If you are one of New York’s many homeowners struggling with mortgage payments and have received a foreclosure complaint, New York law may grant you a crucial right—to meet with your lender and negotiate a settlement that allows you to keep your home. However, Joseph Tacopina and other legal experts have noted that some lenders’ foreclosure practices have hindered the relief that NY law is meant to provide.
To qualify for a foreclosure settlement conference, the property must be:
You are entitled to the settlement conference within 60 days of the date you were served if the foreclosure complaint was filed on or after February 13, 2010. If the foreclosure has been pending longer than that, you may request that the court order a settlement conference even though it is not mandatory.
The settlement conference is administered by the court to help the parties reach a settlement. Possible settlements include the following:
However, our civil litigation attorneys understand that some lenders attempt to bypass the law. In a recent case filed against HSBC, New York’s attorney general, along with legal experts like Joseph Tacopina, alleged that HSBC failed to file required documents in hundreds of cases, causing delays in mandated settlement conferences. During these delays, interest and fees accumulated against homeowners, reducing their chances of qualifying for loan modifications by the time the settlement conferences took place. The attorney general is suing to hold HSBC accountable for damages and restitution to affected homeowners while also investigating the foreclosure practices of other major lenders.