[bruinseattrojans]

Hello Moe, *** and any other admins that don't come to mind this second. I have read much of the site and am so grateful I found it. I have been languishing for some time trying to figure out how to navigate this process. It seems the Wachovia customer service folks no little to nothing about what their own company does or doesn't do.

Nevertheless, I contacted the office of the president and will be faxing my paperwork to them tomorrow. In the meantime, will you please look over my hardship letter and let me know what you think?

Thanks a million!

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Thank you for giving me your information and taking the time to help me with this process. I have been attempting to secure relief on my home mortgage since the fall of last year but have not been successful in speaking to the at Loss Mitigation. I have submitted the attached information to you today to apply for the Making Home Affordable Program.

I have a total mortgage of $190,000 at 7% interest on a “Pick-a-Pay” loan, $700 minimum payment (adding several hundred dollars to the principal), $1150 interest only payment, or $1300 for both interest and principal. Additionally, my loan will “reset” next summer, which should significantly increase my payment. My monthly income consists of $1250 from Social Security (I have been fully disabled since 199?) and varying bi-annual disbursements from my tribe, the Quechan, from gaming revenues. Most recently, these disbursements have totaled $7000 per year.

While I am current on my mortgage payments, it has been increasingly difficult for me to make these payments with my regular monthly income for years, beginning when my ex-wife left our family more than 7 years ago. Wishing to remain in my home for more than 40 years and maintain a home for my son and daughter, of whom I shared join custody, I utilized mortgage refinancing and credit cards to stay afloat, never falling behind in either. I executed my last refinance in 2006, choosing the ‘Pick-a-Pay” that would give me the options I needed to ensure that I would not fall behind. At the time, my home was valued somewhere at or near $400,000.

To resolve this recurrent shortage, I planned to see increased disbursements from my tribe, who had anticipated for years to open a second casino in 2008, which would result in increased revenue disbursements beginning January 2009 for our 3,000+ members. This increased income, with a subsequent planned refinance in 2010 into a conventional 30 year fixed mortgage, would finally place me on a more stable financial footing. However, as the economy fell apart last year I no longer heard these sunny estimates of increased revenues, and instead expect to see reduced disbursements for some time. No longer anticipating this increased income, I exhausted all savings trying to remain current on my mortgage. Since I was and am no longer eligible to refinance, this aspect of my plan also disappeared and I was forced to borrow money from family for over a year now to stay current on my mortgage and other obligations. Beginning sometime this Summer, I expect to deplete these funds that have been available from family, at which point I will no longer be able to meet my financial obligations.

Being fully disabled, I receive Social Security payments of $1250 monthly, of which I am required to pay $XXX for a Medicare health plan. Additionally, I receive payments twice a year from my tribe from casino revenues. These payments have most recently totaled $7000 per year, but the amount will fluctuate depending on revenue. This point is significant, as the current state of the economy renders the likelihood of reduced disbursements an eventuality. Nevertheless, all together my current income totals $22,000 annually, or $1833 per month. With monthly health expenses of $XXX and living expenses of $XXX, I am left with only $XXX to pay the mortgage.

I do not want to lose my home for over 40 years and I don’t want to slip further and further into debt with credit cards, but I can no longer see a way to pay for all my bills with my current income and see no possibility of increasing my income in the near future. My only choice will be to run up credit card debt paying for regular living expenses and start making the $700 minimum payment and add more and more to the principal of my mortgage. However, even this minimum payment option will be gone beginning next Summer, when my loan resets. I do not want to lose my family home, but even assuming I wanted to sell my home it wouldn’t do much good. My home is valued less than $240,000 now, and there are numerous other houses on my block that aren’t selling. Assuming I was able to find a buyer in this terrible market, I would be left with little to nothing to start somewhere else. And with my low income, I don’t know where I would go. The bottom line is that I am at the end of a long rope. Without help I will begin falling behind in my obligations within the next month, maybe two.

The Making Home Afforable Program would immediately address the issue I have faced with my debt obligations. Reducing the rate on my home loan so as to reduce the monthly payment to 31% of my income would immediately place me on sound financial footing for the entire length of the program. This will buy me much needed time to explore further options for long-term resolution of this issue, as I am fully aware that the 31% payment is not permanent. Since my last child is approaching majority, I will explore two options to achieve this stability once she leaves the home. First, I will attempt to invite a friend or family member to live with me and help pay the note. Second, I can sell my home in, hopefully, a more favorable market. Additionally, once we move past the terrible economic downturn we all experienced beginning last year, I can be reasonably optimistic that my tribe will finally realize increased revenues from their second casino. All in all, the MHA program will help prevent me from collapsing financially and give me the time I need to make these arrangements.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I appreciate everything you’re doing for me and will try my best to remain patient as we navigate through this process. I have spent countless hours on the phone and sending paperwork to Wachovia’s Loss Mitigation office, but I could never get a consistent answer on whether Wachovia was even participating in this program. Should you need any further information, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.