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by Kelli Dudley (Author)
Beginning in 2006, foreclosures of residential home mortgages increased precipitously. Home values dropped, homeowners found themselves underwater, and banks eagerly foreclosed when payments were allegedly late. Homeowners turned to the courts and legal system only to find the system was entirely coopted by lenders and the attorneys who prosecuted foreclosures. In Cook County, homeowners were directed to contact services that ultimately required them to give up important rights, even due process rights like proper service of process afforded every other litigant in every other type of case. Homeowners were diverted into a court-sponsored mediation program that required them to file an answer that admitted away the entire case, unknowingly waiving defenses any competent attorney would have identified. Homeowners seeking help were herded into a training session where the first slide presented asked, "Why am I in foreclosure?" The only answer provided was: "Because you missed a mortgage payment." No discussion was had of false allegations of missed payments or other reasons for foreclosure. In reality, reasons included allegations such as failing to maintain homeowners' insurance and were sometimes false. Homeowners were urged to opt for a "graceful exit" solution--leaving their home earlier than legally required and without an assessment of their legal rights, much less competent representation in litigation. As if official action betraying homeowners were not enough, many of the attorneys holding themselves out as "save your home" lawyers misled consumers. At their worst, attorney-sponsored scams included persuading the homeowner to sign the deed to the home over to the attorney or a crony, requiring the homeowner to pay rent. Attorneys would commonly promise to save the home in exchange for a monthly payment of legal fees, $1,500.00 or more commonly being required. While collecting this money, they would fail to file an appearance, fail to appear in court, and do nothing reasonably calculated to save the home. In fact, the rare times the attorneys did act often resulted in hastening the loss of the home. Homeowners often relied on the attorney without finding out about the fraud for a year or more due to the inherently long foreclosure process. Their first notice nothing was done was often the sheriff's knock on the door to evict them from the home they believed was safe.The scams robbed people of their home equity and $20,000.00 or more in cash that could have enabled them to move to a new home. Homes were lost where they could have been saved with less then ten hours of competent legal work. Homeowners were herded into expensive schemes involving attorneys (or cronies who provided a kickback) taking money for loan modification applications or "forensic loan audits." The loan modification applications could be completed at no cost by highly competent housing counseling agencies certified by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. The forensic audits were almost always expensive, useless, and misleading. For example, they would identify legal violation that did not provide the homeowner with a private cause of action or defense to foreclosure. Homeowners would react to this misinformation combined with incompetent legal representation to dig in their heels for a completely illusory legal batttle, ignoring bona fide options to save the home with a competent attorney or HUD-certified housing counseling agency.Adding insult to injury, many "save your home" scammers targeted people based on race, religion, and national origin. This included misleading advertising on radio shows marketed to African-American and religious communities, reaching out through immigrant networks and churches, advertising in Spanish-language publications, and using culturally-loaded iconography.Homeowners paid many times--hostile court systems, lawyers, and scammers all took a cut. They lost homes and incurred debt.
