Friday, September 17, 2010

Loan Modification Schmoan Schmodification

Okay, stupid title but I'm not feeling overly creative at this moment.


As we all know, scrounging around the budget in an attempt to pull enough money together to get by month to month is part and parcel to the unemployed. So, like any responsible person-without-a-job, I made drastic cuts to our expenses - bye bye Starbucks, eating out, land line, cable television, weekend get aways, and pretty much most things that resemble fun. I had been told by many a friend that I should contact my mortgage company for a loan modification. Not really knowing what that meant (other than it was supposed to save me money) I followed their advice.


So, I called. The initial response was, "I'm not really sure that your loan qualifies. Yours is a private loan." I'm not quite sure what that means, but she paused, so I kept my mouth shut and listened for more. "I guess you could try, though I doubt you'll qualify since you are not behind in your mortgage. You want to go onto our website and locate the section for short sales and fax a letter explaining your hardship, proof that you have a hardship, paystubs for the other person on the loan, your budget showing your expenses, and your tax return for 2009." So, on June 8th I gathered all of this up (20 pages) and went to one of the two office supply kind of stores in town and faxed it all off ($20 and change).


After a month, I decided that my mortgage company had REALLY bad customer service because I had not received any confirmation whatsoever that they received my paperwork. Oh, and the attitude of the woman I had talked to on the phone in the previous paragraph. Close to a month later, I had pretty much forgotten about the whole matter.


August 1, a call from my mortgage company telling me that they are reviewing my packet (can we say hella big backlog - 2 months!!) and it was missing some necessary paperwork. Now they wanted two months of bank statements (or was it three?) from any bank accounts we have (combined, we have three) and another paystub for Sarita. 29 pages and 30 plus dollars later I'm thinking maybe we are on the path of progress. I really need to stop trying to be an optimist - it doesn't fit well.


It is now September 17, roughly 101 days later and I have heard nothing. Guess I'd better call. Hey, guess what, my mortgage company has lost the second set of paperwork - 29 pages of confidential information - and has sent my original paperwork "back." When I asked where "back" was, the drone on the phone denied having said that they sent it back. So I asked where my paperwork was then, he did not know. (Here is where I began counting to myself so as not to reach through the phone and rip his head off). He suggested I fax all 49 pages again. (Here is where I wanted to make a colorful suggestion to him). I wound up suggesting he allow me to speak with his supervisor. Go figure, Friday afternoon and not a supervisor in the house. I told him I would call back on Monday, thanks him for being so helpful and hung up the phone.


I'm so glad they have made the whole loan modification user friendly...


For more information on the loan modification program you might want to check out


http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/real-estate/articles/2009/03/04/obamas-loan-modification-plan-7-things-you-need-to-know.html


or


http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/nsc/faqlm.cfm

3 comments:

  1. And why do they want you to fax when they are so backlogged, and they then lose the faxes! Morons......

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  2. Well, I went through a much shorter, but equally frustrating experience w/ my loan. One week the loan person at my CU said I was a shoo-in, and I was so excited, it was going to cut my expenses nearly in half. The next week, the higher-up officer said I had insufficient income to qualify. Go figure. I am paying the mortgage NOW, (tho it is stressful and difficult) NEVER missed a payment in FOUR years of underemployment. WHY would it be risky to lower my payments, give them a few more years of interest, plus fees?

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