December 1st, 2008 at 11:59am
Under Foreclosure
One thing you learn right away after receiving a foreclosure complaint is that the stuff is public record. It seems like every attorney, “counseling service,” and wanna-be investor starts sending you junk in the mail.
“We can stop foreclosure!”
“Walk away from your home debt free.”
“Renegotiate your mortgage.”
You start to learn right away how to separate the good guys from the bad guys. Some of these people are legitimate businesspeople — particularly some of the attorneys — and they buy lists of people who have recently been sued for foreclosure so that they can contact them and offer their services.
Others are just bottom-feeding scum.
One day — not too long after we got served — I found a note in the mailbox with all the other mail. This one had clearly been placed there by hand. No stamp, no postmark, no envelope. Just a note.
Here’s an aside: committing fraud is one thing. Committing mail fraud is a whole different flavor of felony. This is why many scams will avoid using the US Postal Service. They’ll ask you to wire money instead of mailing a check. Or they’ll get in touch with you without using the Postal Service. (Did you see The Firm with Tom Cruise? You’ll remember: it’s got teeth.)
This particular scumbag violated federal law by touching my mailbox. I had half a mind to file a complaint just on that basis alone.
But then again, I can’t recall hearing about anyone actually getting prosecuted for that. Maybe so, maybe not.
In any case, this loser was dumb enough to put their contact info all over the note.
Basically, the letter offered help. It sympathized with our situation. Bla bla bla. This person offered to come by and discuss some “unique options” that we have.
Danger, Will Robinson
If you get something like this: look out. Many people have invited these nice-sounding idiots into their homes and have listened to the sincere-sounding person who wants to bail them out of their mess. They offer to catch up your mortgage for you, perhaps even rent your home back to you, etc. Help you get back on your feet. Stay in your home. We’re here to help. They have different ways of presenting this crap.
The bottom line? They’ll hand you stacks of papers to sign. Most of them will have complex legal mumbo-jumbo. In the end: they own your home.
Don’t let it happen to you.
Believe me. Even if you don’t have the money, it’s worth it to talk to an attorney before signing any legal papers with someone you don’t know who is offering to give you your personal bailout.
Once they own your home, they can do with it what they like. And that includes screwing you even worse than your mortgage lender might.
If you have any equity in your home, do yourself a favor: answer the foreclosure complaint. It buys you time to figure out what your best options are. If you’re in a state like California, Florida, Ohio, or one of the others where foreclosures are rampant, then the court dockets are full anyway. They aren’t going to be getting to your case any time soon.
In my opinion, however, it’s worthwhile to have an attorney help you file your answer to the foreclosure complaint. In many states, there are legitimate defenses that you may be able to raise — but not if you fail to include them in your initial answer.
I’m not an attorney, and I’m sure not qualified to give you legal advice. I’m just an average “Joe” who learned a few things.
If you can’t afford an attorney, at least find a local consumer protection agency. Many of them are staffed by qualified volunteers (some of them even attorneys) who can help you with your response at no charge. It’s a really great option.
By Average Joe
November 11th, 2008 at 10:57pm
Under Legal Mess
I’ll never forget it. It’s like 9/11… or the day the Challenger blew up. One of those days that’s etched into my memory forever.
I had been out running some late evening errands. It had already been dark for some time. As I came down the street towards our house, I could see from a long way off that there was an unusual vehicle in the driveway. Its lights were on, and it had an unusual tag. At first I thought it was some kind of vanity tag with a sports logo or something on it.
Immediately, I was thinking that some strange person is either in my house or trying to get in. My wife was home alone with our kid(s) (remember… no personal info), so my first thought was their safety. I hadn’t looked closely at the strange vehicle, but I could clearly hear a (large) dog barking inside of it. By this time, my adrenaline was pumping hard.
There was a lady talking to my wife on the front porch. She was dressed in civilian’s clothes, but a badge was clearly displayed on the front of her outfit — it must’ve been attached to her pants pocket or else to the bottom of her jacket. At this point, I started to connect the dots — this is someone in law enforcement. Oh yeah… now that I think about it, I think I saw K-9 on that vehicle. Okay… it’s starting to connect.
The lady was a sheriff’s deputy, but was in the process service department. She announced that she had foreclosure papers for us. She was very, very nice. She was obviously trying to comfort my wife and make her feel better.
The whole thing was a shock.
Yes… we knew we were behind on our mortgage payments. No question about that. But we had been talking to them on the phone. We had filled out paperwork. We had written a hardship letter. We had supplied financial information and disclosed all sorts of personal details. We were talking about our options, including a loan modification.
But not this.
This was out of the blue.
She went on to explain that this actually gave us time. A lot of time. She talked about the 20-day time period in which we must respond. She said once you respond it could take a year… the courts are really backed up. She’s out serving these to tons of people… including a half a dozen people “just this past weekend” in her own neighborhood.
There are so many foreclosures underway right now that the dockets are full.
There was much more to what took place, including some really screwy paperwork. I’ll tell more of the story on another day.
But that night will forever be burned into my memory as the day the foreclosure summons came.
By Average Joe
November 10th, 2008 at 01:55pm
Under Financial Stress
In the words of the inimitable Forrest Gump, “It Happens.” I, like so many others, got in over my head with my creditors.
I’m embarrassed about it, humiliated by it, and have gone for months or possibly even years feeling the stress of it. Somehow my marriage hasn’t collapsed (thank God), and overall my health is good, but let me tell you something… it hasn’t been fun.
Let me make something clear right up front. My purpose with this site isn’t to help people cheat their creditors. I have no respect for people who maliciously borrow money knowing full well that they can never repay it. From what I’ve learned, there are ways to game the system and I, for one, want no part of that.
But… I feel the need to tell my story. I’m guessing that you or someone you know (wink wink) may need to hear it. Call it cathartic or therapeutic or whatever you want, but I am compelled to write about my experience. My hope is that you’ll find it helpful.
Over the course of the next few hours, days, weeks, months, or whatever it turns out to be, I’m going to fill you in on my experience in getting completely overwhelmed with debt. At some point in time, maybe I’ll just shut the site off or maybe I’ll get out of the shell of anonymity and tell you who I am.
But for now… I just want to be incognito and let you hear the story.
We — my family and I — found a way out.
No… I don’t have a “get rich quick” scheme. Nor do I have a secret way to fix your credit score or to wipe out legitimate debt with some fancy technique.
But… the recent foreclosure summons we received brought a whole bunch of stuff to a head. It became time for us to do something.
I hope it doesn’t happen to you… I hope you never need to use the information I’ve learned recently.
But if you do… let me just say this: I know what it feels like. I’ve always been somebody who paid my bills and handled my creditors properly. I actually had a really great credit score. My wife did, too.
What’s funny is… it doesn’t matter if you do everything right for 20 years. If one day you find yourself in a jam — through no fault of your own, even — the system turns on you. All that 20 years amounts to nothing.
“What have you done for me lately?” That’s the name of the game.
So… I felt the need to let it out. I hope you find it helpful. If not, then there are plenty of other places to go on the web… this we know.
More soon.
By Average Joe
