This is a list of international banks operating in the United States, many of which have offices in either New York, Washington DC, California, or Florida. If you don’t recognize the names of some of them, it is because these banks are the parent companies of more well-known banks in the US.

Wells Fargo
JP Morgan Chase
Citigroup
Bank of America
US Bancorp
Goldman Sachs
Comerica Bank
State Street Bank
Union Bank of California
Americorp Bank and Trust
Toronto Dominion Bank
Royal Bank of Canada
Barclays
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
PNC Bank
HSBC North America Inc
Deutsche Bank
UBS AG
Banco De La Nacion Argentina
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Credit Swisse
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group LTD
Macquarie Bank
National Australia Bank LTD
National Equities LTD
Westpac Banking Corporation
Banco Bradesco
Bank of Montreal
Bank of China LTD
National Bank of Egypt
BNP Paribas
Landesbank
Unicredit Bank AG
Bank of East Asia
Bank of India
ICIC Bank LTD
State Bank of India
Allied Irish Banks PLC
Anglo Irish Bank Corp
Israel Discount Bank LTD
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
Banco Mercantil Del Norte SA
ABN AMRO Bank
Habib Bank LTD
Banco International De Costa Rica
Allied Banking Corporation
Philippine National Bank
Banco De Credito Del Peru
United Overseas Bank LTD
Standard Bank of South Africa
Bank of Taiwan
Bank of Scotland
Gulf International Bank LTD
Lloyds TSB Bank PLC

The Emotions of Foreclosure

Fear of the Unknown

The most common emotion experienced during the process of a foreclosure is fear. And usually that fear stems from not knowing what to expect. If you think that you could be thrown out of your home onto the street at any time, that is understandably going to create some stress in your life. Fortunately, the reality is that foreclosure is an orderly process. There are always specific notices and time periods required before a foreclosure sale can take place. And even after the sale, it can often take weeks or months before you have to vacate the property. Provided you do your homework or work with an expert in the process, you shouldn’t really have any surprises, and most likely will have ample time to work out other living arrangements.

Home Ownership As The “American Dream”?

In our society, home ownership has often been equated with the “American Dream”. But is owning a home really what the American Dream is all about? After all, this presumption has been promoted by businesses and institutions that rely on healthy home sales and property tax revenue. The truth is that these organizations benefit far more from individual home ownership than the individuals often do, and that is doubly true in the current economic environment.

Self-Worth & Home Ownership

Unfortunately, this perception for many people has led to the tying of home ownership to one’s personal feeling of self-worth or accomplishment. The prospect of losing that home, therefore, can have a catastrophic impact emotionally. You start worrying about what the neighbors will say, or what friends and family will think of you. If your sense of self-worth is tied to your home, it’s easy to get depressed and become less capable of handling the situation.

The truth is that you and your persona are not your house. It’s just a place to put your stuff, which incidentally is also not you. The moment you can let go of your house (and your stuff) as your identity, you can experience a great deal more freedom in life. Freedom from fear, stress, and from a financial burden that it turns out you can’t afford at present.

Making Foreclosure A Positive

While it’s certainly inconvenient to have to move, it’s so critical to remember that this is nothing more than a temporary setback from which you can and will recover. Ask yourself honestly: even if you could figure out a way to hold onto your home, is it worth barely scraping by and living a scarce existence in order to do so?

In my humble opinion, the American Dream is not about home ownership and the self-imposed imprisonment it can often be, but about freedom to live your life the way you’d like to. It’s about creating experiences that home ownership, frankly, might stand in the way of having. Take this situation as an opportunity to recreate your life, and you might find in retrospect that this was a positive life experience after all.

Consumers need to know how much they can afford on their monthly bills after their financial circumstances have dramatically changed. In effect, they need to establish their bottom line for paying off their creditors, especially unsecured debts like credit cards. For example, if the family can reasonably pay $1,000 of a $1,500 original debt, then they should not agree to pay any more when they are negotiating. They can try to bargain the creditor to accept $800, for instance, but should not agree to pay more than their bottom line.

Negotiations seem to be progressing well here.

They also need to know where the creditors bottom line is when negotiating. Especially if an account has been charged off and sent to a collection agency, the minimum they will accept may be quite low. The debt collectors will not immediately offer the lowest settlement, of course, but it is good to keep asking for better deals. In the case of a loan modification, asking to lower the interest rate an extra quarter percentage or keep a forbearance plan in place for an extra three months may be reasonable requests.

