Borrowers exit troubled Obama mortgage program

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration's flagship effort to help people in danger of losing their homes is falling flat.

More than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion mortgage modification program have dropped out. That exceeds the number of people who have managed to have their loan payments reduced to help them keep their homes.

Last month alone,155,000 borrowers left the program -- bringing the total to 436,000 who have dropped out since it began in March 2009.

About 340,000 homeowners have received permanent loan modifications and are making payments on time.

Administration officials say the housing market is significantly better than when President Barack Obama entered office. They say those who were rejected from the program will get help in other ways.

But analysts expect the majority will still wind up in foreclosure and that could slow the broader economic recovery.

A major reason so many have fallen out of the program is the Obama administration initially pressured banks to sign up borrowers without insisting first on proof of their income. When banks later moved to collect the information, many troubled homeowners were disqualified or dropped out.

Many borrowers complained that the banks lost their documents. The industry said borrowers weren't sending back the necessary paperwork.

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Attorney Funding, Litigation Funding and Business Development

A Paralegal who is not afraid to use the phone can be a great resource and asset in locating funding sources and new client development. I decided to post this topic as I have been in communication with a few attorneys and funders on this very issue. I am in the process of fine-tuning my internal campaign, marketing and sales efforts in order to help attorneys and certain law firms that I am consulting with, with respect to legal finance and client development.

The legal funding arena has not favored attorney funding or funding attorney firms directly just because the players have been grappling with the right business model in order to insure timely payment on pre and post case settlement. Certain firms might consider it but there is a certain threshold in which a legal case finance or funding resource might consider granting funds to a firm, usually around $100,000 minimum. I have a resource that would consider $50,000 and this is only because the market is slower and the firm has figured out a winning business model.

Litigation and legal funding is ususally financed by private investors and or hedge funds that want to yield, high and agressive returns, so in this case the money is not cheap. This is just the nature of the business, banks just don't get the legal business model and it's risk factors and so this type of funding fills an important gap in funding. The good thing is that if you have a relatively decent credit score and a decent case portfolio, book of business, with some other minor factors such as a clean background check and no other UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) liens, you and or your firm stands a good chance of getting funding. Partnership firms are favored as there is more than one guarantor. Funding ususally occurs quickly within a few days to a week.

The second portion of the discussion is that as your practice and case work/portfolio tap into this funding resource, it may be advantageous to work with someone in-house and on an independent basis such as a paralegal in order to bring in new clients. This ensures that you are covered with new clients and business and not worried about how you are going to cover the additional costs of the funding and legal finance fees and to comfortably focus on your legal practice work. A couple of new clients per month would more than cover any output on terms of say a $100,000 finance obligation that you might have.

The challenges in the economy continue to demand that attorney's and attorney firms be both proactive and agressive in terms of covering their case flow needs. One more thing be very diligent about the company that you sign a contract with, there are the best of breed in the business and it is important to get to those firms. Contact Lu'na at 201.472.0759, if you are attorney or law firm that seek legal funding,line of credit and other business development for your firm. If you are a paralegal that wants work with us, please email lunaalpine@gail.com.