One type of appearance that I handle is the foreclosure status conference. I’ve handled them for both the creditor and the debtor. In either case, the key to preparation is being provided information on transactions since the last conference, including the status of loss mitigation efforts. Although this can usually be handled by simply summarizing the information in an email, sometimes providing a copy of the latest document exchanges between the parties proves helpful.
I’ll give you a recent example. The bank had received three of the latest bank statements of the debtor. However, the last bank statement failed to reflect several expected, business-related deposits. So, the bank asked for another bank statement. I agreed to provide that, but I noticed, because the firm giving me the assignment had given me a copy of the last exchange, that the last bank statement was dated only a couple of days before the FSC. So, I noted that to the hearing officer handling the FSC, saying it would take about a month to get the extra bank statement to the bank. So, rather than scheduling the next conference a couple of weeks out, the JHO adjourned the matter for enough time to get the statement to the bank, have the bank review it, and determine whether anything more was needed.