Loan Modification...Anyone done this??

[mum4jenn]

Our house is in my Dh's name only and he has experienced a huge drop in income. It looks like he qualifies for the loan modification program. What advice can you give and anything we need to know or do?

 

[chellewashere]

Just from my own experience thru Chase...its SUCKS. We did this last year and we got screwed by them and have no recourse action at all.
They dropped our mortgage down by 400 a month while going thru modification process that is supp. to take 3 months...9 months later the raise it back up to what it was before. No savings whatso ever. We owed in back escrow on the account for them reducing it. Got letters that our house was going into foreclosure and sheriff sale because the different depts. dont communicate with eachother. And the cherry on top....totally screwed over our credit score cause it now shows 9 months past due on our scores. To me it was such a ridiculous thing and I personally wouldnt recommend it unless you have a high interest rate right now. It might have changed over the past year but they really did us so bad!!!

 

[threecrazykids]

We are in the process of trying to modify our loan as well...and I'm scared to death. My husband was laid off right after Thanksgiving so we are in the early stages.

I have tons of horror stories about what has happened to peoples credit scores, back money owed etc....but honestly, we aren't in any possible situation where we could sell our house so we really don't have a choice but to try to modify (or else we'll end up in foreclosure if my hubby doesn't find a job soon).

We are doing ours through CitiMortgage and when I called to discuss I was VERY particular about asking TONS of questions, asked to have everything in writing, etc. and wanted to know ALL implications of this process. I also got this guys email address because I told him if they wanted to really work with me the least they could do was give me one person to be in contact with versus a hundred cust. serv. reps who are going to push me from dept to dept to "tell me the most recent update". I also emailed him all of our information via adobe so I could get the "return recipt" email notification so I didn't get the runaround of "oh we didn't get the information via fax" that SO many people get.

I'm praying that this process isn't AS horrible as I've heard, but honestly if I felt I had a lot of options I would pursue them, but I feel this is the best option for us as even if our credit takes a hit.

 

[pixiewings71]

We are working with our lender right now. I lost my job in June, I was paying the majority of the bills outside of the home loan, DBF was paying that, it's in his name. He also experienced a 10% pay cut at the same. We were OK until September, then we just couldn't do it anymore, savings was gone, we did not have enough in our emergency fund!! So we are in the process now of applying for the mod. We've been approved for a trial payment period, our first payment was due this month, it's almost half of what we were paying before!! If we do not get the approval for the mod we will have to walk away and the house will be foreclosed on, this is not what we want so we are trying to save it!! Hopefully we are approved for the mod and I find a job soon, I know I won't find one making what I was making but I'm OK with that, I just need to get back to work!
Good luck OP, I've heard horror stories but so far so good for us, now if they just approve it for us we will be golden.

 

[quentina]

Get a lawyer and let them do it. Two friends tried to do it on their own....nightmare....lost paperwork, lies, phone calls, foreclosure notices etc.

Both got lawyers and got approved. One got 2% for 2 years, 3% for 2 years and capping at 4% for the rest of the loan. THe other, I don't know the details.

 

[princesslily]

Does anyone know of an attorney who works in Ohio? I have never met anyone who was approved for a modification yet. My husband and I have lost almost 50% of our income and this could help us.

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

We tried and it was a long drawn out nightmare. DH was a builder. In March 09 we started calling the bank to get them to work with us because we saw dh was loosing money. They kept giving us the run around (not ready for the program, no paperwork, etc). In May 09 dh lost his job and we were really up a creek then. We now didn't qualify because of unemployment. We were supposed to be foreclosed on in Oct 09. I got a call literally 5 days before the date and was told they were going to work with us. We received a letter from the bank outlining our new payment for the 3 month trial period. We made that payment every month for 9 months (6 more than the trial was supposed to be).

Fast forward to July 10, I called (one of my many many many calls) and was told we were approved and to wait for the paperwork. I called the next week, told the same thing. But not to call back before Sept 12th or it would slow the process down confused3). Few days later we received a call from the bank that we were denied for the program and there was nothing else they could do.

We will be loosing our house most likely the first of March.

