Foreclosures, Mortgages

This article explains the broader and practical implications of a May 25 Supreme Court decision that a local government taking of a home at a property tax foreclosure violated the Fifth Amendment’s Taking Clause. Also analyzed are property tax foreclosure issues not resolved by the decision, as well as eleven practical tips to avoid loss of a home for unpaid property taxes, with links to additional resources.

A new NCLC Digital Library article sets out practical solutions to problems arising from a homeowner's death in dealing with mortgages, foreclosures, reverse mortgages, property taxes and tax sales, utilities, and relief after natural disasters. The advice focuses where a home’s title is tangled—the home is stuck in probate or families living in a home for generations have never properly transferred the home’s title.

This article explains that a June 29 HUD policy change eases the path for FHA borrowers to seek a loan modification even where a co-borrower cannot execute the modification because of death, divorce, separation, domestic violence, or other life events. Also covered are similar Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac policies, and borrower tactics when servicers require participation of unavailable co-borrowers.

The most widely used index for adjustable-rate consumer contracts, the LIBOR, will soon cease to exist. This article explains new legal requirements that will apply when creditors are forced to change the index and margin on $1.4 trillion of adjustable-rate consumer contracts—millions of home mortgages, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), credit cards, and private student loans. March 15 federal...

As the name suggests, zombie mortgages can be terrifying. They rise from the dead, appear without warning, and seize homes. And they are appearing now more than ever. This article explains what they are, why they are now such a problem, and twelve ways homeowners can stop foreclosures of zombie mortgages. For even more detail, see a new Chapter 11a in NCLC’s Home Foreclosures. What Are Zombie...

Only about half the states are now accepting homeowner applications for payments from the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF), and few funds so far have been distributed. At the same time, because of the end of many COVID-19 related homeowner protections, large numbers of homeowners may soon face foreclosure. This article explains which homeowners are eligible for HAF payments and explores solutions...

This article advises homeowners after natural disasters: FEMA aid and other sources of help and grants; avoiding insurance, home repair, and municipal code problems; forbearance of mortgage payments, loan modifications after exiting forbearance, and foreclosure avoidance; and preparing for the next natural disaster. Links providing far more detail are open to all readers for a limited time.

This article provides links to the latest COVID-related homeowner protections for different types of mortgages and homeowner financial circumstances. Links go to an extensively updated NCLC chapter, which is, for a limited time, free to the public. Also linked is a discussion of an important foreclosure defense based on servicer noncompliance with these homeowner protections.

In one short month—from June 24 to July 23, 2021—the White House, FHA, VA, USDA, and FHFA (for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) have announced 14 separate actions helping mortgage borrowers facing financial hardship from the pandemic. This article summarizes each of the 14, links to the full text of each action, and links to specific subsections of NCLC’s Mortgage Servicing and Lo