my aunt is currently going to start the process of a loan modification, she was telling me about this company or website NACA.com. She said they help with loan modifications, but you have to put $2,000.00 up front. I told her what you had said about paying up front, but i just wanted to ask…
Have you heard of these people, are they a reputable company or a scam.
please advise
Hi Chris. We received a denial letter from Wells Fargo last week and right now our house is scheduled for a February 4th sale.
But the reason given in the form denial letter references a monthly expense number that we have never turned in. In reviewing my phone records, it looks like they have not been paying attention to any of my expense revisions that I have turned in the last few weeks.
A few weeks ago, they started including a “medical expense” of $566.25 in our budget and we have no idea where it came from. I requested, in writing on 12/21 to know where this came from and they never responded.
We have had several significant reductions to our expenses that I faxed them back in December, and they did not include those revisons in their decision either.
In my most recent letter to them, I requested several specifics including 1: a copy of the worksheet used to deny our request, 2: a list of the loan modifications they have considered us for (internal, HAMP, etc.), 3: An explanation of why our loan was not modified for specific “waterfall” examples we know should work for us (ie a reduction to 2.25% at 30 years,) and finally 4: the name of the investors on our loan.
On the blog, you referenced a Fannie Mae guidline that requires lenders to give homeowners the numbers used in a denial decison and give them 30 days to review those numbers for accuracy. I read the document, but it was not clear if it would apply to Wells Fargo. Especially if they have never officially considered us for HAMP, but rather just their internal modifications.
I had one rep tell me yesterday that once they input our worksheets into the system, they just get shredded. So how can they review everything for accuracy?
Because their last decision was based on incorrect information, we think we have a pretty good shot at having them delay our sale date and put us back into active review again. But they want me to fax everything into them again before they make that decision. We feel that because they clearly made some errors, they should delay the sale anyway, but we will do what they ask.
Right now, we are submitting everything again on our own. We have considered using a HUD approved counselor to help, but I actually had one in Rancho look at the packet we submitted and tell me I was doing everyting she would have done. Maybe there are better ones, I know you like Jesse in Riverside.
Since the sale date is so close, we are also considering NACA, but I don’t know what success they have had with Wells Fargo.
My questions are, with the sale date so close, what do you recommend as our best course of action? Does Wells Fargo have to respond to our questions and what do we do if they don’t? Should they be giving us 30 days to review their numbers, or does that not apply to them?
Thank You Chris
Hi Chris,
I attended one of your seminars a while back, it was very informative. I have been dealing with Chase over a year now on a loan modification. You never get to talk to the same person twice, so it makes it hard. I have been told the past 6 weeks that my loan has been in underwriting since the begging of May. They said it usually take about 120 days which we are over now. They say they need no more paper work just to call back in a couple weeks, I usually call 2x’s a week anyway. I am 3 months behind I have been at least 2 months behind for about 2 years. As I explained to Chase in my hardship letter I had a major illness about 2 years ago and was off work, along with my husband who took time off to take care of me. This is when we became behind, and as we all know its hard to get caught up once behind. We do make enough $ to keep the home, but have an adjustable loan. This loan goes up in January then it will be a different story. My main question to you is how long are these loan mod’s taking? Is there anything I can say to get some kind of answer out of Chase. Is there any Attorney’s out there that will help with no cost up front just to push this thing through. Basically what I have asked Chase for is to bring me current and put me in a loan that is fixed with a better interest, right know I’m @ 7.99 OUCH!!! Any advice from you is greatly appreciated.
I attended your session at UCR and I must say it was extremely informative. Thank you for doing that.
Here is our situation. I bought a one-bedroom condo in the fall of 2006 for $180,000. At that time, my daughter was a few months old, and I was waiting for my husband to get his visa approved to come live in the United States. Our plan was to live there for 2 years, sell the place and move into a bigger home so we could expand our family. As we all know by now, during those 2 years the value of the condo fell dramatically. I’d be surprised if we could sell it now for $80,000. Now, we feel trapped. We’ve had to put our life on hold. We can’t have another child. 2 adults, 1 toddler, and 1 infant in a one-bedroom would be more than a tight squeeze.
We’ve had people give us all different types of advice. 1. Let it go to foreclosure and buy a house quickly before the foreclosure goes on our credit. 2. Let it go to foreclosure and rent until we can buy a house. 3. Rent it out, and rent a bigger place to live in. 4. Do a short sale and then rent for 3 years until we can buy a house. We are so confused and have no idea what we should/can do. One thing is for sure- we want to expand our family and we need a bigger place to do that.