Dh is still out of a job. I am self employed and can cover the payment we were making for the trial but because I am self employed, I don't qualify on my own.

It sucks but we are looking at this as a new beginning and a fresh start. Best of luck to you. I know my story doesn't give much hope.

 

[chellewashere]

We tried and it was a long drawn out nightmare. DH was a builder. In March 09 we started calling the bank to get them to work with us because we saw dh was loosing money. They kept giving us the run around (not ready for the program, no paperwork, etc). In May 09 dh lost his job and we were really up a creek then. We now didn't qualify because of unemployment. We were supposed to be foreclosed on in Oct 09. I got a call literally 5 days before the date and was told they were going to work with us. We received a letter from the bank outlining our new payment for the 3 month trial period. We made that payment every month for 9 months (6 more than the trial was supposed to be).

Fast forward to July 10, I called (one of my many many many calls) and was told we were approved and to wait for the paperwork. I called the next week, told the same thing. But not to call back before Sept 12th or it would slow the process down confused3). Few days later we received a call from the bank that we were denied for the program and there was nothing else they could do.

We will be loosing our house most likely the first of March.

Dh is still out of a job. I am self employed and can cover the payment we were making for the trial but because I am self employed, I don't qualify on my own.

It sucks but we are looking at this as a new beginning and a fresh start. Best of luck to you. I know my story doesn't give much hope.

We had to keep calling and calling too. They are so ridiculous with the program. They promote it like its this great thing there to help you and just leave you hanging in the end. Every month I would call since the trial was only to be 3 months and each month I would get you didnt send this paperwork..uhm yeah I did oh and look i have proof...the next month we need even more information it was a continuous runaround constantly. Then when they sent us the approval I called cause it was a big joke. We are paying more now than previously due to all the back money owed for escrow..and they took away all the equity we had. CHASE SUCKS!! Even their credit card company wouldnt work with us out of all our cards they were the only one who wouldnt lower thier payments. Ok sorry vent over and off my soapbox.
Good luck SweetPeasMom hope this works out and is a great new beginning for ya!! We are actually looking to get out of our house as soon as possible and move down south

 

[Jaklackus]

to all going through this very stressful, scary time....


For those of you trying to buy some time and some leverage on modification...you might want to do a google search on 'Where's the note?' It may delay foreclosure for a bit while you job hunt, accumulate funds, wait for that secret trust fund to surface, or buy that winning lottery ticket with the change you found at the bottom of the washing machine, it may 'inspire' the lender(whoever that may be...) to consider what it might be worth to get you to sign off on a new loan agreement since they can't tell you where the original is...especially in judicial foreclosure states ..where a judge decides who has the right to foreclose....right now a lot of mortgages from Countrywide are missing their notes....I'm just saying...


My husband's business just lost a quarter million dollar contract(company shutting down in the state) that covered 100% of the business and household expenses with very little left over to put away for rainy day.....he is scrambling to replace the income but I seriously doubt he can replace that much ...sure we save in travel expenses and materials on the business side...but the business alone requires 4k a month for insurance, vehicle payments, etc before payroll and taxes even come into play. He won't consider scaling the business back to part time and going back to truck driving until things pick up...and I have been home with the kids for 8+ years and feel fortunate that I am at least getting called in to interview every 20 applications or so...but I am not getting any offers.

I will ask for the note to buy us some time....I have nothing to lose..we are upside down by over 100k on a 170k mortgage, the house is falling apart, electric rates in this area are sky high since the city balances it's budget using money from the electric company(before you even flip a switch it costs $200 a month just to have to electric running to the house..my low bills are now $400 a month), ...homes are listing at 70k...selling for under 40k in the immediate neighborhood(actually foreclosure followed by a bankruptcy might be doing us a favor in the long run)....at this rate we might be better off walking away from this and paying cash for something later on when the next wave of ARM increases in the Spring drives home prices down even further..

....as a joke I suggested that we would consider settling the second mortgage(30k) for 2k and they were ready to make the deal....but I do have concerns about how clear the title is going to be...CCO might happily take 2k today ...but if they don't have the note...what's to stop XYZ mortgage from knocking looking for 32k tomorrow, they settle for 3k...and then Joe Schmoe shows up saying he owns the note and wants 32k...etc.etc . This mortgage mess is much...much worse than we've been led to believe..

