Foreclosure

Foreclosure Crisis Is Not Over

On the tenth anniversary of the financial crisis,  Bloomberg News opinion writer Joe Nocera tours the Queens neighborhoods still devastated by the foreclosure crisis with MFJ’s Supervising Attorney Elizabeth Lynch.  He finds that while some homeowners have saved their homes with legal help, others face continual roadblocks from lenders who improperly deny them loan modifications …

MFJ Led Push for Preferred Language Option on Mortgage Applications

On Friday, October 20, 2017,  the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the body that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced that it will amend its Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) to add a preferred language question so that limited English proficient (LEP) borrowers can inform the lender at the outset the language in which …

City & State Investments in Predatory Mortgage Servicer Exposed

NBC News interviewed MFJ Attorney Christopher Fasano as part of its report on how Lone Star, a hedge fund, has been buying FHA mortgages and then giving African-American homeowners in NYC predatory loan modifications that will likely result in homeowners losing their homes within five years. Fasano also encouraged NBC News to investigate city and …

Government Report: HUD Improperly Sold Distressed Mortgages

On July 25, 2017 the New York Times reported that an Inspector General’s report shows that the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) sold thousands of distressed mortgages to private equity firms and hedge funds without following proper rules for setting up the program.  The report buttresses arguments put forth by Mobilization for Justice …

MFY Urges City Council to Pressure HUD on Discriminatory Mortgage Sales

In testimony before the New York City Council, MFY attorney Christopher Fasano praised the city’s efforts to protect homeowners with distressed mortgages through its Community Restoration Program and urged the city to pressure HUD to not sell mortgages in cases where homes can be saved through loan modifications and to increase nonprofit sales. MFY also …

HUD’s Discriminatory Mortgage Sales Are Topic on BRIC-TV

In this video from BRIC-TV, Elizabeth Lynch, Supervising Attorney at MFY Legal Services, and David Quart, Deputy Commission of Strategy, Research and Communications at NYC’s Depaertment of Housing Preservation & Development speak on how homeowners with mortgages in private hands are more likely to be foreclosed, and why the homeowners most affected by HUD’s mortgage …

African-American Homeowners Charge HUD with Discrimination

African-American homeowners whose government-guaranteed mortgages were auctioned by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to the highest bidder filed a class action lawsuit on Friday in federal court, exposing the discriminatory impact of HUD’s Note Sale Program, compelling HUD to review the disparate racial impact of the Program and demanding that HUD …

Zip Code Matters for Homeowners Trying to Fight Foreclosures

MFY Legal Services attorney Linda Jun is one of four primary authors of a report released today by New Yorkers for Responsible Lending that lays bare the consequences for homeowners of inconsistent court procedures on foreclosure in New York State. Divergent Paths: The Need for More Uniform Standards and Practices in New York State’s Residential …

Advocates Troubled over Consolidation of Brooklyn Foreclosure Cases

Advocates voiced concerns over the decision to concentrate foreclosure cases with three judges in Brooklyn Supreme Court, instead of spreading them out among 27 judges as has been the practice. With close to 12,000 cases pending, advocates worry that judges will not be able to spend the time needed to properly analyze and adjudicate the …

map