A New Jersey couple fought a lender's foreclosure proceedings and ended up being able to keep their home. George Elghossain and his wife, Mona, successfully defended against a mortgage loan servicer that tried to foreclose on their 4-bedroom home. The April 4 court decision set a precedent for other homeowners in the state who now should be able to cite this case for having their own foreclosures dismissed.
Elghossain of North Brunswick, N.J., a real estate broker who raised four children in the bi-level home, pictured left, used his industry knowledge to fight his case in court without a lawyer after he noticed that the servicer of the loan that sent him the notice of intent to foreclose was not the lender that owned his loan.
"When I got the foreclosure complaint I found out the people suing me was not the people I had been paying. Now I had issues with am I paying the right party, and paying the right bank," Elghossain told AOL Real Estate. "So naturally I didn't continue payments, even though I could've made the payment."
By New Jersey state law, the homeowner is suppose to be notified of various items, including the name of the lender that owns the loan and its contact information.
In its paperwork, loan servicer Bank of America failed to include the names of the lender and the lender's representative in its notice of intent to foreclose, See photos of homes for sale in your area and across the country on AOL Real Estatethus violating New Jersey's Fair Foreclosure Act, which was enacted in 1995 and has been updated several times.http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2011/04/12/couple-heads-off-foreclosure-by-fighting-back/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk2%7C55596