 

[Virgderon]

CHASE SUCKS!! Even their credit card company wouldnt work with us out of all our cards they were the only one who wouldnt lower thier payments. Ok sorry vent over and off my soapbox.
Good luck SweetPeasMom hope this works out and is a great new beginning for ya!! We are actually looking to get out of our house as soon as possible and move down south

Chase sucks alright. DH worked for them for years until they sent his job to India. They literally asked him and a couple of his co-workers if they were interested in going to India.

BUT- they were very easy to work with on the credit card debt. Quick interest deduction and put us in a hardship program. You may not be talking to the right people when you call. Try asking for the hardship program.

 

[akenneson]

We had to keep calling and calling too. They are so ridiculous with the program. They promote it like its this great thing there to help you and just leave you hanging in the end. Every month I would call since the trial was only to be 3 months and each month I would get you didnt send this paperwork..uhm yeah I did oh and look i have proof...the next month we need even more information it was a continuous runaround constantly. Then when they sent us the approval I called cause it was a big joke. We are paying more now than previously due to all the back money owed for escrow..and they took away all the equity we had. CHASE SUCKS!! Even their credit card company wouldnt work with us out of all our cards they were the only one who wouldnt lower thier payments. Ok sorry vent over and off my soapbox.
Good luck SweetPeasMom hope this works out and is a great new beginning for ya!! We are actually looking to get out of our house as soon as possible and move down south

same thing here with Chase....paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. I would send them exactly what they wanted then would call a week or so after I know they received it (I had delivery confirmation) then they would say I needed to send proof of 'something' even though it wasn't requested in the original paperwork so i would send it then it would be 'something' else they needed. then magically the paperwork would go missing or go past the 3 months and I would need to resubmit again. I did this for over a year 7 different times with Chase alone. Got a loan modification with our first mtg. company GMAC they lowered the interest rate but the payments really didn't go down by much (maybe $25) so it ended up being more of a hassle because at first I experienced the same thing with them. I worked with them for over a year and had to submit the same paperwork I think 3 or 4 different times.
And most of Chase's customer service reps were down right rude or had no clue what was going on. they would lie to us on several different occasions. my DH actually talked to a really nice rep one day who admitted that these reps who call will say anything and lie to collect the debt they are calling about (we were 2 months behind on the mtg with Chase)

 

[charming23]

My mom recently got hers approved, in fact she is going to drop off the first payment today. Our mortgage company was great to work with and did everything they could to get it approved. It was a long process but it worked out in the end. We did consult a lawyer friend of ours who was more than happy to help if we needed it.

Hope you have success.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Just from my own experience thru Chase...its SUCKS. We did this last year and we got screwed by them and have no recourse action at all.
They dropped our mortgage down by 400 a month while going thru modification process that is supp. to take 3 months...9 months later the raise it back up to what it was before. No savings whatso ever. We owed in back escrow on the account for them reducing it. Got letters that our house was going into foreclosure and sheriff sale because the different depts. dont communicate with eachother. And the cherry on top....totally screwed over our credit score cause it now shows 9 months past due on our scores. To me it was such a ridiculous thing and I personally wouldnt recommend it unless you have a high interest rate right now. It might have changed over the past year but they really did us so bad!!!

My mother is dealing with a horror story with Citi bank right now. Just had them show up with a forecloser notice also. She has done everything they have told her to do and now they are backpedaling on so many things.

My sister works for a good lawfirm and a co-worker for her has just agreed to take the case for free since he sees has screwed over she is getting from them.

 

[kelcoppens]

We tried and it was a long drawn out nightmare. DH was a builder. In March 09 we started calling the bank to get them to work with us because we saw dh was loosing money. They kept giving us the run around (not ready for the program, no paperwork, etc). In May 09 dh lost his job and we were really up a creek then. We now didn't qualify because of unemployment. We were supposed to be foreclosed on in Oct 09. I got a call literally 5 days before the date and was told they were going to work with us. We received a letter from the bank outlining our new payment for the 3 month trial period. We made that payment every month for 9 months (6 more than the trial was supposed to be).