It is also important to keep in mind that all parties in a negotiation will attempt to get the upper hand. Creditors will exaggerate the financial consequences of being late, threatening potential repossession and foreclosure, along with all of the negative credit history. This is all in an attempt to make the debtors pay more. On the other hand, debtors should explain their financial hardships in as bleak of an outlook as possible, mentioning potential bankruptcy proceedings if a deal if not worked out. Obviously, it is not a good idea to lie about one’s finances to creditors.

Finally, some creditors may accept a lump sum payment of a debt. For large loans like a mortgage or car, this may be impossible for most debtors, but small loans and bills may be paid off and canceled. These can include personal loans from a bank, credit cards, store cards, and more. If they can be negotiated down and paid off, it may free up some much-needed monthly income that can go towards keeping the lights on and making sure the mortgage is paid on time to avoid foreclosure. Eliminating any small bills and avoiding collection agencies is almost always a net positive for consumers.

When a financial crisis occurs, creditors usually have very few good options. They can accept lower monthly payments, a small lump sum payoff, or wait for the consumers to file bankruptcy or just stop paying altogether. In such cases, they may be more willing to accept a negotiated payment plan or settlement offer that works out in all of the parties’ interests. And with more people than ever out of work or underemployed, creditors may be more open to taking what they can get, rather than holding out for more and ending up with nothing.

Personal Benefits To You

First off, consider the obvious benefits to your own situation if you decide to stay in the home. With a bit of self-restraint, you can use this period of time as an excellent opportunity to save. If you are past the point of no return with your home and have determined that you’re going to give it up, it would be a really good idea to open a savings account, specifically for the purpose of laying funds aside for when you need to leave the home and stay somewhere else. Assuming you have some extra income to do this, the extra savings will give you a good deal more peace of mind as you consider your options for moving on.

Why Your Neighbors Want You In The Home

Secondly, your neighbors would most likely rather have you in the home than allowing the home to be abandoned and left derelict. You’ve surely seen neighborhoods where homes have been left unoccupied. Lawns are overgrown with weeds, and left brown from lack of watering. Fliers pile up at the front door. The lack of occupants attracts vandals and looters in some areas. And the result is that property values of everything around the home plummet accordingly. It makes much more sense to have someone in the home for as long as possible and avoid its general degradation, and since you’re already there, you make the most viable candidate.

How The Bank Benefits If You Stay

Finally, consider the bank’s position here. First of all, the bank REALLY doesn’t want to have to deal with a foreclosure on your property in the first place. As long as you’re there, there is at least some chance that you may be able to work out a solution with the bank to stay in the home. Of course, the more time that goes by without making payments the less likely that is, but there still is a chance. Additionally, staying in the home benefits the bank for the same reason it benefits your neighbors: you keep the property from devolving into a derelict with far less value than it would have with you in it.

While the foreclosure process can conjure up all kinds of emotions – fear, uncertainty, depression, anger and more – guilt should not be among the emotions that you allow yourself to experience, at least not a feeling of guilt for staying in the home while you work through the process. Remaining in the home provides you an opportunity to save funds for moving on to the next phase of your life, and also offers numerous benefits to those who own property around the home, and also to the lender. So if you find yourself slipping into a guilty stupor, be sure to remind yourself that not only are you acting in your own best interests, but the best interests of everyone involved.

Foreclosure Sale

If A New Owner Buys The House

If the home is sold at auction to a new owner, chances are that the owner will want you out of the property as soon as possible. The process of getting you out of the home usually begins with a termination notice that you might receive either days or weeks after the sale occurs. The actual amount of time will vary depending on the experience of the new owner with such matters, and removing tenants from a property.

Note that this process will also vary depending on whether the new owner is an individual who wishes to move into the property him or herself, versus a company that is in the business of buying and selling repossessed properties. In the former scenario, a termination notice is likely to come sooner, while in the latter case it may take longer to receive a notice simply for bureaucratic reasons.

If The Bank Winds Up With The Home

If, on the other hand, the home does not sell at auction and the bank winds up keeping title, you probably will have as many as three to six months more to stay in the home without making a payment. Again, this is determined by a number of factors.

