Last night Geithner was asked questions by senators and governors as to why these programs are failing, and of course he needed to look into it had no response.

I propose that when this debate goes is carried out with the treasury, that we the struggling working class be able to sit in and tell the treasurer, CEO’s and the investors our stories and how we are being refused relief by them, let the homeowners ask the questions and uncover their lies.

I ask all of you…do not give up, fight to the very end..i know couples that after 6 or 7 months of frustrations with banks decided to pack and leave their homes. We need to voice our struggles, but one person or a few cannot do it alone,a co-worker recommend me to write to Obama and his wife, to Chris Dodd, and to the media, ABC, CBS, 20/20 and let them know what is really going on with these false hope programs and that we are not getting help. But we all need to write just as we are doing now, not one letter but constant writing and following up. Last week i wrote to the appraisals office informing them that they needed to lower my taxes which the raised when the values of homes were high, now my home is valued $100,000 less and i have not seen these property tax lowered. Well to my surprise, they informed me that in August my taxes should adjust to current home value and my property tax will be lowered. This is exactly what i want all of you to know..you need to take the steps and request these rights, if not, it will be overlooked and noone is going to look out for your interest, but yourself.

Like all of you, i’ve been with this on-going nightmare for months, and when i finally said i’m giving up, a real state lawyer advised me not to do so, that what i needed to do is be proactive in addressing as many times to washington, congress, to whoever will listen and to do it constantly that many give up and that’s why bills are not passed.

Please do not give up!!! i’m not going to.

THE POLITICALLY CORRECT THING TO SAY

Now, we absolutely think it is a good idea to be proactive when you are a homeowner facing a financial hardship and you believe you cannot make your upcoming mortgage payments. It seems like the natural thing to do (and the politically correct thing to say) and call your lender right away when you are experiencing problems paying your mortgage. The problem is that many homeowners who are not educated in the real estate / mortgage / loss mitigation world do not know what division to call, what to say, and most importantly, what financial information to disclose during those phone calls. What happens is many homeowners fall into three categories when they try and do a home loan modification themselves…”the disconnect”, the “sorry you don’t qualify”, or the worst one of them all the “here’s your crappy modification agreement”.

The “disconnect” is where you call and get transferred over and over, wait on hold forever, and eventually get disconnected. Do this a few times and the frustration is overwhelming. People already have a fear of confrontation and hate waiting on hold forever so many times this is enough to get them to quit.

The “sorry you don’t qualify”is when an uneducated homeowner calls their lender out of desperation and doesn’t understand that the lender is going to ask them for their financial information…sometimes right then and there over the phone. The poor homeowner discloses financials on-the-fly and ends up de-qualifying themselves because they don’t know what loan-to-value / debt-to-income ratio’s the banks are looking for. Again..the frustration is overwhelming because no matter if they qualify or not the fact remains they can’t afford their current payment. The loss mitigation departments at most major lenders are extremely slow and it takes the average consumer a couple of months to get any answers and by this time it might be too late! Lastly, the call centers at these banks are sometimes overseas and we all know how frustrating it can be when you get someone that barely speaks English telling you (without any feeling of empathy) that there is nothing they can do for you!

The “here’s your crappy modification agreement” is so common and it makes us nauseous. Many homeowners don’t have the time to educate themselves on the in’s and out’s of loss mitigation before attempting to modify their own home loan. They don’t understand the processes, how to get to the decision makers, or the fact that you can counter-offer and get better terms. Most wear out after talking to a un-empathetic loss mitigation negotiator at the bank and end up accepting whatever terms they can just to be done with it. Remember, the banks want to mitigate their loss…that’s why its called loss mitigation! They definitely don’t have your best interest in mind otherwise they would make it super easy to complete this process. If you don’t have a real estate / mortgage background, or you don’t have the time going back and forth with your lender(s) for months and months, contract the work out to a trained expert in loan modification negotiating.

THIS ONE IS OUR FAVORITE

How about this one…“call a HUD certified counselor and get a FREE modification”. While this advice sounds good, we all can agree that nothing good is cheap and seldom anything cheap is good! Free help from a counselor is just that…FREE help (not them actually doing it for you). Anyone can gather the necessary paperwork and submit it to the lender…what a homeowner needs is an aggressive person (or team of people) to fight for the best loan terms possible and not just a paperwork submission helper. Every “financial expert” on the news is telling homeowners to avoid paying up-front fee’s to modification companies and go to a HUD certified counselor for free help. These same people are so far removed from any financial struggles that they don’t feel the severity of the situation. It’s easy to give advice when you are not the one struggling financially, or fighting with your spouse everyday over finances. HUD counselors do not have the time to spend 40-50-60 hours fighting to get you better mortgage terms. In most cases they help you gather the necessary documents and submit them to the lender. Then whatever modification (if any) the lender gives after months and months of waiting is what you will have to accept.

NOTE: HUD Counselors do help you submit the correct financials so in that instance they are a good resource if you do insist on doing this yourself just don’t expect them to do the actual negotiations and counter-offers for you!

THE LOAN MODIFICATION MERRY-GO-ROUND

There was a news story about a congresswoman who tried and negotiate her own loan modification only to get the run-a-round and give up frustrated. Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMEmlhm34Tg to watch the video. Yes, it is possible to get your own modification, but statistics prove that almost 40% of homeowners who achieve their own loan modification re-default within 6 months because the lender(s) put them into a half ass modification that was in the banks best interest…not the homeowners. DON’T BE A STATISTIC. There are loan modification companies out there who actually do the work they are promising to do and all it takes is some research to find the right one.

OUR SUGGESTIONS TO FINDING THE RIGHT LOAN MOD COMPANY

-MAKE SURE THE PERSON YOU ARE DEALING WITH HAS A PHYSICAL BUSINESS ADDRESS AND BUSINESS PHONE NUMBER.
-GET COPIES OF RECENTLY NEGOTIATED LOAN MODIFICATION AGREEMENTS TO PROVE THEY CAN DO THE JOB
-MAKE SURE THE COMPANY YOU ARE USING HAS AN ONLINE TRACKING SYSTEM SO YOU CAN SEE THE PROGRESS OF YOUR LOAN MODIFICATION AT ALL TIMES
-MAKE SURE YOU MEET THE COMPANY AT THEIR OFFICE AND SEE THAT THEY ARE CONDUCTING BUSINESS (GET TO KNOW THE COMPANY)
-GET REFERRALS AND TESTIMONIALS TO VERIFY COMPANIES HISTORY
-GET COPIES OF ALL PAPERWORK THAT OUTLINES THE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

Once you give up, you are defeated in all you do.

Stay strong and keep the faith!