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Homeowners insurance is one of the peripheral issues that families facing foreclosure must deal with. While it is possible that the county can take the home through a different type of foreclosure for unpaid property taxes, and the mortgage company will be pursuing a lawsuit for the defaulted mortgage contract, there is little the homeowners insurance company will do upon nonpayment. However, this does not mean that property owners have nothing to worry about.

There are two most likely scenarios when homeowners begin missing their mortgage payments, and what happens with the insurance will relate to how the premiums are paid. The issue may be handled differently depending on if the owners pay the insurance on their own or if it is paid monthly through the escrow on the mortgage. Most homeowners, though, escrow their property taxes and homeowners insurance through their monthly mortgage payment.

Typically, when payments are missed on an insurance policy, the coverage will continue for a period of months. If something happens to the house, the owners will be covered by their policy, although the amount they have fallen behind will be deducted from total awarded to them for the accident. However, if numerous payments are missed for longer than just a few months, the policy will lapse and the owners will no longer have any coverage.

When the policy has lapsed, the owners will no longer be covered under any of the provisions. This means that, if anything happens to the house, the insurance company will have no responsibility to make a payout to the owners since the insurance was not kept up. A small but growing number of homeowners have actually burned down their homes in foreclosure to attempt to collect the insurance money, but this is not advisable if the premiums are not paid up and is fraudulent in any case.

What may happen at this point, though, is the mortgage company will buy its own homeowners insurance for the house, and they will add the monthly premiums to the amount owed on the loan. If the homeowners want to get back on track with the mortgage, they will have to pay back this extra amount for the forced insurance. Lenders will also not shop around for the best rates, so the monthly cost for the policy may be quite a bit more expensive than the owners were used to.

Simply missing payments on the insurance policy, though, will not create any other liability for the homeowners later on. The insurance company will discontinue coverage for any damage to the property, but there is no danger it will sue the owners for any deficiency judgment or other lawsuit related to the lapsed policy. Thankfully, in this instance, unlike the mortgage or property tax payments, homeowners do not have to worry about being sued again and having to deal with more liens or collection agencies.

Of course, this should not be an issue at all if the homeowners pay the insurance through their monthly payment to the lender. The bank will keep paying the taxes and insurance to make sure the policy does not lapse, while adding the amount of these missed payments to the total needed to reinstate the loan. Any insurance payments the lender makes will be included in the payoff and foreclosure judgment.

Thus, homeowners facing foreclosure should keep in mind that their property insurance will still need to be paid if they wish to keep coverage in case of fire, natural disaster, or other accident. While their bank may place forced insurance in the case of a policy lapse, the rates are often very high, but the owners will have to pay back any premiums made on this policy to the lender to stop foreclosure. Keeping the insurance policy current on a house, while it is somewhat less important than saving the home to begin with, is one more issue homeowners in foreclosure need to keep in mind.

By: Nick Adama

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Mortgage issue

Do you want a mortgage loan for your new home? Trying to qualify for a new mortgage can be very tough, especially if you aren’t aware of the effect your credit report score has on your ability to get approved for loans. One of the first things a lender looks at to determine your suitability for a mortgage loan is your credit report, or FICO score.

This is a composite score that gives a quick glance at your overall responsibility rating when it comes to finances. It has to do with how well you maintain repayment plans, how well you keep the ratios of your overall debt to income, your stability in employment, and many other things. Basically, the better your credit report score, the more likely you are to qualify for the loan you want.

Of course, there are many things that a lender considers before reaching the decision about your suitability for a mortgage loan. Employment stability is one. Lenders know that people who stay in the same field of work will more likely stay employed, and therefore will be more likely to repay their obligations. So, even if you have changed jobs recently, if you have kept a progression of advancing within the same field, or have simply changed employers but kept the same basic job with each, your ability to be approved for a mortgage loan should not be hindered much, unless there are negative reasons for your changing jobs.

As a matter of fact, now that automated credit report scoring has come into the lending business, less discretion gets used in determining who qualifies for what credit rate. This is supposed to ensure more objectivity in the loan approval process. For this purpose, the automated credit report score is used to give lenders the ability to boil the entire process down to review of only your overall score.

Unfortunately, this can close out some borrowers from getting loans of the amount, or interest rate they would like. Its even possible that a prospective borrower with enough income could actually be denied a loan he could afford due to a low standardized credit report score. For this reason, its imperative that prospective borrowers be diligent about improving their credit report scores and paying their bills on time. In this way the problem of disputing a low credit report score is alleviated.

