“I wish somebody had come to us, you know, in the months before all of this happened and said, look, you really, really should look at a short sale or taking any other option other than foreclosure.”-Ben Jensen, Idahoan who lost home to foreclosure and was still sued by Bank of America

Did you know that as many as 40 U.S. states allow banks, and debt collectors to sue you even after a home foreclosure is finalized?  It’s called ‘deficiency judgment’.

Idaho attorney Brian Webb, says he’s seeing a sudden increase in such legal action by Corporate America:  “I only probably handled five or six in 2010; versus 2011, it’s been, you know, off the top of my head, between 15 and 25 deficiency cases.”

If you lose your home to foreclosure you could get hit with a lawsuit fives years after the fact: “In many other states around the country, homeowners find themselves subject to deficiency actions one, two, three, four or five years after they’ve been foreclosed.”-Geoff Walsh, National Consumer Law Center

Another Idaho attorney, Terri Pickens, says the sudden increase in deficiency judgments are due to a disturbing new trend; banks are selling their deficiency claims to collection agencies.  It’s all part of Wall Street’s new “investment” strategy: “I do know some private investors who are coming in and purchasing up bank loan packages and have been paying literally pennies on the dollar; just sitting on the paper, waiting for the right time to collect on it.”