Behind in payments, seeking Loan Modification

[Jim B.]

On April 7th I applied to Countrywide's Special Programs Group through the Loss Mitigation Department for a Loan Modification. I was told the Special Programs Group can handle Loan Modifications. I am behind approximately 5 payments on my mortgage and as of April 7th, I have ample amount of money to contribute toward a loan modification, I cannot pay the complete amount I owe, but I can pay up to 2/3 of the total dollar amount owed.
Today, May 14th I was contacted by a negotiator from Countrywide's Special Programs Group. Today marks 37 days from the time I applied for a loan modification. The negotiator that called me today was offering me a "Repayment Plan", not a loan modification plan. The Repayment plan, based on repaying the amount due was being figured on repaying the loan over a 17 month period, plus giving the 2/3 I have to pay toward the amount owed. I was then told by this negotiator that I would be better off with a Loan Modification, however he cannot help me with the Loan Modification, that is taken care of in another group
I was offered the repayment plan back on April 7th but opted for the Loan Modification plan instead. I sent my hardship letter, along with Bank Statements into the Loss Mitigation Dept. and clearly asked in my letter for a loan modification, not a repayment plan. This has wasted valuable time with the sale date in Mid August. I was told today that I will have to be referred back to the Collections Department, then transferred to the Group that works out Loan Modifications.
Am I getting the run around, or is this a simple mistake? What should I do from here to make sure my request is taken to the right department or group?
I cannot wait another 30 days, charges keep accruing and the foreclosure gets closer. WHAT TO DO??

[Moe Bedard]

Hi Jim,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for joining..............
I have never heard of the "Special Programs Group"........that is a new one.........

Please keep us posted on your progress........

[Jim B.]

***

I think it was an honest mistake on Countrywide's part, sending my letter to the wrong department, I know how much work each one of these Loss Mitigation negotiators must have. I was told at the time I was offered the repayment plan that I would qualify for a Loan Modification. I only need to be assured that I connect with the right department and get some kind of expedient help due to the mixup. Could there be any repercussions for asking for help from the contacts you gave me?

Jim

[Moe Bedard]

Nope..........not a one...........if you follow this advice you should get to success too............if you want some proof of how following the advice given has helped others..........just read this.........
I don't offer it because I like to type it over and over..........
We just love to help as many members as we can to get to success


http://www.loansafe.org/forum/succes...-loansafe.html

[Jim B.]

***

May I ask what the following e-mail addresses are for and to what purpose I send all my info to them? I am here to learn and trust me, I will do ANYTHING neccessary to be heard.

vice_president@whitehouse.gov
OCIP@do.treas.gov
service@naca.com

[Moe Bedard]

Well Jim................ the vice president Cheney.....has been added because we want the government to know each and everytime on of our members has an issue with their lender.......and if you don't want a response from him, then don't send it there that is o.k.........the main emails are the CW ones.....

Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance is the U.S. Treasury Dept. and they take the complaints of the customers of the major banks and lenders..........again if you don't want to be heard by them.....then don't send to that one either........most want there voices heard on this mortgage meltdown......

and NACA is a non profit that is working with CW to help its customers........if you feel you have the time to do this yourself...........then you probably don't need the help from NACA.........but some members do......so they send the hardship to them too......but again that is up to you...........

vice_president@whitehouse.gov
OCIP@do.treas.gov
service@naca.com


If you just want to email the Countrywide contacts then do that........you will receive the response from them within the 48 hours.........
The other emails are just an added measure to get the word out........

[Jim B.]

Thanks ***

I will send to all but Cheney. Don't think much of the entire regime and he is the root of all things I despise. Notice I did not say HATE.

I appreciate and value your help and I will keep the posts here on my progress

Thanks again!

[Moe Bedard]

That is o.k. with me..............I believe we do need a refreshing change in that dept....

Good Luck with the campaign.......it does really work.......

Please do keep us posted on your progress.......you should here something by tomorrow or Friday.......

[Jim B.]

