Real Estate Law Center, Scam By Mortgage Companies are on the Rise

LOS ANGELES - Aug. 28, 2013 - PRLog -- How Real Estate Law Center Fights the Banks

With legal departments, lobbyists, and government influence at all levels, banks have a huge advantage over homeowners who have been trapped by their predatory lending practices.  Real Estate Law Center takes up the fight to ensure the voices of homeowners are heard and that banks are held accountable for their actions in the subprime loan and foreclosure debacle.

The firm has launched legal actions against Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., and Wells Fargo & Co., among others.

Not one Wall Street or bank executive has been brought to justice since the subprime mortgage crisis in which those with even good credit signed loans with predatory terms, and banks gave those with no income a mortgage for a home well outside their means.

It is documented in lawsuits brought against the banks that lenders had no incentive to ensure homeowners could repay the mortgage.  If the home was defaulted on, the skyrocketing price of homes at the time would ensure that the bank more than made back its money in foreclosure.  But, when the real estate bubble burst so did the price of homes, and the banks began to find themselves with homes that were worth less than what was paid.

Real Estate Law Center, headed by lead attorney Chad Pratt, was formed to address these abuses.  The firm pursues most of its cases using mass tort litigation, in which homeowners, whose mortgages were written by the same bank, are brought together and filed in a lawsuit.

While many are familiar with a class action suit, the legal action Real Estate Law Center pursues is different.  Class action lawsuits are paid for by attorneys and the majority of any award goes to those attorneys.  Mass tort actions are paid for by the plaintiffs, and because the fees are spread out among many individuals, it is cheaper than an individual pursuing their own litigation.  Most importantly, the majority of the awards go to the plaintiffs.

But, that is not the only banking abuse Real Estate Law Center fights against. As the economy went into recession, more homeowners fell behind on their payments and banks foreclosed on many more houses. So many more, that they violated state regulations and laws surrounding foreclosure; leading to the "robo-signing" scandal, in which personnel unauthorized to approve foreclosures were in fact foreclosing on properties.

Real Estate Law Center also helps homeowners suspend the foreclosure process.  While the law firm cannot guarantee results in every case, Real Estate Law Center has been able to stop foreclosure for some of its clients. For other clients, they have been able to win lower monthly payments with a reduction in interest and principal.

Though the government has pursued civil, but no legal, action against the banks, they have attempted to thwart and hijack the penalties put in place by the government.  Banks such as Ally Financial Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co. were made to pay out billions in an award won by attorney generals around the country.  The money was supposed to go to loan modifications for homeowners, but instead the banks hired their own consultants to run the program; putting up barriers at every turn for home owners who wanted to deal with the banks.

But, by using the evidence uncovered in these actions, and with new laws enacted since the mortgage meltdown, Real Estate Law center strives to bring banks to justice on behalf of abused homeowners who now face a lower credit rating, or worse, imminent homelessness.