The Nevada state has passed a current law called the mortgage loan modification law.
The mortgage loan modification enables the homeowners and the lenders, along with the assistance of an intermediary, to discuss any possible alternatives for a certain foreclosure.
The Nevada Supreme Court said that the mortgage loan modification law is governed for the lawmakers’ intent. Nevada Supreme Court officials said that the administrative rules are adjusted to make a solution if any problems arise between the homeowner and the lender.
They further added that there have already been three changes in rules for administering the mortgage loan modification law from the previous year. Furthermore, Ron Titus, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts said, “We have 270 mediators, and the vast majority operate very comfortably within the rules of the program and work very hard to help the parties find common ground and reach a resolution.” Titus further states that the mediators can assure a reliable process and there will be unprejudiced treatment between the lender and the homeowner.
According to the person who led the mediation bill through the Legislature last year, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley said that the program has been able to help solve problems as 80 percent of the cases involving mortgage loan modifications resulted to the non-foreclosure of homes. The only time that there is no solution would be if the mediator were inconsistent.
Buckley said, “If you have a situation where two homeowners share the same facts, and two different mediators get different results, that shouldn’t be happening. I think the court will have to step in with some rules to guide mediators so that they are all in step with the program.”
The mortgage loan modification law only has one sanction and it can only be applied to the lenders. If a particular lender won’t show up for the mediation meeting, he will be given a sanction. This has only occurred once when Clark County District Judge Donald M. Mosley ordered a $50,000 sanction against Flagstar Bank FSB. The lender failed to appear in a hearing and was not able to pass any legal documentations of foreclosure in a particular mediation meeting.
According to Jim Fitzgerald, a consumer advocate in Carson City, the mediation law has been significantly helping residents retain their homes. “There are still some issues out there, but it’s coming along. Banks know that they have to come to the meetings now. (The lenders) are big organizations, and at first, the right hands might not have known what the left hands were doing.”
