If any of you have been following my blog or are in the business of helping homeowners, you already know that mortgage servicers are still giving homeowners the loan modification shaft.
The facts are that after 2 years of asking nicely and giving them several carrots to help their struggling clients, they still are operating at half ass capacity and continue to perpetuate lender lip service to the media and the government. There is simply no transparency, ethics and or honesty coming from mortgage servicers.
Now, let’s see if Obama will do anything about it!
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has asked the administration to investigate alleged abuses of the program. The alleged violations by mortgage servicers include:
Charging advance fees for loan modifications.
Telling homeowners they must be in default before becoming eligible for loan modifications.
Starting foreclosure proceedings even while a homeowner is under consideration for a loan modification.
“If true and widespread, abuses of this kind threaten to undermine the effectiveness of the HAMP program and deny the relief on which so many Americans are depending for their financial stability,” Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, wrote in a July 23 letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan.
We started working with Swain Mortgage in Mansfield, OH in April for home modification. First they told us they would be able to help. After 4 – 6 weeks, they turned us down. To our income they added in my vehicle expense from work, and did not add in our property taxes and insurance. We started working with ESOP eight weeks ago and have not heard anything from them. We talked with our mortgage company last week and they told us that they have not been approved by Fannie May yet to go ahead with the loan. I think they are doing everything they can not to modify our loan. I don’t know who to turn to next.
Please try http://www.naca.com or http://www.995hope.org, 888-995-HOPE to get help. You have to keep fighting and you are on the right course. Keep up the fight!
Hello,
I regret your experience with dubious loan modification firms. Not every organization has gone to the length and diligence to educate themselves on the Making Home Affordable Loan Modification and Making Home Affordable Refinance Programs as 1st-Trust.Net, The Loan Modification Corporation.
Many traditional realtors and mortgage brokers have set up shop under this cover due to the lack of commissions from new loans and depressed home sales.
If you speak with most realtors, they believe the best way they can assist you is to short sell your property. In some cases that is a solution, however this may not dissolve entirely the remaining balance between what the original mortgage is and what the home sold for during the short sale cycle and often leaves the homeowner holding the bag for the difference of the balance.
Further, if your objective is to remain in your home, this position is not inline with that objective. Loan modification or loan refinance under the Making Home Affordable Program is the first step before considering any alternative action. Some of these examples include but are not limited to deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure, Pre-foreclosure sale, short sale or bankruptcy. You do have to meet certain pre-qualification criteria and many do qualify.
We’ve called a number of attorney’s and read their contracts and they are heavily weighted in jargon that places the homeowner at a disadvantage if they are for any reason delayed during the information gathering cycle. I agree that they may be trying to do the right thing but this is not, nor has is been the primary line of business for most attorney’s.
Moreover as soon as their traditional line of business picks up you may find yourself taking second seat to their primary line of business. We have observed many cases where it appears that some attorney based modifications are a bait and switch effort to sell other legal services.
Remember the Making Home Affordable Program is relatively new, most attorney’s cannot provide the homeowner with any more accurate information than a loan modification firm that is doing the right thing and has not only made the investment to educate themselves regarding the guidelines but has created a back office system to support the work load.
At 1st-Trust.Net our clients receives a private login once we have obtained all of the required documents and prepare the loan modification. Every time we take an action on behalf of our client, the client record is updated and they are able to see a status of your cases. If your lender or servicer is being unresponsive, that is logged into our system and 1st-Trust.Net will report to the necessary oversight committees or governing bodies to ensure that we have the highest level of cooperation and transparency.
The Loan Modification Corporation has made a substantial investment in our back office capabilities. We are helping client’s one homeowner at a time.
At 1st-Trust.Net we do one thing and one thing well. We have focused our business entirely on loan modification to help homeowners keep their homes.
Our system has been tested with up to 9 Million records so we know we can support the work load. We’ve created a robust technology environment that enables us to support our client’s demands and expectations.
