Offered 4 month Trial Period. What next?

**dilvala** · 10-27-2009, 10:10 AM

I am a little confused. I filled out the paper work online at citi.com, called the next day and was pre approved. They offered me 4 month trial deposit.

Original payment on the 1st was $1082 includes property tax and insurance. $130,000 balance with 6.75% rate 27 years left on it.

Trial payment are set at $776.34. He mentioned the rate of 3.125% for 319 months (26.5 years)

I have some question in regards to what this all means.

Will this show up negatively on the credit report?
What happens after the 4 month payments?

Thanks for any help.

I am doing a lot of reading on the boards and i am thankful to find this website.

**Evan Bedard** · 10-27-2009, 10:35 AM

Hi dilvala welcome and thank you for joining.

I have some question in regards to what this all means.

Will this show up negatively on the credit report?
What happens after the 4 month payments?

No this will not do anything negative to your credit report. After the four months they will ask for updated information and continue to review your case for a permanent mod.

By the way, were you current or behind on payments when they offered you this agreement?

**dilvala** · 10-27-2009, 10:47 AM

They offered it today, and i am current on the payments.

My question is that is this a genuine offer?

Do most people who qualify get the same kind of offer and what are the results after the 4 months.?

**Evan Bedard** · 10-27-2009, 11:00 AM

They offered it today, and i am current on the payments.

My question is that is this a genuine offer?

Do most people who qualify get the same kind of offer and what are the results after the 4 months.?

Yes pretty much everyone who qualifies gets offered the trial agreement. Nothing is guaranteed after the trial is complete. You will find many homeowners here who have completed the trial but only few have been approved for permanent assistance..

**e!!wald** · 10-27-2009, 11:16 AM

I can't comment on your scenarios but we were one of the few that received a permenent mod after going through a 3 month trial period. it was a very trying, nervewracking and frustrating process but after 5 1/2 months of scratching and crawling we received a final offer. we had a 5/1 Arm at 9% which was due to reset back in june of 09 received a mod at 5.275% fixed....it lowered our payments over $600 a month!! so for us it was worth it, for most unforunately it is not.

**Evan Bedard** · 10-27-2009, 12:35 PM

Congratulations E Wald on the modification!!!!!

**dilvala** · 10-27-2009, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by e!!wald

I can't comment on your scenarios but we were one of the few that received a permenent mod after going through a 3 month trial period. it was a very trying, nervewracking and frustrating process but after 5 1/2 months of scratching and crawling we received a final offer. we had a 5/1 Arm at 9% which was due to reset back in june of 09 received a mod at 5.275% fixed....it lowered our payments over $600 a month!! so for us it was worth it, for most unforunately it is not.

what took them so long after the trial was done with? if you don't mind me asking.

**scsc168** · 10-27-2009, 01:48 PM

dilvala,
do you have the link to fill out the paper work online? it's a surprise to me that you can get pre-approved the next day. i have been calling the number provided by this site, and it has been over a month since i sent in all my paper work (including pay stub, bank statements, tax return, etc.). i have not yet heard anything back from citi yet.

**davephx** · 10-27-2009, 04:06 PM

It is 4 month initial trial if current 3 months if delinquent.

Verbal approvals at least use to be easy after they ask you questions. Than may take many months to get the paperwork. Most trials extend 5-6 months.

On credit reporting - from Wall Street Journal 10/26/09

If you were behind on your payments before starting the trial period, lenders are supposed to continue reporting you as delinquent, which can hurt your score. (The loan modification could extend delinquency during the trial period. And once you're approved, the lender may continue to report the modification as "partial payment"—which generally hurts your score.)

If you're current, lenders are supposed to report you as current, but some lenders may also report the modifications as a "partial payment" of your mortgage, which is often considered a negative.

Q: Why would something endorsed by the government trash my credit score?

Many lenders and those in the credit-reporting industry have struggled to keep up with the dramatic housing remedies that Washington has devised.

Shortly after the government rolled out its modification program earlier this year, the Consumer Data Industry Association, which represents credit bureaus, advised lenders to classify such modifications as a "partial payment," a preexisting code that generally hurts your score. Under the widely used FICO model, for example, "partial payment plans" are considered comparable to a missed payment or some other type of derogatory or collection item on their file, says Tom Quinn, vice president of global scoring solutions at FICO.

But there's a temporary fix on the horizon. Starting in November, lenders will be able to use a new code that specifies whether a mortgage was modified under the government's plan. That code will reduce the hit to the credit files of people who work with the government to modify their loan; those who work directly with their own lender for more lenient terms could still see a significant hit if the lender reports their own modifications as a partial payment to the credit bureaus.

But while the new November status codes will have no impact on your score for now, that could change once the industry has had a chance to determine whether someone who modifies a loan is an elevated credit risk, says John Ulzheimer of Credit.com.

**e!!wald** · 10-27-2009, 06:07 PM

We were current when we started the trial period so they did not report us to the credit agencies as being delinquent and without looking over my notes and going on memory..from the time the trial perios was over to when we received the mod offer we went through 7 different representatives assigned to our case 3 underwriters our case file was closed twice due to numbers getting mixed up when our case was reasigned and the 31% threshold somehow not matching with the numbers they plugged in when our file was reassigned, and just pretty much waiting around to see what they could do.....i posted a while back about being patient yet persistent calm yet assertive and neve rude to anyone at anytime and i feel it did us a world of good in the end..sean freeman was the name of our final rep..and he was always very cordial polite and true to his word when he said he would call back or get an answer for us...again good luck to you going forward

**dilvala** · 10-27-2009, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by scsc168

dilvala,
do you have the link to fill out the paper work online? it's a surprise to me that you can get pre-approved the next day. i have been calling the number provided by this site, and it has been over a month since i sent in all my paper work (including pay stub, bank statements, tax return, etc.). i have not yet heard anything back from citi yet.

I filled out the paper work at citi.com under home owner assistance. After filling out my info i was told to call 18662724749. When i called he said that he could tell me if i qualify in just a few minutes after i answers some questions. I ask him are this the same questions i filled out online, and that is when he found that i was already in their computer.

From what i understand is that the number is for Lost Mitigation. And if you give them a few details they are able to tell you if you qualify right away. I would give them a call. Hope this helps.