Do you need to lower your interest rates on your mortgage ?

Do you need help negotiating with your mortgage company?

Do you have a Notice of Foreclosure or a Trustee Sale Date ?

Let us know your goal and we will try to find a way to help you.  In some cases we have persuaded the lender to reduce the interest rate by several points. Please be advised that the outcome for every case is different and we treat every case individually.

Even though it is possible a principal reduction of the loan is rather rare and it is more likely to accomplish an interest rate reduction and a longer loan term to lower the monthly payments.

It is a great advantage to have a bankruptcy lawyer negotiate the loan modification or short sale on your behalf. Banks take a bankruptcy attorney seriously, knowing that the attorney can take legal action to accomplish the same results through legal procedures.

A few of the banks we negotiate with are:

Bank of America (formerly Countrywide), Chase (formerly Washington Mutual), EMC, GMAC, Indymac, Litton Loans, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Citi Mortgage, Sun Trust, U.S. Bank, National City, HSBC Bank, J.P. Morgan, Bank One, Golden One Credit Union, CLC Loan Servicing Company, PNC, California Bank & Trust, Iron Stone Bank, Union Bank of California, First Republic Bank,  and many more.

We have noticed that this year loan modifications tend to take longer often many months. Most of the times the banks now only offer three months temporary loan modifications and after three months require the borrower to reapply and resubmit their financial information in hopes to obtain a permanent modification.

Obama Rescue Plan

Congress  is considering a law that would give Bankruptcy Judges the power to lower mortgages and principal balances of loans through a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. I noticed that most banks are refusing to do loan modifications in large numbers under the Obama Plan (HAMP program).

Our Services: Loan Modification and Short Sale

Depending on the clients financial situation Barrister Law Group advises clients on their chances for success with a loan modification, a short sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Our clients are in very stressful situations and need personal legal service and excellent communication by the attorney.

Georgia Loan Modification Lawyer

As a Georgia Loan Modification Lawyer we advise you how to negotiate with your lender (and if you have several mortgages with all your lenders) to lower your monthly payments to an amount that is affordable. During your no charge consultation we evaluate your financial situation, factoring in the value of your home and the interest rate and amount of the loan. We give you our legal opinion as to your chances for success. There are new rules about who qualifies for a loan modification set by the Government’s Housing Rescue Plan. We work with these rules but we know from experience that there are other possibilities to get a loan modification even if you do not fit the government’s criteria.

Original Note, Qualified Written Request and Quiet Title Action

A relatively new strategy is to force the bank to produce the original note for the loan by sending a qualified written request to the bank. If the bank cannot produce the original note it may make sense to sue the bank to quiet title with the goal to remove the mortgage from the original records. It is not yet clear how judges will react in the different courts and local knowledge of the judges and courts is required. Often the threat of costly litigation may motivate the bank to agree to a significant loan modification. Call us for more detailed information about this new area.

Please be advised that even though produce the note may be a strategy it is too early to tell whether it will work. We are not doing this type of negotiation at this time having had the experience that we get more when we negotiate amicably with the lender and present the clients financial information in a way the lender wants to see.

It’s all about the numbers

Having done negotiations with so many lenders we have a good idea about what financial numbers will get our client into the door at the bank. Once you are  pre-approved, by presenting the your finances in a way the bank wants to see you can move on to negotiate with loss mitigation. Many people submit their income and expenses to the customer service people and get denied right over the phone. Often this can be avoided by analyzing the numbers and making some adjustments before the package is being submitted. It breaks my heart that often the people who are suffering the most are also being denied the most by the bank. Often I can help by advising the client to resubmitt the same numbers but presented in a different way.

Georgia Short Sale Attorney

Barrister Law Group knows that it is important that an attorney review the short sale agreements that are negotiated with the lenders. You must be careful before signing any agreements with the bank that give the bank the legal right to go after you once the house has been sold in a short sale. I have seen first-hand that some lenders tried to have a client sign a promissory note for the balance of the loan not covered by the short sale purchase price. Avoiding those pitfalls is crucial to make a short sale work for you. Please be advised that not always do we get the mortgage company to issue a written release agreement which memorialzes that the bank relinquishes it’s potential right to sue the borrower personally.

