You Can Fight the Mortgage Lender

People hear the word "Foreclosure" and it immediately freightens them.  However, the truth is that lenders and even their attorneys try to exploit people facing foreclosure and they benefit from the fact that most homeownes usually know nothing about the foreclosure process or their rights.  If you do not do anything, you will lose your house.  So you must be active and contacting an Attorney is the best option for you. 

Your Rights in Wisconsin

The most important thing to know if you are facing foreclosure is that, in Wisconsin you have rights. In order to foreclose in Wisconsin, the lender must file a civil lawsuit.  Just like any party to any other lawsuit, you have legal rights meant to protect you. In addition, lenders and their agents must be certified, and have to comply with a many local, state, and federal laws and regulations that are designed to protect you, the borrower. It is quite possible that your rights as a borrower and the protections afforded to you as a defendant in a civil lawsuit can help you to fight your foreclosure. But you must take action in order to fight your foreclsure

Lenders Make Mistakes.  You shouldn't have to pay for it. 

Mistakes are made by both lenders and their lawyers.  Common mistakes include:

• Missing signatures on important documents
• Lost paperwork, including the original note or gaps in assignments (A common Problem when the plaintiff is listed as a "Trust")
• Missed deadlines or failure to file required documents
• Incomplete/Inaccurate Truth In Lending Act disclosures (which may even give you the opportunity to rescind the loan)
• Hidden fees or interest rates that you did not agree to 
• Misapplication of payments.  Did you pay but your lender says you didn't?  If so, they may have misapplied your payment. 

In MIlwaukee, and all over Wisconsin, mistakes can prevent the lender from being able to foreclose on your home, give you a viable counterclaim to assert against the lender, or even allow you to rescind your loan. And mistakes are not as uncommon as you may think. In the height of lending, many loans were securitized, meaning they were auto-processed, packaged, then sold on the open market. This means loans were transferred anywhere from 1 up to 8 or 9 times! It’s easier to understand how there are so many missing assignment or lost notes, when you understand the context in which many of these loans were made.

In the current foreclosure crisis, lenders’ attorneys handle very large case loads, often for small flat fees, and are very overworked.  These conditions are conducive to missteps, small errors, and larger mistakes that can that can delay your foreclosure suit or even bring it to a screeching halt. But when homeowners don’t take action it makes the lawyers’ jobs much easier. If more homeowners decided to defend their foreclosures, it would become even more difficult to keep up with the deadlines and paperwork in every case since a foreclosure defense attorney would be making the lender find all the proper documents and follow the law. The current model only works well when most homeowners are unaware of their rights and don’t defend their rights. It is the lender’s goal to foreclose on your home as quickly and easily as possible. This will not happen if you fight the foreclosure.

If you want to keep your home, it will take the Lender a long time to complete the foreclosure if you act

Defending your foreclosure can ease the time pressure you may be feeling right now. Once the lender files papers, if you do nothing the lender will obtain a judgment from the Court.  Once that Judgment is entered in Wisconsin, you have at least six (6) months to live rent-free in your house.  After the six months expires, the lender will set your house to be sold at an auction.  But when there are legitimate legal defenses, the court needs time to sort out both sides of the story. The courts are extremely backed up due to all the foreclosure cases on the docket. It’s common for homeowners to remain in their homes for a year or more (even up to three years is possible) while defending the foreclosure. The time it takes to defend your foreclosure can be all the time you need to refinance, negotiate a work-out or modification, or sell your home on your own terms to avoid foreclosure altogether.

Your Lender’s Goal…

Is not to own your house, but to get cash. If you want to keep your house, it is a game of dollars and cents to them.  If you are willing to pay them moving forward, there is a strong possibility they may work with you to give you a loan modification.  By fighting the foreclosure, you have the leverage to do that.