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Another foreclosure crisis: Not enough lawyers defending homeowners

by Mike on October 9, 2009

We’re all familiar with the all-too-common cries that the number of foreclosures in this country is reaching “crisis” proportions.

But the New York Times sees another kind of crisis: those in foreclosure trouble don’t have access to legal help.

an overwhelming number of homeowners who face foreclosure do not have legal help in protecting their rights. As a result, people are losing their homes who do not need to.

It is absolutely true that many people now losing their homes could have saved them if they’d only had adequate legal help. All over the country, judges are throwing out foreclosure cases because banks who claim to own the loans really don’t — and they might have no idea who really does. This is the lynchpin behind the “produce the note” defense – the idea that a bank actually has to prove that a borrower owes them money… meaning this bank, as opposed to another one. It’s the only way to protect borrowers from facing multiple actions by multiple lenders, each of whom claim to be able to collect the same loan.

Proof of ownership.

For the most part, only a lawyer trained in the rules of evidence and the laws relating to the transfer of promissory notes – the loan documents themselves, which are usually governed by the Uniform Commercial Code – can really force a foreclosure plaintiff to cough up the evidence the shows who really does – and who really doesn’t – own the loan.

According tot he Times, the problem is that there aren’t enough lawyers. But there are plenty of lawyers out there, and more every day are learning how to fight these battles. So the problem isn’t that we need more layers – it’s that too few foreclosure victims ever hire a lawyer to help them out.

And because of that, too many people lose homes they could have saved.

Want to know more? Contact us at Ricardo & Wasylik, PL.

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