Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool - Loan Modification Forum

downtick · 07-24-2009, 06:12 AM

So I have been working on a mod now since december, 2008. I submitted everything to them. So in april they put me on a trial plan and knock off 20% of my mortgage. I was worried about that affecting my credit. I made numerous calls to numerous people. I finally got someone who cared and they put a block on credit reporting for me. In fact they actually did do this. I have been checking my report regularly and nothing has been reported from citi in over 5 months now. That is the only good news that has come out of this.

After the 3 month plan was over, they tried to put me on the gov plan. Our gross income is about $6000. I am on an int only loan of $1050 a month, taxes of $500 a month and HOA fees of $680 a month which puts me at $2230 in housing expenses. So my ratio is at 37%. I thought for sure I would qualify, but guess again!. Every time I call I get different answers. Some tell me my income too high, some too low, some tell me because i have 5% equity. Everyone has a different story for me.

They implemented this new "tool" as they call it on July 13 to evaluate candidates. It is referred to as MAT. Before this, citi was using the HAM "tool". I tried to qualify on both but have failed and nobody can give me an answer as of why.

I know the goal is to bring me to 31% of my gross income. Being that my HOA and taxes are fixed, only the P&I can be lowered. I also know the lowest they go is 2%. If they brought my mortgage down to 2%, that would me my new p&i would go to $835 a month. If you add the $835, the HOA of $680 and the taxes of $500, that would total $2,015. Being that our gross income is only $6000, 31% of this is about $1860. It is impossible for them to bring me down to the $1860. Can this be why I am not being approved for the program? I cannot think of ANYTHING else! And even if they cannot bring me down to their target number, bringing me down to $2015 would help me so greatly. I am on on a int only loan that resets very soon and will have about a $300 a month increase in payments at current market rates not to mention an increase in HOA fees that will be sure to come as there are over 105 foreclosures in my building of the 435 units. And yes, I am in Miami, FL. Anyone have any ideas?

Evan Bedard · 07-24-2009, 11:27 AM

Hi downtick welcome and thank you for joining our community.

Quote:

I am on on a int only loan that resets very soon and will have about a $300 a month increase in payments at current market rates not to mention an increase in HOA fees that will be sure to come as there are over 105 foreclosures in my building of the 435 units. And yes, I am in Miami, FL. Anyone have any ideas?

Make sure you include all of this in your hardship, and even if they say you make too much make sure you point out the fact of the 300 a month increase.

By the way after calculating all of you income and expenses, what is left over? Are you in the negative? Or do you have a surplus?

downtick · 07-24-2009, 12:03 PM

After everything, I am a little in the negative, not much, about $100 or so. I put all of that in my hardship letter. The government program is automatically declining me after i give income, taxes and hoa fees right away. My % is 37%. You would not think it would take much to drop me to 31%, but nobody seems to know why they cannot. They even transferred me to the home affordable refi dept in citi, they told me my loan was not coded for a refi with them, only a standard refi and I would have to come up with about 30k. So if I cannot get approved for some type of mod, looks like I will have to just walk away from the condo.

kennyc · 07-25-2009, 02:24 PM

what papers did you sign back in april in any? i signed the HAM papers noting the 4 trial payments and im worried they will back out now after reading your story. did you ask why they put you on the plan to begin with?

kennyc · 07-25-2009, 02:31 PM

Evan,

to your question on budget loss/surplus, what are they actually looking for? for someone to be at a loss/surplus/break even? Seems that whatever answer you give they will turn it around on you and deny you. What do you think is best to show? some of these costs vary so much thats its difficult to predict (food, gas, credit card, etc).

Thanks.

downtick · 07-25-2009, 03:00 PM

well, i never signed any papers back in april. I made a phone call to them and they put me on a 3 month payment plan. I paid all 3 payments on time. They were doing this back then because there was no gov plan at the time. Citi really had no idea what they were doing and I think this was just buying them time.