Fast forward to July 10, I called (one of my many many many calls) and was told we were approved and to wait for the paperwork. I called the next week, told the same thing. But not to call back before Sept 12th or it would slow the process down confused3). Few days later we received a call from the bank that we were denied for the program and there was nothing else they could do.

We will be loosing our house most likely the first of March.

Dh is still out of a job. I am self employed and can cover the payment we were making for the trial but because I am self employed, I don't qualify on my own.

It sucks but we are looking at this as a new beginning and a fresh start. Best of luck to you. I know my story doesn't give much hope.

OMG! Didnt you post that you went to Epcot recently? And you are losing your home??

 

[Kmygrl73]

We recently did the Housing Affordability Modification Program and it went very smooth for us. We have to give 3 trial payments on time and our lender sent us out the paperwork right away and it lowered our payment to what we can not afford. That is supposed to be what the program is designed for to maybe your payment(included taxes and insurance) be 31% of your income? It lowered our payment a lot and our interest rate as well. If you have nothing to lose, why not try and the worse they can say is no? For us it was easy and worked out, for others probably not. Maybe it depends on what lender you have.

 

[ccgirl]

OMG! Didnt you post that you went to Epcot recently? And you are losing your home??

Really??? Don't think that is necessary.

To all of the other posters; I hope things look up for you soon. I was laid off twice in 18 mths and I was the primary bread winner. Started charging groceries to make ends meet. It took a while but things are starting to look up. And, yes, I went to WDW during this time. One of the only bright lights during this time. To those applying for the modification...keep copies of everything and a log of who you spoke to and when. Anyway, I wish you all the best. Keep your chin up!

 

[Kika]

Does the loan modification program affect your credit score in any way? I'm not planning on doing one, but this is something that I have been curious about for a while. Someone at work told me yesterday that they just called up their mortgage company a couple of days ago and got a lower rate with no closing costs, change to the length of the loan, etc. It sounded too good to be true, but since I didn't want to rain on her parade, I was just like, "Wow. That's great!"

 

[threecrazykids]

We recently did the Housing Affordability Modification Program and it went very smooth for us. We have to give 3 trial payments on time and our lender sent us out the paperwork right away and it lowered our payment to what we can not afford. That is supposed to be what the program is designed for to maybe your payment(included taxes and insurance) be 31% of your income? It lowered our payment a lot and our interest rate as well. If you have nothing to lose, why not try and the worse they can say is no? For us it was easy and worked out, for others probably not. Maybe it depends on what lender you have.

Do you mind me asking what lender you worked with? Sounds like yours went great! We're working with "The Nightmare that is Citi".

 

[threecrazykids]

Does the loan modification program affect your credit score in any way? I'm not planning on doing one, but this is something that I have been curious about for a while. Someone at work told me yesterday that they just called up their mortgage company a couple of days ago and got a lower rate with no closing costs, change to the length of the loan, etc. It sounded too good to be true, but since I didn't want to rain on her parade, I was just like, "Wow. That's great!"

Oh yes...it will hurt your credit score. But, if you're qualifying for this program and pursue it I would think MOST people are doing it as a last ditch effort to keep their house and the other option being losing the house, short sale, foreclosure etc...so the hit to the credit probably won't be the determining factor...sad, but true.

 

[chellewashere]

Does the loan modification program affect your credit score in any way? I'm not planning on doing one, but this is something that I have been curious about for a while. Someone at work told me yesterday that they just called up their mortgage company a couple of days ago and got a lower rate with no closing costs, change to the length of the loan, etc. It sounded too good to be true, but since I didn't want to rain on her parade, I was just like, "Wow. That's great!"

Yes yes it does. It shows on our credit report as being very late for multiple months on our mortgage. This is because even though you pay the amount that they set you up with it still shows the remainder of what your are supp. to be paying as late. Say ours was 1600 a month for the trial they put us at 1200 a month so that 400 a month shows as late every month for us it was 9 months showing we are late. I had excellent credit and it went down to the 400's I have finally over the past year been able to get it just into the early 500's.