Northern California Mortgage Mods » Support for the Act

Oakland foreclosure prevention workshop April 29

Cathy Moran — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:44:58 +0000

Foreclosure prevention and coping with foreclosure, either as a homeowner or a tenant, will be the focus of a workshop in Oakland Wednesday April 29th.

The workshop will be held at the West Oakland Teen Center from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

More details when I can find them.

Meantime, it appears that the mortgage modification bill may come up in the Senate for a vote next week. Bank opposition is threatening its defeat. Be heard.

Bay Area foreclosure help fair Thursday

Cathy Moran — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:53:28 +0000

Foreclosure prevention counseling, credit counseling, and loan modification help will be available at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds noon to five p.m. April 23rd.

The event is sponsored by the City of San Jose’s housing department and other local housing organizations. Homeowners are asked to bring their original loan documents, bank statements, mortgage statements, tax returns and paystubs.

More information is available at www.foreclosurehelpsc.org or at 408 794-1242.

Debunking arguments against mortgage modification

Cathy Moran — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:20:41 +0000

Giving bankruptcy judges the same right to help families with underwater home mortgages as investors now have will not create a flood of bankruptcy cases. Yet this is one of the arguments that opponents to S. 61 bandy about as a reason to kill the bill.

I see financially struggling families day in and day out about filing bankruptcy. They would rather be anywhere but in my office. Too often, they have let pride or irrational optimism keep them from exploring bankruptcy relief. They are reluctant to even learn about bankruptcy, much less make the decision to file.

I counseled three different new clients this week to stop paying on their credit cards as we prepared for bankruptcy. All three were horrified; two burst into tears at the thought of not paying what they owed. The instinct and the desire to pay what they owe is deep rooted in almost all consumers. Those who predict a flood of casual, opportunistic bankruptcy filers if mortgage modification becomes possible simply haven’t talked to real people in debt lately.

If there is going to be a flood of bankruptcies, it is because families have exhausted every financial source they have to keep their home: cash from credit cards; loans from 401(k); payday loans. The list goes on.

The availability of a bankruptcy discharge doesn’t cause bankruptcy; debt and despair cause bankruptcy.

How much better off would families be if bankruptcy could produce a real solution to the untenable home mortgage? Right now, the prosperous can cram down the mortgage on the vacation home or the rental properties. Why is the homeowner the only one barred from this relief?

Bankruptcy Judges Support Mortgage Modification

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:39:13 +0000

The National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges has come out in favor of the “Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy act of 2009.” This isn’t really very surprising – the bill will give the judges the discretion to modify a house payment and save countless homes from foreclosure. At the same time, it will allow more people to succeed in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

What is newsworthy, however, is that the Judges wrote a letter to Senator Durbin and Congressman Connors, authors of the bills pending in their respective branches of Congress. The letter asks that the language of the act be clarified in several areas before it becomes law.

The judges want to try and avoid a long series of lawsuits interpreting the new act should it pass. By fixing the language before it leaves Congress, confusion and ambiguity can be avoided.

No doubt, the judges want to avoid the confusion of interpretation surrounding BAPCA, the new Bankruptcy act that went into effect in October 2005. That piece of legislation is inundated with ambiguous, contradictory and confusing language. Wouldn’t it be nice to avoid that kind of thing by allowing the judges who will need to implement this new law help in structuring it?