What is a mortgage foreclosure?
When you buy a home the two most important documents that you sign are:
1) the Promissory Note (commonly referred to as “the Note”); and
2) the Mortgage.
The Note is a contract to repay the loan. It describes how much you owe, what your monthly payments will be and how much you will be charged for the home loan.
The Mortgage is an agreement that the lender can take your house and sell it if you breach the terms of the Note and/or the Mortgage.
When you fail to make payments the bank will notify you that you are in default and has the right to file a lawsuit asking the court to sign over the deed to your home. This is mortgage foreclosure.
How will I know if my home is being foreclosed?
To foreclose on your home the lender has to file a lawsuit at the courthouse and provide it to you. In Florida, you have only 20 days to hire an attorney and respond to the lawsuit.
What should I do if my home is being foreclosed?
In almost every case, homeowners lose their home because they don’t try to win and they are defaulted. Call as soon as possible - affordable mortgage foreclosure defense is what we do - in some cases even after you have been defaulted.
U.S. and Florida laws protect homeowners from overreaching lenders, brokers, collection agencies and attorneys. In many cases people lose their homes even though they have defenses to foreclosure.
We can help you determine what your defenses are and whether you can keep your home by negotiating with your bank
Lenders are not always willing to compromise. The best chance you may have to strike a compromise is to have a lawyer representing you.
If I haven’t been paying my mortgage payments what can Merritt Law Offices, P.A. do to help me?
U.S. and Florida laws protect homeowners from overreaching lenders, brokers, collection agencies and attorneys. In many cases people lose their homes even though they have defenses to foreclosure.
Home Foreclosure Defense .com can help you determine what your defenses are and whether you can keep your home by negotiating with your bank
Lenders are not always willing to compromise. The best chance you may have to strike a compromise is to have a lawyer representing you.
There are numerous participants in providing and servicing a mortgage. These people and their companies are held to very high legal standards. If these people took more than they earned or failed to disclose important information regarding your loan they may be in violation of the law and may not be entitled to foreclose or you may even have claims against them.
We have dedicated ourselves to understanding complex US and state laws to stop your foreclosure to give you the opportunity to renegotiate your loan or give you time to make plans to turn the home over.
Another company said that they could “rescue” me by negotiating with my lender. They said that they would only charge $200. Why should I use Merritt Law Offices, P.A. for my foreclosure defense?
Foreclosure defendants are popular targets for Foreclosure Rescue Fraud. You may be a target of this type of fraud - and they’ll steal your money.
With “phantom help”, which is what this offer sounds like, a company charges the home owner fees for negotiating with the lender. The so-called rescuer never provides the service. Result: You are out $200 and receive no help.
In a bait-and-switch scam the homeowner signs an agreement to make the mortgage current, but is really signing over the ownership of the home. Say “goodbye home.” In some schemes the home owner signs the deed over to the “rescuer” with the belief that he will be able to get the home back and the homeowner becomes a tenant of the
Keith Merritt is an honors graduate of the University Of Florida College Of Law and from the University Of Florida College Of Business with a Masters in Business Administration. He has been working in civil litigation for almost nine years, is a member of the Florida Bar Association, the Lakeland Bar Association and is a board member of the Polk County Red Cross. We’ll gladly provide references. Fraudulent “Rescuers” won’t!