After she was laid off two years ago, Rosemarie Cino tried talking to her mortgage lender when she fell $8,000 behind on her mortgage despite her jobs walking dogs, cleaning swimming pools and driving for Federal Express.
“They didn’t even want to talk to me,” said the Islip resident, who has two dogs. “They were like, ‘Pay or we’re taking your house.’ They asked about what I spend on food. When I said I had to buy dog food, they suggested I get rid of my dogs.”
The job of the loan modifier and housing advocate is to persuade the lender or servicer to rework terms into payments that the homeowners can afford. They try to lower rates, reduce monthly payments by extending the mortgage term, get cuts in the principal owed, switch adjustable rates to fixed, and make other changes.
Some firms and advocates succeed by emphasizing hardships, such as layoffs or accidents that led to hospitalization. Some pore over clients’ mortgage papers for law violations as bargaining chips. Those who once worked in the mortgage world say they use their connections to lenders.
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