Lenders typically hire an attorney to send debtors a letter demanding proof of insurance coverage on houses and vehicles that secure debt. Just about every written loan contains boilerplate language requiring the borrower to provide and maintain insurance protection over the collateral. These letters threaten the debtor with a motion to lift the automatic stay [...]
April 2009
A debt collector governed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692, may only contact another person once to obtain location information about the person owing the debt, unless the contacted person expressly requests to be contacted or unless the debt collector reasonably believes the earlier response is erroneous or incomplete and the [...]
When your mortgage holder transfers servicing of your loan to a new company, you are entitled to receive a notice from both the old servicer and the new servicer within 15 days of the transfer. The notice must tell you: 1. The effective date of the transfer, the date your current servicer will stop accepting [...]
Susan Saulny, a New York Times reporter, recently interviewed me to inquire about why mortgage companies are refusing to foreclose on properties when a debtor does not pay the mortgage payment. I explained to Susan that mortgage companies are abandoning homes left and right instead of choosing to foreclose on the property. Yes that sentence [...]
The state Senate passed significant changes to Michigan’s foreclosure law today, April 2, 2009. Michigan allows foreclosure by publication, without any court proceedings, as well as judicial foreclosure, through the courts. The Michigan state House of Representatives passed legislation that would have allowed the homeowner to force his mortgage company into court even in a [...]
A debt collector governed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Title 15 U.S.C. 1692, can call you whenever you give permission to be called. Otherwise, a debt collector may not call at a known inconvenient time. A debt collector may assume it is convenient to call after 8 am and before 9 pm at [...]
