'Antiquated' State Laws Exacerbating Foreclosure Crisis

Reader Comments
Back to blog

i have been in both mortgage and stock brokerage and the amount of regualtion and education between the two is night and day.
To become a securities dealer you need to pass the Series 7 - a 6 hr test that requires months of prep. To become a loan officer in most states you just need to fill out an app. and pay a fee. In some states you dont need to get licensed at all you just need to be affiliated with a broker.
Slowly states are adding testing and background checks- but their needs to be a federal mandate. Since the fed is bailing everyone out, they should get to call the shots.
If you are curious as to what the laws are in your state regarding mortgage- here is a concise list: http://www.bankapedia.com/mortgage-encyclopedia/state-mortgage-laws

charlyb of NV 7:05PM August 31, 2009

Mary of Victorville,California went to ModByLawyers with an Chase mortgage of 11.8% and a mortgage payment of $1,945. Due to her disability and being unable to work she could not continue to make her mortgage payments. With the help of ModByLawyers staff at ModByLawyers Mary was able to obtain a new payment of $957 per month with a lower rate of 4.0%. This modification saved her home. Get more information at www.ModBylawyers.com

Grace Lynn of CA 2:24AM July 31, 2009

+1

soundtracks of AL 7:14AM July 17, 2009

If you have to do it, you might as well do it right.

ultram in urine test of WY 5:33PM July 02, 2009

Most state laws are antiquated. Unfortunately it took the economic disaster of the last few yrs to force some change.
States are slowing catching up to where they should have been 20 yrs ago
For those wondering what the laws in your state are
http://www.bankapedia.com/mortgage-encyclopedia/state-mortgage-laws

raelene of NV 3:40PM June 20, 2009

I just received a summons today from my HOA to foreclose on my townhouse. I was only recently able to get my home out of foreclosure with the mortgage company by changing the terms of my mortgage. I was never given any type of notice by the HOA that this was going to happen (not so much as even a late notice), and I don't even know who is managing the HOA now since a new company took over. I plan to sue them for failure to notify of a lien filing, and to file every motion I can possibly think of to delay the process. I find it hard to believe that the mortgage companies allow them to get away with this, since nearly half of all the owners in this complex are behind (or so the former HOA manager said).

Sherry of CO 12:28AM March 22, 2009

I agree with IC on the HOA and their overall attitude and lack of service. I lived in Texas when laws were supposedly changed to govern the HOA's and what they did as a group to homeowners. I guess the laws did not work. I now live in MD, and my story is identical to IC's. After going through the process of saving my home, not even 30 days after the judge signed my paperwork, I received "notice of lien" from the HOA and "lawyer" for the community. An investigation on what happens "after" you save your home from foreclosure needs to be done. I have not been able to enjoy living in my "saved" home yet, because I am paying back the fees upon fees. Mr. Luke Mullins, help people like us get the word out. We need a voice and help.

Carol Terry of MD 4:32PM March 04, 2009

Although this article points out state differences in foreclosure laws for mortgage holders. What has been completely ignored, however, is the foreclosure nightmare taking place in HOAs.
Unlike a purchase money mortgage holder, an HOA has no money invested in a homeowners property. The power to foreclose in order to collect assessments has become an epidemic abuse as a mechanism to extort attorney fees, management company collection fees, "fines", etc. In many states, the HOA agents will divert any payments that the homeowner makes to the HOA management company and HOA attorney before applying them to the alleged assessment debt. Since these other fees are at completely at the whim of the HOA Board and agents, the HOA agents have turned the threat of foreclosure into a highly profitable extortion racket. You will pay whatever fees they demand despite the lack of any contract, the lack of any services, etc. or else you will lose your home. More and more people have decided to walk rather than to pour more of their resources into a bottomless pit extortion racket.
The beneficiaries of this practice are the unscrupulous and largely unregulated HOA vendors. That's why you see claims for $10,000 in attorney fees over an alleged $300 debt. Ultimately, the HOA-foreclosed owner is not the only victim. There is no reason to continue paying the bank once the owner is evicted from his home with an HOA foreclosure on the credit report. There is little reason to "buy it back" unless you want the same thing to happen again and again. Ultimately, banks and the entire neighborhood suffer from this racket. Despite the widespread abuses of HOA foreclosures and unscrupulous vendors, the problem has received virtually no public scrutiny.

IC_deLight of TX 2:12PM March 03, 2009