Handling a foreclosure by yourself is a challenging task, especially when you don’t know anything about foreclosure law and related things. In such a case, you have to end up losing your valuable assets for the repayment of a loan.
You have some ways to avoid foreclosure or delay it. Applying to court can help you with defending yourself against foreclosure. But for that, you must know where to seek assistance and how to do this. This article will help you to gain the knowledge you need to hire a foreclosure defense attorney.
What is Foreclosure Defense?
Foreclosure defense is the process or act of taking the help of law in order to protect someone’s assets. Law offers several protections for people against foreclosure. Anyone can take the help of those protections to save their asset or delay foreclosure to continue repaying the loan. This is called foreclosure defense.
Foreclosure defense can be handled by the victims or any attorney appointed by them.
What is a Foreclosure Defense Attorney?
A foreclosure defense attorney is an attorney who helps people with foreclosure defense in court and outside. Starting from filing to defending in court- an attorney does everything to protect the client from foreclosure.
People who are not confident enough to fight in court or don’t have enough idea about foreclosure defense law and related often hire a foreclosure defense attorney to defend them in court. Hiring such an attorney helps a lot in the case. We’ll talk about those after a while.
You’ll find many law firms offering foreclosure defense services for clients. Hiring the right attorney helps you to protect your assets from foreclosure. For that, you have to go through a process.
What does a Foreclosure Defense Attorney Do?
The main task of a foreclosure defense attorney is to present your case in court and help you to defend your assets. However, they can do a lot more than that. Below are the things a foreclosure defense attorney can do for you.
Provide You the Options
Fighting in court is not the only way to defend a foreclosure. There are several options for several stages. So, you have hope too.
Attorneys know the law, the legal landscape, and the ways to avoid foreclosure with minimum effort. They can provide you with a bunch of options from which you can pick the best one. They can help you in deciding your pick too.
Help in Loan Modification
Most foreclosures happen when someone can’t repay a loan. If your case is the same, your attorney can help you through loan modification.
A loan modification is the revision of the terms and conditions of the finance so that you can pay the installments. For this, the bank needs several information and papers. Your attorney can help you with arranging and presenting the information and papers to the bank so that you get another chance.
Pursue a Loss Mitigation
Loss mitigation is a way lenders allow you another chance to stay current on the course of payment after a break. Some lenders offer a loss mitigation scope, whereas others don’t.
Your attorney can help you by finding out the loss mitigation policy of the lender and helping you choose the best approach.
Represent in Settlement Meeting
Not all lenders want to go in the hard way first. So, you might be called by your lender or the bank for a negotiation meeting. In such a meeting, a foreclosure defense attorney can help you.
The attorney you hire can represent you in such meetings and negotiate with the bank’s attorney about the loan. You may not have enough legal knowledge to attend such a meeting and defend yourself through discussion with attorneys. So, your attorney can help you here.
Raise Defense in Court
The banks are not right every time. The process of foreclosure can be wrong. There can be thousands of issues that you can’t identify. Don’t worry. Having a foreclosure defense attorney can help you to identify those.
The attorney knows how foreclosure works. So, if there is any issue in the process, or the lender forecloses your asset illegally, your attorney can raise a defense against it in court and save you.
You can’t protect yourself if you don’t know about foreclosing laws and rules.
File Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
The attorney can help you file for chapter 13 bankruptcy if you can’t repay the loan. A chapter 13 bankrupt person gets three to five years of additional period to repay the loan with the right to keep the asset.
With the help of your foreclosure defense lawyer, you can file for bankruptcy. You can do this alone too, but everything is smooth and easy when you have an attorney.
Help to Know How Law Can Protect You
There are several laws for helping foreclosure victims. There is a standard federal law for such issues. Also, each state has its law for foreclosure victims. Your appointed attorney can help you find the best law to support you.
Also, understanding the law is challenging because of the terms used in it. Your attorney can help you to understand exactly what is stated in the law so that you have the scope to pick the best possible option.
Assist You in Developing a Plan
Foreclosure and related issues are not short-term things. Once you receive the first foreclosure notice, you must do many things step-by-step until you can save your asset from foreclosure. When you hire attorneys to assist you, they can help you to develop a step-by-step plan and go through it.
The plan depends on a lot of things, including your desired goal, financial situation, the lender’s next step, and so on. So, building a plan is tough when you’re alone. Attorneys have experience with it. So, they can help you and lead you toward the best possible solution.
Is Foreclosure Defense Similar for Everyone?
Unlike many other laws, foreclosure defense is different in different cases. In the case of foreclosure defense, you have to make a decision depending on many factors. Also, the court focuses on many variable factors while working with foreclosure defense cases.
In some cases, filing a bankruptcy is the best solution. Loss mitigation can be the best solution for some other cases. Similarly, loan modification, selling the asset, etc., are not common solutions for all. It depends on your financial ability, the amount of consideration your lender can do, your future plan, etc.
After discussing the best possible solution, your attorney approaches accordingly. If you want to mitigate the loss, it has a separate procedure. Loan modification has a different process. Therefore, each solution has its very own procedure.
This is why foreclosure defense cases are complex.
While hiring a lawyer or attorney, try to ensure that the person has worked with several types of solutions for foreclosure defense. This would help you to have multiple options open.