I do not want to be another person adding fear into the equation and into the hearts of homeowners; I’ll leave that up to the alarmists and opportunists. Instead we’ve created a system that focuses on educating our clients, agents and partners and executing on our promise.
Further if the lenders need help, we are in a position to help absorb some of the work load, processing and deliver a regulatory compliant standardized solution. We receive no direct fees from lenders, servicers, attorney’s etc… for our services.
Our only source of revenue comes from the homeowner once we can ensure a successful modification. We are truly on the side of the borrower and do not fear taking that position!
We accept no upfront fees for loan modification and continue to advise our clients of the best method possible to meet their objective.
Homeowners beware, just because someone is willing to give you something for free does not mean it does not have a price. I have seen modification that do not include the second mortgage and continue to extend adjustable rate options being offered from lenders and servicers masqueraded as modification but really serve to perpetuate the problem. The Making Home Affordable Program won’t last forever and lenders are more than willing to have the collections discussion with you further down the road. Note, the U.S. payer has secured the lenders losses up to 50% of a failed modification and they still can sell the property to further mitigate their losses. Who has the homeowner’s best interest in mind?
We have also seen $150+ K balloon payments at the end of the mortgage term that are not being discussed with homeowners. For some reason they still seem to think that you may be in a position to purchase a whole entire home 30-years from now when you just want to retire. Let’s stop kidding ourselves, the average national wage is not increasing, new jobs have not been created and we continue to lose upward of 500 thousand jobs each month.
I am not convinced that most are trying to solve this problem other than using it as a vehicle to drive their own agendas.
What concerns me is what is going to happen come January 1, 2010 when new legislation takes root and anyone who touches a mortgage or provides loan advise has to be a licensed as a loan originator. Will these attorneys’ follow through on their commitments or go back to their traditional business. I see no exception clause in the legislation providing attorney’s with a waiver of this requirement.
Also, come January 1 all brokers and processors including attorney’s who are engaged in any mortgage activity will be considered “financial institutions” and will have to comply with financial standards when it comes to protecting your personal information. In this regard, most of these outfits are out matched technologically and have no or very little intention to make the investment to protect your personal information electronically. That is the world we live in today and the best method of scaling to meet the demand.
Most attorney based modification cost between $3,800 and $7,500 which further squeezes the homeowner and if something doesn’t go as smoothly as expected, the homeowner may find themselves having paid an attorney for services never truly rendered. At this stage the homeowner are often down and out.
They just spent or borrowed the last of their hard earned money and now not only face the lender but are trying to recoup from an attorney based modification.
1st-Trust.Net has never sold a single sub prime mortgage and as over 40 years of technology and mortgage experience between the officers.
We shall continue to uphold our commitment to educate borrowers regarding the best options and methods available to save their homes.
If for any reason you do not feel that you have been provided with true and accurate information, 1st-Trust.Net welcomes the opportunity help clear up any cluster that may have been presented to you.
Generally you only receive one opportunity to engage in a loan modification, recently there have been discussions to review failed modification often extended by the lender or servicer.
Let’s wait until these metrics come out, that will be true measure of who is doing right by the homeowner!
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Mr. Sharaf
1st-trust.net
I have been attempting since April to work with the servicer of my home loan (First Horizon) tono avail. The paperwork has been transferred fromn one rep to another again to no avail. I have been diligent in contacting the servicer regarding the process. I have now been informed that the loan has been referred to a foreclosure attorney. I asked if the servicer could call the foreclosure attorney and place the loan on hold pending the workout or reinstatement. Again no help! I contacted FannieMae who stated they have received no paperwork from the servicer. I requested the name of the departmenthead and again was told by the supervior with the servicer that she would not provide a name as I would call back and say she (the supervisor) gave me the name. (duh) At this point I am waiting on a call back from FannieMae. Any constructive comments appreciated.
I think you are on the right track. But, dont always just wait around. You need to trust that they will od this, but verify that it is in fact being done. You can join our forum with 17,000 homeowners just like you at http://www.LoanSafe.org/forum or try http://www.NACA.com for help also.
Leave no stones unturned.