any one ever qualify for home modification

[princesslily]

I think we our income is low enough to qualify and wondered what exactly they have done for others! Just wondering!

 

[sameyeyam]

I think we our income is low enough to qualify and wondered what exactly they have done for others! Just wondering!

Personally I have not, but my brother and his family qualified. They were both employed, not behind on their payments, had a good credit score and were able to get a lower interest rate. I thought it was kind of strange, because they really weren't in any sort of danger of losing their home. But obviously they qualified for the program. I know that when they bought the home, it was a bit of a stretch for them, so I guess their debt/income ratio was probably what helped them qualify. They seemed to be happy with getting a lower interest rate.

 

[SalandJeff]

We have not, but have friends who have done the loan modification. You can go to the government website and it has a test to see if you qualify (google making home affordable - it's a .gov website).

One caution, depending on your bank. It is a gov program but administered through your lender/bank. There is one bank (their initials are BOA ), and their may be others, who will tell you things like you have to be behind on your mortgage by 3 months, may try to tell you you have to refinance rather than do a modification, etc. These things are not true.

Do your homework and know what your rights are under the program before you apply. Good luck.

 

[maiyasgram]

We did not qualify for a modification through our lender, GMAC. Even though I was laid off from my job and have suffered a huge reduction in our income. Their reasoning was that we have more than 3 months worth of mortgage payments in our savings. It did not matter that I had lost my job or that my husband was out of work for several weeks last year for cancer treatment.
Good luck with your lender,
Cherie

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

No matter who your lender is, they will try to tell you you don't qualify. We started the process in March, 1 day after the MHA program was released. We met all the qualifications. Then dh lost his job, so we met it even moreso. But for months they told us we didn't qualify. They gave us the run around. It was bad. Many many many tears shed. Finally, after a very long ordeal, we received our trial period letter in November. It's a 3 month trial period and then we can still be denied .

Just be persistent but be prepared for a long road. Hopefully it won't be like that for you though.

 

[Disneyjamie]

Good luck trying to get anywhere with Chase unless you are already in default.

Here is our story:

I lost my job in April, and I was the breadwinner.

We first tried to do a loan modification through Chase. We had to submit a ton of documentation, and a letter about why our financial situation falls under "long term" and that eventually we would be unable to make the payments. Chase outright denied our request. The reason being: my job loss is only temporary, and unless and until we are actually in default, they will not go further with the request to modify the loan.

I disagreed stating that how could it be temporary when we live in Michigan, I now have been out of work 6 months (at the time of the application) without any hope of a job in MI in the near or far future, without relocating. I even went to my Congressman about this, and he was no help. I wasn't about to purposefully default on the loan just to modify it. We have been using our savings to pay, but are eating up a chunk of it each month, where soon it will be depleted.

So, then we turned to refinancing. I didn't think we would qualify as our home income is 66% less than what it was when we got the house. But we decided to try anyway. To those that do not know, our lovely Congressman requires loans backed by Freddie Mac to only be refinanced with the original loan holder under MHA. Frannie Mae loans can be redone by anyone though under MHA, so those borrowers can shop around for the best deals and rates. Of course, our loan is backed by Freddie Mac.

So we are stuck using Chase, even though their costs are high, I cannot shop around for a better rate, their timing is poor and communication with clients is nonexistent. It has been 3+ months that we have been "in the process" of refinancing with Chase, and just found out we are approved and should close this month.

So not only do I have issues with Chase, I also have issues with Congress for screwing up the MHA program to not help as it could - both with how many people can actually modify their loans, and with the restrictions on Freddie Mac loan refinancings. There is no good reason to restrict the program these ways.

 

[mom2d&b]

Areter about 1 year of trying ( and a file of over 2 inches with requests and responses) we finally got a trial plan wich is only $200 less than our original mortgage. We have made our 3rd trial payment and are waiting to hear is we qualify.

We have friends who had their payments reduced from about 3K to about $1,700. It would be amazing if they woud cut my payment in half.

 

[princesslily]

My mortgage is held by GMAC. They are terrible to work with. I hope they help us since we are currently 2 months behind and have nothing left in the savings. The only reason we made it this far is because of my in -laws.

 

[princessfionasmom]

I lost my job and we have put in the paperwork but still waiting to hear final word. We have been on the trial plan for 5 months (it's $900 less than our original payment). The only thing that really sucks is that they report your payment as being late while they process your paperwork so our credit is totally shot from the near perfect score we used to have. It will be worth it if we get the final approval because things were getting extremely tight on the one income and it would have started to effect our credit sooner than later. When I called the bank, they said we had to be 3 months late, so they put us on a payment plan for 3 months which was $700 less than our orig. payment making us late on the difference, then after the 3 months they started the paperwork process.

