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bp.bmpYou are going to hear a lot more about businesses filing BP oil spill claims in the next few months. On December 22, 2012, Bloomberg reported that the BP Gulf Oil Spill Settlement for 7.8 billion dollars was approved. This settlement was reached only two days before a trial was scheduled in March 2012. Preliminary approval was obtained over the summer and preliminary new claims filing rules went into effect.

However, litigation and judges can be fickle so no one knew for certain what was going to happen, but now we have a final order.

Some of the key factors of this settlement are:

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trickle down.jpgMost Floridians don’t believe me when I tell them that their business is likely eligible under the new rules under the BP Oil Spill Settlement. They think their business simply wasn’t affected by the oil spill.

However, you don’t have to prove that oil sludge washed up on your doorstep or that you swallowed a toxic fish. Because it is so difficult to prove the exact cause of economic damages, the “causation” requirement was completely eliminated in June 2012. Now businesses are qualifying when previously they were being denied.

Think of it this way, how many tourism dollars does your county bring in? Those tourism dollars filter through society and affect all types of businesses. From restaurants, hotels, t-shirt shops and amusement parks, to their employees or other supportive businesses. This trickle down effect includes even dentists, doctors, attorneys, chiropractors and virtually all tradespeople. Realtors, builders, architects, the list is never ending.

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house life preserver.jpgWe are still seeing significant principal reductions for some of our very lucky clients, mostly from Bank of America and Ocwen.

An article by Drew Harwell in the Tampa Bay Times and the Orlando Sentinel and the Tampa Bay Times indicates that since March, more than 1,000 Florida homeowners have learned their principal balances were dropping by an average of $114,000. This is due to the National Mortgage Settlement of $25 billion. Five of the nation’s largest banks – Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

I know to many this seems unfair. Those behind in their payments get huge windfalls, while those who have kept paying do not. Or someone with a different lender doesn’t qualify and no one has control over who buys their mortgages. Fannie and Freddie do not presently allow for any principal reductions.

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student loan bubble.jpgEarlier this year, total student loan debt surpassed credit card debt for the first time ever. Student loan debt and the resulting high tuition are without a doubt in a huge bubble after having raised 800 percent in the past few years. After graduation, students are presented with the bill and most have no idea how it got that high.

Why is this? The cause of this student loan bubble is not unlike the mortgage crisis. The initial theory was to expand homeownership to the masses. Thereafter, lax lending standards allowed more and more people to buy homes. More buyers led to higher prices. The mortgage loans were securitized on Wall Street to unidentified investors. As the demand for these investments grew, the need for more questionable loans grew. People began to fear being left behind, if they didn’t buy now, they would be priced out of a home forever. It was actually cheaper to buy a home than it was to rent one with first month, last month and security deposit required in cash. Who cared if the loan couldn’t later be repaid when it was determined that the homeowner didn’t actually have a job that paid $200,000, but instead worked as a gardener for $20,000. Turns out that kind of thing really matters now that our housing market tanked 50% or more across the board as a direct result of this chain of events. Poorly run mortgage servicers or those with their own agenda has multiplied the number of foreclosures. The resulting crash hurt everyone, even people who could normally afford their home payments but god forbid lost their job or had to move.

Feeding the securitization beast was a common problem among mortgage brokers and investment banks. They had to create product to sell to the securitization machine. Kinda like making meth in large quantities in the popular show Breaking Bad that I am now hooked on and spent half of this past Labor Day weekend watching.

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courthouse.jpgUnder Florida law, a creditor has up to twenty years to try and collect a judgment. That’s an intimidating number, two whole decades. Something not to take lightly. To become a lien on real estate, a certified copy of a final judgment must be recorded in the public records in the county in which the real property is located.

Once recorded, Florida law provides that the judgment acts as a lien on non-homestead real property for an initial period of ten years. See Florida Statute Section 55.10. The judgment can be re-recorded and act as a lien for an additional ten years. Prior to 2004, a recorded judgment acted as a lien for only seven years, but could be re-recorded up to two additional times for a total of twenty years.

In comparison, a bankruptcy remains on someone’s credit report for 10 years. However, the last 18 months is the most important time period in anyone’s credit history and often the bankruptcy after it gets old enough is considered irrelevant.

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mortgage puzzle.jpgThere are several exciting things happening in mortgage modifications lately. The modification puzzle pieces seem to be falling into place, albeit four years after the foreclosure crisis began. We hope to take full advantage of this and get as many of our clients through a mediation this fall as possible.

First, the Attorney-General settlement is in full swing. We are seeing a number of substantial principal reductions. This money will eventually run out.

Second, Ocwen is buying lots of mortgages, or I should say the mortgage servicing rights. Homeowners who have previously been denied should try again if they learn that Ocwen has taken over their loan. We have written several blogs about Ocwen principal reductions.

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house shopping cart.jpgIt will take less time than you think to qualify to buy a home after bankruptcy. I generally advise my Florida clients that they will likely qualify within 2-5 years.

Where do these numbers come from exactly? FHA and HUD regulations are readily available online.

If you have filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, HUD Guideline 4155.1 : 4.C.2.g provides: A Chapter 7 bankruptcy does not disqualify a borrower from obtaining an FHA-insured mortgage if at least two years have elapsed since the date of the discharge of the bankruptcy.

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lawsuit.jpgIn Florida, typically someone who is sued is served with the lawsuit and given 20 or sometimes 30 days to file a response. If the lawsuit was filed in small claims court, you are given a date to appear at a pretrial conference instead of filing a written response.

The most important thing is: Don’t ignore the deadline. It doesn’t matter that you think you might be able to work it out or that you called the attorney’s office who filed the lawsuit. If you don’t file a timely written response with the court, or attend the pretrial conference, a default will be entered against you. A default judgment can last up to 20 years in Florida and is very hard to challenge.

Before the deadline expires, please see an attorney. Many attorneys, including our office offer a free consultation for foreclosure defense or debt collection matters.

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sword.pngDo this to Stop Calls to your Cell Phone.

Did you know that a debt collector cannot call your cell phone without express consent to do so? And if this occurs, the cost of a violation is $500 per call, triple if it is a willful violation.

It’s pretty easy to get up to $15,000 – $20,000 or more in settlement of damages under the TCPA. Our law firm settled two cases in the past two weeks exactly like this. One of the clients advised that he received seven times more than he thought he would. The second client remarked that when he came to see us about a debt collection problem he was having, he thought he would have to pay us. Instead we wrote him a check. A big check.

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photo.JPGIn a strong opinion favoring Florida homeowners, the Eleventh Circuit slammed the door in the face of debt collectors and mortgage servicers in foreclosure cases making it abundantly clear that calling homeowners multiple times in one day after they have hired an attorney to represent them, using abusive and offensive language and lying about foreclosure sale dates and other unscrupulous behavior would no longer be tolerated. In Birster v. American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. Case no. 11-13574, (11th Cir. July 18, 2012), the Court said no more when it reversed the Southern District of Florida who had ruled for the mortgage company.

I urge all homeowners who have suffered abuse at the hands of their mortgage servicer (which frankly is most all prospective clients I speak with) contact an attorney immediately – the protections afforded by the FDCPA have a one year statute of limitations, under the FCCPA it is extended to two years. If you already have an attorney, print out this blog, or tell your attorney about this brand new case so he or she can now use this powerful tool in the defense of your case. We sure plan to.

You may be asking why is this case so important?

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