In the meantime, while we are trying to figure out what to do, my husband thinks we should ask for a loan modification, since lenders seem to be more open to that these days. The first loan is a 30 year-loan for 175,000 at 6.25% with 1st 5 years interest. The subordinate loan is a CALHFA loan for $5000 at 3.0% (it’s a “silent second” loan). ‘We have been paying a little more each month on the first loan, as well as small payments on the subordinate loan, even though it hasn’t been required for the second. I don’t know if loan modification is worth the trouble- how could we benefit from this if we want to leave anyway?
Please help. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. We just want to do something so we can move on with our lives. Thank you.
Hello Chris, and to your wonderful panel;
I attended your Jan. meeting and it was like a hope-full light which shown through some thick dark clouds. Thank you Chris, and all the experts who are participating for your caring stewardship, it is much appreciated.
I have 4 investment homes plus the house I live in. In about the 4th quarter of 2006, 3 of my houses had become vacant all together and needed major repair & maintenance, along with paying the property taxes and insurances, which wiped out my reserves, plus I took out of credit cards to supplement the expenses. My action plan was aimed at repairing the homes and getting them up and rented as quickly as possible. Then the thought was that I would sell 1 to 3 of them and pay back the credit cards, put some of the monies on reserve, and use some of it to put my daughter through college (which she started on Sept. 07).
Dampend by my Dad’s illness, and passing away early last year, repairing the houses took longer then expected, and so once it came time to consider selling them the value of the houses just took a steady dive. And so instead of riding about $400,000 positive on equity I’m now riding about that much negative. Plus I have the added expense of having to cover the credit card debt.
In May 08, I let go paying the mortgage on one of the houses to see what impact that would create overall. I thought that this house would go into foreclosure about 5 months later, but instead the lender, barely, last month approved a short-sale for about $165,000 less then I bought the house for - but then the person who put in the offer backed down.
With the help of a not so experienced realtor (since I could not find a more experience realtor who was willing to assist with all this), we have pursued short-sales on the other investment homes. For the most part, the lenders say that they will not consider a short-sale unless the houses are in default at least 3 months. Therefore, starting last month I stopped paying the mortgages on the other investment homes. But, I am leaving on (and carrying the expense of) the utilities and yard maintenance, so far on the vacant properties.
I guess that at this point the outcome I’d like is to wipe the sleight as clean as possible, or as you said in today’s posting - bow gracefully and back away, without getting deeper into debt; nor incurring a major tax burden, even if it means me going into bankruptcy (which at this point I don’t really know much about). Ideally, I’d like to keep my current home, especially since I have my elderly Mom living with me. But that loan payment is due to go up about $1000 in a couple of years, and so I would need to do a loan modification on it, in order to keep it.
At this point I have an appointment to speak with a Springboard debt counselor, in about 2 weeks (they said they won’t meet with people if you are filing for bankruptcy, only for debt management), since I understand it to be a requirement for filing for bankruptcy. Prior to positioning myself in this mess, my credit has always been real good; but this thing is wipeing me out down to the roots, I’m just hoping that I’m still breathing when I land. Could you please tell me if there is anything more that I can do at this point, such as talking (face-to-face) with some experts (such as yourself Chris, a real estate and/or bankruptcy lawyer)?
In added graditude, I’ll say that one of the hardest things I have found, in this investment learning trip, is to find individuals who can see, and play the whole picture (real estate, escrow, lending, law (foreclosure, short-sale, bankruptsy), Taxes, investing, etc.), your brilliant set-up not only creates this individual, it puts it out there for the rest of us to benefit from. Thank you once again for this brilliant set-up. I look forward to your responses.
Loan Modification, Miscellaneous, Short Sale:Seller, Tax Issues, Training Classes
We received a Notice of Default on our home last December. Like many others, we are experiencing difficult times. My wife had lost her job and with all the other expenses it takes to own a home and raise a family, we got behind in our payments. We contacted our lender who at the time was Wachovia regarding a loan modification. The terms they offered us were really no help. My wife and I came to terms with giving up our home and started into the short-sale process. As a “last ditch effort” my wife contacted Wachovia again to plead for assistance but this time it was Wells Fargo taking the calls, a glimmer of hope! She was told by Wells Fargo that they will be assisting former Wachovia “customers”. There is a lengthily press release on the subject at: https://www.wellsfargo.com/press/2009/20090126_Wachovia_HMS
If your loan was with Wachovia, I strongly urge you to contact Wells Fargo. My wife was told that Wells Fargo wants their customers to be able to stay in their homes and is working towards long term solutions not short term fixes.
