With the act active, more and more people can make their debt Problems known, this way they can get help from a debt advisor. There are a variety of way the act helps. If you are in debt you can go up to the people you owe money to and ask them for an extension on your full amount, or your monthly amount.

In the event that you owe a big sum of cash to a company, the number one thing for you to do is get rid of your visa cards. Now, you may not wish to cut it up or thru it away, but you can give it to a friend or relation so that you don’t have access to it. Do not close any account when you are in debt, it is going to be a negative mark against your name.

One other way you can clear your debt is to take it one card at a time. Or at least pay more on one card and less on others, if you’ve got more than one. The card you pay more on should be the card that you possess more on, or the card that charges the most interest. Losing these cards first will help you in the long run.

Don’t stop payment on the smaller amounts. If you do, these amounts will get bigger, and they too will start to gain more interest. You do not desire that. If you are paying the littlest amount of cash, at least you are paying something. This way you are clearing all the amounts that you owe on your cards, and in virtually no time you’ll be out of debt.

Don’t let them push you around. They want their money and they want it now, so when you talk to them on the phone they will push you around a bit and demand that you make a payment of x amount. If that amount is too huge tell them what you are able to afford and stick to it. They will ultimately say that it is fine.

One other thing you don’t want to do when you’re clearing loans, is not using more loans. This is a mistake that a large amount of folk make – never take out a loan to pay back a loan. It’ll never work.

Also, do not go for any sort of debt consolidation. The reason is because you have to put your place down as security, and this is something that you do not need to do. The reason being because those companies will take you account and push the interest up until you are able to afford it anymore. This will leave them to take your house.

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

A Fresh Look at the Debt Settlement Act

One of the largest differences in foreclosure law is whether a state uses mortgages or deeds of trust for real estate. “Deed of trust” is a term that’s not heard as often as mortgage, but in essence, they have the same function – they protect the lender from default on a loan that is secured by real estate. The major difference is in the process the lender must use to obtain the right to recover your property and sell it.

When you sign a mortgage agreement with a lending institution, you retain the deed to the property, and have full legal title to it – but you allow the lender to place a ‘lien’ on it. If you do not make the payments on the loan as agreed upon, the lender can foreclose on the property.

In some states, a deed of trust takes the place of a mortgage. With a deed of trust, you give the deed to the land or property to the lender, but the lender can only use or sell the property if you default on the loan.

In states that use mortgages, foreclosure law makes foreclosure a judicial procedure. A lender must prove to the court that the borrower has defaulted on the loan, and that they, the lender, have made appropriate attempts to resolve the default with the homeowner. There is a definite sequence of events that must be followed as prescribed in the foreclosure law, and knowing that sequence in your state can help you understand your options in terms of resolving the issue before it goes before a judge.

In states that use a deed of trust rather than a mortgage, the lender must go through certain steps of notification as required by foreclosure law in that state, but does not need judicial permission to proceed with a sale or foreclosure on the property to which they hold a deed in trust.

States whose foreclosure law requires judicial action include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

To learn more about your own States forclosure laws, check out this page.

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

Using Foreclosure Laws to Your Advantage

The First Steps in Avoiding Foreclosure

If you are faced with a mortgage payment you can no longer afford to pay, one of the first things you need to do is contact your lender directly to see if they have some kind of solution for you! If you have ever let someone borrow money of your own, you know the one thing you hate the most, is not being paid back! It only gets worse and can even ruin a friendship when the person avoids your calls and just stops talking to you!

Your lender is not going to go away… and they don’t bite! Sure, they want their money just like you would, but its not personal with them! They don’t know you very well and their main interest right now is the same as yours, keeping you in your home! If you simply prefer trying to go around your lender and finding another solution, there are many loan modification services in the market right now that you may qualify for, regardless of employment status and income!

Learn Your Borrower Rights

A great way to spend an afternoon and understand the foreclosure risk for your home, is to read your actual mortgage loan documents and understand your state’s foreclosure laws. By knowing exactly what the lenders and your own rights are under state law, may just be the best info you can have in your pocket!Although the court systems just overturned a Judges right to modify your loan during a bankruptcy hearing, there are many local laws that are on your side and may keep you in your home for 3-6 months, while you get back onto your feet!

