Anyone go through CitiMortgage modification?

[ADPiSpaz16]

We've been pre-approved for a modification from CitiMortgage. I'm waiting on the packet they promised to show up and its been 3 weeks now. I was just wondering what kind of experiences people had, good and bad, the time frame, etc. Thanks so much.

 

[CowboyCO]

My SIL tried it and they went through all the hoops right up until the end and then when the appraisal came in, it came in higher than expected and they were turned down because they weren't upside down enough.

Just be careful about your existing mortgage. You must stay up to date with it in case the modification doesn't come through. There are way too many stories of people who got into the program, were told to not make payments, or make a reduced payment, who then had their houses foreclosed on when they got booted for whatever reason. Good luck.

 

[Stitch And Friends]

We have not tried to do any kind of modification, but I can comment that their customer service is horrible. After 3 and a half years they still keep screwing up our escrow. Trying to find someone on the phone to help you requires going through multiple management levels. It got so bad at one point that my husband made an appointment at one of the main branches in NYC near his office. He got a runaround there as well and the person whompromised to help wouldn't return any calls after that meeting. We finally got most of the major issues worked out, but of course the person who fixed everything no longer works there - I dread getting our next escrow analysis statement. We pay our taxes quarterly so you would think it's pretty easy to take last years taxes, add the standard increase, divide by 4 and come up with the required escrow amount, but it's been a complicated problem everytime. Oh, and I can't forget the quarter they paid out taxes twice and then said we had to put extra money in escrow to make up for it until the township redeposited the extra payment they made. If it weren't for the fact that our house lost value so we no longer have 20% equity, we would have refi'd a long time ago just to get rid of them. But we don't want to have to put out the money to get back to 20% or pay PMI so we are stuck with them for now

 

[Playsm]

Just be careful about your existing mortgage. You must stay up to date with it in case the modification doesn't come through. There are way too many stories of people who got into the program, were told to not make payments, or make a reduced payment, who then had their houses foreclosed on when they got booted for whatever reason. Good luck.

BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL! Always always always make your payments and make them on time! I work in a mortgage department and we keep track of people who make partial and late payments. Banks rate your loan internally and if you are paying late, they are keeping track of it and keeping an eye on you seeing if the loan might default.

If you are not getting good customer service before the modification goes through, you will defintely not get good customer service after the process is complete.

Good luck with everything, I went through a foreclosure 8 years ago so I know trying to save a house is not fun.

 

[angwill]

We currently have Citimortgage as our mortgage company and I would never suggest getting a mortgage from them to my worst enemy. Our original mortage was sold to them. They have screwed up so much it is pathetic and their customer service is the worst of any company I have dealt with.

One of the many issues was when we lost part of our roofing in a storm and State Farm Insurance paid for it through our home owners insurance but had to put our name and the Citibanks on the check. Keep in mind we have about 30% of our mortgage paid. We had to pay for the roof up front and then have their appraiser come out and approve the work before they would release our check from our insurance company which took weeks. They told us they wanted us to sign the check and send it to them so they could put hold onto the money for us till they approved the job. I told them to take a hike that I would hold onto the check till they were done screwing around and approved it and then they I would take it in to be signed before we signed it at our own bank to be cashed. They were not pleased but too bad. The roofing company said they had never heard of such a thing and even talked to the mortage officer at their company bank who said they never heard of a company doing such a thing either.

We have well over 20% of our mortgage paid and the value is more than the original amount and they will not take off the PMI insurance unless we agree to pay their choice of appraisal companies to appraise it and they charge $600 for an appraisal.

Another thing is that our neighbors are trying to refinance their home and for some reason Citimortage has a lean on their property stating that they built on some of our land. Their bank who is refinancing for them called to talk to us about the situation and hear from us that they did not build on our land he was moaning about how absolutly impossible it is to with our mortage company. It has been months and the neighbors still can not get out from under their old mortage that was on an arm that has increased so much they are barely hanging on.

There are more issues we have had but I will spare you and tell you to rethink going with Citimortgage.

 

[MomToOne]

There are more issues we have had but I will spare you and tell you to rethink going with Citimortgage.

The OP is looking to do a loan modification, so their mortage must already be with Citi and they probably don't have the resources to refi to another company. I think they were looking for information from people who had successfully gotten a modification through Citi, to see what those experiences were, not for general experiences with Citi as a mortgage holder.

 

[angwill]

The OP is looking to do a loan modification, so their mortage must already be with Citi and they probably don't have the resources to refi to another company. I think they were looking for information from people who had successfully gotten a modification through Citi, to see what those experiences were, not for general experiences with Citi as a mortgage holder.

I realized it was a loan modification but didn't read that she already had a loan with Citimortgage. I figured I would save her the torture if she was with a different company.

PS. We did out of curiosity ask Citimorgage about a refi just to get our interest down and they tried to talk us into a different kind of loan other than a mortage loan because they would get more interest off it. I wish I could remember what the name of the loan was.

 

[mrsklamc]

The OP is looking to do a loan modification, so their mortage must already be with Citi and they probably don't have the resources to refi to another company. I think they were looking for information from people who had successfully gotten a modification through Citi, to see what those experiences were, not for general experiences with Citi as a mortgage holder.

We were in a position where we didn't think we could refinance, because of a high loan to value ratio, and because we live in a condo and PMI is pretty much unavailable to condo owners right now. We were able to refi with a credit union for FREE, so I would encourage the OP and anyone else stuck in a bad mortgage to contact local credit unions and see what is available to them. Oh, and it saved us a TON of money because our credit union doesn't DO PMI.

 

[Kimkimba]

I think we're one of the few that actually received a mod from Citimortgage. We weren't upside down (when the appraisal came in, we had about $80,000 equity in the house), but we were behind because my dh was self-employed and business became non-existent.

We started trying way before HAMP, and finally were approved right before Christmas. 14 months of jumping through hoops encased in fire - resending the same information several times.

Pre-approval really means nothing. You can call them and get 10 different responses from 10 different people. Good luck to you - it was hard getting it but it was definitely worth it to us.

 

[threecrazykids]

We aren't in a situation where we have to refinance but this whole process just angers me. I've heard (with CitiMortgage) especially they make it next to impossible to refi. They drag you through the mud for well over a year, make people resend the same information time and time again with no response. I truly believe they are hoping that people just "give up the fight". I'm not saying they should make the process easy, but dang it if you qualify based on whatever standards they set then don't make it more miserable by dragging it out. Maybe they are hoping that somewhere along the way you'll win the lottery or something. Either way, it's very frustrating in my opinion because these huge companies are getting bailouts and will continue to get credit lines regardless of their "credit" in the future. They cry bailout when people file BK yet if they would just maybe give a smidge on the front end and help out the homeowner they may take a loss but not nearly as large as if it forces the homeowner to file BK.