Success Stories

If you regularly read our blogs you might recall last month an entry about how we beat a debt-buyer who sued our client for nearly a hundred thousand dollars. So this is not a repeat, we just resolved another case for our client of nearly a hundred thousand dollars. Another one of our clients was the subject of harassment by debt collectors and we were ultimately able to obtain a result for our client essentially eliminating the debt. As in the last case, this creditor was also a debt-buyer, a company that buys old consumer debts and then tries to intimidate members of the public into paying. Such companies are structured around the fact that most people won’t ever hire a good attorney to fight back.

If you are the subject of harassment by debt collectors and if they sue you, the very worst thing you can do is to do nothing. If you do nothing you will almost certainly obtain a default judgment and lose the case. The fees that our office charges are quite modest and any good attorney should offer you a free consultation which will cost you no more than your time. Even if you think your case is hopeless or even if you don’t think you can afford to hire an attorney, go to speak to one anyway, you might be surprised at what they can do to help and you may have legal claims you did not even know existed. Two cases of nearly a hundred thousand dollars were resolved recently, yet neither of our clients would have had such a resolution if they did not contact a lawyer. Be it us or another law firm, the worst thing you can do if sued is to do nothing and simply lose, contact a lawyer and get some help.

Loan Lawyers has helped over 5,000 South Florida homeowners and consumers with their debt problems, we have saved over 1,800 homes from foreclosure, eliminated $100,000,000 in mortgage principal and consumer debt, and have collected millions of dollars on behalf of our clients due to bank, loan servicer, and debt collector violations, negligence and fraud.

Contact us for a free consultation to see how we may be able to help you.

Results may not be typical. You may not have as beneficial a result.

Another great score by the Loan Lawyers team. This client’s principle went from $340,749.75 to $91,389. That’s huge. While no one is guaranteed a result like this, if you don’t have a foreclosure defense lawyer that knows what they are doing, you have little chance of a result like this.

At Loan Lawyers, we handle bankruptcy, short sale, foreclosure defense, loan modification, and suing the bank. We meet with clients in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach. All of our lawyers are trained to properly advise clients on how to best achieve their goals.

If you go to a foreclosure lawyer that does not practice in all of these areas, that lawyer may not be well versed enough to properly advise you on all of the solutions to your foreclosure.

We offer free foreclosure defense consultations and we also handle our plaintiff’s consumer cases on a contingency fee basis, which means no fees or costs unless we obtain a recovery for you on that case.

Our client retained our firm to assist them with a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit. Our firm zealously advocated for our client and defended the foreclosure case. However, during the litigation of the foreclosure case the mortgage servicer continued to send mortgage statements to our client every month, in contravention of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act which provide that persons known to be represented by counsel should not be contacted regarded the debts for which they have representation. We filed a lawsuit against the mortgage company. The mortgage company attempted to have the case dismissed however after the Court denied their motion to dismiss, they ultimately decided to settle the case for $5,500.

What a great way to end the year for our South Florida foreclosure attorneys. We had our last foreclosure trial of the year. It was against BSI Financial Services in Broward County. This is the second time we beat this bank at trial in the last couple of months. They have not beaten us at trial yet. The bank’s law firm was Greenspoon Marder. They have a reputation as a quality law firm in the community. I won’t name the attorney who tried the case because I actually feel for her, although after she called me “slimy” before trial, I should name her.

Prior to the foreclosure trial, the bank offered to allow our client to stay in the house for 120 days, waive the right to collect the deficiency from the client, and would give her $8,000 to move. My suspicion is that almost all foreclosure defense attorneys would jump at that deal. That because many foreclosure lawyers do not go to trial for their clients. I don’t think many foreclosure defense attorneys would have the guts to turn that down. When I first arrived in court, the bank lawyer told me that now they are offering my client nothing because we did not jump at her offer sooner. I told her we are not interested in anything other than having our day in court.

