How to Use the Law to Help You Stop Mortgage Foreclosure

You can use the law to help you stop mortgage foreclosure on your home but you need to know what your options are and what you are looking for. Your best bet is to hire a real estate attorney to look at the foreclosure documents you received as well as your loan origination documents for any mistakes.

The Truth in Lending Act may be the perfect ally for you to stop mortgage foreclosure if you want to call into question the validity of your mortgage loan. If you want to go this route, you will need to prove that your originating loan documents were wrong. The area where this really comes into play is if your mortgage company made any mistakes in disclosing vital financial pieces of information. If this is the case, it is possible that your loan itself could be canceled. Here is where it is very important to have an attorney who is familiar with Regulation Z (has many of the detailed requirements of the Truth in Lending Act).

Some truth in lending areas that could help you stop mortgage foreclosure that you might want to have your attorney verify on your loan:
- Your mortgage company having more money in your escrow account than they are allowed.
- Not putting information in the documents that describes how you can get rid of your private mortgage insurance.
- Not adjusting your ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) correctly.
- Not including referral fees to the originator of the mortgage.

If you are going to try to use the Truth in Lending Act to stop mortgage foreclosure, you are going to need to make sure that your attorney goes through all of your loan origination documents with a fine-tooth comb. Any errors, mistakes or discrepancies could mean the difference between being able to stop mortgage foreclosure and losing your home.

Some other legal avenues that you may have available to you to stop mortgage foreclosure are:
- If you can prove that your mortgage company lost any of your payments. Having clear and detailed records on this will be your best defense.
- If you have an FHA-insured loan, you should have received information about preforeclosure counseling. This is required by law for FHA-insured loans.
- If your mortgage company accepted payment from you after foreclosure was filed on the home.