Many Floridians are worried about how they will pay for necessities like housing, food and transportation. By now, most Americans who are eligible to receive the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Stimulus payments have received their money. In Jacksonville, there will soon be an additional $1,000 available to each Jacksonville household that earns under $75,000 and can show they’ve taken a 25% income loss due to coronavirus.   This program will be run by the city of Jacksonville, but funded by the Federal Government. The city will be issuing payments cards to 40,000 households. One household member must apply for the assistance online or by phone and then go downtown in person (the Main Library on N. Laura Street or the Ed Ball Building on N. Hogan Street) to an appointment to receive the payment. You will go to an auditorium, while practicing social distancing.

In order to get an appointment, residents must show that they had employment as of February 29, and that the Coronavirus epidemic caused them to lose at least 25% of their income. This test should be easy to meet for “non-essential” workers, who lost jobs or income because of the governor’s or mayor’s mandated shutdown.  City Council President Scott Wilson  said he expects the website to be up and running soon, and that “the goal is to start cutting checks — and what we’re going to do is give debit cards or credit cards, gift card type things — within the next seven days.”

In order to bring your mortgage current through Bankruptcy, you must first file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy even if you qualify for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is a reorganization of your debts through a 60 month payment plan; referred to as a Chapter 13 Plan. Based on your income and family size, you make payments to a trustee. The trustee then distributes these monthly payments proportionally to your creditors. Whichever debts have not been paid off at the end of the 60 months are discharged. 

Bringing your mortgage current through Bankruptcy in Jacksonville, FL requires you to start making your regular monthly mortgage payment through your Chapter 13 Plan. Not only do you have to immediately start paying your normal mortgage payment again, you also have to pay a portion of your past due payments each month.

For example, before falling behind on your mortgage, your payments were $1,200.00 per month. You are now 15 months behind on your mortgage payments at the time you file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy to bring your mortgage current. Your Chapter 13 Plan would require you to pay your $1,200.00 mortgage payment plus an additional $300.00 in arrears. Your Chapter 13 Plan will also include a trustee fee and an additional amount to your unsecured creditors based on your monthly income and family size.

Your income and how far behind you are on your mortgage payments will determine if bringing your mortgage current through bankruptcy in Jacksonville, FL is actually an affordable option for you. While a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy does give you the option to bring your mortgage current, it can be very difficult and not always an affordable option. If you are extremely far behind on your mortgage payments, your Chapter 13 Plan Payments might be too much for you to afford.

For example, prior to filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, your mortgage payments were $1,200.00, but you were 36 payments behind. Your Chapter 13 Plan would include your $1,200.00 mortgage payment and $720.00 in arrears. Your Chapter 13 Plan would be almost $2,000.00 prior to adding the trustee’s fees and any other additional amount required by your income and family size. Potentially making your Chapter 13 Plan unaffordable.

This is why I always stress to my clients the importance of trying every other option to save their home when they are behind on their mortgage before turning to bankruptcy. Contact the Law Office of David M. Goldman, PLLC today to speak with an attorney who can help you go through all options and help you pick the best option to save your home and bring your mortgage current.

Unfortunately, not all forbearance programs have reached their goal. What I have come to learn through the last several months as forbearance programs are coming to an end, is that some of these programs require the borrower to bring their mortgages current at the end of their forbearance period. This means that borrowers must make all missed mortgage payments at one time when their program ends. The issue that many borrowers who have chosen to take advantage of one of these programs is that they were not aware that they would have to make all of the payments at the end of the designated time period. By the time they learned they would be expected to pay their mortgage company all of the payments that were deferred through the forbearance program, it is far too late for them to prepare for such a large payment at one time. This has put many borrowers between a rock and hard place, because they are unable to bring their mortgages current.

The worst part is that many of their homes are still not completely repaired, or even repaired at all. Many borrowers did not have enough insurance to cover all necessary repairs and have been unable to get financial assistance to make up the difference. Many homeowners are now facing the very difficult decision of what they can do in order to keep their homes. Many fear that new foreclosures are on our horizon as homeowners have no choice but to walk away from their beloved homes, because they are unable to make their mortgage payments and/or make the repairs they need in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma.

Luckily, there still may by a few options available that will at least assist you in making your mortgage payments. One option is a loan modification. If you are approved for a loan modification, all the forbearance payments would be rolled into the new principle balance. Another option may be a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy would allow you to start making your regular monthly mortgage payments and then spread the forbearance payments out over 5 years, which might help make the payments a much more affordable option. Additionally, a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy might also assist you with other debts you may have.

An attorney experienced in bankruptcy, loan modification, and foreclosure can help you determine which is the best course of action for you. Contact the Law Office of David M. Goldman, PLLC today (904) 685-1200 to speak with an experienced attorney.

According to authorities, the two men convinced homeowners to stop paying their mortgages and to ignore notices from their mortgage holders to let them negotiate with the lenders. The scheme tricked homeowners into paying high upfront monthly legal fees for legal services that were not performed or supervised by a Florida attorney.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has also filed a lawsuit against these networks of fraudulent attorneys for the unlicensed practice of law.   Bondi claims the network, which held itself out to be a group of 100 attorneys, posed as lawyers to take advantage of vulnerable clients.   The people behind the scheme also duped inexperienced young attorneys into working for them, and the defendants even used real names of actual Florida attorneys without their knowledge.

