Once mortgage payments stop because you simply don't have enough to pay them, your home will probably be foreclosed upon. A foreclosure occurs when a lender repossesses a debtor's home and the debtor loses their home. However, bankruptcy may not be the best option for you either. We can assist you. Our strategies have helped a number of homeowners, and now the Sweis law firm and David R. Sweis has been selected to be of counsel to the Law Offices of Sulaiman & Associates, LLC; one of the leading foreclosure defense firms in the Chicagoland area.

Below is a description of our services and how they can be utilized to defeat a foreclosure action against your home.

Predatory Lending
Your mortgage may have been procured through a number of illegal sales tactics and improper disclosures that may have directly led you to default on your mortgage. There are multiple state and federal laws that require lenders to originate loans fairly and accurately without deceiving the borrower into signing a note and mortgage they cannot afford. Some of these laws include: Truth in Lending Act (TILA); Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act (RESPA); Home-Owner Equity Protection Act (HOEPA); Illinois Fairness in Lending Act; and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. We will screen your loan to determine whether their may have been a violation of these statutes and other laws affecting your mortgage.

Foreclosure Process
The Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Act governs the procedure and manner in which real estate is foreclosed upon by creditors. The statute provides for various rights for the borrower at all stages in the foreclosure process. Further, the newly amended statute also allows the court to award borrowers their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs if they prevail on any motion, defense, claim or in the foreclosure action itself.

Upon being served with a foreclosure complaint, the borrower has ninety (90) days to bring their payments current. This is known as the right of reinstatement. This right not only helps delay the pace at which the lender may proceed but also allows for the borrower to negotiate a possible loan modification, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, consent foreclosure or develop a series of defenses to potentially defeat the foreclosure action.

A similar right which comes after a judgment is entered is known as the right of redemption. Typically, a borrower will have ninety (90) days to “redeem” the property by paying off the mortgage balance in full. The amount to be paid off will vary depending on the how much success the borrower had in defending the foreclosure before the entry of judgment.

The Mortgage Foreclosure Act even allows the borrower to contest the lenders sale of the property to ensure that the sales process was carried out to the fullest extent of the law. What most homeowners do not know is that YOU OWN YOUR HOME until the lender has the judicial sale approved. This is the last step of the mortgage foreclosure process. This is because Illinois follows the “lien-theory” of mortgages, which holds that when a borrower conveys a mortgage to a creditor the creditor’s interest in the property is subject to the borrower’s title to the property. This is why lenders have to sue to acquire their interest in the property and not simply throw you out of your home.

Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure
Deed-in-lieu is a process in which the borrower failing to satisfy the loan obligation hands over his property to the lender. The lender may then sell the property in order to retrieve a part or whole of the amount borrowed from the sale proceeds. The principle advantage to the borrower is that it immediately releases him from all of the personal indebtedness associated with the defaulted loan. So, you the lender effectively waives its right to pursue you for any debt associated with your mortgage. Sometimes this objective is achieved during the foreclosure proceedings through defenses, and other times it can be negotiated to prevent the filing of a foreclosure complaint. It is important for the borrower to obtain an attorney to proceed with a deed in lieu of foreclosure in order to avoid legal and tax consequences.

Short sale
Defined. A real estate sale which takes place when the value of outstanding debt on the property is more than the amount the property can be sold for is defined as a Short Sale. Home owners in debt use Short Sale as a means to avoid foreclosure and repossession of their homes by the lenders. This way, they can still keep their homes by paying off the loan amount after negotiating acceptable rates with the lenders. We can help arrange for a short sale to fend off the foreclosure as well as structure short sales that enable you to stay in your home!

What is a deficiency judgment? Is there a way to avoid a deficiency judgment?
A deficiency judgment is a judgment lien against a borrower whose foreclosure sale did not produce sufficient funds to pay the mortgage in full. It is possible for a borrower to avoid a deficiency judgment but it is not guaranteed. It is important for the borrower to obtain an attorney to proceed with a waiver of deficiency judgment in order to avoid legal and tax consequences.