The bank initially filed its foreclosure lawsuit swearing under oath that they lost the note. Forty-eight hours before the trial, the bank drops its lost note count. I asked for a 60 day continuance of the trial to ask for additional time to conduct discovery about the circumstances of this mysteriously found note. The court agreed and gave the continuance. As I was writing up the order, the bank’s lawyer came over to me in a packed courtroom and called me slimy loud enough for many people to hear. She was ranting and raving about me asking for a continuance. She wanted to go back up to the judge and re-address it. When we got up there, I was getting so annoyed by this bank lawyer, I told the judge that I no longer wanted a continuance and I wanted to be the first case to go to trial. This may be one of the first times a foreclosure defense attorney went back on his request for a continuance after it had been granted. So, we got sent upstairs for trial to a different judge.

Then, the fun started. I do not think that the bank could have done a worse job putting on their case. For starters, they did not bring the original mortgage. While the law does not require an original mortgage to be introduced into evidence at trial, the bank must be able to authenticate a copy of the mortgage before it can come into evidence. Authentication means that the witness must be able to testify that the mortgage is a true and correct copy of the original or they must have a certified copy. Well, the copy of the mortgage was not certified so that option was out the window. The comical part of this was that the copy of the mortgage they brought was missing pages 5 through 15! I can honestly say that I say that I have never seen that before. The bank lawyer and the bank representative were stunned by this. Obviously, the judge did not allow this mortgage into evidence. If the bank lawyer was smart, she would have dismissed this foreclosure case right there because she can’t win without a mortgage. Stubbornly, she pressed on and it never got any better for them.

The bank lawyer tried to introduce the default letter and the payment history from the prior loan servicer into evidence. She fell woefully short of getting past my hearsay objection. The judge kept these records out of evidence pursuant to the Fourth District Court of Appeals cases on Yang and Glarum. This argument is a post unto itself, so I’ll give the gist of the argument. Basically, a current loan servicer can not normally lay the foundation for the the introduction of the prior loan servicer’s records. Thus, these records were not allowed into evidence. The show was over at that point, but the bank kept pressing on and actually allowed the court to issue a final judgment in my client’s favor. That was a huge rookie mistake. Now, my client has a final judgment in her favor. She should have dismissed and re-filed the lawsuit. The bank lawyer was actually surprised that she did not win after all that.

Now, I wanted to go up to her after the trial and say something like “That continuance looks pretty good about now, huh” or maybe “Not too shabby for a slimy lawyer”, but I tried not to allow my ego get in the way. She was licking her wounds enough and she learned a valuable lesson.

Moral of the story??? If you are facing a foreclosure trial anywhere in Florida, you need an attorney with the guts, the knowledge, and the experience to go to trial for you. It is highly unlikely to get this type of result if you don’t have a lawyer who knows their way around a courtroom. Now, the facts of every case are different and no specific outcome is guaranteed.

If you are facing a foreclosure, don’t face it alone. Put the Loan Lawyers team behind you. We offer free consultations with our foreclosure lawyers in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties. Call us now, don’t delay. (844) 344-4813

Our client hired us to assist them in fighting a credit card lawsuit. The balance of the alleged debt at the time a case was finally filed against them was the better part of fifty thousand dollars. We prepared a defense and counter-sued the creditor alleging violations of consumer protection laws, specifically the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Shortly before a critical hearing which may have decided the outcome of the case, the creditor offered to drop all of their claims against our client, if our client agreed to drop their lawsuit against the creditor. Our client agreed, saving the better part of fifty thousand dollars in the process.

A homeowner came to Loan Lawyers after the bank already had a foreclosure judgment against him and had a scheduled sale date on his homestead property. Understandably, the client was anxious at the prospect of losing his home. After reviewing the homeowner’s income, expenses, debts and assets, we began to strategize on how to save his home.

Loan Lawyers filed a chapter 13 bankruptcy on behalf of the homeowner to stop the sale of his home. In a bankruptcy, we take a holistic approach in an effort to alleviate the debtor’s outstanding debt to allow the proverbial fresh start. In this case, in addition to the first mortgage judgment, the client had a second mortgage which was in default and outstanding credit card and medical debt.

The process of obtaining a mortgage modification can take several months. While we were working on the modification, we filed a motion to value the second mortgage. This allowed our client to remove the second mortgage’s lien against the property and treat their claim as an unsecured creditor. About eight months after filing the bankruptcy, Loan Lawyers was able to obtain a modification on the first mortgage.