It is best to show break even to no more than $300 deficit each month. I have called there so many times you would not believe it. The other day when i called i had a really cool guy helping me out. He wanted me to pass so badly. We kept adjusting incomes around. He wasn't suppose to do this, but he did. It seemed when we had gross income over $3500 we would automatically get rejected before entering any expenses in. He kept playing with the income numbers and we found the acceptance ceiling in my case to be $3500 max. So he submitted that number in for our combined gross income. He took all my expenses in and then at the very end I was denied again saying that they cannot lower the rate enough to bring me to 31% of my gross income. It is really a no win situation for me. If our income is $3500 gross, they cant lower the rate. If our income is over $3500 we get an auto denial. It's really a big joke. The program suggested to me to do the home affordable refi. So they transferred me over there. Then the refi guy comes on and tells me my loan is not coded correctly for a home affordable refi. This is a huge joke. The entire program is. Nobody seems to know what they are doing. They then connect me to the regular refi dept. They tell me i have to come up with about $30,000 to bring me to 20% and to avoid pmi and to cover closing costs. I laughed and hung up on him. If i don't get a mod by the time my loan resets March 1, 2010 I will stop paying my mortgage and live here for free as long as possible. Banks are not foreclosing here in miami so much any more as the condos are demanding payments from them for HOA fees which down here are astronomical. 25% of my new condo building is in foreclosure. When the people finally do leave, they rape the units dry. So no bank wants to even deal with that as when the light switches and appliances are gone, that removes them from FHA loan approvals. It's a real disaster here and I am so close to the point of just stopping my payments especially after I just yesterday received a letter from the tradition mod dept of citi saying my income is enough to cover my mortgage. Sure it is, that's why I dip into savings each month. I am tired of running in circles with these complete morons. I will keep trying for now though, until i cannot any longer at which point I will just stop making payments and when they then call to offer me help I will tell them to go F themselves.

downtick · 07-25-2009, 03:11 PM

Another thing, in miami, i am surrounded by 1000's of condo units, most of which are brand new and unfilled units. I am paying right now $2240 a month total for a 2br/2ba condo with no view. For less than that, I can rent a 3br/2ba high floor condo in many buildings in the area with a full ocean view so i am really getting to the breaking point here and there is no way I will continue to throw good money after bad. It almost seems I am staying here for the bank rather than for myself and when they treat me as they do, it is just convincing me even more to stop paying anything to them. But as I said before, I will try everything and will not give up until March 1, 2010 at which point if nothing happens, the mortgage payments will stop.

Socool_me · 07-27-2009, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by downtick

I was worried about that affecting my credit. I made numerous calls to numerous people. I finally got someone who cared and they put a block on credit reporting for me. In fact they actually did do this. I have been checking my report regularly and nothing has been reported from citi in over 5 months now. That is the only good news that has come out of this.

Which number/dept did you call to get the freeze in effect? Thanks and good luck with your modification effort!

downtick · 07-27-2009, 05:03 PM

888-272-4749...but most tell you they don't freeze credit reporting..say thank you anyway, hang up and call again..don't waste your time trying to explain to them that they can..i am proof that they can and they do, mine is frozen until august 1, 2009.

maggieb · 07-27-2009, 07:34 PM

Got a modification Sort of. I have a V.A loan and I was told the only way I could do a modification is to pay $2132.69 in late fees etc. then they would take my loan down to 5 % . I thought with a modification they would Roll all your late fees etc on to the back of your loan? And I only have 15 days to come up with it. It only drops my payment from 966.78 to 926.39 , I still don't know why they can't roll what's owed on to the back of the Loan , Just because it's V.A

mel239 · 08-23-2009, 09:08 PM

what the heck is up with coming up with money upfront to do a mod?Ridiculous! Under the HAMP rules it states that the investor may not require the borrower to contribut cash. Am I understanding this correctly? Is that why banks prefer their own mods and very few people are getting HAMP?

mel239 · 08-23-2009, 09:21 PM

By the way,anybody receive counselin from citi? Heres a couple laughable statements in Citis own mission statement-Offer delinquent borrowers the opportunity to receive counseling from qualified homeownership counselors at no cost. Does citi even employ qualified people-I think not--and the other quote-'easy and ongoing access to citis loss mitigation staff... HAHAHA Citi violated its own directive--legal or not? Citi also violated its own policy about not initiating foreclosure proceedings if a borrower remains in the home,has enough income for affordable payments,and works in good faith with the bank.Who is responsible for overseeing this and why arent they being forced to comply?

maggieb · 08-24-2009, 06:44 AM

V.A will not allow some things to be rolled up into the loan, I checked and Citi was correct on this. It didn't take my loan payment down by much either but It did give me a few months of no payment to help me get til I get my V.A disability compensation. For me any thing was a small blessing. It has been almost a Year since I filed for V.A disability so hopefully it will be deceided soon

mel239 · 08-24-2009, 09:05 AM

Seems to me if some of us are so close with the numbers they would forgive a liitle principal to "get you there" they sure arent working with the people-they are working towards taking your house anyway they can

mel239 · 08-25-2009, 09:07 AM

I know Ive said this before,but ask them to see their numbers they are inputting to see if you really fail-why take their word for it? they are liars and cheats and scammers anyway-why not we start "calling them" on this and see what happens?