 

[Golf4food]

My parents qualified and after everything was said and done they would have had a new 30 year mortgage and would save a whopping $100 per month over their current. They declined.

 

[T. Lynn]

Had Wells Fargo and we qualified. They told us within 2 weeks and got everything taken care of and worked out within a month (no additional fees added on or anything like that either). They were great to deal with!

 

[PatriciaH]

Wells Fargo has been giving us the run around since last March. I lost my job in February and we applied for MHA. We had to send in a ton of paperwork and they said we qualified and to wait for the new payment info in the mail. It never came so we called and they said- oh no you do not qualify. Have been trying to get a straight answer from them for months. They keep lying about everything. Did some research and found out it is rampant with BOA, Wells Fargo, Chase, etc. They are taking the govts. money but not letting people do the program. Finally called the HOPE hotline. Will see if they can help. We are not behind we just want to get our loan on a fixed rate before it re-adjusts in June. Wells said thank you for being proactive and then dropped the ball. I think they want property in good areas so they are hoping people walk away.

http://www.loansafe.org/forum/

http://www.995hope.org/

 

[princesslily]

I thought this plan was put in place to help homeowners! Why is it so hard to get help if you qualify? It really takes months to get answers. I'm not sure I can take the stress of it!

 

[trip]

How is the plan supposed to work? Does it lower the interest rate, extend the length of the original loan or lower the amount of the loan?

 

[Kimkimba]

Ours was finally completed December 24th. We have a new mortgage that was effective with our January payment. Let's just say we've been working on this long before HAMP came along. Typical Citi story you read on the Loansafe boards.
Ours lowered our payment by over $400 - 2% interest rate the first 5 years. To say it was difficult to get this would be a huge understatement. And we definitely qualified.

 

[quentina]

No matter who your lender is, they will try to tell you you don't qualify. We started the process in March, 1 day after the MHA program was released. We met all the qualifications. Then dh lost his job, so we met it even moreso. But for months they told us we didn't qualify. They gave us the run around. It was bad. Many many many tears shed. Finally, after a very long ordeal, we received our trial period letter in November. It's a 3 month trial period and then we can still be denied .

Just be persistent but be prepared for a long road. Hopefully it won't be like that for you though.

A very good friend of mine is going through this. She was told she qualified, then got a forclosure notice. Called mortgage company and was told they needed $25,000 to stop proceedings.

Ended up getting a lawyer. Hopefully, it all works out. 5 kids and a 9 week old that needs to have some serious surgery soon.

 

[kathie859]

No matter who your lender is, they will try to tell you you don't qualify. We started the process in March, 1 day after the MHA program was released. We met all the qualifications. Then dh lost his job, so we met it even moreso. But for months they told us we didn't qualify. They gave us the run around. It was bad. Many many many tears shed. Finally, after a very long ordeal, we received our trial period letter in November. It's a 3 month trial period and then we can still be denied .

Just be persistent but be prepared for a long road. Hopefully it won't be like that for you though.

The experiences on this thread fall into two categories. 1) true mortgage loan modifications. These are difficult to get, usually have no charges associated with them and, I agree, can be tedious. Lenders are overrun with applicants for lower payments or payment forgiveness. 2) mortgage loan refinancing for FreddieMac and FannieMae owned loans. Easy to know if you qualify by speaking to a loan officer at your bank. You can go online with Freddie and Fannie to see if your mortgage is owned by them. If it is, it's just a matter of finding a lender to do the refinance transaction. These new mortgages can be at a higher LTV (loan to value) which is helpful for folks who live in declining value areas. Generally, it's easiest to work with your current lender--i. e., I work for a large midwestern regional bank. I can refi any eligible FreddieMac loan which my bank originated and any FannieMae loan from my bank or any lender.

FWIW, the rules of these programs have changed over the months. It's like you finally have a handle on the program and something changes
Lenders are as frustrated as consumers especially with the new RESPA laws which went into effect 1/1/10.

 

[leight]

What about FHA modifications? Would they fit under the loan mod options?

 

[kathie859]

What about FHA modifications? Would they fit under the loan mod options?

I truly don't know about FHA modifications. I've never handled one. I would guess that IF they are even possible, they would be even more difficult to obtain. What I do know about is FHA STREAMLINE refi's. As long as you are current (last 12 mos) they are rather easy to do. I handled several last year when rates declined.

FHA has a website. Try googling it. Certainly they would have some info if modification is an option.

Sorry, I'm ignorant about this subject.

 

[princesslily]

lots of good stories and info. Our loan is backed by Frannie Mae but we do not qualify for a refi because our credit is so bad now! I hope Obama's plan will help us! We need it! The car business is not good!