Nearly two years after the federal government’s first program to slow the relentless rise in the pace of home foreclosures, the latest attempt, known as Making Home Affordable, is turning out to be another painful disappointment for millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes.
Dozens of e-mails from msnbc.com readers report months of futile effort to modify their loans. The list of problems includes misdirected calls, lost paperwork and conflicting advice from multiple representatives for the same lender.
Thanks for the update Moe,
I think we as a nation shouldn’t be so worried about turning around the economy as much as slowing down its descent. We’re not out of the woods yet, it’s not time to step on the gas, it’s time to step on the breaks.
HSBC has now created the icing on the cake. My friend is a realtor and she has been working on a short sale for a client to keep the house out of foreclosure. After 6 months of trying to find a buyer, they got a contract $20,000 higher than any other offers that had started dribbling in. HSBC finally got around to approving it but then CUT the realtors commission 1% below the listing agreement! She told them that the buyer’s agent would withdraw the contract and they didn’t care! Instead, they are now looking at a backup offer $20,000 LESS than the one submitted because they wanted to screw the realtors out of their full commission…They are going to either end of taking $20,000 less or have the home go into foreclosure because they didn’t want to pay $1,700 more in commission! WHO IS DOING THEIR THINKING!
The facts are that we will be doing this for another 2-3 years before we see any recovery. Unemployment is going to kill any chance of a recovery
Moe, there are things behind the scenes that I and others are not understanding. We understand that if it were in the banks best interest to modify more loans or do short sales in a timely manner they would do it. But there is another financial variable that we are not privy to – my guess is that they are attempting to keep the losses on these modificitions, short sales, deeds in lieu, off the books. They simply can not afford to realize a loss yet. What do you think?
There are thousands of unemployed mortgage professionals to assist in loss mitigation, plenty of vacant office space, a government offering basically nothing (but something) to do mod’s, and foreclosures cost 50k or more. So?
I finally caved in and am letting the house go. EMC Mortgage would not even send a fax to my attorney. Every day for weeks, they said they would send the fax. It never happened. I submitted all the paperwork multiple times for months and it just got ignored. There is just no way to get to a decision maker over there, just the same phone drones every day who have no clue. I am just waiting for the foreclosure and the knock on the door. Then I am leaving California and moving to my kids place in Ohio until I get back on my feet. Obama flopped. His lack of experience at actually running anything is showing. And I see no difference between Republicans and Democrats. They both kow tow to the banks. They shot down the bankruptcy cramdown, which I think would have saved most of us. I am convinced there is a hidden agenda. The entire world of loan modifications is just so much whitewash. They are tearing the middle class apart. The problem is, the people as a whole are not outraged enough over this. For most folks, this is just something that is happening to somebody else. I have many friends who are so smug because they have not been affected yet, but I think the time will come when the looters in DC will come after them as well. Wait until they are upside down even further and then the economy dips for the 2nd time and they are out of work. To tell you the truth, I am looking forward to being out from under that mortgage. I already feel a great sense of relief and freedom. I am actually glad that I did not get the so-called “modification”. Which would mean that the balance is not reduced, I would be upside down, and then in 5 years, the whole thing is due and the misery starts all over again. I advise everybody to bail now while they can, before the DC looters pass some new legislation that makes you responsible for the amount of debt you were forgiven. Get out while you can, before the IRS is mandated to come after you. It is better to get a clean start and move forward than just sit there while these people play with your lives. It is a bit humbling to go from a house to an apartment, or to live with family, but on the other hand, it opens up a whole new world. But I do appreciate Moe’s efforts. I was very engaged in this process for an entire year, but it is finally time to throw in the towel.