Here’s a list of loan modification do’s and don’ts to help you avoid common pitfalls.

Do know your rights.

More than 80% of mortgage contracts violate one or more lending laws—and most of them go unnoticed. But these violations can be your biggest weapon in the loan modification process. They can give you the leverage you need to negotiate with your lender and stop foreclosure. Your loan modification attorney can help you understand your rights and use them to get the results you want.

Don’t wait too long.

The foreclosure process is designed so that you have time to get back on your feet and save your home. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe to procrastinate. The longer you wait, the harder it gets to get you out of that fix. As soon as you decide you need mortgage help, call for a loan modification help and get started.

Do work with your lawyer.

Your Home Loan Modification doesn’t rest in the hands of your lender, your broker, or your loan modification attorney. These people can help, but you have to do your part and cooperate with your lawyer. Make sure to submit your paperwork on time, answer questions honestly, and give them a clear picture of your financial situation.

Don’t file for bankruptcy, unless you really have to.

Many people think that filing for bankruptcy can help them stop foreclosure. But data from the American Bar Association shows that it doesn’t work that way. In fact, 96% of the people who file bankruptcy end up losing their homes anyway—so they’re left with a foreclosure AND a bankruptcy on their records. In some cases, bankruptcy is still a viable option, but don’t make any decisions without getting professional advice.

Do have a backup plan.

Not all people will qualify for a mortgage loan modification. Maybe you’ve fallen too far behind, your lender may be simply hard to work with, or maybe you don’t need it after all. In any case, it’s always good to have a Plan B. Your mortgage modification attorney can help you find the best solution.

If you can’t get your loan modified, talk to your lawyer about a short sale. This involves selling your home for less than its fair market value and giving the proceeds to your lender. Although you still lose your home, it’s not as damaging to your credit as foreclosure, so it’s easier to get back on your feet.

As a civil litigation attorney and litigation defense attorney in Palm Springs, San Diego, Newport Beach, Orange County, Santa Ana, Riverside, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, Indio, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and from courts all over California, you learn there are some questions you should never ask, or ask again. And then there are some questions you hear once in awhile that cause the entire courtroom to either go silent or break out in laughter. At the very least, most of these questions will certainly confuse the witness.

“Just how old were you really on your twenty-fifth birthday?”

“Can you see without your glasses or your teeth?”

“What was the defendant doing while you were in the bathroom?”

“Do you still feel you are brain damaged?”

“Where did you live in town after you moved away?”

“What don’t you know about the accident and when did you find out?”

“Just when did you realize you hadn’t been killed in the accident?”

“You’re just saying that to confuse me, or is that your normal way of talking?”

“Did you look at the defendant when you saw him?”

“Can you describe what you didn’t see?”

“Was that when you were in a coma or had you already left the hospital?”

“Are you qualified to be an expert or is there somebody else more qualified to make that conclusion?”

“I think we all know who will be the jury of that, right Judge?”

“Could you repeat that again for those who heard it the first time?”

“I see you have clothes on today.”

“What do you mean exactly by that particular phrase you elucidated?”

“Could you be more specific than “I don’t remember?”

“And what time was it by the watch you weren’t wearing?”

“Do you have a first name, John?”

“Do you consider yourself to be an honest or a dishonest person when you promise to tell the truth?”

“Have you ever lied to anyone before today?”

“Have you ever driven drunk before the accident?”

“And how many teeth would you estimate you have?”

“Are you able to touch your nose and walk a straight line better today than you were on the date of the accident?”

“Can you estimate how many wives you have?”

“Do you consider yourself to be as honest as the Judge in this courtroom?”

“Have you been practicing what you wouldn’t say today?”

“And exactly when did you come up with a conclusion that would make sense?”

“We’ve never met before today, except for that time in Vegas, have we?”

“Have you ever been to Vegas?”

“Does your wife know about that trip?”

“What caused you to be a child when you were that age?”

“Did you eventually become an adult?”

“Do you know what questions I’m going to be asking you to give me answers to or are you just guessing?”

“You seem confusing. Are you speaking too fast or would you like me to slow down?”

Get Education on Your Rights -Read and Know Before You Do Anything.