Since there are five key factors that go into the composite credit report score, knowing what they are can help consumers to take control of their financial destiny by making them able enough to change things in their favor.

The very first thing that affects your overall credit report score is how well you repay your debts. Even a person with low income who carefully ensures that all his debts are repaid on time will be able to maintain a high credit report score. And timing is everything. A recent late payment is worse than several late payments some years ago.

Next, collection accounts and public histories are important to your credit report score. This means accounts that go into collection, foreclosure, and bankruptcies are harmful to your score. Ensuring these don’t show up on your credit report goes a long way towards improving your credit report score. And therefore, the accuracy of your credit report becomes more important than ever. Consumers need to check their credit reports at least yearly and make sure the information therein is accurate.

Credit report scores below 620 will require remedial work to bring up to an acceptable level. This may take extended amount of time, perhaps years. But its worth it. You must build a positive credit history that shows extended time of handling your finances in a responsible way in order to bury old negative information.

By: James Marriott

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Mortgage issue

If you own a home, you know mortgage products have moved beyond the basic 30 year fixed option. Reverse mortgages are one such product and here is an overview.

An Overview of Reverse Mortgages

A typical mortgage is created when a lender provides you with a lump sum amount of cash to purchase real estate. In consideration of this, you agree to repay the mortgage on a monthly basis for a defined time period at a particular interest rate. The length of the repayment period and interest rate, whether fixed or adjustable, set the monthly payment amount.

A reverse mortgage works in a similar way, but backwards. It is a fact that the baby boomer generation is moving into their retirement years. A high percentage own homes with significant amounts of equity in them. The problem, of course, is equity is a fixed asset, to wit, you can’t see it in your bank account. Traditionally, the best way to turn this hard asset into cash was to sell the property and move down to something cheaper. You then pocketed the difference in the form of cash.

Many people, however, are attached to their homes. A good portion of your life, including raising a family, may have occurred in your home and it is emotionally difficult to sell it. On top of that, tax issues may take a bite out of the cash you receive. Throw in the pure misery of attempting to move all of your valuables that have been accumulating for 15 or 30 years and selling your home starts to look like a dubious option at best.

Lenders being the ultimate capitalist, they have come up with a solution for this problem. The reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage allows you to convert much of your equity into tax-free cash without having to take on a monthly payment obligation. You don’t have to sell the home, go through the moving process or make any monthly payments to a lender.

A reversed mortgage gets its name from the payment process. Unlike a traditional home loan, a reverse mortgage requires a lender to make payments to YOU! You can choose to receive the money as a monthly payment for the rest of your life, a lump sum payment or even as a credit line. Lump sums are not recommended since home equity is typically your biggest asset, one you should be very careful with.

The amount of a reverse mortgage is dependent on a number of factors. Your age, interest rates, the appraised value of the home, the equity in it and so on all are involved in determining your options.

For many people, reverse mortgage options are of great interest. The tax free aspect of the payments is certainly a benefit.

By: Richard Chapo

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Kansieo.com

Owning a home is part of the American Dream. But fundamentally connected to home ownership are mortgages. Because most people can pay the entire price of a home all at once, they take a mortgage–in essence a loan–that allows them to pay for the home over an extended period of time. Mortgages are crucial in the United States today, and they have a long history as well.

According to some recent scholarship, mortgages date at least as far back to the late 12th century England. In that time, under English common law, mortgages served a very similar function as they today in the United States: a debtor could take a loan from a creditor to purchase property. While the creditor officially owned the property, the debtor could sell it off if the need arose.

The history of mortgages in the United States dates back to the Puritan settlers who came from England and brought their customs and practices with them. Mortgages likely continued rather steadily until the mid- to late-19th century, when the western frontier of the United States became increasingly settled by white settlers. As more land became available for purchase, people needed money to buy the land. So, more money began to be loaned and borrowed.

When the Great Depression hit in the 1920s, however, the mortgage market collapsed: people had borrowed and lent too much money. Credit was no longer available as it had previously been. So, to save the market, the federal government under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stepped in. It took a number of steps to make available to people. A large part of its strategy was to take the risk away from lenders by insuring payments. Also, the federal government created the mortgage government-backed company Fannie Mae to help people obtain credit more easily.

