Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

CA foreclosure and credit report

Condensed version:

My home in Palmdale, CA, went into foreclosure in October of 2007. The auction took place in mid December of 2007. An entire year went by with no calls or letters from the lender. On October of 2008, I checked my credit report and it showed that the 1st mortgage was still CURRENTLY PAST DUE, while my 2nd mortgage was charged off around the time the auction took place. I called my lender and they told me that the house did not sell and that as long as the house remains theirs, I was still responsible for the loan and it would continue to show PAST DUE until it resold to a third party. Being that I never received a letter of postponement of the auction, I assumed the house was now their (lender) property. And just recently, I received a letter stating that the insurance expired on December of 2008 and I was liable for keeping it insured even though I no longer live their.

My questions are:

1. Are the lenders actions normal? Is this how the foreclosure process works?

2. If not, then what, if anything, can I do?

3. Am I still liable even after 2 years since the foreclosure started? Shouldn�t the property belong to the lender, not me?

4. When do the 7 years of bad credit begin? From day of foreclosure or


Asked on 1/02/09, 5:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Mccoy Law Office Of Robert McCoy

Re: CA foreclosure and credit report

I am a bit confused by your question. You state that the house did not sell, but that the house is the lender's. It would be impossible for the house to be the lender's unless the lender bid and purchased the house at the foreclosure sale. If this is the case, then the lender's actions may constitute a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as a lender ordinarily only has 3 months after foreclosing to file a deficiency lawsuit.

So, depending on what really happened at that auction, you may have a lawsuit against the lender. You should obtain the chain of title for this property from a title company and have an attorney review it for you to determine whether the lender's actions are legal.

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Answered on 1/02/09, 8:01 pm


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