Yes, you can successfully challenge a bank’s foreclosure complaint, even if you owe substantial arrears that you are unable to pay. Moreover, responding to a foreclosure summons and complaint can be accomplished without hiring a lawyer, and can yield enormously positive results for homeowners who would otherwise suffer the loss of their homes at foreclosure sales. Stopping foreclosure, though not guaranteed, can occur with the filing of a foreclosure answer even in circumstances that initially appear to be hopeless.

Recently, a several court decisions have been issued by judges that strongly condemn the abusive tactics of lenders, and which have relieved homeowners of some or all of their financial obligations. In April, 2010, a judge in Suffolk County, New York, ordered a lender to pay $100,000 to the homeowners as punitive damages for engaging in “deplorable” conduct. The lender’s misconduct included, among other things, requiring the couple to agree never to file for bankruptcy and refusing to engage in good-faith negotiations during settlement conferences that were mandated by 2008 changes to New York’s foreclosure law.

The foregoing decision is just the most recent example of several decisions that have been issued by courts in New York, Florida, Ohio and elsewhere, in which lenders and loan servicers were taken to task for engaging in abuse and failing to engage in good faith discussions regarding alternatives to foreclosure. Increasingly, state legislators and courts throughout the United States have implemented procedural and other obstacles to ensure that banks are forced to enter into good-faith settlement discussions before application is made by the bank for a foreclosure judgment. As shown by the recent decision in New York, failure of a bank to comply with the law can result in a windfall to the homeowner.

The key to success for a homeowner is to file an answer to the lender’s foreclosure complaint. By answering a foreclosure complaint, a homeowner not only delays the foreclosure process, but gets the opportunity to expose any misconduct of the lender to the court. This may be accomplished by including affirmative defenses in the foreclosure answer form. These defenses should include, among other things, defenses based on the lender’s violation of the truth in lending act.

Many homeowners assume that it would be futile or unduly expense to file an answer to foreclosure. In fact, the forms are not only fairly straightforward, but also available online for a reasonable fee.

If you are facing the possibility of losing your home to foreclosure, the professionals at http://www.StopForeclosureForms.com can help. Foreclosure answer forms are available for download from http:///www.StopForeclosureForms.com. We are the leading provider of foreclosure defense forms for all fifty states. We were founded by attorney Marc. A. Rapaport, Esq., an attorney with 15 years of experience in mortgage foreclosure defense and commercial litigation. Do not sit on your rights and lose your property. Download and file a foreclosure answer form to protect your rights!

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You Can Stop a Mortgage Foreclosure Sale by Filing an Answer to the Lender’s Foreclosure Complaint is a post from: Bankruptcy Court Online