We are a full service law firm in Midwilshire, Los Angeles, dedicated to helping homeowners to avoid foreclosures by way of loan modification through agressive negotiation with the lenders. We use the latest consumer protections statutes, both federal and state, to find lender violations of RESPA, HOEPA, TILA as well as California Business and Finance Code, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Collection Practices Act. Loan contracts, often predatory in nature, contain numerous violations such as:
a. failure to provide Good Faith Estimates within 3 days of the loan application,
b. failure to verify affordabiltiy of the mortgages if "Stated Income" was used by lenders to qualify loans,
c. failure to provide 5 major foreign language translations of the material credit terms (Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog) before entering in to the loan contracts in Egnlish,
d. failure to disclose all 3 credit bureau scores;
e. Excessive origination and other closing costs (more than 8% of the loan amount);
f. failure to provide 2 original Notice of Right of Rescission to all entitled;
g. general failure to disclose material terms of the loan by using "Switch and Bait" scams.
Lenders are under federal and state directives to modify loans and are actually lowering interest rates and reducing principal amounts of mortgages now.
Under the new foreclosure laws effective 09/06/2008, in California, lenders must give a new notice of foreclosure before filing Notice of Default and wait 30 days. Also, they must contact the borrowers in person or by telephone, and assess their financial situation, and attempt to modify mortgage to prevent foreclosures. This is now a legal requirement for banks before they could foreclose your home. If they have filed Notice of Default or Notice of Sale after 09/06/08 without discussing foreclosure avoidance plan, then they have breached their obligations under the law. You could actualy stop the foreclosures by obtaining a court injunction against wrongful foreclosures. Banks will generally be inclined to settle such suits by accepting livable terms of the home mortgage for you and your family.
Next, banks many consider various hardships that befell upon you such as divorce, injury, relocation, job loss and other catastrophes beyond your control. In such a case, we could put together convincing and financially correct modification applications demonstrating your current ability to pay amounts so that the monthly payments as well as any defaulted amounts could be either forgiven or re-amortized into the loan. We have financial professionals, including ex-bankers, mortgage brokers and loan consultants to work as a team to put together the best hardship based loan modification applications.
Banks' willingness to assist the home owners have become increasingly easier to come by, due to the avalanche of bank failures at alarming rates. Federal government has accelerated its pressure upon lenders to stop or to refrain from foreclosures, if at all possible, as foreclosures further cause home prices to plummet, cut off cash flow to banks, create dangerous conditions with unoccupied houses, and let already-depressed economy further sprial down in an uncontrollable abyss.
The most important thing for you the home owner to do is to open up a dialogue with your mortage lenders. Come talk to us and we will start up that conversation with your bank. Lenders such as Countrywide, previously sued by California Attorney General for predatory lending, along with Bank of America, who purchased the servicing rights of Countrywide, has put a voluntary moratorium on foreclosures and is actively engaging in various forms of loan modifications. Other banks are following suits.
Time is not on your side, however. As soon as the housing market stabilizes through agressive anti-foreclosure policies and massive bail-out funding, your opportunity to re-write the terms of your mortgage may cease for good. You need to act now.
Loan Modification requires serious professionals who know how to deal with the lenders in today's harsh housing market climate. If you are behind in your home mortgage payments or find it hard to keep up after the rates have reset, please call us at 213-639-3888. Or, please e-mail with your specific situations to michaelkang@choicelaw.org; maria@choicelaw.org. Additional Services that we can offer:
- Credit Card Debt Negotiations;
- Ch. 7 and Ch. 13 Bankruptcy (By law, all junior liens on homes under water, or higher motgage balances than value of homes can be "lien stripped");
- Credit Score improvements through Fair Credit Reporting Act;
- Extension or delay of eviction through strategic eviction defense and/or bankruptcy.
Please Call for free consultation today. We'll review all your bills and foreclosure notices to figure out the best way to proceed.
Law Offices of Gene W. Choe, P.C
3699 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 720
Los Angeles, California 90010
Phone: 213-639-3888
Toll-Free: 866-932-7812
Fax: 213-383-8280