At this point there were still some loose ends to tie up. A couple of his unsecured creditors filed proof of claims on debts that were beyond the statute of limitations. Loan Lawyers turned the tables on these creditors and sued them for violating the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and was able to recover fees for the client. In short, this client went from days away from losing his home to obtaining a modification, removing his second mortgage (assuming he completes his bankruptcy) and successfully suing his creditors for violating collections laws.

Phelan Hallinan is a Florida law firm that represents banks in foreclosure, among other things. When Phelan Hallinan filed a foreclosure against our client, it included a notice that they claimed was required under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). The FDCPA is the Federal law that governs debt collectors and is designed to protect those in debt from abusive debt collection practices. Phelan Hallinan got it wrong on several fronts and violated the FDCPA. First off, the notice is not required and anyone who took a moment to consider the law would come to that conclusion. Second and more importantly, the notice itself misstated the law. There is certain language that must be in every communication from a debt collector. All a debt collector has to do is copy the language verbatim from the statute.

Well, somehow, Phelan Hallinan managed to get this simple copy and past task wrong and misquoted the statute. In doing so, it created confusion for consumers. Loan Lawyers filed a lawsuit a lawsuit on behalf of our client in Federal Court in the Southern District of Florida, alleging that Phelan Hallinan violated the FDCPA. Although they are a law firm, since the prosecute foreclosures, they are treated a debt collectors and are subject to the same rules as all other debt collectors. Just like any other debt collector, if they violate our clients’ rights, we will sue them.

It is VERY common for bank lawyers to violate the FDCPA. If you are in foreclosure or even if you have lost your house to foreclosure, you may be able to sue the bank lawyer for violating your rights. We do all of the work, we pay all of the costs, and if we are successful, you get a check. Odds are that if you have been sued for foreclosure or are being sued for foreclosure, you have a case against the bank’s law firm.

Well, in response to the FDCPA federal lawsuit for this client, Phelan Hallinan decided to settle and write a check to our client who they were suing for foreclosure. We take all of these cases on contingency, so there’s no fees or costs unless we win or settle your FDCPA claim. If you were served foreclosure papers prepared by Phelan Hallinan, or any other bank lawyer, we may be able to help you as well. Even if you have lost your house to foreclosure already or if you received a loan modification, it may still be possible to sue the bank lawyer! The facts of every case are different and prospective clients may not obtain the same or similar results. The bank lawyers may not like us very much, but hey, I didn’t become a lawyer to become friends with bank lawyers. They have no problem suing my clients, so why should we have a problem suing them when they violate the law and our clients’ consumer rights?

Give Loan Lawyers a call now at (844) 344-4813 to schedule your free consultation with one of our FDCPA attorneys to see if you have a case against the bank or their lawyers. We have offices in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach county.

Client came to us after recently discovering that his house had in fact been sold without his knowledge for 5 years. The Bank has fraudulently claimed he received service of process of the actual complaint in the case, which our client had no clue had been filed. We conducted extensive research and discovered that in fact the matter should never have gone to judgment let alone a sale of his home. We were able to get the judgment and the sale vacated, yet the Bank once again tried to fraudulently take the home. We then found the Bank trying to do the same thing again and quickly sprang into action advising that if they persist they will be served with a Federal Complaint accordingly. The case concluded and we are currently working on a 6 figure settlement for our client who was a victim of wrongful foreclosure.

The Client contacted our office because they were sued by a Debt-Purchaser. The lawsuit alleged that our Client defaulted on an old credit card debt. The lawsuit claimed that a number of documents were attached to support the claim that our Client had signed up for a credit card, used it and not paid for it. Yet the documents which the Debt-Purchaser attached to the lawsuit had nothing to do with credit cards and actually concerned the rental of a riding lawn mower! The Debt-Collector even included an affidavit signed by one of their employees swearing that our Client owed a credit card debt.

We filed a counterclaim alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and a Motion for Summary Judgment. A summary judgment was quickly entered in favor of our client as to the lawsuit against them. The counterclaim is still ongoing but we anticipate that the Court will order the Debt-Purchase to pay damages for their misconduct.