First, it makes a difference whether the bank has an existing relationship with a real estate agency in your area. Banks are experts at creating loans, NOT selling real estate. They rely on real estate agencies to move properties for them, and if they do not already have such a relationship in place in your area, it can take time to set that up.

An additional consideration is the demand for homes in your area. If there is a large supply of homes on the market, and in particular homes which have been lost to foreclosure, it can be a difficult proposition to move the home. If there happens to be a large glut of vacant homes in the area, the bank may be less likely to be in a hurry to get you out, as vacant homes tend to drop in value a good deal more quickly than occupied ones.

Another important factor for the bank is going to be how many other foreclosed properties are already on their books. If they are working through a large volume of foreclosures already, the priority to get you out of your home is going to be a good deal lessened. Conversely, if the lender has few homes on its books, your presence in the home is likely to garner more immediate attention from the bank, and a higher priority will be placed on moving you out of the home and getting it into a saleable position.

Conclusion

As with many things related to foreclosure, what actually happens can vary greatly depending on both state laws and the individual circumstances. This variability underscores the wisdom of seeking out foreclosure help at each step of the process.

In the past four years, I have personally gone through 4 hard drives on 2 different Gateway laptops. On each laptop, the hard drive that initially came with the machine completely died within the first year of owning the computer. With the one year warranty, the company sent me a brand new hard drive, but this still does not make up for the fact that, on two different laptops, both of the original hard drives failed completely.

The Gateway MT-6707 -- less wireless cability than the original Stonehenge!

The first laptop, a Gateway MT6707, is now little more than a glorified iPod, although even my iPod has been more stable over the years that I’ve owned it. The MT6707, even after having a new hard drive, fails to hold a wireless internet connection, requiring repeated restarts in order to get it connected to the network run by my Linksys router. So instead of dealing with the continue frustration, I have the laptop wired directly into the router with an Ethernet cable, and then connected to speakers.

The second laptop is an expensive MS2252, supposedly a gaming platform in Gateway’s FX series of high performance laptops. While it looks impressive and is reasonably fast, the hard drive failed again within a year. Gateway sent me restore discs for $25 so I could reset the system from scratch.

If you love black screens and non-working laptops, get yourself a Gateway MS-2252 today!

But then the hard drive failed again! This time, it was entirely gone and it was after the warranty had expired. So I did the only thing reasonable: I went to Best Buy and got 2 new hard drives, one for operation and one for backup. With Gateway computers, you better have a hard drive backup and not store ANYTHING important on your main drive, because it will fail.

The latest development, which happened about a week ago is that the wireless internet stopped working. Just completely stopped working. There is a switch on the front of the laptop that supposedly turns the wireless internet on and off, but it does nothing anymore. I even ordered a brand new wireless card — the same one that is in the laptop to begin with — and it did nothing. Updating drives does nothing. So I have a $1,200 laptop that has had repeated hard drive failures and now can not even connect to the internet unless it is plugged into the router. Some high performance machine.

And it’s not like I ever put the laptop to much use. Sure, I work on it every day. But does Gateway consider writing a few articles and submitting them to a few sites or playing Youtube videos or Flash videos as too much for their FX-series laptops to handle?

Another thing: the laptop doesn’t even leave my house. It’s been out of my house maybe 3 times in the past 2 years or so, always in a case. It migrates the 30 feet between my living room, bedroom, and kitchen once a day depending on where I’m working, but I don’t drag it along the ground by its electrical cord.

So now I have two Gateway laptops that I spent over $2,000 on just for the systems, plus another few hundred dollars in new hard drives and a wireless card, and neither can work reliably on the internet without being plugged into a router. One works intermittently, and the other doesn’t work at all. Every other computer I’ve tried on my wireless network works fine — my neighbor’s Toshiba connects easily, my Asus netbook works flawlessly. But these two Gateways  — one a middle-of-the-road machine and the other a high-end gaming platform — completely fail.

If I wanted a computer I had to have plugged into the wall all the time, I would have bought a desktop. If you want a laptop, you don’t want a Gateway. They’re nothing but frustration and failure.

[On the plus side, every time I've had to call Gateway for a failed hard drive, their customer support has been helpful. But it doesn't help when their computers break before and after the warranty expires.]