Find Help Using Third Party Services

The easiest way to avoid a foreclosure is not to let it happen at all! As you can imagine, there has been a crop of loan modification services popping up all around the country to try and help you out of this problem! Of course, they make money by matching people who may be in foreclosure trouble with lenders who are willing to help, but many of these new loan servicing companies have an inside track to the right lenders and can make the process quick, easy, and painless to you! With nothing to lose, you can get started by filling out a simple web form, and let them go to work for you today!

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

Working Your Way Out of a Foreclosure Problem

5 Ways to Avoid Being Scammed

If you are in trouble, the last thing you need to worry about, is whether the foreclosure prevention service you just found, is actually trying to help you, or just get some of the hard earned money, you can not afford to spend!

1. Contact your Local City or Town Council First!

   Many local leaders have recognized the scams that are growing faster than you or I could imagine, and they are starting to take action by holding local foreclosure prevention workshops, geared to inform homeowners of what you can do on your own, versus paying a fee to have it done for you! Open Google and search for foreclosure prevention workshops in your area!

2. Know ALL Fee’s Before You Sign Anything!

   It can be very tempting when one of the new Foreclosure Prevention Service companies tells you that for a flat fee of $749, they will help you get your mortgage reduced by hundreds of dollars every month! What they may not have mentioned yet however, is that they are simple there to help you complete the paperwork, before it needs to be submitted to an Attorney for actual filing, which results in an additional fee, usually much higher than theirs! Know ALL fees up front!

3. Calculate the Cost Versus Savings First!

   Many of the new Foreclosure Prevention Services out there, charge a fee that often range from $750-$1200 to review your individual situation and help you apply for a loan modification. Once you add in theirs and the Attorney fees, the initial cost may be much more than you could ever save!

   In many cases, your loan is only going to be modified for 2-3 years, so if you are only saving $100 / month on your home mortgage, yet paying $3000 or more in preparation and filing fees, you will end up losing money in the longrun! This does not even include any additional costs that can be applied by the lender!

4. Research the Business and Its Previous Customers!

   As mentioned above, these new Foreclosure Prevention Services are springing up in scores every day! Make sure you ask them how long they have been in business and if its only a short time, ask them what type of background they have in the foreclosure prevention industry! In many cases, the same people who contributed to the failure of the mortgage industry, have changed gears and are now claiming to be specialists in helping your prevent foreclosure on the same loans they serviced originally!

5. Do it Yourself Foreclosure Prevention!

   Just like taxes and legal representation, you CAN handle the entire foreclosure prevention process yourself! Start by calling your lender and see what they need from you first! You may just find that with a few hours of your own time, you can get it done yourself! Unlike legal representation and taxes, there are not hundreds of loopholes and intricate details to deal with in negotiating a new mortgage! If your lender is not cooperative with you, continue bugging them EVERY DAY, until they comply!

The bottom line to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of a foreclosure prevention scam, is to be informed and know your options!

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

5 Ways to Avoid Getting Scammed by Foreclosure Prevention Services

Why did He Qualify for Refinancing?

Simple… his house payment was more than 31% of his monthly gross income AND he was a few weeks behind on the current payment (on purpose, to get refi’d)

He got a letter from Citi offering to assist and when he called them, they went gaga over helping him! He has a full time job and makes about 38k per year.

My question to everyone reading…

Did You Qualify for Foreclosure Assistance?

If so… tell us about it! If not, please tell us why!

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

Is the Foreclosure Bailout Working for You?

Anyhow – We got to talking about the foreclosure plan and one of the guys mentioned that his home is financed through Citifinancial, and they actually sent HIM a letter out of nowhere, telling him he may qualify for assistance under the new plan! He actually got 2 letters, so he gave me one of them to take a look at…In BIG BOLD LETTERS it said:

You May Qualify for Foreclosure Prevention Assistance!

As you can imagine, it even made me read the entire content in the letter… hell, if he could qualify, I might be able to also right?!

I asked my friend about his financial situation and here were his details:

• Single Homeowner
• Father of 1 – he pays child support and shares custody
• Gross pay of $38,000 +/-
• Mortgage payment of $1397 per month (!Gack!)
• Very little credit card debt.
• He has not made an on time mortgage payment in 6 months, and is usually 1-2 weeks late every month, but has never been more than 15-20 days late at most!

After hearing about his finances… I was not only shocked that he is living for his house, but wondered how the hell he could afford to play poker with us, let alone buy food and pay utilities!

