By Lane Houk
If you are a practicing attorney: Are you using Defense by Recoupment under 15 U.S.C. 1640(e) as a strong affirmative defense for your clients?
If you are a consumer: Have you had your loan (from day of application to current) audited by a forensic consumer debt analyst?
I get a fair amount of “conspiracy theory ” calls or emails people who would swear that the CIA was covertly involved in the loan they signed for and that all measures of fraud occurred against them by everyone involved and… you get the point. My first question to this person is always: “Great, so are you prepared for the $15,000+ retainer a good attorney is going to want to spend their time investigating, quantifying, pleading and trying a case like that? Well, you know the answer…
Others have read (or have heard) that a loan audit and violations of the TILA can only help you if it’s a refinance loan on a primary residence in the last three (3) years. To have the EXTENDED RIGHT TO RESCIND, these conditions must be in place but rescission isn’t the only thing that can help someone in (or in danger of) foreclosure.
When it comes to defending yourself against foreclosure the first order of business is to establish clear and genuine issues of material fact in the case. In a Florida foreclosure defense strategy, the client wants to quantify these genuine issues of material fact in the foreclosure case because no judge should ever grant a motion for summary judgment. Why?
In the state of Florida, there is extensive established law that prevents summary judgment from being granted when there are outstanding issues of material fact. Johnson v. Boca Raton Community Hosp., Inc., 985 So.2d 141, Murphy v. Young Men’s Christian Association of Lake Wales, Inc., 974 So.2d 565. A “material fact,” for summary judgment purposes, is a fact that is essential to the resolution of the legal questions raised in the case, Continental Concrete, Inc. v. Lakes at La Paz III Ltd. Partnership, 758 So.2d 1214.
Successfully defeating summary judgment is a big score in favor of the consumer and can greatly improve the chances of obtaining a viable and fair workout and thus ultimately, avoiding foreclosure.
So, one area of practice Lane Houk and his team help consumer attorneys with is by completing a forensic loan audit on the client’s loan documents from the day they applied for that loan through to current day. Why would a foreclosure client want this done? Let’s think about it…
- Often times, the client did not receive proper “pre-closing disclosures” under both Truth in Lending laws (TILA) and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA);
- Especially when there was a mortgage broker or interim lender involved
- The actual “lender” in the transaction was under same timeframe obligations to make specific disclosures to client from the day they received application
- The many servicing abuses which could have taken place from day of closing to current
- Insufficient amount of certain disclosure violations
- Escrow mishandling abuses (I’ve seen people nearly lose their house to a bona fide mistake the bank made but wouldn’t budge until a good attorney got involved)
- The list goes on…
Under the TILA civil liability section [15 U.S.C. 1640(e)] regarding violations it says that any action under that section may be brought in any United States district court, or in any other court of competent jurisdiction, within one year from the date of the occurrence of the violation. But, that subsection does not bar a person from asserting a violation of this subchapter in an action to collect the debt which was brought more than one year from the date of the occurrence of the violation as a matter of defense by recoupment…
A consumer can only bring an action for damages within one year from the date of closing. However, the consumer is not barred from bringing a claim as a “matter of defense by recoupment” in a foreclosure action because a foreclosure action is an action to collect the debt. (ie. almost all foreclosure complaints are served with some level of disclosure that “this is an action to collect on a debt”) however NOT disclosing that does not necessarily preclude that any such action is NOT an attempt to collect on the debt.)
Any such quantified claim of a violation of the TILA (Truth in Lending Act) from an expert audit report should be brought as an affirmative defense by the attorney. This is a rock solid issue of material fact. No summary judgment. The lender will have to bring the action all the way through to trial. This should give you much greater leverage to obtain a workout. At the very least, this give you/your client much greater time in the house and time to try to work something out that works for both parties; something that is much needed these days because I still see a great deal of servicer abuse/misprepresenations happening every single day.
When it comes to auditors, remember that as with any professional, most often you will get what you pay for. If you have some company offering you an audit for a couple hundred bucks, you’re going to get that level of expertise and report back. A good expert auditor and their service should be in the $750.00-1000 price range. More or less than that just be careful.
I hope this little insight gives you some ideas on how you can help yourself in a foreclosure case. If you want more information on forensic loan audit, please call me at (800) 985-4685 ext. 2 or by email at Lane@thePatriotsWar.com
© Lane A. Houk – 2009– All Rights Reserved