After World War II, however, the United States fortunes turned around, both literally and figuratively. Reinvigorated by its victory in the war as well as the boom its economy experienced preparing for and fighting the war, the Untied States saw a sharp increase in mortgages. WWII veterans, having returned from the war contributed to this boom, as when they returned they searched for jobs and homes to build their families. As the U.S. continued to grow throughout the period of the Cold War, an increasing number of people wanted to purchase more and more expensive homes and needed credit. As a result, the U.S. government also created the institution Freddie Mac “to increase the supply of mortgage funds.”

Through the 1980s to the present, the mortgage industry has gone up and down. At one point in the 1980s, interest rates were as high as 21%. And today, of course, many banks have closed or have had to be rescued from failure because of providing too many risky mortgages.

Although as of the current moment, the mortgage market is not a field in which people want to invest, people can still pursue investments through hard money. To find more about hard money,

By: Joseph Devine

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Kansieo.com

Mortgage rates are a hot topic in Australia at the moment. Two issues are at the forefront of any discussion on mortgage rates today.

Firstly there is general concern amongst borrowers in Australia that mortgage rates may further increase over the short term. The Reserve Bank has increased the Official Cash Rate (OCR) a number of times this year and it is currently sitting at 6.50% p.a. These increases immediately impact on the cost of funds for lending institutions, both bank and non-bank, and as a result mortgage rates have also increased, with the banks standard variable rate now at 8.32% p.a. and the non-bank lenders generally in the market with mortgage rates around 7.75% p.a. By increasing the OCR the Reserve Bank is well aware that mortgage rates will follow suit. Under its charter, the Reserve Bank is responsible for formulating and implementing monetary policy that will contribute to:

(a) the stability of the currency of Australia;

(b) the maintenance of full employment in Australia; and

(c) the economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia.

These objectives have found practical expression in a target for consumer price inflation, of 2-3 per cent per annum. Controlling inflation preserves the value of money and is the main way in which monetary policy can help to form a sound basis for long-term growth in the economy.

So, how does an increase in the OCR and mortgage rates generally help achieve these inflation targets? As the mortgage rates increase across Australia, borrowers have less surplus cash to spend, there is less demand for consumables, businesses have less money to invest and as a result the economy is slowed down and the inflation rate is held in check. If the economy is too slow the Reserve bank can effectively reduce mortgage rates (by reducing the OCR) and thereby provide borrowers with more surplus funds. This increases demand for consumables and one sees greater economic activity.

It is ironical that because in Australia we are enjoying strong economic growth and have employment at an all time high we end up finding our mortgage rates increasing. If we were to save more rather than spend and borrow, inflation would not be increasing at the level it is and mortgage rates would remain steady.

But would they? This brings me to the second issue which has had a significant impact on mortgage rates and has made headlines in newspapers in Australia over the past few months. In the past mortgage rates in Australia have been pretty much domestically driven (i.e. by the Reserve Bank) but more recently we have seen mortgage rates influenced by problems occurring in international financial markets. The main culprit is the United States where there have been unprecedented mortgage defaults which have frightened off would be global lenders and investors in mortgage securities. Even though mortgage rates in Australia remain relatively low and defaults here are not a significant problem (in other words they remain a sound investment), the US default crisis has scared off potential investors. As a result mortgages are no longer flavour of the month and those that are still prepared invest are seeking a higher rate of return. Consequently the cost of funds world wide increases for debt securities and mortgage rates across the world increase as result. As noted earlier the banks current standard mortgage rates sit at 8.32% p.a. variable which is up to .50% more than the non bank mortgage rates of 7.75% p.a. Because the banks’ mortgage rates were considerably higher than the non-banks before the impact of the US situation, to date they have been able to hold their rates. The non-bank lenders, who have historically priced their mortgage rates below the banks, have had to move their mortgage rates sooner because they simply don’t have the profit margins, the “fat” in their pricing, which most banks enjoy.

