The California Homeowner Bill of Rights became law on January 1, 2013 to protect California homeowners from the wrongful foreclosure. This law was a direct response to the many homes that were wrongfully foreclosed upon while homeowners were processing a loan modification and/or short sale with the mortgage servicers. The laws are designed to guarantee basic fairness and transparency for homeowners in the foreclosure process. Key provisions include: Restriction on dual track foreclosure:Mortgage servicers are restricted from advancing the foreclosure process if the homeowner is working on securing a loan modification. When a homeowner completes an application for a loan modification, the foreclosure process is essentially paused until the complete application has been fully reviewed.Guaranteed single point of contact:Homeowners are guaranteed a single point of contact as they navigate the…

On January 10, 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued new mortgage servicing rules designed to protect borrowers when it comes to mortgage loans. The new rules require servicers to send period billing statements containing specific information, promptly credit mortgage payments, respond quickly to pay off requests, provide options to avoid forced-placed insurance, quickly resolve errors and respond to requests for information. These rules prohibit the servicer from rejecting partial payment. For instance, the servicer is required to place partial payment into a special account called a suspense account. Once the suspense account has sufficient funds to make a full payment the servicer must credit the account. The partial payment must be included in the monthly mortgage statement. The new rules also require servicers to send notice at least…

In April 2011, Foreclosure filings in California fell to lows not seen since the fall of 2008. Notice of Default filings dropped 25.8 percent, and Notice of Trustee Sale filings fell 10.9 percent from March. Is this an indicator that the US Economy is improving? The Obama administration is making Iranian students eligible to enter the U.S. for up to two years in an effort to improve relations between Americans and Iranians. Previously, Iranian students and individuals enrolled in academic or professional exchange program.

Prosecutors in California are investigating allegations that Lender Processing Services Inc., one of the nation’s largest mortgage processing companies, engaged in illegal practice of “robosigning”- signing thousands of foreclosure docs without checking their accuracy. Lender Processing is one of 16 banks and servicers the federal gov’t last month ordered to reimburse homeowners who were improperly foreclosed upon.