Foreclosure

Helping Homeowners Protect Their Most Important Assets

Maybe you worked and saved for years to buy your home only to get talked into a toxic loan with a changing interest rate or a balloon payment. Maybe you refinanced with an interest-only loan with the promise that home prices would continue to go up, and you could refinance again in a year or two. Maybe it was an illness or a loss of income that caused you to get behind in mortgage payments. You probably realized too late that your property had been over-appraised and was now underwater and you are stuck with a loan you thought would be temporary. These are the types of situations that cause borrowers to get behind, that cause them to go to their servicer for a loan modification, and that throw them into foreclosure. This is where lender misconduct occurs and where Advocate Legal can help. Foreclosure litigation is a constant battle with a powerful opponent and a changing landscape.  The Homeowners Bill of Rights was enacted in California to help borrowers get modifications and protect them from abuse, but the lenders still violate your rights with regularity, knowing only a few will fight back. To win this fight, you need a skilled litigator who knows the law, both state and federal; who can navigate the changing landscape; and who will be your advocate.

Foreclosure Litigation

At Advocate Legal, we provide the support and legal skill that clients need to make informed choices and fight back to protect their rights. We assist in a broad range of foreclosure matters:

• Foreclosure litigation (pre- and post-foreclosure) — Our attorneys aggressively protect your rights and your home through different types of foreclosure litigation.  The goal is to stop the foreclosure before it occurs, to get you damages or the return of your property after a sale has occurred, and to keep you in your property as long as possible through eviction defense.
• Breach of modification contract — As interest rates rise along with home values, many lenders are claiming a “mistake” was made on the original modification and forcing borrowers to accept a new contract with different terms. These new contracts always require the borrower to pay more, and when borrowers refuse, the lender stops taking their payments, thereby throwing them into foreclosure. At Advocate Legal, we are dedicated to providing powerful litigation representation when servicers breach their contracts in this way
• Consumer complaints — We help borrowers file consumer complaints through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when a lender is guilty of discriminatory lending practices based on factors such as race, gender, age or veteran status of the borrower.  This is a cost-effective solution that may work on its own or as the first line of attack, pre-litigation.
• Refinancing — In many cases, a loan refinance enables homeowners to reduce their monthly payments and avoid default on an otherwise unmanageable loan, such as an adjustable-rate mortgage with an increasing interest rate.
• Sale and short sale — Foreclosure and bad credit can be avoided with a sale or short sale of the property before a mortgage goes into default or even after the bank begins the foreclosure process.
• Mass joinder — Through mass joinder lawsuits, our attorneys help clients join together in a single lawsuit to sue their lender for the harm that a breach of duty or statutory violation has caused. This is an affordable way for clients to pay less than they would for an individual lawsuit and to have greater power in numbers.
• Wrongful foreclosure — We help clients hold lenders responsible for fraud and negligence resulting in wrongful foreclosure and stop the foreclosure process when possible.
• Eviction defense — After a foreclosure sale has occurred, when lenders sue homeowners and tenants for unlawful detention to evict them from their homes, Advocate Legal’s lawyers provide a strong eviction defense to keep residents in their homes as long as possible and potentially get them cash to move.
• Foreclosure statutes — Recent foreclosure statutes provide borrowers with significant additional rights before, during and after foreclosure and further regulate lenders and loan servicers, including the provision of penalties for material violations.
• Lender violations — Our attorneys help homeowners fight lender violations such as discrimination, loan modification abuse including dual tracking, a chain of title violations, robo-signing of documents and quiet title issues.