Mortgage Modifications?

[Hrdluck1]

Ansky,
Modifications can be done while you are current. Again, You have a show a hardship. Most hardships are stated not proven.

[Tromploi]

There are some folks I have read that were able to do the mod without behind behind on payments (it's not common but it happens!). Thing is, that changes your payments and affects your means test, so really either way it seems best to wait for the discharge (Hrdluck1 would know better than me though).

I am in the same boat as you ansky. Waiting for my discharge (341 isn't even until 2/24). Then after the DC I will start talking with the bank. In the meantime, I pay almost $3K a month. In my case, without a BIG mod on the 2nd (210K) it won't work anyway. I owe $354K on the 1st, paid $595K in 2005 and it's worth about $455K now. I am getting a divorce, which I know is a reason for hardship so the income goes from $150K to about $50K. Hopefully that works in my favor and I can keep my home, and comfortably afford it. If not, I will have to sadly walk away.

[albacore44]

Tromploi is correct. Principal reduction is an "added bonus" of any modification.
ost seconds can be settled around 8% of the principal balance.

I have spent many hours reading that Loansafe forum. The moderator states that they have had little success with principal reductions. my case looks like this 1st = Citi $417K, HELOC = Hsbc $240K. Property now worth mabee $500K, Was appraised $900K June "07". what I really need "Big Picture" is a principal reduction from Hsbc. both loans are somewhat affordable right now at interest only, and my income, and thanks to rate reductions by Mr. Bernanke. but there is a time bomb ticking in my future if I can't renegotiate the terms.

[Tromploi]

You may be able to get the 2nd reduced, like Hrdlck1 said, to 8-10%! Now THAT would be something! Just have your hardship plan ready.

Good luck!

[eddiep]

Thats funny, I too am addicted to loansafe.org, Now that I have no money to do anything but surf the internet. lol

I am trying to get my mortgage modified too, my lawyer says I have to get this done before we file because I will not be able to negotiate with ANY creditors until this is resolved.

[Tromploi]

Thats funny, I too am addicted to loansafe.org, Now that I have no money to do anything but surf the internet. lol

I am trying to get my mortgage modified too, my lawyer says I have to get this done before we file because I will not be able to negotiate with ANY creditors until this is resolved.

What are you trying to negotiate with creditors??

[eddiep]

I am trying to modify my mortgage

[Tromploi]

Oh sorry, I was thinking OTHER creditors, not your mortgage co. Do you agree with that after reading so much on loansafe? I think it really depends on your bank. Seems like folks are doing it before, during and after BK. And before, during and after being late on payments etc. And I think things are changing so often that it's really tough to say. Be careful about doing a mod prior to filing a 7 too, could affect your means test significantly.

[eddiep]

No I am sure the mod won't affect the ch 7. Unfortunately we are WAY under on the income. Over past 6 months we have made less than half of the state median income. Hubby was out of work for three months. I am afraid that the judge will say you can't afford your mortgage (and we really cant). With his new job we come up $200 short each month with bare bones expenses!

[eddiep]

I haven't seen many mention bk at loansafe.

[albacore44]

Oh sorry, I was thinking OTHER creditors, not your mortgage co. Do you agree with that after reading so much on loansafe? I think it really depends on your bank. Seems like folks are doing it before, during and after BK. And before, during and after being late on payments etc. And I think things are changing so often that it's really tough to say. Be careful about doing a mod prior to filing a 7 too, could affect your means test significantly.

this is just my gut feeling, and I have no examples to back it up, but I would think you would have better leverage after Bk and doing a ride through, if your property is upside down. particularly with your second. one would think the bank would be anxious to write down principal and re-negotiate to salvage some of their investment, rather than forcing forclosure, and losing it all to the 1st mortgage holder who gets paid off first. it makes perfect sense.

Wonder if any members here have tried this ??

[hereforinfo]

We did a loan mod on one of our homes last summer. I think we missed 3 or 4 payments before they offered it. I'm a little hazy on the details right now, but I think they reduced the rate from 7.75% down to like 3.5% for 3 years, then it goes back to the original fixed rate. The also forgave the past due interest & fees - wiped them off completely rather than tacking them onto the end of the loan. It was actually a pretty decent deal, and we may have followed through with it, but then DH got transferred to another state, and we were upside down.

Interestingly enough, as part of the mod we had to sign an agreement that we wouldn't sue the lender for any violations that occurred in the origination of the loan- looked like they were covering their butts! We were happy enough to sign that - I don't think that we can hold them responsible for our bad choices - LOL - they did some pretty interesting stuff in approving our original loan. It was a NINA (commonly called liar's loans in the industry) using only DH's income, ignoring the first home, using my income as an "undocumented" compensating factor. Sheesh, no wonder we're in trouble...

This is what is so troubling. They give loan mods to you, who made bad choices and "cheated" in the first place, then get the loan mod and bail on the house anyway. While people like us, who bought responsibly, pay the mortgage on time and will never foreclose, can't get our 30 year fixed rate reduced to save money and can't refinance because of foreclosures like yours killing our home values. This is why I am so against loan mods, at least in those situations anyway. The government's money would be better spent refinancing respsonible people who want to stay in the homes and won't contribute to the meltdown. And every modification should require a full audit on those "no doc" loans to go back and verify that everything on the application was true. Because I find it sickening that they are modifying loans obtained fraudulently.

[eddiep]

I'm not late YET, never have been. Was "responsible" have fixed rate. Not upside down either, I actually have 30k equity.... Why mod? Because we had hoped to retire one day! We wanted to bite the bullet when we refinanced 5 years ago and did not go for 30 years. We didn't anticipate our income going down so much and the cost of living going up so much! Guess that bullet bit me in the butt!

[hereforinfo]

Eddiep, my response was to Trixie07 whom I quoted in the reply.

[eddiep]

I know, just jumping in, just stating my own situation, sorry didn't mean to offend.