Memphis Legal Services Firm To Expand Free Aid To Homeowners Facing Foreclosure; Uses Lending Law Violations As Leverage In Seeking Loan Restructuring

In Memphis, Tennessee, the Memphis Daily News reports:

• The budget of Memphis Area Legal Services has swelled to almost $650,000 this year as a result of grants and other special funding awarded to the group. And MALS, in turn, is using that windfall to expand its free counseling and legal aid to homeowners in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.

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• The new funding MALS acquired to fight the rising tide of foreclosures in Shelby County was born out of a large settlement agreement put together over several months in the late summer and early fall of 2007. The agreement covered a series of companion lawsuits MALS brought against defendants including appraisers, brokers, closing agents and more.(1)

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• MALS’ staff pursues a variety of strategies to negotiate between debt-laden homeowners and their lenders. One of the first priorities is looking for any violation of lending laws. “If we do find a violation, that gives us some leverage to try to demand that lender restructure the mortgage,” [MALS' attorney Webb] Brewer said. “Basically, we look for leverage to get the meaningful restructuring (of a loan) that will allow someone to stay in their home.”

For more, see MALS Expands Homeowner Aid.

For other posts on homeowners using Federal & state consumer protection statutes to try and undo bad mortgage loans, Go Here, Go Here, and Go Here.

For posts that reference the failure of some mortgage lenders and their attorneys to file the required loan documents and otherwise fail to establish that they have legal standing to bring foreclosure actions, Go Here, Go Here, Go Here, and Go Here.

(1) According to the story: The plaintiffs were homeowners trapped in mortgages they couldn’t afford; MALS' attorney Webb Brewer said the settlement on behalf of 17 plaintiffs in the various cases was cumulatively worth $3 million; some of the settlement was actual cash for the victims - the rest of the value comes from the savings in restructured mortgages that MALS helped negotiate. undo mortgage loans TILA batallion