Just a little basic math on my cell phone had me jumping at him, encouraging him to complete the foreclosure prevention form and send it in… Immediately! You see… his house note costs him more than the 31% qualifier in the foreclosure plan, as a matter of fact… his note costs 44%!

Filling out the Enclosed Form from Citibank

The form Citi sent was very straightforward and all on one page – which is friggin shocking for anything to do with a mortgage, but that’s another post!!

Basic info like employment history, paystubs, tax returns… the normal stuff you would expect to need on any application for credit, was completed in less than 10 minutes between poker hands, and he sent it in on Friday!

Have you received any forms from Citi? If so, share the results of the process with others here!

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

You Might Qualify for Help – Even if you Aren’t in Trouble!

Banks have been give BILLIONS by the Fed (that would yours and my tax money btw), and yet they still won’t not loan money or cut back on the credit requirements, even for those of us with good credit! To Top it all off President Obama signaled last week that he will need even more money to bail out the failing financial industry. Even he admits… some banks just won’t make it.

So, what’s the fix for the Rest of the US Citizens?

The foreclosure prevention plan to help homeowners, as well as additional steps to shore up the financial sector are not yet taking any hold in the public market, and many economists no longer expect the second half of the $700 billion, which Congress recently approved, to be enough to fix the ailing financial sector.

The Nations Auto Industry is on the verge of collapse, which will have an impact that is far to expanse to even estimate, but several have come in at the loss of more than 150,000 blue collar jobs, once the trickle effect makes its way to all of the different industries the car makers rely on for parts, materials, etc. That’s not even considering the 3500 new car dealers and employees around the USA that are going to suffer!

I Have a Solution for the Failing US Economy

Lets face it… the ONLY thing that is going to help Banks, the Auto Industry, Local Retailers, and every Mom and Pop company in our Country… is going to involve people spending money! We are not refered to as “Consumers” for nothing… the problem right now is that nobody is Consuming!

Whether they are out of work, or just hoarding their cash reserves, Citizens of the USA are no longer running to the store and buying stuff. When we don’t buy stuff… the stores end up laying people off, the manufacturers lay people off, since there is no longer demand (remember supply and demand in high school?) and the brutal cycle of failure begins.

1. People Stop Spending (regardless of the reason)
2. Stores Lay People off due to low demand (Which brings those laid off people to step #1 again)
3. Manufacturers Stop Manufacturing – due to low demand, which leads to laying workers off!
4. People, Businesses, and Manufacturers start defaulting on loans, since #1, #2 and #3
5. Banks get in trouble! (#1 – #4) Guess what they do… they lay people off!
6. As more and more are laid off – the Fed and States, begin losing tax revenue
7. As homes are lost, Property taxes are not paid…
8. You can insert ANY AVENUE that helps fund our Country and economy in this area, and its already happened!

This entire snowball economic nightmare is where we are at right now and until #1 can be reversed, it will never change – Period!

Spread the Stimulus to the People Who are Likely to Spend it!

If you want to fix the US and ultimately, the World Economy, take the 8.5 TRILLION DOLLARS of bailout money that is being spent (Sum of all bailouts thus far funded or on the table), and spread it out to the consumers! With approximately 115 Million US Households… just send EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM a check for:  $73,913 Dollars!

$8,500,000,000,000 divided by 115,000,000 households = $73,913 each!

I can GUARANTEE – that will correct EVERYTHING!

• It will get spent on cars  – helps the auto industry, creates and saves jobs!
• It will be spent on houses – helps the banks, creates many thousands of local jobs in EVERY area of america!
• it will be spent on every single consumer product you can imagine – this saves many businesses and again, creates and saves more jobs!

An IMMEDIATE reverse cycle of the one listed above happens!

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

The Recession Deepens and Still No End in Sight!

Even if you have received a foreclosure notice, you should not panic and reach for the first offer of foreclosure assistance. You need to learn how to recognize the tricks which foreclosure assistance crooks use to swindle those in your situation.

The Equity Skimming Scam

The stress of being in financial difficulty can very easily cloud you judgment, and this is especially true if you are confronted with the looming loss of your home. One of the scams perpetrated by fake foreclosure assistance companies is Equity Skimming.