Do you owe income Taxes or did you get a 1099 ?

When you do a short sale you may owe income taxes after the short sale is completed. The lender forgives the debt but the IRS may demand that you pay income taxes on the amount that was forgiven. Often people owe thousands of dollars after they short sold their house. Give us a call before you do a short sale. See a tax professional to find out if you owe income taxes or whether you fall under one of the exceptions such the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 or under the insolvency exception.

Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007

Not every home owner will be issued a 1099 after a short sale. There are loopholes. In today’s economy we are able to use these exceptions for most of our clients. Even if the house you are short selling is not your primary residence but an investment property such as a rental property we may be able to find an exception to the income tax burden. This is a complicated and new tax law and not familiar to loan modification companies or even to many attorneys.

Benefits of a Short Sale

Short sales make sense if you do not want to or you cannot keep the house. You can have one or several mortgages. All lenders must agree to forgive the amount of loan that is not covered by the sale price. You will walk away free and clear if the short sale agreement has been negotiated appropriately by an attorney who has experience in this field of law. Just walking away from the home is not an option in most cases. Especially if you have a home equity line of credit, the lenders have the right to pursue legal action against you even if you walked away from your home or if your home has been foreclosed. We will look at your legal rights and liabilities in our free consultation.

The Obama Rescue Plan –What you should know

You only get one shot to modify your loan

The plan may help up to 5 million people to refinance their mortgages and another 3 million people to modify their loans.

Am I eligible ?

To qualify you have to show that you earn enough income to pay the modified loan. The plan does not address the problems of the people who got laid off due to the economic downturn.

Your mortgage, property taxes and insurance payments combined must exceed more than 31% of your monthly gross income. Included is only the payments for the first mortgage.

If all of your monthly debt payments, including credit card payments, are over 55% of your monthly income you will first have to talk to a counselor who is approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. You must prove with an affidavit that you received counseling.

The loan must have been originated before January 2009.

The program will last until December 31, 2012.

You have only one shot to modify your loan.

You must live in the home.

Your loan must be under $417,000.00 or if you live in a higher cost area under $729,750.00. If the home has two or four units, higher loan amounts qualify.

You have to establish your financial hardship with a hardship letter. Retirement savings do not have to be shown as assets that could be used to pay the mortgage.

You do not need to be behind in your payments to qualify. If you can show that you have a financial hardship such as loss of job, reduction of overtime, medical expenses etc. you can apply.

Participating Banks are Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan and many others. All banks who receive additional bailout money are required to participate.

All participating banks must review your loan if it is at least sixty days late. If the lender comes to the conclusion that it will be cheaper to modify the loan than foreclose, the lender has to modify the loan.

Loans that have been bundled up into securities and were sold to investors other than Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, in some cases may not be modified.

If it is cheaper for the lender to foreclose, the lender is obligated to first try a short sale or a deed-in lieu, two measures that are less damaging to the borrower’s credit score.

Loan servicer’s are required to lower the monthly payments to 31% of your monthly gross income by lowering the interest rate to as low as two percent, stretching out the loan to a forty-year fixed loan and in some cases, reducing the principal balance of your loan.

The new interest rate will last for five years.

Second mortgages may be forgiven once you have made payments on the modified first loan for three months. The Government (Treasury) will make an offer to pay cash to the second mortgage holder in return for their loan forgiveness to you. The second lender is not obligated to forgive the loan but will be strongly incentivized since most second mortgage holders do not receive any money in case of foreclosure.

For a detailed analysis of your chances to qualify for this program or a different work out call us at: 770-529-3476 to set up a free consultation.

Barrister Law Group has loan modification foreclosure attorneys in Suwanee, Johns Creek, Duluth, Norcross, Cumming, Lawrenceville, Atlanta, Roswell, Sandy Springs, GA. We do loan modifications, foreclosure prevention and short sales in Suwanee, Johns Creek, Duluth, Norcross, Cumming, Lawrenceville, Atlanta, Roswell, Sandy Springs, GA.  Choose a local foreclosure attorney who is familiar with local rules and with whom you can meet face to face.