affected consumers will receive all those overcharges back.

The second set of overcharges came in the form of false claims and fees to escrow accounts of borrowers who entered into Chapter 13 bankruptcies (this type of bankruptcy protection provides debtors with time to pay off what they owe). The borrowers weren’t notified about the fees or charges at the time they were incurred. The FTC says they will get back the entire amount of those undisclosed fees or charges.

The action covered borrowers who were in default betweenJanuary 1, 2005andJuly 1, 2008. Many of the amounts are quite small; the average is about $240, but some borrowers will receive checks of several thousand dollars, the FTC said.

Banks to Face HAMP lawsuits.

Were you one of those homeowners that submitted your loan modification under the Obama administration’s HAMP -Home affordable modification program. Then after making a series of payments told that you don’t qualify? Well a number of banks are now facing class action lawsuits from homeowners who are now finding out that they may have originally qualified for the program

(Reuters)Bank of America among many other banks, had hoped to avoid facing tens of thousands of irate homeowners claiming that they were unreasonably denied mortgage aid through the Home Affordable Modification Program by the lender. However, a judge has denied the bank’s motion to dismiss the case and the bank will be asked to provide permanent loan modifications to those who are eligible and award damages to those who were “wrongfully denied modification”. Attempting to put a positive spin on the situation, BofA announced that it is “pleased that the court dismissed four of the eight counts in the consolidated complaint.” The judge ultimately limited the case to homeowners who entered trial period plans (TPPs) for loan modifications but were then denied permanent HAMP mods. He did allow for homeowners in states where consumer protections are stronger, like California, Illinois, Arizona and Massachusetts, to pursue claims in their own states.

The problem is not so much that the lender refused to modify loans, but rather that it appears to have “willfully failed” to make modifications that were likely to be successful – “either in bad faith or for its own economic benefit,” explained judge Rya Zobel. However, Zobel did reject claims of borrowers who asserted that they were “intended beneficiaries of HAMP” but who never entered the program, and she also refused to block 37 foreclosures on homeowners claiming to be in “imminent danger [of foreclosure]” during the pending lawsuit.

Do some research and find out if it makes sense for you to join a suit in your state if you feel that you might have been affected.

Diyloanmodkit.com

$50,000 free from the government!

The government is trying (again) to help homeowners if they are at risk of foreclosure. This plan is called the Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program (EHLP) and if you have lost your job, the $1 billion program offers loans of up to $50,000 that don’t need to be repaid, if applicants meet certain requirements.

Rolled out by HUD and the nonprofit housing advocacy group NeighborWorks America, the program is making loans that are interest-free. Payments go directly to the lender for a portion of the borrower’s monthly mortgage, including missed payments or past due charges. And when the assistance period -which runs for up to two years ends, 20% of the loan is forgiven with each passing year. So, for qualified borrowers who stay in their home for at least five years after the assistance period and who don’t fall behind on their mortgage againor need a loan modification, this money doesn’t have to be paid back.

Homeowners interested in applying must first complete a Pre-Applicant Screening Worksheet (see link). To find out if you qualify and till fill out the forms visit the website at www.findehlp.org. Do long as you stay in you property the loan is free, if you default on your loan or sell your home you are reponsible for the full amount of the loan. If you plan to stay where you are the money is free and free is always a good thing!

Good luck

 Diyloanmodkit.com