This whole thing is heat-breaking, difficult and confusing. Thanks to all the people at H.E.L.P and especially to Chris for the information and his support! It’s a real comfort to know that there are genuine people out there that want to help.
Joe
I am currently facing a possible foreclosure. Currently, I am at the point where I have received the loan approval modification from my lender after complying with a special forberance payment plan for 3 mos which I have complied with and ended in December. However, I still do not feel that they are offering a solution and I feel that in the long run I will be finding my self in the same situation because of everything that is going on with the crisis. I do not just want to walk away, i need legal advice. I know that I can either do a short sale or grant the deed to the bank, but before i do that I need to find out if the modification is in fact the last word from the bank. All they are offering me is to add the delinquent amount with interest and some fees to the back of the loan and keep the same terms which are 30 yrs fixed at 7.25%. This brings my payment to $3,140 approx. and then I still have a second which I pay approx $700 additionally to that bringing me a total monthly payment of $4,000 approx, which they are not taking into consideration. I bought the home for $450,000 in 2006. My original payment with the first and the second used to be about $3,000 which was still too tight but I was managing it with much sacrifice for my dream home. I am saddened to have to face the loss of my home but it is much more important for me to have piece of mind and not overwhelm my self with something I can not control any more. I have been dealing with this issue directly with the bank my self but I feel that I this point, I need professional advice. What do you recommend?
Thanks,
SYMC
I have two homes. I bought my first in 2004 in the city of Colton then met with a broker who told me I could buy another home in a better area, Riverside at a great price. So I bought another home in 2005, with the assurance from the broker, that I could sell the first home, and refinance the second home to a more reasonable payment(the payment was way over my budget) all within 3-6 months, and he would help me. Well, it’s been four years now and I still own both homes and the broker is no where to be found. So, Ive been making the payments on both houses( Both are 80/20 interest only), having friends stay in the first home whenever I can to supplement what I am paying, but I never get the full amount of course.
But let’s talk about my principle home. For over 3 years Ive been trying to refinance but since the housing market took a turn for the worse it has been impossible b/c I owe more that its current worth. My loan was set to adjust in Nov 2007. My servicer Litton, did at loan mod for me that only prevented my loan from adjusting for two years nothing more. Then with all the new programs going on I called them again last year in Sept 2008 and they did another one that decreased my rate by about 2 points which caused my payment to go down about $150.00. Both mod’s I payed $300.00 each, I guess for processing? So that is where I’m at with my prinicple home.
So, now lets talk about the first home, not prinicple resd. It is set to adjust next month. Countrywide has denied me the H4H program, but are now reviewing it to see if I qualify for a modification. If they don’t I will be forced to default b/c I don’t have the extra money. I really want to get from under this situation.
A perfect situation would be that I get my principle home modified at a good fixed rate, my payment is lowered, my prop tax impounded. That situation would set my mind at ease and make me feel as if this home is really mine. For past 3 years I have not done any major improvements, or decorated, because I don’t know if in the next couple of years I will still be here. Also in that perfect situation I could sell my first home. I guess my question is, is there really anything else I can do for either house? 3/4 of my income is going to these houses. I’ve never been late on my mortgage, b/c I don’t want my credit to suffer, but I’m late on my other bills, living paycheck to paycheck basically. I just want a normal siutation, but there does not seem to be any help, or advise. I understand I am in a unique situation with two homes. Does anyone have any advise? If I forclose on my first home, will that effect me with any chance of getting my principle home situation corrected? I really don’t know what to do.
I was qualified with Countrywides Home Retention Program to get a loan modification, however my payment went $1,000.00 higher making even more unaffordable. I purchased my home 1/31/07 and was given an 80/20 loan with no impounds. My first is an interest only loan for 7yrs @ 6.125% and then becomes fixed @ the same rate. My second is a 15/30 loan @ 10.75% principal and interest. I am delinquent on the 1st from November 08 pmt and August 08 on the second. No NOD’s have been filed because I was working with the bank to finalize their loan modification process and like I said now my payment is almost $1,000.00 more. What should I do at this point? Thier saying there are no programs for my loan type until possible April. I am upside down in my loan. Approx value 209,000, purchased @ 375,000, we fell behind due to a death in the family and increased expenses (childcare) and cannot afford the PITI along with effective 2/09 HOA dues @ 177.00 per month.