Hire a Qualified and Licensed Attorney for Your Loan Modification

The last 5 years is nothing but violations of all kinds of laws including TILA, RESPA and HOEPA by all kinds of lenders including the big lenders. My bad list of lenders include Countrywide, WAMU, and of course Citi. City has already eaten up 40 billion of federal money, and is still teetering on the brinks of a disaster. They are also at the same most arrogant and unhelpful lenders. Most of the foreclosure mess is created by these bankers, including of course many small bankers. They over qualified people who could not handle the burden of loan. These folks should not have been home buyers in the first place. The example, I give quite often is of my son is 10 years old and is in 5th grade. I give him one dollar every day for his allowance. Imagine if I start giving him instead $100 every day for his pocket allowance. It would spoil him in less than one month and show him how to be financially irresponsible. It is another thing if I open a saving account and put $100 in his account every day. Of course that would be a fantastic idea for his college education and bright future.

There is No More Waiting Required— You Waited Long Enough.

The foreclosure process is designed so that you have time to get back on your feet and save your home. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe to procrastinate. The longer you wait, the harder it gets to get you out of that fix. As soon as you decide you need mortgage help, call for a loan modification help and get started.

Who Else But a Qualified Attorney?

Your lenders policies have hurt you too much. Your broker (former) and loan officer along with mortgage bankers and all the other allied people have hurt you much. IN fact, this foreclosure fiasco was caused originally by combination of all these folks and their unlimited greed. Don’t let them continue this game. We all are hurt by this collective deceptive practice. So let us work together and stop it.

Don’t file for bankruptcy, unless you really have to.

Filing bankruptcy is not a solution; at the most it would delay the process. In some cases, it would jeopardize your loan modification process. Remember Automatic Stay under bankruptcy and then affirmation of debts. They are time consuming things. You lose the leverage and deterrence of bankruptcy to use in your loan modification. I never file bankruptcy before loan modification. In fact, in my law office, I keep them separate and never unify them. Because of the knowledge of bankruptcy, foreclosure, and loan modification: an attorney can be uniquely qualified to cover all these areas and knowledge of all these areas, would be very helpful. Just don’t file bankruptcy at the very outset. It may give some time but it is not the solution. Also, please don’t file bankruptcy just for your home loan unless you have lots of unsecured debts

Do Have Any Alternative Plan.

Why Do Lenders Prefer Loan Mod Over Foreclosure?

-Loan Modification is a temporary help. Get qualified for this. There is nothing to be embarrassing in all this issue. Lots of these things had happened out of our control.

-Your lenders are still difficult to work with; they have built fireballs around which you have to cross.  The secret is that by doing loan modification they are helping themselves. On a cost benefit analysis, they lose more money in a foreclosure. It saves money, and this is a time tested factor that lenders save money on loan modification and lose money in foreclosure.

Let us analyze the situation here in greater details.

• Loan modification is cheaper. They deal with one borrower only and not a plethora of people like default agency, governmental agencies, and the auctioneer and furthermore a new person in the entity who is stills an unknown commodity.
• A loan modification takes place in 30 or 60 days while the foreclosure process is long and it has its statutory limitations.
• The paperwork is less in loan modification compared with foreclosure process. In foreclosure, your lender will assess all kinds of late payments, expenses and attorney fees, and of course a repair for the home to make it at least presentable. All these add up in the cost to lender.
• Your lender is tired of foreclosing home. They have a high list of REO properties, and no one is buying them.
• A loan modification process can slow down your foreclosure process but it is not a safe guarantee against the foreclosure.
• However, as long as borrower is talking, communicating with their lenders, they would not or at least hesitate to send their home to the auction block. Ideally speaking, don’t sit and wait for this time to come.
• Do something now. It is the time. It is your home. Find someone who is professionally qualified to help you. It is your local attorney who has a local office, easy to find and communicate and licensed in the State of Nevada.

1. Put everything on paper. It’s not uncommon for lenders, especially smaller ones, to lose track of your application. To prevent delays, make sure all your efforts are documented and kept on file. This includes all the calls you make and receive, both from your lender and loan modification attorney. Keep receipts of all your transactions, and make copies so you don’t have to let go of the originals.

2. Do your own financial statements. Part of every home loan modification is a financial worksheet, which will be your main basis for qualification. Most lenders have their own forms, but it won’t hurt to make your own as well. If your lender insists on using their worksheet, at least you’ll have all the information ready.

