We Buy Houses Blog, REO, Stop Foreclosure Home Loan Modifications Blog

It is when a person takes out a loan, they cannot live up to their original obligation for whatever reason, so they have to go crawling back to their bank to redo the terms of their loan.

I paid a company upfront for a loan modification service. I have been working with them for over a year, but now they are not picking up their calls, their emails no longer work and the website is down. What steps can I take to try to get my money back? I already complained to the BBB and filed a complaint to the FTC.

If I seek litigation, what steps should I take?

Unless you know where they are located, so a law suit can be placed directly into their hands, you can’t sue them. If you can do that you need to prove in court that they did not do as they were contracted to do.

You contact your mortgage company for the info, to send you a packet. It will show as partial payments, so your credit score will be affected.

My husband and I are asking my dad to co-sign for a mortgage, mainly to increase the amount we can get. My father is concerned about being responsible for the duration of the loan given his age (75) and if anything were to happen, his wife would then be responsible. Can we have him co-sign, and then after a period of time, have a loan modification w/the bank to remove his as a co-signer? If so, what is the earliest amount of time that can be requested?

No way! The only way to get a cosigner off a mortgage is to repay the mortgage in FULL. No mortgage can be "modified" to remove a borrower, co-signer or guarantor. If your co-signer dies or becomes disabled, they can call the mortgage, and you would either have to pay it off in full immediately or lose your house.

If you and hubby cannot get a mortgage on your own income, assets, and credit, do NOT buy a house now. Property prices are dropping again, and are expected to drop at least another 20%. You clearly are trying to get more credit than you’re worth, and that’s going to be a total disaster within a few months when you are underwater on your mortgage. You cannot afford the house you’re thinking of buying! And it is going to be less affordable by the end of this year.

You either stick to a mortgage within your credit and income limits (bad idea), or wait and save up a lot more down payment. Criminy, if you save up 20-25% of the price of the house you want now, in 2 years you probably will be able to buy a whole house for that and never have to deal with a mortgage!

Wise up. You are committing financial suicide, and taking your father with you, if you proceed as you propose.

i’ve recived the information from the bank to apply for the modification of the loan, but ive also heard of a law firm who will represent my case for a fee. is it worth it to have this representation, or will i be wasting more money?

Depending on the details of your loan, and your current financial situation, an attorney may absolutely be able to help you obtain a loan modification. But what you don’t want to do, is spend money upfront without having a good idea of your chance for success. It’s possible that you are just not a good candidate for a loan modification – for one reason or another – and an attorney would not be able to help you. In this situation, you would have wasted your money. So the question is: how will you know?

The answer is: Get a FORENSIC LOAN AUDIT and FINANCIAL ANALYSIS. You see, what most people don’t understand is that a large percentage of outstanding home loans (especially sub-prime, negative amortization, and other creative loans originated between 2001 and 2007) contain violations where the loan originator, lender, or servicer violated federal or state laws. These violations could have occurred during the origination, servicing, or collection of the loan – and could have been intentional or unintentional. Even if unintentional, they are still violations. During the forensic loan audit, your loan and disclosure documents are thoroughly reviewed by experienced underwriting, fraud, and compliance professionals, who are searching for violations in the following areas: RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act), TILA (Truth In Lending Act), ECOA (Equal Credit Opportuinity Act), HOEPA (Home Ownership Equity Protection Act), and other state laws. Any violations discovered provide additional legal leverage that can be applied by the attorney during negotiations with your lender.

The Financial Analysis will give you an understanding the lender’s considerations and will show you whether you are a good candidate from a purely financial standpoint. The lender must be convinced that you will be able to meet your financial obligations (including the new mortgage payment) after the loan is modified.

