Tactic to Stall Foreclosure Hits a Wall

The stories featured a Florida lawyer whose website shows homeowners how to stall foreclosure proceedings by demanding the lender come up with the original note signed by the borrower, betting it would take weeks, months or even years for the lender to dig out that piece of paper.

What the reports failed to mention is that the method works in Florida -- but this is California.

McGeorge School of Law Professor John Sprankling said at least in California, the produce the note strategy does nothing when it comes to putting your foreclosure on hold.

"This technique originated in states where you have to go to court to foreclose, where you have to use what's called a judicial foreclosure. We don't have that in California and, therefore, that tactic simply doesn't work," Sprankling said.

The idea is to demand the lender produce the original note that spells out the terms of the loan in court. The problem is in California, most foreclosures by law are non-judicial, meaning they take place outside of court. The only way to get them to court is to file a lawsuit.

Sprankling said if you do drag your foreclosure into court, a judge will ask "did you borrow the money? You're going to say yes. The judge is going to say, did you miss your payments? You're going to say yes. The judge is going to say, do you agree that there should be a foreclosure because you missed your payments? You're going to say yes. And the judge will then say why are we here?" Sprankling said.

Sprankling went on to say you could end up in deeper debt and far worse headaches for filing a frivolous lawsuit in this state.