Hi *** Please evaluate my e-mail below to Countrywide via the e-mail addresses you supplied. I was not able to embed my hardship letter into the e-mai, rather I attached the letter and told them it is attached. I do not know how to embed a pdf file in e-mail, only attaching it.

My Wife Carolyn and I live in a home that was built in 2006, We have been living in the home continuously and are looking forward to keeping the home, we love the home and the neighborhood very much

Both Carolyn and I are Realtors and like Countrywide, much for the same reasons, we have experienced a slow-down in the Real Estate business for the last 17 months here in Oregon. We started falling behind in our payments and our property taxes was added onto our money owed. Jim also incurred some medical bills due to being hospitalized and and that made it that much harder to We looked into a repayment plan with the Loss Mitigation Department, however the repayment plan was close to $3700.00 per month according to their figures. This high of a payment we cannot maintain.

We are requesting a loan work-out and would appreciate being assigned to a loan work-out counselor, one we can talk to and not start over fresh each time we call in. I have been put on a 30-60 day hold twice now, telling me that, due to the high case load each counselor has a huge clientele. Our sale date is August 8th and we cannot and will not let that happen. Your help in working closely with us, getting this straightened out will be tremendous.

We are not without resources, the Real Estate business is picking up well in Portland Oregon and we have been able to save $14,000 that we will put toward the money we owe. We will need some money to operate on and we now have other properties sold and in escrow. The total amount owed is $21,323.00 when I last spoke with Susan Walker in the Loan Retention Dept on May 21, 2008. We first wrote to Countrywide (letter attached) on April 7th of 2008

We will work with you and Become current and maintain our mortgage payments. There is nothing more important to us than getting current and maintaining our mortgage. We are not upside down in our loan, we have plenty of equity and our home will appraise at over $550,000.

We are very much looking forward to continuing doing business with and referrring business to Countrywide Home Loans.



Thank you,



Jim and Carolyn

[Moe Bedard]

Jim,

The only parts I would remove is the part about the plenty of equity............you don't want them to know you have that much equity...........in a hardship situation most would have no equity.........

And take the part out about the 14k you have saved.........in most of the workouts if they are able to modify your loan.......they have put most if not all of the arrearage into the principle balance of the loan..........and require 1 or 2 months for a good faith payment......

attachments are kind of trick to get them to read...........would you be able to copy your letter from your post here and paste it into an email?

Keep us posted on how it goes................and make sure the letter has your loan number, address, and contact info before sending it........

[Andrew]

If you look at my success thread that seemed to work for me, then everyone else who followed. I even received a letter from vice president cheney regarding this matter. Its posted in my success story.

[Jim B.]

I will takle out the part about having $14,000 to put towards arrearage. In fact if they put the entire amount onto my loan and reworked the loan I would most likely still have low payments. I am on a payment option Arm, Do you think they will complete;ly restructure my loan or just add the arrearage to the loan?

By the way, I was told last week that the Investor on my loan is Bank of New York and it would be the investor to allow a loan to be re-worked. Any experience with Bank of New York in a similar situation as mine?

I Really, Really appreciate yours and Andrew's help!!!!!

[Moe Bedard]

Most do not know who the investor is on the loan.............so I am not sure of how BOA is working their Option Arm modifications...........
but it is the investor who has the last word in what they will or won't do for the modifications...

Also don't mention the part about the equity either.........


Keep us updated on your progress....

[Jim B.]

*** and Andrew, here is the whole e-mail, along with the hardship letter:


I would very much appreciate your help. Loan # xxxxxx

The following is the letter we sent to the Loan Retention Department on April 7th, 2008, along with recent comments:


To Loss Mitigation-Home Retention Specialist 7 April 2008

Countrywide Home Loans

Regarding: Loan # xxxxxx

Purpose: Loan Modification Rework of loan preferable

Dear Specialist

Please accept this letter as part of our formal request for assistance of reworking our loan. Please know that we value and love our home and fully intend to keep the home. We also fully realize and respect the investment that Countrywide has made with us to make ownership of this home possible. We will not let you down. Unfortunately as we will explain in this letter we have not been able to keep up on our mortgage payments due to hard times that have affected our family, however we now are in a much better position to to get back on track and keep up on our mortgage.