The common factors you need to discuss before making a decision are-
- The foreclosure timeline
- Loan repayment timeline
- Your income
- Your financial hardship
- Your long-term goal
- Your short-term goal
- Your employment status
- Your health conditions
- Available federal foreclosure protection programs
What to See to Hire a Foreclosure Defense Attorney?
Picking the right foreclosure defense attorney is challenging, especially if you have no previous idea about lawyers or attorneys. You can try through a Google search or ask your friend and family for suggestions. Doing this would bring a long list from which you have to pick only one.
While looking for an attorney, try to check the things below.
Experience
This is the most important thing for sure. You should pick someone who has experience with dealing with such cases. If you’re from the military or special forces, pick someone with enough idea about your special rights.
Make sure that the person you’re asking for help has enough experience with your situation. Doing this saves you from hassles and loss of time.
Records and Results
After shortlisting a few, depending on their experience, check their professional records and results.
You don’t want someone who has a bad record of setting up cases or violating rules. The state bar website includes the professional records of the attorneys. Search there and make sure they have a clear record.
Also, check the results of previous cases they’ve worked on. Try to focus on the results of similar cases. This would help you to find the most efficient one.
Client Reviews
Search for what the clients said about the lawyer. Through client reviews, you’ll know how the lawyer treats clients, the dedication to the case, and many other factors. Obviously, you have to pick one with more positive reviews.
Nowadays, reviews can be fake. So, try your best to get reviews from people you know. If you don’t find any, check reviews on trusted review websites.
Fee Structure
The payment structure is important when you’re hiring an attorney. Be clear about the overall payment process and choose one that is most comfortable for you.
Some attorneys ask you to pay hourly. Some look for a monthly payment, and some ask for a flat rate. So, you’ll have several options in this case.
As this is a case of foreclosure defense, most people can’t go for a massive amount as they’re already facing financial issues. So, some offer a flexible payment schedule. Discuss the payment process properly before you confirm someone.
Visit Us More To Know About Lyft Accident Lawyer
How Much do Foreclosure Attorneys Charge?
The cost of the attorney should be taken into consideration before selecting one. So, let’s have a basic idea about the fee structure and possible cost of foreclosure defense.
In the case of foreclosure defense, three types of fee structures are followed. These are-
Flat Fee: A flat fee means a fixed amount you must pay the attorney to help you in the case. In such a fee structure, the attorney checks your case scenario, measures the difficulties, and asks for a payment based on it.
The typical flat fee for a foreclosure defense attorney is around $1500-$5000.
Here, a low fee doesn’t mean bad service. After assessing your case, the charge can be low if the attorney thinks that the case is easy and the amount of work is low. On the other hand, a complex situation demands a bigger amount from you.
Hourly Rate: An hourly charge is a way of paying the attorney for the number of hours worked. However, the hours are rounded up in most cases.
The probable hourly rate of an attorney is around $100 to $500. It depends on various factors.
A low hourly rate doesn’t mean less work. Instead, when attorneys see that they have to spend a lot of time on the case, they charge a low hourly rate so that the total amount remains affordable for the victim.
Monthly Rate: Some attorneys ask for a monthly payment. In this case, you have to pay a flat fee per month, no matter whether they work on your case or not.
The probable monthly rate will be $800-$2000 for foreclosure defense cases.
Factors Affecting the Cost
No matter how you want to pay your attorney, the fee varies depending on several factors. These are-
- The complexity of the case
- Type of foreclosure
- The place of foreclosure
- Experience of the attorney
- Type of law firm for which the attorney works
In case You can’t Afford a Foreclosure Defense Lawyer
If you can’t afford the cost of a foreclosure defense lawyer, don’t worry. You have several other options.
- Instead of hiring an attorney, book consultancy sessions with them. 2-3 consultancy sessions will be enough to know how to deal with your foreclosure case. Then handle the case by yourself.
- Search for foreclosure law and related online and read those to learn how things work. Spending some hours here can help you with a lot of information. Then you can file a defense and continue it alone. You can get help from online resources anytime you need it.
- Seek financial help from non-profit organizations. Some organizations offer financial aid to fight such cases.
- Communicate with legal aid clinics and attorney-based organizations to know if they can help you pro bono (for free) or at a low charge. They can assist you in finding an attorney who charges significantly low.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can an attorney stop a foreclosure?
Yes, an attorney can stop, delay, or pause a foreclosure if your case has enough flexibility. Foreclosure can be stopped in several ways. An attorney can check whether foreclosure is legal or not. In many cases, foreclosure rules are broken. In such a situation, the attorney can stop foreclosure immediately.
Filing for bankruptcy is another way to stop foreclosure. The attorney can take you through the process of bankruptcy to save your asset.
A loan modification agreement can be another option for stopping foreclosure. Hiring an attorney can help you with this too.
To stop or pause foreclosure, there are several ways. An attorney can take you through those and stop the foreclosure.
Do I need a foreclosure attorney?
Hiring a foreclosure attorney is costly. So, without being sure, nobody wants to hire one. If you’re confused about hiring a foreclosure attorney or not, let’s see when you don’t need to hire.
- If you’re mentally strong enough to gain knowledge about foreclosure defense and fight alone against it
- When you can’t afford the home and don’t want to keep it
- If you have nothing to defend the foreclosure, and that’s why you want to give up
- If you only need a few more days to stay in the property. In this case, you can directly negotiate with the lender for some more time
Except for these cases, you should hire someone to help you in foreclosure defense. Through stopping, pausing, or delaying, the attorney can help you to get some extra time.