Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
If you are or were a homeowner who had a foreclosure initiated, pending or completed between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010, you may be eligible for compensation or damages related to your foreclosure case IF you act to file a request for review before the September 30th 2012 deadline.
Been foreclosed on? You might just be entitled to some compo © HitToon.com - Fotolia.com
There are 3 primary qualifying criteria to obtain a free review of your case by the Federal Reserve:
1. The property must have been your primary residence.
2. The foreclosure action took place between January 1 2009 and December 31, 2010.
3. Your mortgage servicer appears on the list of servicers whose activities have been targeted by the Federal Reserve for review. For the complete list click here.
The list is too lengthy to show them all here, but it includes a number of major mortgage players. Among those targeted for review are Countrywide, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank NA, Suntrust Mortgage, GMAC Mortgage, CitiFinancial, and many more.
If you meet the three primary criteria, and you would like to file a request for review of your case, you can go to IndependentForeclosureReview.com to request the review forms and get more information on how the process will work. Even if your foreclosure was not completed you may be eligible for financial compensation if your case shows that you were financially harmed by the foreclosure filed against you.
If it is found that your foreclosure was initiated through the use of "robo-signing" tactics, the documents do not indicate that your mortgage servicer had the legal right to initiate a foreclosure action against you, or you believe that the foreclosure action was wrongly filed, and the documents indicate this, you may be eligible for financial compensation. There is a framework for determining what the general compensation might be, though no specific dollar amounts are listed on the website. Still, foreclosure is a traumatic experience, especially when it was not warranted, so at least you've got a chance to prove your case if you went through a foreclosure filing during the specified time frame.
One handy tip: The online filing process is quick and easy. But if possible, scan any related loan or modification documents ahead of time, and have them ready to upload before you begin filling out your application. There will be a place to upload any documents before you complete your application. The documents need to be ready to upload or you will have to do this step and start the application again. The application is short, but has to be completed in one sitting, as there is no way to save what you've done while you search for your paper documents.
Before you begin your application, I recommend scanning all needed foreclosure and/or loan modification documents into a pdf file, and saving them to your computer. Then you can simply upload them with the application. The entire application can then be completed online in less than 10 minutes.
Anyone who experienced a foreclosure filing or a related loan modification during this period is encouraged to file for a review. The review process is detailed and may take several months, but this is a rare opportunity to have the financial authorities take a second look at your case. Uploading any needed loan documents to help support your case may help shorten the wait time.
If you were not affected, but you know someone who was, please share this information with them. The original deadline was July 31. It has been extended to allow extra time for those who may not have been aware that they were eligible to file.