3. Be as detailed as possible. Too much information is better than too little, and it limits the chances that they’ll call you for more information. A typical worksheet for a mortgage home work modification will include the following:

• -Your contact information (address, home phone and work phone, fax and email)
• -Information about your property, including the estimated value
• -Your current income
• -Any additional income, such as welfare, child support, etc.
• -Your estimated total value, including other assets such as real estate, savings and checking accounts, IRAs, 401(k), stocks and bonds.

-Liabilities, such as existing loans monthly bills, medical expenses, and tax liens

4. Keep all your bills. Keep track of all of your bills in a methodical order. Make sure you write down your grocery bill, your utilities, including water, power, gas, and trash charges. Now, add on your monthly bill of HOA, any other community charges, your insurance charges, your child support, and other alimony issues or legal expenses. Possibly, a positive cash statements would be an ideal one to work with banks.

Is Colorado a community property state?
What does community property mean exactly? Community Property States Community property states treat marital income differently than other states (which are sometimes called common law states). As a result, the tax law has special rules for community income. The IRS Restructuring and Revision Act of 1998 revised the treatment of spousal liability, and.

Is there common law marriage in texas, if so?
if common law marriage still stands in the state of texas whats the statue limitations? Texas (and most states) do not recognize common law marriages. A handful of states recognize domestic partnerships (e.g. California) or civil unions (e.g. Vermont). The courts in a small number of states will give some.

Just curious, what happened to rule of law?
It got thrown out All courts – including common law courts – were required to become courts of record and thus under the control of the state or federal government and no longer common The last courts converted in 1938 – since then we have been dealing with public policy.

PA common law marriage?
Is it 7 years, 1 year or non existant? For relationships entered into after 2005, it is non-existant. Before that it is a mystery — there have been a lot of changes: ‘The situation in Pennsylvania became unclear in 2003 when an intermediate appellate court purported to abolish common-law marriage (PNC Bank Corporation v. Workers’.

i am trying to find info on squatters rights whast the laws are and in what states thank you?
What you are referring to is adverse posession, which is part of common law and thus exists in all of the common law states. Giving you the exact details of the laws in all of the states would be.

Statue limation laws?
I assume you are meaning Statute of Limitations, but don’t know which you are referring to, so here is a generalization of what they are. A statute of limitations is a statute in a common law legal system that sets forth the maximum period of time, after certain events, that legal proceedings based on those.

The common law status in nc, I’ve lived with my friend for approx 6 yrs, he promised to marry but ex would not
2yrs together, one year apart, he calls me back, I return because of his declining health, he’s always been blind in left eye and wore two hearing aides, I’ve always tried to protect him because of.

What are the criteria for common law marriages in Ontario, Canada?
The woman gets everything. – Three years of living together continuously (with exception to a few days) and/or a child together. – In Ontario, the Ontario Family Law Act specifically recognizes common law spouses in sec. 29 dealing with spousal support issues; the requirements are living together.

What is a common law marriage?? Does it differ from state to state?? Does Ohio have common law marriage??
Ohio does not have common law marriages and has not since 1991, and yes, whether or not they are recognized varies depending on which state a person resides in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/common-law_.common law – When I lived in Alabama.

What is ‘common law’?
What is ‘common law’? Originally there really was one set of laws for commoners and one for royalty. The term is usually associated in the U.S. with ‘common Law Marriage’ which means two people have lived together without getting married for a length of time, usually 7 years. Those cases used to be recognized as.

What is it called when a ex-friend ask you for money or he will sue you?
Extortion or blackmail, as stated above; however, if he sues you, you can sue back on these two theories: 1. Malicious Civil Prosecution: Malicious prosecution is a common law intentional tort. While similar to the tort of abuse of process, its elements.

When did california legalize cohabiting between a man and woman?
trying to find statistical info and fun factoids on cohabiting laws in the United States. beyond the fact that seven states still have anti-cohabiting laws. I don’t know why people are talking about common law marriage. Your question concerns criminalization of cohabitation, and, anyway, there has never been any.

I have lived with a man for 5yrs. Is that considered a common law marriage?
would help if you posted the state. it very’s from state to state. if you use his lastnname or tell people yall are married then yes. – Yes, after six months here in Texas it’s common law. – each state is different. in.

i need to find some legal advice?
need legal advice in contract law with landlord and tenant issues. Landlord-tenant law governs the rental of commercial and residential property. It is composed primarily of state statutory and common law. A number of states have based their statutory law on either the Uniform Residential Landlord And Tenant Act (URLTA) (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uniform/vol7.html#lndtn) or.

