While the Obama administration battles to keep people from losing their homes, many homeowners may have to fight foreclosure actions in order to buy themselves time to take advantage of recent legislation like the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. Stalling or even stopping foreclosures is possible in some instances because loan servicers are bringing most of the foreclosure actions in the country, and they often don’t own the mortgages and have no standing to enforce them.
If you have resolved to fight your foreclosure and to try to save your home, you need to file a timely answer or responsive motion to the foreclosure petition. It is best to hire a lawyer to defend the foreclosure action. However, whether you have a lawyer or not, and regardless of whether you are a victim of a mortgage fraud, or misrepresentations by mortgage brokers, you have the right and the obligation to question the validity and accuracy of your mortgage foreclosure.
In nearly all cases of foreclosure, when the bank files its initial lawsuit, the homeowners have a chance to respond to the complaint and file their own answer. The problem is that, while mortgage companies hire local lawyers, the owners of the house may have little idea of how to go about filing an answer.?Also, you may not have the time or money to hire a lawyer before you are in default in your foreclosure case. While only you or your attorney can mount a defense in court, and we can’t provide near enough information in a blog article to adequately assist you, attached to this article is a generic answer to a foreclosure petition to aid you in your defense. This form answer is not intended to be legal advice or a substitute for an attorney. It is merely a tool to help protect your rights by requiring the mortgage company to prove every element of its case:?answer to petition for foreclosure
Finally, there may be a Mortgage Foreclosure Assistance Hotline in your state, or?HUD-Approved Housing Counselors in your area that help homeowners who are behind on their mortgages. ?Check with your state agency or?HUD (www.hud.gov) to see if there is a?Housing Counselor near you.