Thursday, June 26, 2008

Produce The Note “How-To” Strategy In Fighting Foreclosures

The Consumer Warning Network website has recently posted a "How-To" that may be helpful to homeowners facing foreclosure who are not represented by an attorney but who want to force their foreclosing mortgage lender to produce the actual, physical promissory note (not a copy, reproduction, nor any other reasonable or unreasonable facsimile thereof) that the homeowner signed at the closing/settlement of the transaction in which he/she originally took out the home loan.

Included in the "How-To" are links to templates that they have created for a legal request, a letter to your lender and a motion to compel to help the homeowner through the process.

Homeowners are given this tip to determine whether the foreclosing mortgage company might have a problem producing the promissory note, and what problem homeowers may face if they allow the mortgage company to proceed without having to produce the note:
  • When you get a copy of the foreclosure suit, many lenders now automatically include a count to re-establish the note. It often reads like this: “…the Mortgage note has either been lost or destroyed and the Plaintiff is unable to state the manner in which this occurred.” In other words, they are admitting they don’t have the note that proves they have a right to foreclose.

  • If the lender is allowed to proceed without that proof, there is a possibility another institution, which may have bought your note along the way, will also try to collect the same debt from you again.

The post provides steps to follow in situations where the lender (1) has already filed suit to foreclose on the home, and (2) has not yet filed suit against the homeowner where the homeowner has already missed one or more payments.

For more, see Produce The Note “How-To”.

Go here for the accompanying video, Fight Foreclosure: Produce The Note "How-To", featuring Tampa, Florida attorney John Yanchunis, with the law firm James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich PA.

Go here for a recent CNN video on the "Produce The Note" strategy.

For other posts that reference the failure of some mortgage lenders and their attorneys to file the required loan documents when starting foreclosures, Go Here, Go Here, Go Here and Go Here. missing mortgage foreclosure docs beta