Richard Olson filed four Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Petitions and Plans in a five year period- the last one on the eve of the foreclosure of his home. The assignee of his original mortgage lender Bank of America objected to confirmation of his latest Plan on the basis that it failed to comply with the confirmation...Read More

This case is a testament to the subprime crisis and illustrates how complex and devastating mortgage securitization and pooling was to ordinary homeowners; middle-class people faced with sudden and insurmountable mortgage debt. Sadly, this decision also illustrates just how hard it is to stand up to the holders of pooled mortgage loans.Read More

The Illinois Supreme Court recently ruled on the tricky interplay between the Illinois Condominium Property Act and Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law. Both pieces of legislation are meant to give real estate owners, investors, managers, and ultimately residents, confidence that their needs will be met through the legal process. In this case however, the Bank was...Read More

Dual Tracking is the industry name for the practice of letting a foreclosure case tick on even while the homeowner seeks to modify their mortgage loan. The idea is simple: the Bank will take whichever solution comes through first – a modification or a foreclosure. The problem is that the Bank holds all the cards:...Read More

The Economy has been sputtering: struggling valiantly but with little to show for it. Case in point: Is your home still underwater? For most people the answer is still yes - even as markets around the country rebound. So today we address a deceptively simple question: What is a mortgage and how does it work?...Read More

Foreclosure defense practice has become a veritable cottage industry over the past decade and it is common for Clients to expect their lawyer to do more than fight. They want to delay "by any means necessary." But the Courts still regard the law as a genteel profession. What Clients see as run of the mill...Read More

One option for those who've gone through Bankruptcy and are looking to borrow again is the FHA Loan. Before the housing bubble burst in 2008 FHA loans were considered the choice for buyers with little credit or bad credit; or for those with low incomes. But since everyone's home value began falling - taking credit...Read More

The Bankruptcy Court pries apart a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings brought by banks and servicers that claim to be entitled to collect mortgage payments from the Debtor while peering into the world of securitized mortgages - the process of bundling loans into trusts, slicing trusts into securities, and trading those securities on Wall...Read More

As a Bankruptcy lawyer I can't count how many times people have asked why Courts won't reduce their mortgage debt to match the deflated value of their home, or why they should pay anything on that second mortgage, line of credit, or HELOC, when they're underwater. I even discussed these questions and the state of...Read More

Recently I got an e-mail from the newly-formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). You remember the CFPB, right? No? That's alright. But you probably remember the agency's public face, now-Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. So, after coming out of the shoot a few years with the President's blessing and much fanfare, the CFPB has released...Read More