In the Equity Skimming scam, an unsolicited offer is made to find a buyer for your home so that you can clear up your debt s, and the individual making it requires you to sign your home over so that you will no longer be facing foreclosure, with a promise that you will be paid some of the profit when they sell the home.

But once you have transferred title to your home, the scammer will simply rent it out for a while, pocketing the rent while the bank proceeds with foreclosure. You have lost your home, and will remain liable for the unpaid mortgage, because transferring the deed did nothing to transfer your mortgage obligation. You are out not only whatever you paid the scammers, but your home as well.

Fake Counseling Services

Then there are the fake foreclosure assistance counseling services. They tell you that for a minimal fee you will be able to have their experts negotiate with your mortgage holders to get the foreclosure assistance you need They promise to relive you of the burden of having to deal with your mortgagor on your own, saying that their expertise in such matters will enable then to get you the best possible deal.

But more often than not, the only methods of foreclosure assistance they are capable of offering are those you could practice on your own, at no cost. The best they can do, if they even do that much, is get you a short-term grace period of lower monthly payments while you look for alternative sources of money to pay off your mortgage default. For more info see http://www.myfinancialbliss.com/foreclosure/foreclosure-assistance-18 on foreclosure assistance.

Do not accept any offers of foreclosure assistance which are not spelled out in writing. And do not agree to any agreement without first having it reviewed by an attorney familiar with foreclosure. Finally, if you suspect you have been targeted by a foreclosure assistance scam, contact the Consumer Fraud Unit of your District Attorney’s office without delay.

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

Learning To Spot The Foreclosure Assistance Scams

If you are already in foreclosure, chances are some damage has already been done in your relationship with your bank. But your best bet at this point is to start talking to them. You are not going to get foreclosure assistance from them if you do not show some willingness to work with them.

So how do you get foreclosure assistance from your bank? Be willing and able to show them that you really want to keep your home. This is going to take persistence and possibly some upfront money.

You are going to need to call them and you need to keep calling them until you get someone you can talk to who is willing to work with you. And if you do not get a response from them in a day or two, keep calling. Persistence on your part shows the bank that you do, in fact, want to save your home.

If at all possible, find a way to get some money together in order to save your house. If you come to the bank with some money in hand, they are more able to work with you and more than likely more willing to work with you.

The foreclosure assistance that your bank will offer you is going to mean some sort of financial workout arrangement. This is going to mean that you will need to submit a hardship letter, paperwork and a lot of your financial information. Banks differ in what they require so make sure that you have a full list of everything that they need. This will save you time, money and hassle in the long run. If you can give them all of the documentation they need all at once, the sooner you will be able to talk to them about what options they can offer you.

When they do propose a workout arrangement, keep an open mind but also make sure that you ask lots of questions. You need to understand exactly what it is that you are agreeing to.

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

How to Get Foreclosure Assistance From Your Bank

There are many different resources to choose from that could provide you with vital answers in your bid to save your home. By looking into these resources and learning from them you will stand a much better chance of preventing foreclosure from happening to you. Remember that there is assistance available to you but unless you take control and act assertively you won’t find it easy.

A good place to start looking is on the internet. There are many great online resources where you can get round the clock assistance whenever you need it. A lot of the online resources are nonprofit organizations who are there to help you. Depending on the resource you find you might even find that they are able to get in touch with the companies that you owe money to and come up with a suitable payment plan so that you can get your finances back into shape. The internet is a great resource for finding out information whatever it might be that you are researching. If you have a broadband connection that is even better because you will be able to download the information you require much faster than on dial up.

While you are searching on the internet you will also come across a number of other helpful and useful websites. You could even try looking in the online yellow pages to find local companies that could help you. Once you start your research it shouldn’t take you much time at all to find some foreclosure assistance in the area that you live in.

As well as the internet you could also pay a visit to your local library. There will you get the chance to find different books on the subject and may find something that is very useful in one of them. You could also read up on ways to improve your money management as this will also be beneficial for anybody in need of foreclosure assistance.

Once you learn to manage your money better you will find it easier to manage financially and should not get in to as much difficulty paying your essential monthly bills. Whether you choose to use the internet or your local library you should be able to find plenty of useful information and also be able to work out a financial plan to prevent you from running into problems like this again.

Post from: Obama's ForeClosure Plan Website

Save Your Home by Finding Out More About Foreclosure Assistance