We're two years deep in the foreclosure crisis and many opponents of mortgage cramdowns in bankruptcy are ardently insistent that allowing mortgage modifications in Chapter 13 bankruptcy will somehow spell the end of consumer lending as we know it.  But allowing cramdowns in bankruptcy is not a solution that is new.  In the 1980's during [...]

It what appears to be a strange twist of fate, Carl R. Greene, executive director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) is facing foreclosure on his $615,035 home in an upscale development of the city.  Ironically, Greene has won accolades from HUD for quickly putting to use economic-recovery money by buying and renovating 1,200 housing [...]

In 2009 there were 900,000 foreclosures, but already this year has experienced 528,000 foreclosures since January putting us on course to outstrip 2009's foreclosure numbers. Analysts are predicting that more than 1 million American homeowners are likely to lose their homes to foreclosure this year as mortgage servicers pick up the pace in clearing out [...]

The Obama administration has just announced that they will extend another $3 billion in aid to support foreclosure prevention programs and that a third of that money will go directly to unemployed homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure. The current loan modification programs have failed to prevent foreclosures because of unmotivated mortgage servicers but also because [...]

For those of us who remember, in 2009 HAMP was touted as the foreclosure prevention savior that would help three to four million homeowners remain in their homes.  But that never happened.  Here we are in 2010 and only 8 percent of all foreclosures in 2009 were stopped by the HAMP program.  That's 230,000 permanent [...]

The number of prime mortgages facing foreclosure has shot up 425 percent since 2008 due to falling home values and rising unemployment. Many of those prime borrowers facing foreclosure are choosing to "strategically default" on their home mortgages. But how does a homeowner facing foreclosure strategically default the smart way? First let's take a look [...]

If you're facing foreclosure then you have probably considered a loan modification or bankruptcy. First off, it's important that every debtor be fully prepared when applying for a loan modification and that they mentally and financial prepare themselves for the possibility of not winning the mortgage modification.  What this means is that if you find [...]

The Federal Trade Commission has banned eight individuals and companies from selling foreclosure rescue services and ordered them to return $29.2 million in fees that they collected from distressed homeowners under the guise of rescuing their home from foreclosure. The following companies and individuals have been sanctioned by the FTC: Steven Oscherowitz, and the firm [...]

Currently, bankruptcy judges do not have the power to modify the principal of residential mortgages during Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  But many on Capitol Hill are suggesting that the Senate may revisit mortgage modifications that include the reduction of principal (aka cramdowns) in the near future.  Many analysts are saying that bankruptcy cramdowns [...]

When facing foreclosure, homeowners can become desperate and do things that not only fail to save their home from foreclosure; but that could also further damage their finances.  Below are three things that you should never do to save your home from foreclosure: Liquidate your retirement account.  While it may seem to make sense when [...]