Foreclosure Consultations: When the Home’s at Risk

What is foreclosure?

Foreclosure is generally known as the event when a holder of a loan – a creditor – obtains a court-ordered termination of a mortgage’s equitable right of redemption. The bank or creditor sells or repossesses the property and keeps all the proceeds from the transaction. These monetary rewards are then used to pay off the mortgage and any other legal costs. In this process, the lender has foreclosed its loan.

What is a foreclosure consultant?

Foreclosure consultants make solicitations on behalf of, or represent clients who face foreclosure or who cannot reasonably hope to pay their mortgages or loans.

Foreclosure consultants can perform any or all of these tasks:

1. Stop or postpone foreclosure or the sale of property.
2. Obtain a forbearance from the mortgage. This means that the consultant gets the bank or creditor to refrain from forcing the mortgagee to pay off the loans.
3. Assist the property owner in exercising his or her right of reinstatement.
4. Get an extension of a period of time in which the owner can reinstate his or her obligations to the bank or creditor.
5. Get a waiver of a clause in the loan that would have allowed for the acceleration of the foreclosure process.
6. Help the owner to get approved for and receive another loan entirely.
7. Avoid or lessen the injury to the owner’s credit that would surely result from foreclosure.
8. In general, work to save the residence or property from foreclosure.

Foreclosure consultants help their clients – the mortgagees and property owners – to understand the entire foreclosure process. It’s complicated legally, practically, and financially, and it certainly helps to have an experienced legal professional to walk you through all the confusing details. But most of all, meeting with a foreclosure consultant can lead you to understand the opportunities you could have to protect your home, or, at a minimum, to safeguard your credit from taking a brutal hit.

A wise bit of advice: do your research and be careful. Some consultants know no more about foreclosures than they do about flipping burgers; these are scam artists. They’re only interested in taking advantage of the current (2009) financial crisis.

If while you are communicating with a “foreclosure consultant” and you notice the following, you may be talking to a veritable scammer:

• The consultant initiates a conversation or contact with you instead of you initiating contact with the consultant.
• The consultant advises you to break off communication with your lender.
• The consultant demands compensation before beginning to work.
• The consultant demands that you sign a wage assignment, a new lien on the property, or a security agreement for compensation.
• The consultant requests the power of attorney beyond the level of inspecting documents.
• Or the consultant asks you to sign a contract that does not allow you the right to cancel the agreement.

You can contact government agencies to get a list of legitimate foreclosure consultants. There are many legitimate foreclosure consultations you can speak with over the phone, online, and of course, in person. In fact, some foreclosure consultants will begin an overview of your case free of charge.

Who should look into foreclosure consultants?

If you don’t think you can make your mortgage payments and pay the loan, and you’re worried that the bank or creditor will move to repossess your property and foreclose it, there are experienced professionals you can turn to. Talking to a foreclosure consultant can help you allay your fears of losing your property and get you on the right track to the best resolution.

But you don’t have to be facing the threat of foreclosure to contact a foreclosure consultant. These legal experts could help you plan for the future to avoid a situation in which your property would risk foreclosure. Careful budgeting measures and explanations on how the law works could benefit you and your family – not to mention your property! – in the long run.