The banks are endeavouring to gain market share with claims that they are holding their mortgage rates (8.32% p.a.) but hopefully borrowers will recognise that the mortgage rates of the non-bank mortgage manager lenders remain competitive. They might also want to consider where mortgage rates would be without the mortgage manager competing with the banks for their business. Prior to the non- bank mortgage manager entering the market, the banks’ mortgage rates contained profit margins of up to 3 % p.a. Back in the 1990s the non-bank lender was able to enter the market and compete aggressively for business because they were not trying to maximise profit at the expense of borrowers but rather offered mortgage rates that were well below the major banks. The banks were initially quite arrogant, holding their mortgage rates and profit margins, thinking that lower mortgage rates would not be enough to woo borrowers. Little did they realise that the non-bank sector not only offered lower mortgage rates but also professional and friendly service. It took around 3 years before the banks finally reduced their margins and offered mortgage rates that were somewhat more competitive.

The next few months will determine whether the US mortgage crisis will be a short term problem for mortgage rates or whether the meltdown in America will have a long term impact on mortgage rates in Australia. In the meantime keep an eye on mortgage rates across the market, sit tight because no matter which lender you are with, mortgage rates over the next few months will be a little unpredictable but inevitably are likely to settle down again.

By: Vicky Edema

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Mortgage issue

I’ve been receiving LOTS of great questions from homeowners lately and I’m honored that you trust us enough to send us your questions.

Today I received an e-mail along the following lines, with the pertinent part in bold:

Hi Christine:

My servicer is National City. I have been trying to get a loan mod for 10 months.

You’ve probably heard this many times, but until I was in default I could not get their attention. Eventually they listened; of course my credit is now destroyed. Anyway, long story short my “modified” loan is now more than I was previously (and could not afford) paying, as my previous loan was 6% interest only, and the modified loan is 4% for 5 years, 5% for 25 years, but fully amortized.

My request to the servicer to find out my investor, so that I could talk to them, rather than a National City loss mitigation person was fruitless. National City claims they cannot reveal the investor. I even wrote a letter asking for the investor, but got a letter stating they could not reveal the investor because of some agreement they have.

How can I find out who owns my loan. If I am able to 3% interest I can stay in my home. As it is right now, I’m on borrowed time.

Is your B.S. alert on right now? Mine went off a long time ago. I wish I could say that I’m surprised, but I’m not. If this is happening to this person, I’m sure it’s happening to a lot of you because someone took the time to e-mail me about it. If there’s one person struggling with it, which means there are probably thousands of you out there struggling with the same issue.

As Garfield says, begin with the QWR. The lender has twenty days to acknowledge your correspondence and sixty days to make a good faith effort to provide the documents under RESPA.

If you don’t get a response or it’s not a complete response, send them another letter and bug the hell out of them. Threaten to file a lawsuit if you have to.

After you get the response, get yourself a loan audit with an auditor who can research the chain of assignment issues, securitization and undisclosed finance charges. (I offer this service currently.)

Once you have the audit and a clear picture of what’s happening with your loan, you can proceed from there. Options may include filing a TILA/RESPA lawsuit, getting a loan modification or fighting foreclosure using the audit results.

If your QWR and loan audit reveals the lender is a mortgage pool, look on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website, called the EDGAR database. There’s a wealth of information on that site and will reveal a lot of about the mortgage pool security.

Check this out: some of you have mortgages that may have already been paid off!

For example: Aurora Loan Services is the servicing arm of Lehman Brothers, who securitized ALL of its mortgages. They cannot prove which of these loans have been paid, written down, bailed out or who even owns them.

If, during the discovery phase of litigation it is revealed (1) payments from TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program, a.k.a. “bailout”) or from investors have been applied to your collateral in the stream of securitization and investment and/or (2) the loan was table funded (your lender was paid a commission to “act” as the lender at the table, ostensibly to pretend to underwrite the loan, perform due diligence, confirm the appraisal, confirm the viability of the transaction, and confirm the affordability and benefits) and/or (3) the debt was released in bankruptcy, you may have a legal claim of satisfaction on some or all of your debt.

Loan modifications have been a great tool, but ultimately if you don’t owe the money on your loan, why modify it? This is why I think more people are missing the boat when it comes to resolving their mortgage issues. Many of you have serious predatory lending issues in your documents and have causes of action under TILA and RESPA that could show your loan was paid off. It’s possible that many of you are paying for something you really don’t owe.

Whatever you do, don’t wait until the last minute to deal with these issues. If you know you’re looking at a mess down the road, get started early. Sixty days isn’t a lot of time in the scope of a foreclosure filing. Plan ahead and execute so you have your strategy in place for whatever you want to accomplish.

By: Christine Springer

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