By: Jeena Cho

As a society, there are two things we don’t talk about. Death & Debt. Frequently, when people are experiencing financial distress, they go into denial mode. Instead of assessing their situation and tacking the problem, they deny thinking something will change. Of course, debt problems do not get better without proactive action. It gets worse. Interest rates continue to rise, you borrow from Peter to pay Paul.

If you are experiencing financial trouble, you should seek help. Go see a financial advisor, reach out and ask a friend or a family member. You will soon find that you are not alone in your problems.

For those of you that do not see any hope of being able to reduce your debt, we are offering a free seminar. If you do not want to attend in person, you can attend on the Web. It’s totally confidential. We’ll discuss the Continue Reading »

By: Jeena Cho

Just in the last 2 weeks, I’ve received at least a dozen or so inquiries from home owners, realtors and others about loan modification. We don’t do loan modification and most San Francisco loan modification attorneys I know has  stopped doing them since new Civil Code Section 2944.7(a)(1) went into effect. In short, the law prohibits receiving money upfront to do loan modification. If anyone requires money upfront to do a loan modification, they are violating this law.

It is unfortunate that the banks seem more willing to take the loss on a foreclosure then to work with the homeowners and work out a loan modification. One solution that has been proposed is to give authority to the bankruptcy judges to modify the mortgage. This legislation has been shot down. It is one of the great ironies that bankruptcy judges can change the terms Continue Reading »

By: Jeena Cho

It depends on if you live in a recourse or non-recourse state. In California, if you used the money from the mortgage to purchase your home, it’s non-recourse. Hence, you can simply walk away from the mortgage and not have any consequences if the property should sell for less then the loan value. However, if the money was not purchase money, such as a HELOC you borrowed after purchasing the home, then you are on the hook. Bankruptcy would only make sense if you will be responsible for the deficiency. It may also make sense depending on how much other debt you owe.