According to the new Florida Fair Foreclosure legislation, the deadline for a bank to sue a defaulting home owner for the amount left on a mortgage after a foreclosure (the deficiency) was changed from 5 years to 1 year, regardless of when the cause of action accrued. (See our earlier post for details.)

Before this new law was passed, Florida banks had 5 years after the foreclosure sale to seek a deficiency judgment. After the new law, lenders must file their deficiency claim within one (1) year of the date of the foreclosure sale.

When does this become effective?  July 1, 2013. For all deficiency actions filed after that date, they must be filed within one year of the foreclosure sale. For older foreclosures, the banks have until July 2014 to seek a deficiency judgment.

Updates:

• Is a Dyck O’Neal Lawsuit Valid if it is Served After July 1, 2014?
• Did You Get A Letter From A Debt Collector For A Florida Mortgage Deficiency Related to a Foreclosure Or Short Sale?
• Can a Florida Bank File a New Foreclose Lawsuit 5 Years After Your Case Was Dismissed? When is a Florida Bank Foreclosure Lawsuit Barred by the Statute of Limitations?
• Dyck-O’Neal Increases Florida Deficiency Judgment Collection Efforts?: 19 Articles About Florida Deficiency Judgments

Smaller South Florida Banks and Credit Unions Are Aggressively Pursuing Foreclosure Deficiency Judgments

Based upon our experience in South Florida, there are more and more Florida home owners who are concerned about deficiency judgments because of past foreclosures and short sales.  Some of those concerns relate to:

• Are they going to be sued for a deficiency?
• What is the procedure for a bank to collect a deficiency?
• What assets are subject to the bank’s collection efforts?
• Do they have defenses in a Florida deficiency action?
• Is the time deadline (“statute of limitations”) a defense available to them against the bank?

These issues are particularly important for those who have home loans with smaller financial institutions in the area, such as:

• BB&T
• Regions Bank
• Suntrust Bank
• Bankunited
• Tropical Financial Credit Union.

Local foreclosure defense law firms like ours have seen smaller banks and credit unions become much more vigilant than some of their big bank competitors in going after deficiency judgments against current and former Broward, Miami Dade County, and Palm Beach County homeowners.  The main reason for this, we believe, is because these institutions didn’t receive a government bailout.

Unfortunately, we are starting to see motions for deficiency judgments being filed by bank lawyers for these smaller institutions for foreclosures that occurred several years back.

July 2014 is the deadline that they’re trying to beat.

Larry Tolchinsky’s Tip:

If you have a foreclosure involving any of the following South Florida financial institutions, then you may want to check with a Florida foreclosure defense lawyer to see how the new July 2014 deadline may impact your case:

Credit Unions

1. American Airlines Federal Credit Union
2. Baptist Health South Florida Federal Credit Union
3. BCU
4. Dade County Federal Credit Union
5. Electricians Local 349 Credit Union
6. Financial Federal Credit Union
7. First Florida Credit Union
8. Florida Transportation Credit Union
9. Jetstream Federal Credit Union
10. Miami Federal Credit Union
11. Miami Firefighters Federal Credit Union
12. Miami Postal Service Credit Union
13. Navy Federal Credit Union
14. Peoples Alliance Federal Credit Union
15. Peoples Credit Union
16. Power Financial Credit Union
17. Ryder System Federal Credit Union
18. Shaw-Ross Employees Credit Union
19. South Florida Educational Federal Credit Union
20. South Florida Federal Credit Union
21. Space Coast Credit Union
22. St. James AME Church Federal Credit Union
23. Tropical Financial Credit Union
24. United Police Federal Credit Union
25. University Credit Union

Banks

1. 1st National Bank of South Florida
2. 1st United Bank
3. American Momentum Bank
4. American National Bank
5. BB&T Banking
6. BAC Florida Bank
7. Bank of America
8. BankAtlantic, A Federal Savings Bank
9. BankUnited FSB
10. Bay Bank & Trust Co.
11. BB&T Bank
12. Beach Community Bank
13. Beneficial Savings Bank
14. Capital Bank
15. CBC National Bank
16. City National Bank of Florida
17. Coastal Bank and Trust
18. Coconut Grove Bank
19. Commerce Bank
20. Community Bank of Florida
21. Compass Bank
22. Delta National Bank
23. Desjardins Federal Savings Bank
24. Drummond Community Bank
25. Eagle National Bank of Miami
26. Enterprise National Bank
27. Espirito Santo Bank:
28. Executive National Bank
29. Farmers & Merchants Bank:
30. First America Bank
31. First Bank Florida:
32. First Bank of Miami:
33. First Citizens Bank:
34. First Federal Bank
35. First National Bank of South Florida
36. First National Bank of South Miami
37. First Southern Bank
38. First United
39. Flagler Bank
40. Great Eastern Bank of Florida
41. Gulfstream Business Bank
42. Hancock Bank
43. Helm Bank
44. Intercredit Bank, N.A.
45. International Finance Bank:
46. J. P. Morgan FSB
47. Marshall & Isley Bank (M&I Bank)
48. Mercantil Commerce Bank
49. Northwest Savings Bank
50. Ocean Bank
51. Pacific National Bank
52. Plus International Bank
53. Regions Bank
54. Sabadell United Bank
55. Security Bank, National Association
56. Southeastern Bank
57. Stearns Bank
58. Stonegate Bank
59. SunTrust Banks, Inc.
60. TD Bank
61. Terrabank, National Association: Miami, Hialeah
62. The Citizens Bank
63. TotalBank
64. Trustmark National Bank
65. U.S. Century Bank
66. United Southern Bank
67. Warrington Bank
68. Wauchula State Bank
69. Whitney National Bank

Do you have questions or comments? Then please feel free to Chat with Larry in the comments below, at info@hallandalelaw.com, or (954) 458-8655. If you have a specific or personal situation, please call or email Larry because he can’t answer specific fact questions in general comments.