The world needs to know that real foreclosure defense in Florida especially began when passionate attorneys from Legal Aid offices across this state, stood up and started fighting for families. Jacksonville Legal Aid has always been on the forefront of the foreclosure fight, and the good work started by April Charney from Jax Legal Aid is still being done by the great lawyers that work for legal aid offices all across the state, like Lynn Drysdale, Glorida Epstein.
A huge issue that the committed foreclosure attorneys across this country are really digging into now, is the very real possibility that service member’s rights are being violated. Following is some information shared with me by April Charney…I encourage everyone to pay careful attention to this….but the bottom line is this….HUD regulations require all creditors to send SCRA notices to all loans in default….and no one that have talked to have ever seen one….
HAVE A LOOK AT THIS NEW MILITARY FORECLOSURE WEBSITE
The numbers of homes admitted to as wrongfully foreclosed in the recently announced foreclosure related military settlements seem really, really low considering the systemic failure of pre-foreclosure compliance with the notice required to be sent to all homeowners in this country within 45 days of a payment default under 12 USC 1701xC5 to advise them of their SCRA rights – to make sure there is a safety net to catch all the military at risk.
12 USC 1701x(C)(5) is titled: Notification of availability of homeownership counseling and provides, in pertinent part:
(A) Notification of availability of homeownership counseling.
(i) Requirement… the creditor of a loan shall provide notice…to…any eligible homeowner who fails to pay any amount by the date the amount is due under a home loan…
(ii) Content. Notification…shall…notify the homeowner…of the availability of any homeownership counseling offered by the creditor…
[and shall] (III) notify the homeowner…of the availability of homeownership counseling…AND SHALL…(IV) notify the homeowner by a statement or notice, written in plain English by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Treasury, explaining the mortgage and foreclosure rights of servicemembers, and the dependents of such servicemembers, under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 501 et seq.), including the toll-free military one source number to call if servicemembers, or the dependents of such servicemembers, require further assistance.
(B) Deadline for notification. The notification…shall be made…
(i) in a manner approved by the Secretary; and
(ii) before the expiration of the 45-day period beginning on the date on which the [PAYMENT] failure occurs.
The above statute does not apply to FHA/Hud insured or other federally insured loan (VA, fmha, etc.) because they have their own administrative, statutory and regulatory requirements.
The above statute applies to every fannie, freddie or other conventional loan including every allegedly securitized loan.
There appears to be no compliance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act notification requirements before any foreclosure anywhere in this country. This failure is actionable to present equitable and contractual defenses to a foreclosure, judicial or nonjudicial; presents a failure of a contractual and statutory condition precedent to all foreclosures; is a breach of the mortgage contract rights of the borrower and is evidence of illegal and predatory consumer debt collection.
The federal regulations enforcing this notice requirement were issued in 2007 and are found online at:
and…8% of the (600 of 7500 est) persons in f/c in Sarasota, Fl “live” near Plano, Texas, Jax, Fl and Ft. Mill, SC where there are numerous military bases and/or military contractors (also get SCRA rights)…makes you wonder what the numbers look like around the nation…
WHERE THE OWNERS LIVE…Where the people who own Sarasota County foreclosed properties live:
Fort Mill, S.C.4%
Jacksonville2%
Plano, Texas2%
