Where to start?

[shamus_mcgee]

I have been reading these forums for a few weeks and just wanted to throw out my situation and ask for opinions. I am still wading through the muck of all these different programs, etc.

Current loans...

1st - Chase 5/1 IO ARM will adjust 9/2010
5.75% currently
356k principal balance

2nd - Citi 30year fixed HE loan, not line i think
9.14%
120K principal balance

total principal balance $476K
Value per Chase home value estimator currently $413K

so 64K underwater. Any immediate thoughts come to mind?

Thank you!

[nativelasvegan]

Hello shamus and welcome. we are glad you are here. I am not working with Chase but there is a "thread" on this forum for Chase people. It took me several weeks to read through the info on this website and another few to learn how to navigate it. The "search" link in the blue bar about 1/3 down from the top of the page is a great feature. People who are working with Chase will post on your thread and provide you with some information. Thanks for joining us. Click here to read more. Chase Mortgage - Tell Us Your Chase Story - Loan Modification Forum - LoanSafe.org

[BudgetCutsinOC]

If you have a legit hardship STOP making your payments!! Dont call them. Wait about 2 weeks after its due. They wil call, TRUST ME !! Thats my opinion

[shamus_mcgee]

thanks for the quick replies and information thus far. I certainly don't have as much of a hardship as a lot of people on here. Loss of 3.8% income for both my wife and I for the year. really, it goes back further than that and combined with new income loss and increased debt load due to additional work loss (medical) the overall debt load is becoming too much to handle.

Really if I could just get the 2nd mort rate reduced a bit it might just be enough to handle things. Right now, the first mort would adjust down but I know that isn't going to last and is not a good permanent solution. Or they could refi both into a VA loan which I am eligible for and could go that high in my neighborhood.

Should I just start calling and asking for some of those options, or fill out HAMP ppwk and go from there?

[rachel_p]

Originally Posted by BudgetCutsinOC

If you have a legit hardship STOP making your payments!! Dont call them. Wait about 2 weeks after its due. They wil call, TRUST ME !! Thats my opinion

I disagree with this. We missed 3 payments, as per their request, and they STILL didn't call us.
We are now SEVEN payments behind, as per their request, and they still don't really seem to be in a hurry.
Now we get to have the constant worry that they will waltz in and take our home from us whenever it's convenient for them.

Either way, they are super slow and I don't think it's benefited us at all to miss payments.

[SBBLUEWATER1]

When we first started this ordeal Chase would not help us and actually told us they would not even consider us for a mod until we started to miss payments. In our case we told them we would not be able to continue making our regular payment due to a loss of income. They still said the same thing. After missing 3 payments they finally approved us for the trial mod. Things seemed to be moving along at a relatively fast pace and then just stopped. We are now in limbo land and have been for quote a while. I would not have stopped making payments but we had to. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how or why Chase helps certain people and not others. I thought there was some formula but I think in general we are dealing with very large institutional organizations that are slow to adapt to change. Lending institutions by their very nature are very much driven by policies and procedures as they are a regulated industry. I think the sheer volume of the calls they are all getting is contributing to the "slowness" of them being able to help anyone. I also think they have very serious flaws in their management structure. Whatever you decide to do just be aware that once you miss a payment or two they will report to the credit agencies and your credit score will suffer.

[daglo]

Originally Posted by rachel_p

I disagree with this. We missed 3 payments, as per their request, and they STILL didn't call us.
We are now SEVEN payments behind, as per their request, and they still don't really seem to be in a hurry.
Now we get to have the constant worry that they will waltz in and take our home from us whenever it's convenient for them.

Either way, they are super slow and I don't think it's benefited us at all to miss payments.

We missed our payments, and I think the third one we missed was the magic number. We received our mod papers a month later. If you pay every month, then you don't need a mod!?!? That is how the banks think. Why would they help you if you are paying, no matter how? They don't care if you charge your mortgage payments on a credit card, as long as you send them the money. I agree, don't pay, you'll get noticed!