Creditors, too, are facing more difficult times. The good news for them is that, if times are good, they make money from collecting debts like credit cards and mortgages. And even if times are bad, as has been proved over and over again, they can just go to the lawmakers in Congress who print up a few hundred billion dollars to cover the losses sustained by the banks. And if that is not enough, the banks and creditors can ask for tens of trillions of dollars to be printed by the Federal Reserve System, which has been more than accommodating since the 2008 financial meltdown.

Since it is unlikely that average people will ever get to see or use any of the tens of trillions of dollars that were printed up by the banks (except as rising prices due to inflation), debtors are forced to take preventive action in the face of a declining economy and higher prices. There are numerous warning signs of being in trouble with debt, all of which people should watch out for.

Hmm, which one isn't over the limit this month...?

For instance, are all of your credit cards charged to their maximum limits? And are you using your meager income to pay off one credit card so that you can transfer balances around from the other accounts every month? If so, you are probably at the limit of what your credit can do to help you, and it is now becoming a burden. Especially if you are still using the credit cards for various charges when you are able to, while operating with them very close to the edge, it may be time to stop using credit cards altogether. You are just prolonging the inevitable default and making the collection attempts even worse in the future.

Another huge sign of debt trouble is using credit cards to pay for goods and services that are necessities because you do not have enough money any other way to pay for them. Putting heat and electricity or groceries on your credit card is never a good idea, especially if you do not have enough funds in your possession to pay these bills any other way. Once you are at this point, you can expect any little financial crisis or unexpected bill to push you over the edge, so it would be best to stop using credit as soon as possible. Do not put the necessities of life in the hands of your creditors.

Finally, if you are already bouncing checks or sustaining heavy overdraft or over the limit charges on your bank accounts or credit cards, you are probably spending too much more than you make. This is simply unsustainable, and racking up closed accounts and bounced checks will not make anything better. In fact, they can create legal problems where there used to be only financial ones. At some point, we all need to ask for help, and if you are at the point of having banks sue you for closed checking accounts with negative balances, it might be time to seek assistance.

Unfortunately, this is the reality that many people are now facing. It is not that uncommon a situation to be in, as economic opportunities have been diminishing in this country for some years now. But whatever your current financial difficulties may be, it is always better to take care of them earlier rather than later, and stop the dependence on credit as soon as you can. And because the economy may take many more years to improve, simply living through the long depression using debt will not be possible forever.

The first way to end a Chapter 13 bankruptcy without completing the three- or five-year repayment plan is called a hardship discharge. If the filer’s economic situation has drastically changed, such as if they die or lose a significant portion of their income, this option may be available. A hardship discharge may be granted by the court at any time after the payment plan has been confirmed, as long as unsecured creditors have received as much as they would have gotten under a straight Chapter 7 filing. There are certain tests that must be met to quality for a hardship discharge, though. As well, this is not the preferred option from the bankruptcy court’s perspective.

Instead, the bankruptcy court prefers modification of the plan if the filer experiences an economic hardship. Modification of the bankruptcy payment plan is a right that all filers have, and payments to the trustee may be decreased or eliminated altogether, depending on the situation. Typically, priority claims and secured debts must still be paid, but it can be possible to eliminate payments made to unsecured creditors. The bankruptcy code provides for modification of plans as new problems arise during the period of repayment.

The third option to get out of Chapter 13 bankruptcy is to convert it to a Chapter 7, which will attempt to liquidate nonexempt assets and discharge as many of the debts as are allowed. Filers have a right to convert to a Chapter 7 at any time, and is likely to be used if a hardship is experienced but the filer does not meet the requirements of the hardship discharge. With a conversion, unsecured debts can be eliminated. Creditors can also request that the bankruptcy be converted against the filer’s will, which may happen in the case of failure to file a repayment plan or failure to make the payments.

Finally, the filer can have their bankruptcy case dismissed in order to get out of the Chapter 13. Unless the case was previously converted from a different chapter of the bankruptcy code, a person may file for dismissal whenever they want. However, it should be noted that requesting a dismissal will put all of the creditors and the debtor back in the same place they were before the case was filed to begin with. Obviously, any payments made to the plan will be credited to the debtor’s accounts with the creditors, but everything else will return to the status quo before the bankruptcy.

