Borrowers struggling to save their homes from foreclosure desperately need legal help, but that's often when they're least able to afford it. Thanks to a team effort led by Jim Persels of Persels and Associates and the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, an injured Annapolis, MD police officer and his family were able to ward off foreclosure and stay in their home.
Helping people with problems like these is by far the most rewarding part of law practice. - Jim Persels, Persels and Associates. 
Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) March 23, 2010 -- Borrowers struggling to save their homes from foreclosure desperately need legal help, but that's often when they're least able to afford it.
The good news for Carl and Roline Bouie was that they had a new and capable recruit in the legal battle they were fighting to keep from losing their Grasonville home to foreclosure: Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS) volunteer Jim Persels, the principal of the consumer rights firm Persels & Associates, LLC. The not-so-good news was that Mr. Persels was enlisted to the cause late on a Friday afternoon in mid-March, and the foreclosure was scheduled for 10 o’clock Monday morning.
The Bouies’ problems began when Carl, a police officer in Annapolis, was injured on the job, and his workman’s compensation check didn’t provide enough to cover the mortgage payments on their four-bedroom house. They had sought help from Maryland Rural Development Corporation counselor Elaine Hill, and Ms. Hill and the Bouies filed as many as ten separate requests for loan modification with their mortgage company. All were ignored.
“This went on for months,” says Mrs. Bouie. “I was really, really worried.”
It was Ms. Hill who steered the Bouies toward MVLS. Then with the clock ticking toward foreclosure, the mortgage holder unexpectedly placed a temporary moratorium on foreclosures. This decision bought the Bouies valuable time.
Mr. Persels asked for a postponement on the foreclosure until a decision was reached on the loan modification requests. The mortgage company turned down his request, and the foreclosure was rescheduled for April. Mr. Persels says the company denied ever receiving the loan modification requests, even though they were sent certified mail and someone at the company had signed for them. “It was obvious that they were playing games,” he says.
Shortly afterward Mr. Persels began working with Diane Cipollone and Anthony DiPastina, attorneys with Civil Justice, a Maryland nonprofit and MVLS partner that provides training and mentoring to pro bono attorneys who help low-income people facing foreclosure. They began planning their defense against the foreclosure, and submitted a written request for loan modification through a new federal program called the Home Affordable Modification Program (a verbal request had been denied). Finally, their luck turned. “Within days of the second foreclosure,” says Mr. Persels, “their application was conditionally approved.”
The Bouies, the attorneys, and the mortgage company worked out an agreement that would reduce the family’s monthly payments by more than a $1,000; with Mr. Bouie working again full time, that amount is manageable. Carl, Roline, their 12-year-old daughter, and their 10-year-old quadruplets will be able to stay in the home they’ve lived in for nine years.
“It was a big relief,” says Mrs. Bouie. “I am so thankful.”
“This was not the Bouies’ fault,” says Mr. Persels, who has taken on several cases for MVLS. “The system was just crushing them. Helping people with problems like these is by far the most rewarding part of law practice.”
About Persels & Associates
Persels & Associates, LLC, and its entities are pioneers in the field of offering "unbundled" legal services to individuals who cannot afford traditional legal services. As Americans credit debt rose, Persels & Associates bridged the "gap" between consumers and their debtors. Today, Persels & Associates employs over 150 lawyers in the 50 states and has 25 central office staff attorneys with over 40,000. For more information, please visit www.perselsandassociates.com.
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