07-24-2009, 06:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
downtick Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 6 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool So I have been working on a mod now since december, 2008. I submitted everything to them. So in april they put me on a trial plan and knock off 20% of my mortgage. I was worried about that affecting my credit. I made numerous calls to numerous people. I finally got someone who cared and they put a block on credit reporting for me. In fact they actually did do this. I have been checking my report regularly and nothing has been reported from citi in over 5 months now. That is the only good news that has come out of this. After the 3 month plan was over, they tried to put me on the gov plan. Our gross income is about $6000. I am on an int only loan of $1050 a month, taxes of $500 a month and HOA fees of $680 a month which puts me at $2230 in housing expenses. So my ratio is at 37%. I thought for sure I would qualify, but guess again!. Every time I call I get different answers. Some tell me my income too high, some too low, some tell me because i have 5% equity. Everyone has a different story for me. They implemented this new "tool" as they call it on July 13 to evaluate candidates. It is referred to as MAT. Before this, citi was using the HAM "tool". I tried to qualify on both but have failed and nobody can give me an answer as of why. I know the goal is to bring me to 31% of my gross income. Being that my HOA and taxes are fixed, only the P&I can be lowered. I also know the lowest they go is 2%. If they brought my mortgage down to 2%, that would me my new p&i would go to $835 a month. If you add the $835, the HOA of $680 and the taxes of $500, that would total $2,015. Being that our gross income is only $6000, 31% of this is about $1860. It is impossible for them to bring me down to the $1860. Can this be why I am not being approved for the program? I cannot think of ANYTHING else! And even if they cannot bring me down to their target number, bringing me down to $2015 would help me so greatly. I am on on a int only loan that resets very soon and will have about a $300 a month increase in payments at current market rates not to mention an increase in HOA fees that will be sure to come as there are over 105 foreclosures in my building of the 435 units. And yes, I am in Miami, FL. Anyone have any ideas?

07-24-2009, 12:03 PM	#3 (permalink)
downtick Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 6 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool After everything, I am a little in the negative, not much, about $100 or so. I put all of that in my hardship letter. The government program is automatically declining me after i give income, taxes and hoa fees right away. My % is 37%. You would not think it would take much to drop me to 31%, but nobody seems to know why they cannot. They even transferred me to the home affordable refi dept in citi, they told me my loan was not coded for a refi with them, only a standard refi and I would have to come up with about 30k. So if I cannot get approved for some type of mod, looks like I will have to just walk away from the condo.

07-25-2009, 02:24 PM	#4 (permalink)
kennyc Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool what papers did you sign back in april in any? i signed the HAM papers noting the 4 trial payments and im worried they will back out now after reading your story. did you ask why they put you on the plan to begin with?

07-25-2009, 02:31 PM	#5 (permalink)
kennyc Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 7 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool Evan, to your question on budget loss/surplus, what are they actually looking for? for someone to be at a loss/surplus/break even? Seems that whatever answer you give they will turn it around on you and deny you. What do you think is best to show? some of these costs vary so much thats its difficult to predict (food, gas, credit card, etc). Thanks.

07-25-2009, 03:00 PM	#6 (permalink)
downtick Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 6 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool well, i never signed any papers back in april. I made a phone call to them and they put me on a 3 month payment plan. I paid all 3 payments on time. They were doing this back then because there was no gov plan at the time. Citi really had no idea what they were doing and I think this was just buying them time. It is best to show break even to no more than $300 deficit each month. I have called there so many times you would not believe it. The other day when i called i had a really cool guy helping me out. He wanted me to pass so badly. We kept adjusting incomes around. He wasn't suppose to do this, but he did. It seemed when we had gross income over $3500 we would automatically get rejected before entering any expenses in. He kept playing with the income numbers and we found the acceptance ceiling in my case to be $3500 max. So he submitted that number in for our combined gross income. He took all my expenses in and then at the very end I was denied again saying that they cannot lower the rate enough to bring me to 31% of my gross income. It is really a no win situation for me. If our income is $3500 gross, they cant lower the rate. If our income is over $3500 we get an auto denial. It's really a big joke. The program suggested to me to do the home affordable refi. So they transferred me over there. Then the refi guy comes on and tells me my loan is not coded correctly for a home affordable refi. This is a huge joke. The entire program is. Nobody seems to know what they are doing. They then connect me to the regular refi dept. They tell me i have to come up with about $30,000 to bring me to 20% and to avoid pmi and to cover closing costs. I laughed and hung up on him. If i don't get a mod by the time my loan resets March 1, 2010 I will stop paying my mortgage and live here for free as long as possible. Banks are not foreclosing here in miami so much any more as the condos are demanding payments from them for HOA fees which down here are astronomical. 25% of my new condo building is in foreclosure. When the people finally do leave, they rape the units dry. So no bank wants to even deal with that as when the light switches and appliances are gone, that removes them from FHA loan approvals. It's a real disaster here and I am so close to the point of just stopping my payments especially after I just yesterday received a letter from the tradition mod dept of citi saying my income is enough to cover my mortgage. Sure it is, that's why I dip into savings each month. I am tired of running in circles with these complete morons. I will keep trying for now though, until i cannot any longer at which point I will just stop making payments and when they then call to offer me help I will tell them to go F themselves.