Whether any of these four different options are available at one time or appropriate in a particular case should be evaluated by the filer, his or her attorney, and the trustee of the bankruptcy court. Some of these different methods, though, may be appropriate in some cases in order to protect the personal financial interests of borrowers and avoid further negative consequences on a person’s credit. Thankfully, the bankruptcy code still does a fairly adequate job of helping borrowers get a fresh start, as the options available under Chapter 13 show.

The financial literacy of the people signing these transfers, though, is shockingly low. In the depositions taken of employees of Nationwide Title Clearing, it is clear that they do not know what a mortgage is, what a promissory note is for, or what a mortgage assignment does. And these documents were used to transfer ownership of the loans to mortgage companies that then used the paperwork to initiate foreclosure proceedings and prove that they had the legal right to take the properties back.

While the actions that Nationwide and other title clearing companies have taken may be perceived as legal, these organizations are another sign of how unethical and manipulative of the court system the banking industry has become. The employees of the title company were given authorization to sign as vice presidents of various financial companies and mortgage companies. Employees may have been counted as vice presidents “for signing purposes only” of dozens of financial institutions and banks.

Welcome to the vice president's office. VP of which bank? All of them!

Using titles such as vice president on mortgage assignments is nothing more than an attempt to make the documents look more official. A judge is more likely to believe in the legitimacy of a mortgage assignment signed by a “vice president” than if it was signed by “some person sitting in a cubicle who doesn’t know what a promissory note is but signs 4,000 of them every day.” The minor fact that the title company employees never received a check or had any contact at all with the mortgage companies they represented is also not usually disclosed in foreclosure proceedings.

The banks take the position that, even with all of the misrepresentation and manipulation of the courts through dubious documentary evidence, the outcome would be the same. Even if the banks did not take various short cuts to prove legal ownership of the promissory note and mortgage, the homeowners would still be in foreclosure and would lose their homes anyway. So what’s the big deal with all of these robo-signed documents, anyway? They don’t change anything.

And maybe the banks are right. But maybe they’re not. Maybe, if just one or who people had actually taken a look at the documents before rushing straight into foreclosure, someone would have thought of the homeowners are human beings, instead of just more signatures to be dealt with. The robo-mortgage-approval, robo-document-signing and robo-foreclosing processes banks engage in are designed to dehumanize the process of giving loans as much as possible, treating each home and property owner as nothing more than a piece of paper to be transferred, signed off on, or executed in the fastest way possible.

First, debtors must file a petition that consists of three pages of information, as well as a statement of their Social Security Number. Also, a list of all of the creditors must be submitted. This is referred to as the mailing matrix, as it lists the names and addresses of creditors that will be sent notice of the bankruptcy filing. Finally, consumers must also file a copy of their certification that they have completed pre-bankruptcy credit counseling. Everyone who files for bankruptcy must complete a credit counseling course, which is usually $30 or $40 or so, and offered by various companies online.

You don't need all this for a quick petition.

And that is all that is needed for an emergency filing with the minimum of documents. Of course, all of the other paperwork, schedules, and proof of income and assets must be filed later on in a timely manner, but in time-sensitive cases, the courts only need a small amount of information to open the case. Even the filing fee of $299.00 is not strictly required at the time of filing. People can pay the fee over 120 days in installments, or apply for a complete waiver.

Once the case is filed, the debtors will have to provide a number of other forms and documents to have a completed petition. If they fail to complete the petition in a reasonable amount of time by filing the rest of the paperwork, then the case will be dismissed and they will not get a discharge of their debts under Chapter 7, or be able to work out a repayment plan under Chapter 13. So it is important to know what information will be required.

These other required documents include various schedules that list information regarding the debtor’s financial life that the court will want to examine. Also, income and expense reports, and a list of exempt and nonexempt assets is to be included. A means test to determine eligibility for Chapter 7 bankruptcy is also required, as creditors forced a change in the bankruptcy code to make it more difficult for everyone to file for a total discharge of their debts.

People should also be aware that local bankruptcy courts may have an extra form or more that must be filled out. Calling or visiting the court in question is often the best way to be informed of any local filing rules, as a failure to include these local or regional forms may result in the case being thrown out for no other reason. The clerk of the court can usually help with information on local rules or provide copies of the forms that must be included.