Foreclosure proceedings can be nuanced and specific. If you’ve never gone through foreclosure before, trying to figure out your next steps on your own could be stressful and confusing. However, if you feel that something isn’t right about your lender foreclosing on you, trust your instincts. You very well may be right.
Working with a foreclosure attorney can help make the foreclosure process easier for you. There are a lot of different reasons a mortgage company may foreclose. If you think you’re being wrongly foreclosed on, contact a foreclosure attorney as soon as possible.
Joshua Denbeaux is an experienced New Jersey foreclosure attorney who will work with you to protect your home and stop foreclosure if possible. Contact Denbeaux & Denbeaux Law today to learn more about how a wrongful foreclosure attorney may be able to help you.
What Is a Wrongful Foreclosure?
Wrongful foreclosure is when a lending institution forecloses without a legal basis. Wrongful foreclosure can also be referred to as illegal foreclosure. Lending institutions and banks typically don’t wrongfully foreclose on purpose, but it can and does happen because of mistakes the lender makes.
These are a few common things that can lead to a lending institution wrongfully foreclosing:
- Failing to apply mortgage payments correctly
- Making inaccurate adjustments to your interest rate or escrow account
- Failing to honor your forbearance agreement
- Failing to cancel your private mortgage insurance promptly
- Foreclosing earlier than legally allowed
- Engaging in practices that violate the Truth In Lending Act
- Failing to comply with your loan modification agreement
- Failing to give you timely notices
If you believe that your lender has made a mistake or isn’t following the rules but is foreclosing on your home, contact us immediately. Foreclosures can move quickly if you don’t take action as soon as possible to stop the process.
How to Prove Wrongful Foreclosure
Wrongful foreclosure is considered a type of tort. In order to successfully prove wrongful foreclosure in a wrongful foreclosure lawsuit, there are separate parts that you will have to prove.
First, you must prove that your mortgage lender owed you a legal duty. This should be simple if you can prove that your mortgage was with them. You will then have to prove that your mortgage lender breached their legal duty and that the causation of the breach lies with the mortgage company. Proving causation is an important element because you need to be able to show that the cause is from your mortgage company and not from your error. Lastly, you will need to be able to show that the breach caused some kind of injury or loss.
You should be ready to give evidence of what the damages are. There are a variety of things that can factor into damages from wrongful foreclosure. What you show as damages could impact what kind of compensation you are given.
Working with an experienced foreclosure attorney can help you prove your case and get the documentation you need to prove that your lender is committing an illegal foreclosure.
Wrongful Foreclosure Compensation
If you can successfully prove wrongful foreclosure, you may be entitled to compensation for damages as part of the wrongful foreclosure lawsuit settlement.
Potential Compensation
Compensation from a settlement is usually determined as the monetary equivalent of assessed damages:
- Loss of property value – Having your house listed as under foreclosure could cause your property value to decrease. This effect should go away after the foreclosure is deemed a wrongful foreclosure, but it can take time. The compensation would be intended to help make up for the loss of property value and how it may have impacted you.
- Decrease in credit score – Foreclosure filings can hurt the credit score of the homeowner. After the foreclosure is stopped, the impact on your credit score should go away, but in the meantime, it could impact your ability to get other lines of credit. Compensation for a decrease in credit score may be able to help you make up for the loss of credit from the wrongful foreclosure.
- Difficulty caused by moving – Depending on how far along in the proceedings the wrongful foreclosure got, you may have had to move. You could be eligible for compensation for difficulties related to having to move and/or find a new school for your children.
- Emotional distress – Going through foreclosure and especially proving that it’s a wrongful foreclosure can be overwhelming and emotionally taxing. Compensation for emotional distress focuses on how the stress of foreclosure may have impacted your life in other areas.
These are broad descriptions of potential areas for compensation in a wrongful foreclosure lawsuit settlement. Before presenting evidence for compensation, it’s recommended to have an attorney review your case to help you prepare your evidence and make sure your case is as strong as possible.
Contact a Wrongful Foreclosure Attorney
Wrongful foreclosure can be difficult to emotionally difficult to deal with and legally difficult to prove. Working with an experienced attorney can help make the process as easy as possible for you.
If you believe your home is being wrongfully foreclosed on, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible.
Contact Joshua Denbeaux today to learn more about wrongful foreclosure and how we may be able to help you stay in your home or receive damages for moving due to wrongful foreclosure.