The complaint names 20 defendants involved in the scheme. The complaint also alleges the defendants used several names for the business throughout the years such as The Asset Protection Law Group, Consumer Legal Resources of Florida, Heritage Law Group, Legal Referral Services of Florida, Consumer Legal Advocates Inc., Selective Mortgage Corp., and others.

Police issued a search warrant for the Asset Protection Law Firm in Coral Springs to be searched by multiple government agencies including the Boca Raton Police, the Secret Service, and the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.

The law firm claims to offer residential loan modification services and debt consolidation work. The SWAT team executed the warrant while 15 people were working in the office at the time and during the search Joseph Hilton was arrested. According to local police, they believe there are more than 300 victims that are involved in the fraud. Hill is now being held on a $250,000 bond and is facing a third-degree felony.

Not one of the defendants listed in the lawsuit is actual attorneys in Florida, and according to the complaint, the defendants used the names of legitimate attorneys on corporate documents and court filings.

Tampa real estate attorney Jennifer Heath claims the defendants in the case falsely named her as a vice president on corporate filings after she interviewed for a job. Heath says that she filed a police report and a Bar complaint with the Florida Bar of Examiners for falsely using her name.

Thirty-Seven clients of the company also filed formal complaints against Hill because of their tactics. When the clients no longer wished to continue using their services, the defendants would harass and threaten the clients in order to keep their business running. In addition to an office in Boca Raton, Florida, police say the defendants also keep offices in Coral Springs, Florida and West Balm Beach.

For more information about Florida foreclosure defense, contact the Law Office of David Goldman PLLC today.

In many cases, filing a traditional Chapter 13 bankruptcy will help these people catch up on the arrearage on their home. This is especially helpful if there has been a recent increase in income. In a Chapter 13 we submit a plan for repayment which includes the regular monthly mortgage payment, but also amortizes the arrearage to a sixty month period to make payment more manageable. This way, if the debtor can afford it, they can catch up on their mortgage without the arduous frustration of trying to negotiate with the lender.

Filing a bankruptcy stalls any collection attempts so a case filed the morning of a foreclosure sale will cancel the sale or, if the sale occurs, will require the Judge to vacate the sale upon motion by the debtor’s counsel. As long as the debtor intends to catch up on their home mortgage and indicates the ability to do so in their bankruptcy plan, the foreclosure will end there.

A home mortgage is essentially a contract. You promise to make payments according to the contract’s terms, and the lender promises to transfer the home’s title to you when you finish making your payments. The government regulates these contracts by creating laws that set out procedures for things like foreclosures. Of course, there is still an element of free contract which allows lenders and borrowers to negotiate the terms of their agreement at any time. The government is limited in how much they are allowed to interfere with contracts so instead of trying to force banks to offer mortgage modifications, they make programs like HAMP, which offers lenders tax deductions or other benefits to make deals with borrowers. Personally, I think that the government isn’t offering the lenders enough in benefits because banks aren’t particularly helpful in getting borrowers into the program. HAMP mods are done in-house by the banks and “can” lower a borrowers mortgage payments to 31% of their gross income if you qualify. But what if you don’t qualify, and what if your payments are already below 31% of your gross income?

This is where lenders will begin the foreclosure process. They may offer you a so called, “in house modification”, but offer or no, the foreclosure process will continue until either you are somehow successful in obtaining an in-house modification or your home is sold on the courthouse steps. This is because the judiciary can’t force a bank to modify your loan. Honestly negotiated terms that were created in accordance with the laws can’t usually be modified by the government due to our rights to free contract as citizens. That being said, a recent program out of Orlando creates an opportunity for people facing Jacksonville bankruptcies and foreclosures.

Statistics are a staggering example of our economic squalor. There were 1.4 million bankruptcies across America in 2011, up about a million cases from 2007. A million extra cases per year in only four years is a motivating factor, but what can we do about it?

Most people aren’t sure what to do. Their jobs have lowered their pay or laid them off altogether, many of them are coasting by on savings and hoping for the economy to pick up. Many are depending on loan modifications that may never be granted. Even the government’s Home Affordability Modification Program (HAMP) has been called a Scam.

Pros

First, if you want to keep the property, you must sign the reaffirmation agreement. Also, if you do sign, you will be certain what your payments will be, what your interest rate is, etc. Signing a reaffirmation agreement may also help rebuild your credit, since you are taking responsibility for a pre-filing debt and are making regular payments on a debt.

The proposal comes with two caveats: 1. The home must be worth less than it’s mortgage (46% of Florida homes are underwater) and 2. whether or not to grant the modified interest rate would be up to the bankruptcy judge.

White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage told the Financial Times that the administration is not considering this particular idea. Fortunately, this bill can become law without approval from the White House. Even if a President were to use their veto power, the bill could still be passed by a 2/3rds majority vote by both houses of Congress.