Rick Mullen of Valencia has waited more than a year for his lender, JPMorgan Chase, to finalize a loan modification. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times / November 17, 2009)
”I’ve talked to them at least 50 times, and it’s always the same: . . . ‘Oh, we’re missing some documents, your modification is at risk,’ ” Mullen said. “How long are they going to keep me hanging?”
Loan-modification limbo is of high concern these days, not only to borrowers like Mullen but also to economists, consumer advocates and government officials pondering the fact that 1 in 7 U.S. mortgages is in foreclosure or past due.
Responding to an Obama administration initiative, lenders have temporarily restructured hundreds of thousands of mortgages, with hundreds of thousands more modified under the banks’ own programs.
Try the Government’s Home Affordability Program, it is a permanent solution for struggling home owners.