Why is the United States a ‘common law country’?
Why is the United States a ‘common law country’? It isn’t. – Britain is a common law country, the US has a constitutional system. The U.S. has by and large replaced all common law rules with statute. – Because most of our laws come from a judge and not a.

I was dumped after 9 years of living with my x afte raising his 3 kids?
he left me with nothing. I have no car no nothing at 40 . Living with my parents.ug..while he is living large in California do i have any rights as far as common law marriage. NO..this is what I found: ‘If my partner.

If someone’s Copyright on something expires.can another person get it copyrighted immediately?
No. Period of copyright is only for 50 years. After that it cannot be issued again. – i think so – No. It goes into the Public Domain, where anyone can use it without royalty. – Generally not. There are common law rights too, ‘moral rights’.

If you live with someone for 5 yrs, are you married to them? Isnt it called common law marriage?
in some states you could spend one night with some one and tell people you were married and that would make you common law. but almost all the states have done away with it. in georgia they stoped it.

I’m looking for a sight that states the common law marriage laws of Texas?
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/FA/content/pdf/fa.001.00.000002.00.pdf Here’s the PDF file and here is the family code link http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/fa.toc.htm – http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/FA/content/htm/fa.001.00.000002.00.htm – A ‘common law marriage’ is one in which the parties may hold themselves out as a husband and wife, and under certain circumstances, be deemed married without a.

I’m looking for common law marriage lists in the state on Kansas-Leavenworth County?
I need to find out if a person is listed as common law married back in 1999 or 2000, or even before since 1998. – Ha! I doubt there are any lists. First of all you have to find out if common-law marriages were even legal.

In Arkansas, how many years to be considered ‘common law’ spouse?
Lived together in domestic situation for 6 years, married for last 3 years, total time together = 9 years.now divorcing.because we weren’t married when most of the property was bought, and it was all in his name, do I have ANY rights regarding ownership? No prenup (silly me!?!).

In Kansaw Law does a common law husband have the same rights as married?
Like to know any answers to question rights? ha ha ha. whatever gave you the idea that husbands of any kind have rights? – Kansas: For a man and woman to form a common-law marriage, they must: (1) have the mental capacity to marry; (2).

Is common law marriage still common law marriage if you live in your parent’s house and not your own?
My boyfriend and I have been living together for over two years but in my dad’s house, if we don’t have our own place that is ours could we still be considered married? Under TX law, both parties must (1).

is common law marriage still in affect in the state of california?
No. (and yes) Common law marriage was abolished in California sometime around 1927. However, if people get married outside of California according to the laws where they are, and those laws include ‘common law’ marriage, then that marriage (including a ‘common law’ one), will be recognized.

Is it possible that Howard K Stern and Anna Nicole Smith are legally married under common law?
The rules about common law marriage vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with some states recognizing it and others not recognizing it. However, assuming they lived in a state that recognizes common law marriage, they were not (so far as I know).

My husband married me not realizing his common law marriage in TX was legal.Can he be charged with bigomy inAR
Can he be charged with bigomy in AR & what type of charges or penalties would he face? Yes, he can get charged with bigamy. The best thing to do is going to a well versed lawyer and finding.

UK Is there any such thing as common law rights?
Have lived with my partner for over two years now in his house. What does the law say regarding splitting up? Do I have any rights? How fast do I have to move out? There are obligations on unmarried parents to provide child support maintenance for the children of.

what are the differences between common law, civil law and Islamic law?
Common law is laws in effect before writing was common, basically laws based on long used ideas of right and wrong. Civil laws are those that are enacted by a government (non criminal law) basically rules how we interact with each other Islamic law, is law.

What are the laws regarding insider trading?
Is there a window of time when it is legal? For instance, 24-72 hours following earnings. Insider trading ceases to be insider trading when it is disclosed to the public. However, who is an insider is a function of the common law of the Federal jurisdiction you are in. For example, Martha.

what determines commonlaw in the state of North Carolina?
Common Laws are laws that have not been codified, i.e. passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor. Common Laws are based upon court decisions or customs and usages. If something ‘has alwasy been done this way,’ it could be considered common law. But common law.

Can a person file another person in a bi-racial relationship because it can’t be common law marriage?
My grandma and her so called man lives in Columbia South Carolina but the thing is they can’t be consider as common law because my grandma is african-american and her man is caucasion but they been living together for 16 years and.

More Common law questions please visit : LawFreeFAQ.com