Lender Compliance With Central Florida Foreclosure Court Mediation Unknown As Understaffing Impedes Effective Monitoring

In Central Florida, the Bradenton Herald reports:

• Three months after lenders were first required to offer meetings with local borrowers before foreclosing on their primary homes, no one — not even the judge who mandated it — knows how well lenders are complying. That’s because no one is checking, the area’s top judge acknowledged Tuesday. “Ideally, we’d be verifying it, but we and the clerks are so short-handed that we’re not monitoring it to the degree I’d like,” 12th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Lee Haworth said.(1)

For more, see No one watching circuit judge’s foreclosure mandate.

Go here for other posts on the foreclosure mediation program in Florida's 12th Judicial Circuit (Manatee, Sarasota, and Desoto Counties).

(1) According to the story, since Dec. 1, Haworth has required lenders filing foreclosure suits against homesteaded property in Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties to offer “conciliation conferences” to homeowners. The conferences, which are voluntary and optional for homeowners, are designed to explore possible ways of avoiding foreclosure such as refinancing or modifying the loan.