Foreclosure Review Deadline Extension and Details Released

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), one of the Federal regulators that took enforcement action against large residential mortgage servicers for unsafe and unsound practices related to residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing, announced today that they have extended the deadline for borrowers to request an Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) until September 30^th, 2012.

This announcement is so new that as of today, even the official IFR website still states that the deadline is July 31^st.

More importantly, the OCC and the Fed have released a “Financial Remediation Framework” document which outlines the possible remedies borrowers can expect to receive - and the financial compensation they may be eligible for - as a result of the IFR process.

For months, consumers and their advocates have asked us - why bother??  And now the answer is clear... the financial 'remedy' consumers may receive if the independent review finds that their lender committed an error in their foreclosure process can be SUBSTANTIAL - - Up to $125,000 plus equity losses!

For additional information about IFR... view our past blog posts here and here.

If you were in the foreclosure process in 2009 or 2010... don't let this opportunity slip by.  Contact us today to learn more.

Independent Foreclosure Reviews

Banks have begun complying with enforcement action.  Homeowners may be able to receive compensation on foreclosures conducted in 2009 and 2010


Under enforcement actions taken by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve, and Office of Thrift Supervision, more than a dozen large mortgage servicers are required to correct a number of problems with their servicing, loss mitigation and foreclosure processes.  These servicers are also required to engage independent firms to conduct reviews of foreclosure activities that took place during 2009 and 2010. 


Borrowers are eligible to submit a Request for Review to the independent consultants IF:

1. their loan was serviced by one of the 14 servicers or their affiliates (see list below), 
2. the property is, or was, their primary residence, and 
3. their loan was “active in the foreclosure process” between 1/1/2009 and 12/31/2010.
   
   Active in the process can mean:

• Sheriff’s sale occurred on the property
• Loan was referred to foreclosure but the sale did not take place due to a payment plan, modification, or non-retention option; and 
• Loans were referred to foreclosure but are still in delinquency.

BE CAREFUL!!
National media outreach will begin soon, and millions of homeowners will be notified by mail about the review process and will receive instructions for submitting a five-page Request for Review Form. As with any major announcement of this kind, we anticipate a number of copycat services and scams to pop up.


The independent reviews are free of charge and homeowners should never have to pay for foreclosure intervention services. 


If anyone asks you to pay for their help with a review... or sends you to a website other than the national website that has been set up by the OCC, be careful... it might be a scam!


The national website is: http://www.independentforeclosurereview.com/


Additional Information:
Requests for Review must be received by April 30, 2012. The independent consultants will confirm receipt of the form within one week, though the full reviews are expected to take several months to complete. The consultants will evaluate whether the homeowner suffered financial injury through servicer errors, misrepresentations or deficiencies in their foreclosure practices. In cases where findings indicate a homeowner suffered financial injury as a result of servicer practices, compensation or other remedies will be provided. The exact form of remediation is uncertain.


A copy of the OCC news release is here. 


Participating Lenders and Servicers (As of 11/2/2011)
     America’s Servicing Co.
     Aurora Loan Services
     Bank of America
     Beneficial
     Chase
     Citibank
     CitiFinancial
     CitiMortgage
     Countrywide
     EMC
     EverBank/EverHome Mortgage Company
     GMAC Mortgage
     HFC
     HSBC
     IndyMac Mortgage Services
     MetLife Bank
     National City Mortgage
     PNC Mortgage
     Sovereign Bank
     SunTrust Mortgage
     U.S. Bank
     Wachovia Mortgage
     Washington Mutual (WaMu)
     Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

As always... if you have any questions about this Independent Foreclosure Review or are looking for ways to prevent the foreclosure of your home, contact a FREE, Non-Profit foreclosure prevention counselor that is a member of the Homeownership Advisors Network!  To find your local counselor, click here.

EMHI Lunch & Learn at the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis

The Minnesota Home Ownership Center is pleased to announce that the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will be hosting an upcoming luncheon training on:

The impact of, and response to, industry forces on homeownership in Emerging Markets

Speakers at the "Lunch & Learn" will include the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Narayana Kocherlakota, and Shana M. Ford, M&I Bank Vice-President and Branch Manager for the MN Region on Diversity & inclusion.

