Salt Lake City, UT / January 4, 2010 / --  Without question financial lending institutions have been thrown into turmoil by bad loans, late payments, defaulting mortgages and well now it would seem litigation.  Top on our list of predictable trends for 2010 will be that financial institutions and their loan servicing companies are going to have to overcome a litany of consumer-based lawsuits that place the onus of bad loans and questionable loan collection practices squarely on the shoulders of financial institutions and their servicers. 

At the center of many lawsuits will be President Obama's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).  Although  well conceived the program itself was poorly delivered.  Most financial institutions and their loan servicers lacked program training or understanding of how the program was intended to assist delinquent borrowers thus many consumers were given incorrect information about program acceptance, loan modifications or forbearances.  

"Towards the middle of last year we could see how important it became for financial institutions and loan servicing companies to start training employees on things like Fair Debt Practices Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, TILA and the HAMP Program," says Michael Blackburn, National Fraud Trainer for Perfect Home Living.  "But as the saying goes its one thing to train its quite another to actually implement that training into everyday practices", he continued.

Another major trend Perfect Home Living sees on the horizon is the decision by legal counsel all over the country to use the federal courthouse as the legal battleground for real estate fraud cases. Often District Court judges lack the ability to research cases involving real estate fraud and therefore their rulings reflect historical views as opposed to those of recent federal rulings where financial institutions and their third-party vendors have been proven accountable for negligible and criminal acts.

Thirdly, litigation will also continue to grow amongst unscrupulous bankruptcy attorney's luring consumers into filing for bankruptcy.  Bankruptcy that consumers believe will save their home but in truth is nothing more than a rouse by a fraud enterprise to purchase their client's real estate assets for self profit - especially where equity exists. 

Fourth on our list is that 2010 will be the year that the FDIC must address the billions of dollars in real estate portfolios that were allowed to liquidated via the sale of toxic assets loans to private equity investors and individuals.  Portfolios that were purchased by private equity firms and individuals based upon a no-need policy for regulation.  These loans as they exist lack claw-back agreements and thus have exposed billions of of dollars in mortgages and consumers to loopholes in federal and state laws that offer little to no protection against predatory lending practices.

Fifth on our list is the collapse of the commercial real estate market.  This has been a topic of discussion around the world and clearly a grave concern for financial institutions as a wave of commercial real estate loans become due in February.  "Commercial lending is something that we intend to watch carefully, especially from a liability point of view," says Michael Blackburn, "the insurance market wants to ensure that these types of loans were on the up and up and that use of insiders was not a part of ensuring that these multi-million dollar loans went through."   

Lastly without training and education on real estate fraud scams and schemes employees principle to real estate transactions will continue to act as a conduit for white collar criminals and their enterprises.  In 2010 real estate fraud schemes will continue as the commercialization appeal takes hold.  

About Perfect Home Living 

Perfect Home Living is a nationally recognized non-profit leader that assists in implementing programs and providing training and education to financial lenders, government entities, banking regulators, consumers and licensed professionals to red flags within today's  real estate market.   For more information or to request assistance please visit us online at:  http://www.PerfectHomeLiving.com or email trainingschedule@perfecthomeliving.com