07-25-2009, 03:11 PM	#7 (permalink)
downtick Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 6 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool Another thing, in miami, i am surrounded by 1000's of condo units, most of which are brand new and unfilled units. I am paying right now $2240 a month total for a 2br/2ba condo with no view. For less than that, I can rent a 3br/2ba high floor condo in many buildings in the area with a full ocean view so i am really getting to the breaking point here and there is no way I will continue to throw good money after bad. It almost seems I am staying here for the bank rather than for myself and when they treat me as they do, it is just convincing me even more to stop paying anything to them. But as I said before, I will try everything and will not give up until March 1, 2010 at which point if nothing happens, the mortgage payments will stop.

07-27-2009, 05:03 PM	#9 (permalink)
downtick Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 6 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool 888-272-4749...but most tell you they don't freeze credit reporting..say thank you anyway, hang up and call again..don't waste your time trying to explain to them that they can..i am proof that they can and they do, mine is frozen until august 1, 2009.

07-27-2009, 07:34 PM	#10 (permalink)
maggieb Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 30 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool Got a modification Sort of. I have a V.A loan and I was told the only way I could do a modification is to pay $2132.69 in late fees etc. then they would take my loan down to 5 % . I thought with a modification they would Roll all your late fees etc on to the back of your loan? And I only have 15 days to come up with it. It only drops my payment from 966.78 to 926.39 , I still don't know why they can't roll what's owed on to the back of the Loan , Just because it's V.A

08-23-2009, 09:08 PM	#11 (permalink)
mel239 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 83 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool what the heck is up with coming up with money upfront to do a mod?Ridiculous! Under the HAMP rules it states that the investor may not require the borrower to contribut cash. Am I understanding this correctly? Is that why banks prefer their own mods and very few people are getting HAMP?

08-23-2009, 09:21 PM	#12 (permalink)
mel239 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 83 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool By the way,anybody receive counselin from citi? Heres a couple laughable statements in Citis own mission statement-Offer delinquent borrowers the opportunity to receive counseling from qualified homeownership counselors at no cost. Does citi even employ qualified people-I think not--and the other quote-'easy and ongoing access to citis loss mitigation staff... HAHAHA Citi violated its own directive--legal or not? Citi also violated its own policy about not initiating foreclosure proceedings if a borrower remains in the home,has enough income for affordable payments,and works in good faith with the bank.Who is responsible for overseeing this and why arent they being forced to comply?

08-24-2009, 06:44 AM	#13 (permalink)
maggieb Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 30 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool V.A will not allow some things to be rolled up into the loan, I checked and Citi was correct on this. It didn't take my loan payment down by much either but It did give me a few months of no payment to help me get til I get my V.A disability compensation. For me any thing was a small blessing. It has been almost a Year since I filed for V.A disability so hopefully it will be deceided soon

08-24-2009, 09:05 AM	#14 (permalink)
mel239 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 83 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool Seems to me if some of us are so close with the numbers they would forgive a liitle principal to "get you there" they sure arent working with the people-they are working towards taking your house anyway they can

08-25-2009, 09:07 AM	#15 (permalink)
mel239 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 83 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 0	Re: Citi and the Mortgage Assistance Tool I know Ive said this before,but ask them to see their numbers they are inputting to see if you really fail-why take their word for it? they are liars and cheats and scammers anyway-why not we start "calling them" on this and see what happens?

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