Tuesday, April 5th 11am – 1pm
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

 



EMHI, the Emerging Markets Homeownership Initiative, is a program of the Minnesota Home Ownership Center designed to increase homeownership opportunities for Minnesota’s emerging markets. The program grew out of the state’s EMHI business plan launched by Governor Pawlenty in 2004.  The goal of EMHI is to promote parity in homeownership rates among Minnesota's diverse populations.  For more information about EMHI or EMHI programming, visit the MN Home Ownership Center's website, here. 

What A Difference A Decade Makes

I recently came accross a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Fransisco entitled "Underwater Mortgages" where the authors,  John Krainer and Stephen LeRoy, attempt to determine the point at which underwater borrowers decide to throw in the towel and walk away from their homes.

While the article has some interesting information about the 'boiling point', I found that two of the images that accompany the report are just as interesting for people working in housing in Minnesota.

The first image shows the share of underwater mortgages in the fourth quarter of 2000:

(Click To Enlarge)

According to the figure, in the fourth quarter of 2000, Minnesota was one of only a dozen states where the share of 'underwater' mortgages was less than one tenth of one percent! (between 0% and 0.1%).


However, by fourth quarter 2009, our rate of negative equity homeowners had increased to between 6% and 10%:

(Click To Enlarge)

Interestingly... NO STATE was in the 0%-0.1% category by the end of the 'aughts'.

The complete report is here.

HopeNow Borrower Workshop - Resource Listing

As we've stated in other blog posts, the Center is proud to participate with the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank (Fed), NeighborWorks America & the HopeNow alliance to co-host a foreclosure prevention workshop in St. Paul.

As a reminder, the workshop will be held at the RiverCentre in St. Paul on June 4th.

In addition to the 'standard' resources available at a HopeNow event... where homeowners who are either falling behind, or in danger of falling behind, on the mortgage can speak one-on-one with their servicer or lender - AND - speak with a non-profit housing counselor, the St. Paul event goes one step further.

At the event, while homeowners are waiting to speak with a counselor or their servicer, they will be able to visit a resource fair as well. Resource providers include agencies and organizations that can assist distressed homeowners with repair/rehab issues, energy assistance, taxpayer services, employment assistance, food assistance and many others.

For a complete list of resources, visit the HopeNow Event page of the Center's website here.

The page also lists additional information about the workshop... including a list of non-profit counseling agencies that will be participating. A list of all lenders and servicers will be included as soon as it becomes available.

Hope Now Information Session - Deadline April 8

This is just a reminder that the deadline to register for the information session at the Federal Reserve Bank for the upcoming HOPE NOW Workshop is Wednesday, April 8th, 2009.

The information session will be held on Monday April 13th.

Topics include:

• Additional information about the upcoming HOPE NOW Workshop at the St. Paul RiverCentre on June 4th
• Information about the foreclosure crisis in Minnesota
• Strategies to ensure that the workshop meets the needs of YOUR clients
• Strategies to best reach YOUR clients/constituents

Remember, space is limited and registration is required. If you would like to attend the Informational Meeting on April 13, or would like to request additional information about the meeting, contact:

Jackie Gausvik at (612) 204-5869 or
jacqueline.gausvik@mpls.frb.org by April 8.

Hope Now Workshop - Informational Session

The Minnesota Home Ownership Center is pleased to announce that, in partnership with the Hope Now Initiative and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, there will be a HOPE NOW BORROWER WORKSHOP held on June 4th at the St. Paul River Centre.

Homeowners will be able to meet with their lenders (we expect more than a dozen national lenders and servicers to attend) talk with foreclosure prevention counselors, and visit a homeownership resource fair.

The workshop will be free and open to the public. We hope to serve more than 1,500 homeowners at the event.

If you are encountering distressed homeowners in your line of work, you are invited to join us at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis on April 13 to hear more about the Hope Now workshop, underlying foreclosure crisis, and the availability of existing foreclosure intervention services in Minnesota. We will ask for your help in strategizing ways to ensure that the workshop meets the needs of your clients, and how to best reach those clients.

If you have provided assistance to distressed homeowners, your input will be valuable in helping us identify what additional resources to make available at the event.

Space at the April 13th informational session is limited.

For additional information, including how to register for the info session, please view the complete invitation here.