Many loan modification companies are charging between $500 and $1,000 just to conduct this type of audit. We’ve found a company that will conduct the audit and do the finanical analysis absolutely FREE OF CHARGE, and with NO OBLIGATION on your part. Once the audit is complete, they will contact you with the results, and give you their professional opinion of your chance for a successful loan modification (based on extensive experience, not a story from a neighbor or brother-in-law who tried to get a loan modified). If you are a good candidate, they will refer you to a few attorneys who can help you. If you are not a good candidate, they’ll tell you that as well, and the reasons why. At this point, you have the option to proceed with the loan modification by contracting with one of the referred attorneys, hire your own attorney, try to negotiate a loan modification on your own, or simply do nothing.

There is really nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain by obtaining a free forensic loan audit and financial analysis. It will certainly provide you with much more useful and actionable information than you will get on an answer site. And how likely do you think it is that your lender will conduct their own internal audit and share with you violations that they may have committed on your loan? You will not get this type of legal leverage anywhere else or through any government-sponsored loan modification program.

You can get more information on the free forensic loan audit and financial analysis by going to

http://www.NegotiateWithMyBank.com

so like I said we got a congratulations letter stating that they will modify our 1st existing loan but the modified amount is only 7 dollars less… what gives? we have been waiting a year for this and its a 7 dollar difference! What should be our next step??? Obviously we don’t want to foreclose… should we contact a lawyer? Would that even make a difference?
omg like we didn’t think of that lol not to be mean but yeah that was the first thing we did when we got the letter

How about contacting them and asking for clarification as to why? See if you can get it resolved on good terms before resorting to legal action. It could be nothing more than a mistake/human error, or you could be misunderstanding something or any number of things. Check into it first!

Does loan modification cost me more than loan refinancing. Is the loan provider interested in doing loan modification.

Read any offers carefully.

A loan refinancing classically involves your having positive equity in the property and are *only* looking to lower the interest rate. If your mortgage is underwater (you owe more than it’s worth), you can’t refinance.

A loan modification usually does NOT involve principal. It may involve lowering the interest rate (great if it does) or it may lower the payments (changing a 30 year mortgage to a 40 year one). If you are late on any payments, they will be added to the end of the mortgage.

A very *few* loan modifications will lower the principal owed. This requires permission from the lender (which may not be the bank) and will permanently cost them money. You would be required to lower the basis in your home by the same amount. (If the house ever recovers, this is taxable income when you sell as it is *not* covered by the $250K exclusion rule.)

Two people get a home loan, one goes full chaper 7 wipe out bankruptcy due to medical bills and major health issues. Co-borrower is determined to keep the home, and wants a loan modification. Does the bankrupt borrowers income still get counted even though that borrower is no longer legally responsible for the mortgage ?
NOTE: Borrower and Co-Borrower are NOT married.

Unless a reaffirmation agreement was done in the bankruptcy, the Chapter 7 has wiped out the first debtors obligation to repay the loan so that the bank can only look to the second borrower that did not file. This means you do not need to list the income of the borrower that filed bankruptcy, but you can list it if they are helping borrower 2 in the repayment. I have had several cases where a client lists money received each month from family or friends to get them to the income level necessary to complete the modification. The bank will most likely want to see a history of the contribution though to establish that it is an income source that can be relied upon.

I am a bankruptcy attorney in San Jose and Sacramento, California. As a lawyer, I represent debtors in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies.

Can anyone answer this?I am wondering if they are a scam?

The actual program "Hope for Homeowners" is where you need to start your search for a modification. The people you sited are not them and obviously trying to gain attention through using a similar name, hoping to confuse people. They don’t have great reviews by their clients: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/hope-home-owner-protection-economics-c297478.html

Does anyone knew how could I qualify for a loan modification and what are the requirements needed?

The loan modification is only for mortgage loans, not student loans (just wanted to clarify since you’re asking in the financial aid section). A loan modification is completely up to your lender – they are not required to give you one. If you’re facing foreclosure, you’ll have a better chance of receiving one because no lender is going to modify your loan if you’re paying (they’ll be losing money!). However, once you’re facing foreclosure, the damage to your credit is already done and with no guarantee that your loan will be modified, you may lose your home… so, obviously, this should only be done if you absolutely have to and if you’ll lose your home anyways. Good luck to you.