Kurzbeschreibung
Original publisher: Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 2011. LC Number: KF26 .J8 2011a OCLC Number: (OCoLC)750417591 Subject: Foreclosure -- United States -- Prevention. Excerpt: ... 11 United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Senator Whitehouse briefly summarized my biography. I should note that since I started practicing bankruptcy law in 1984, I dealt exclusively with large corporate bankruptcies and reorganizations, the types of cases for which the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is well known. However, like our colleagues around the country, we also preside over thousands of consumer bankruptcy cases, where the fate of the home is of central importance. When confronted in late 2008 with the mortgage foreclosure cri-sis, my colleagues and I saw a set of problems that cried out for a formal mediation structure. And I would like to believe that our experience led us to see the issues as much from the lenders ' per-spective as from the homeowners '. In fact, it was creditors ' law-yers - I want to emphasize that, creditors ' lawyers - representing mortgage lenders and servicers who first asked the court to con-sider such a mediation program. The problem was, and is, I think, basic. Increased defaults and the drop in home prices rendered the ' ' autopilot ' ' servicing model applied to the vast majority of home mortgage loans inadequate. A model premised on collecting payments in the ordinary course for all but a tiny percentage of mortgages and foreclosing on the few defaulted ones in the context of a rising market all too often simply did not work anymore. In the present market, to maximize their recovery, lenders actually would have to decide between adding to their stock of foreclosed homes or, alternatively, engaging in a workout with their borrower; either course could be preferable in the right circumstances. However, this process simply was not happening with loan after loan after loan. Instead, loan servicers...