FORECLOSURE FILINGS CAUSE JUDGE TO STOP COURT APPEARANCES FOR HOMEOWNERS!-DEADBEATS WIN!

Chicago's Cook County Circuit Court usually known for its notoriety more than actual fairness, has delayed all actions against homeowners due to the crush if new filings. The presiding judge of the Chancery Division which handles all the cases, so called Mortgage Default Calls (first court appearances made a lender when a borrower has failed to respond to a foreclosure action), has canceled all such calls for July and August.

In the first three months this year 13,200 new foreclosures were filed, and the first appearance is the date on which the homeowner needs to respond or be"defaulted". There were 46,850 foreclosure files pending and this caseload has made it impossible to maintain a meaningful case administration.

This action will allow the homeowners to get additional time to work out deals with the lenders to save their homes, and does not provide any additional time to those homeowners that have filed an answer or consented to the foreclosure.

So, again folks, those people who have done nothing, get the break, while those who follow the rules get the shaft! Those people who do not bother to take any positive action are getting a break.

The Treasury Department started to sign contracts with lenders in the so called MAKING MORTGAGES AFFORDABLE program, a $75 billion program by the administration to help homeowners refinance of modify their mortgages.

The delay may have the unintended consequences of helping deadbeats stay in their homes, making the homes less valuable to the lenders, and therefore causing larger write offs at the banks due to the abatement of foreclosure actions.

It pays to be a dead beat.