Having your home foreclosed would probably fall under the category of the worst thing that could happen to you in your book. After all, you would not want to legally lose your home to your mortgagers. However, there may be worse situations where your home may be wrongfully foreclosed as experienced by my friend, George. If you think the aftermath of a legal foreclosure is bad, wrongful foreclosure consequences may probably be a lot worse; and even more confusing. George bought a home five years ago. He was making regular monthly payments to his mortgagers without fail until a few months ago. When he started missing payments he wanted to try to negotiate for a loan modification or any alternative so that he could still keep his home. Before he could even call his financial advisor, he was slapped with a notice of eviction.

George was aware of the wrongful foreclosure consequences that he would have to suffer if he did not put a stop to it. The word ‘foreclosed’ would be etched into his credit report for at least a decade and it would definitely hinder any effort on his part to make big purchases in the future. When he checked his credit report he was shocked to see that there were inaccurate reports of delinquencies. The minute George received the notice of eviction he knew that he would be running against time to settle the issue because if he failed to act quickly he would run the risk of losing his home and other assets as well. He had to file a petition to get the delinquencies and foreclosure off his credit report. That, in itself, took quite some time to accomplish. George also decided to file a petition for a compensation for court costs and the suffering that he had to go through because of the wrongful foreclosure.

George tried all his might to avoid foreclosure so when an unlawful foreclosure happened to him he knew he had to react. Of course, it took quite a lot of effort as he had to dig through about five years worth of documentation to prove to the judge that the foreclosure was not done legally. Granted he was a bit behind on his mortgage but that did not automatically give his mortgagers the right to seize his property without any form of communication prior to the notice of eviction. George had to hire an attorney to help him build a case against his mortgagers because if he were to do it all by himself, his mortgagers might take advantage of his lack of knowledge about legal procedures and requirements. That alone cost him a few thousand dollars already. So with the help of his attorney he gathered all relevant documentation to prove that he did not receive any first warnings before the foreclosure notice.

A wrongful bankruptcy foreclosure could be prevented by keeping accurate records and maintaining good communication between the mortgager and the borrower; as George learned the hard way. He was aware that he should have checked his credit report more often so that any inaccuracies could have been remedied immediately without having to go through all the way to a wrongful foreclosure. Now, the only way his records of communication and transactions could help him was to successfully bring a wrongful foreclosure action against his mortgagers. However, George thought that once he filed the suit, he would be able to reclaim his home. It turned out that although the judge had ruled to void the sale of his home, he still had to wait for a certain holding period before he could get his home back. It was a good thing that George did not have a family of his own. Otherwise it would be difficult for him to find a place where his family could stay while waiting for the release of his home.

George’s experience with wrongful foreclosure could happen to anyone. Sometimes it could happen even if you have never missed any payment at all. The root cause is often miscommunication between the mortgager and borrower. That is why it may be a good idea for you to regularly keep in touch with your mortgager to check if there are any inaccuracies that could be corrected before it gets too late.

Author Bio: foreclosure consequences avoid foreclosure bankruptcy foreclosure

Category: Finances
Keywords: foreclosure consequences, avoid foreclosure, bankruptcy foreclosure