Loans, Debt & Credit - View Single Post - Countrywide Loan Modification & I Wasn't Late on My Mortgage

slateman100 · 07-13-2009, 10:46 AM

Well, after several months of going it about it myself, I have successfully secured a loan modification I can live with from Bank of America, and... this is the important part... I am one of their customers who was NOT behind on mortgage. Usually, as evidenced by multiple threads here, you can plainly see that people in my older situation (read my first post) are usually hung out to dry. We aren't important enough to deal with now, but we want to be responsible for our families and take care of things before they go south.

So the story went as follows with a sort of rough timeline:

March/April 2009 - Called Bank of America's regular home retention toll free numbers time and time again, just trying to get through. When I finally got through, I was told flatly that they do not assist people who are not behind on payments.
May 2009 - Emailed the 4 bigwigs at BoA as suggested here at loansafe.org. In about 2 hours, I got a call from their "Executive Home Retention" department. She had me submit all sorts of paperwork via email and fax. Then I wait. And wait.
End of May 2009 - I get a call from her that "My managers say they will only assist people whose loan has either recasted (I have a Pay Option ARM), or if the ARM has expired which would put me in an impossible payment situation. Tried to plead with them that I am being responsible and trying to fix my mistakes, but they flatly denied my requests.
June 2009 - I emailed all 4 bigwigs again with an even more emphatic (but nicely worded... I was not nasty or obnoxious in any way) email, pleading with them to help me. I used everything I could muster without being rude to figuratively beg for help. The next day, the same lady from Executive Home Retention called me and noted that when I send those emails, they just go right back to her, so it's almost pointless. I ask to speak to someone else, which I have a feeling she does gladly. She says someone will call me back, which I took as a blow-off.
Second week June 2009 - I begin NACA work, setting up all of the necessary stuff, and jumping through all of the hoops. Takes about a week or two of faxes and emails. I fire off another email to all 4 people at BoA that I am letting NACA handle it, again, trying to say it as polite as possible.
End of June 2009 - Lo and behold, a new guy from BoA calls me, a guy who asks me to sort of start from the beginning and explain everything. I do that. He's very nice, takes the time to listen to pretty much a verbal version of my hardship letter and says he will get all my documents from the other lady I was working with and see what he can do. He calls me later THAT DAY and says that he will submit it to the lender.
July 2009 - The guy calls me back from BoA (about 5 days) and says that I have been approved for a loan modification. They use the "Obama Formula" (31% of your gross or whatever) to come up with my payments, which I can afford. I say a huge "hell yeah" and they submit it for PMI lender approval, which happens right after the long 4th of July weekend. I get a FedEx packet at my front door with a copy of the new terms, and they set up a notary to come to my house (that was this past Friday). We signed, and that's it. I am just waiting for the system to update the new numbers.

So that's all there is to it. I dunno if saying I was going to use NACA mattered, or talking to the right person mattered, but someone there was listening to me. It took lots of calls, lots of emails, and lots of waiting. I am not trying to equate myself to some of those of you out there who are facing more immediate danger, like foreclosure or loss of employment or even loss of a loved one. But I can say that it APPEARS that if you are persistant enough, and you keep trying, you can get the right person to hear you. Just DON'T GIVE UP! It worked for me after only 5 months, and that was with some misfires I think. Thanks to everyone on this forum and the admins, mods and everything of this site for your support. It is amazingly helpful to know we aren't alone out there... it's important to have a crutch like this and that we help each other in times like these. Good luck to all of you. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask me... I will still check this thread.

07-13-2009, 10:46 AM	#18 (permalink)
slateman100 Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Not Sure Where To Go From Here Well, after several months of going it about it myself, I have successfully secured a loan modification I can live with from Bank of America, and... this is the important part... I am one of their customers who was NOT behind on mortgage. Usually, as evidenced by multiple threads here, you can plainly see that people in my older situation (read my first post) are usually hung out to dry. We aren't important enough to deal with now, but we want to be responsible for our families and take care of things before they go south. So the story went as follows with a sort of rough timeline: March/April 2009 - Called Bank of America's regular home retention toll free numbers time and time again, just trying to get through. When I finally got through, I was told flatly that they do not assist people who are not behind on payments. May 2009 - Emailed the 4 bigwigs at BoA as suggested here at loansafe.org. In about 2 hours, I got a call from their "Executive Home Retention" department. She had me submit all sorts of paperwork via email and fax. Then I wait. And wait. End of May 2009 - I get a call from her that "My managers say they will only assist people whose loan has either recasted (I have a Pay Option ARM), or if the ARM has expired which would put me in an impossible payment situation. Tried to plead with them that I am being responsible and trying to fix my mistakes, but they flatly denied my requests. June 2009 - I emailed all 4 bigwigs again with an even more emphatic (but nicely worded... I was not nasty or obnoxious in any way) email, pleading with them to help me. I used everything I could muster without being rude to figuratively beg for help. The next day, the same lady from Executive Home Retention called me and noted that when I send those emails, they just go right back to her, so it's almost pointless. I ask to speak to someone else, which I have a feeling she does gladly. She says someone will call me back, which I took as a blow-off. Second week June 2009 - I begin NACA work, setting up all of the necessary stuff, and jumping through all of the hoops. Takes about a week or two of faxes and emails. I fire off another email to all 4 people at BoA that I am letting NACA handle it, again, trying to say it as polite as possible. End of June 2009 - Lo and behold, a new guy from BoA calls me, a guy who asks me to sort of start from the beginning and explain everything. I do that. He's very nice, takes the time to listen to pretty much a verbal version of my hardship letter and says he will get all my documents from the other lady I was working with and see what he can do. He calls me later THAT DAY and says that he will submit it to the lender. July 2009 - The guy calls me back from BoA (about 5 days) and says that I have been approved for a loan modification. They use the "Obama Formula" (31% of your gross or whatever) to come up with my payments, which I can afford. I say a huge "hell yeah" and they submit it for PMI lender approval, which happens right after the long 4th of July weekend. I get a FedEx packet at my front door with a copy of the new terms, and they set up a notary to come to my house (that was this past Friday). We signed, and that's it. I am just waiting for the system to update the new numbers. So that's all there is to it. I dunno if saying I was going to use NACA mattered, or talking to the right person mattered, but someone there was listening to me. It took lots of calls, lots of emails, and lots of waiting. I am not trying to equate myself to some of those of you out there who are facing more immediate danger, like foreclosure or loss of employment or even loss of a loved one. But I can say that it APPEARS that if you are persistant enough, and you keep trying, you can get the right person to hear you. Just DON'T GIVE UP! It worked for me after only 5 months, and that was with some misfires I think. Thanks to everyone on this forum and the admins, mods and everything of this site for your support. It is amazingly helpful to know we aren't alone out there... it's important to have a crutch like this and that we help each other in times like these. Good luck to all of you. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask me... I will still check this thread.