Please read this letter so you can know what our position is, We will not let you down if we are given a chance to catch up through a re-working of our loan.



We fell behind in our mortgage payments due partially to the Real Estate slowdown which affected us a both my wife and I are Realtors and partially to Jim B.'s sickness and eventual Pacemaker implant after suffering 3rd Degree Heartblock. Jim was ill for several months prior to the Pacemaker implant which, along with the market slowdown, impaired our ability to keep up on our mortgage payments. I am happy to say that Jim's operation was a huge success and Portland Oregon's Real Estate market has vastly improved from the last 6 months of downturn.

We are extremely confident that we will never be in this position again.

We are looking forward to working with you to work-out a plan that will allow us to keep up on our mortgage payments. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and consideration.

Jim and Carolyn B.

My name is Jim B., my wife Carolyn and I live in a home that was built in 2006, We have been living in the home continuously and are looking forward to keeping the home, we love the home and the neighborhood very much

Both Carolyn and I are Realtors and like Countrywide, much for the same reasons, we have experienced a slow-down in the Real Estate business for the last 17 months here in Oregon. We started falling behind in our payments and our property taxes was added onto our money owed. Jim also incurred some medical bills due to being hospitalized and off work for a few months and that made it that much harder to We looked into a repayment plan with the Loss Mitigation Department, however the repayment plan was close to $3700.00 per month according to their figures. This high of a payment we cannot maintain.

We are requesting a loan work-out and would appreciate being assigned to a loan work-out counselor, one we can talk to and not start over fresh each time we call in. I have been put on a 30-60 day hold twice now, telling me that, due to the high case load each counselor has a huge clientele. Our sale date is August 8th and we cannot and will not let that happen. Your help in working closely with us, getting this straightened out will be tremendous.

The Real Estate business is picking up well in Portland Oregon and we have some money saved to help us keep up on our mortgage and be able to operate on and we now have other properties sold and in escrow. I last spoke with Susan Walker in the Loan Retention Dept on May 21, 2008. We first wrote to Countrywide (letter attached) on April 7th of 2008

We will work with you and Become current and maintain our mortgage payments. There is nothing more important to us than getting current and maintaining our mortgage.

We are very much looking forward to continuing doing business with and referrring business to Countrywide Home Loans.

Thank you,

Jim and Carolyn

Jim and Carolyn B.

[Moe Bedard]

The letter looks good now..........

Keep us updated on how it goes.....

[Jim B.]

Hi All

I sent my e-mail last night at 9:03 PM, I received this message this morning at 10:20AM:


I have forwarded your information to the Office of the president for immediate response. If you don't hear from anyone in the next couple days, please feel free to follow up with me.

Lisa Riordan
Executive Vice President, Investor Relations
Countrywide Financial Corporation
4500 Park Granada
CH-19
Calabasas, CA 91302


It looks like the process has started, if I do not hear from anyone else by Friday, I will get back to Lisa Riordan on Monday. Any other tips or actions recommended at this time?

[Moe Bedard]

No not at this time.........Jim you are on your way........

Just stay on top of them......

Keep us posted on your progress...

[Jim B.]

Another reply from Countrywide


I have forwarded your email on to our Office of the President for further attention and someone should be contacting you shortly.

Regards,
Elizabeth

[Moe Bedard]

You might get a few of those..........but it won't hurt to have that information forwarded a few times to the Office of the President........LOL.

[Jim B.]

Hi ***

It has been 2 days now since I received the e-mail from both Lisa Riordan and Elizabeth Moyer, telling me that they referred my message to the office of the president.

I sent off another e-mail to both Ms. Riordan and Ms. Moyer this afternoon, asking how long I should anticipate to be contacted from someone from the office of the president, I mentioned that we now have the ability to cooperate with Countrywide in a workout of our loan and the delays we have experienced from Countrywide, while understanding the caseload, has put a great deal of stress on our family.

Anything else to do now? How are we okay in the process, timewise?

[schwefls]

Hi Jim:

Not much more to do now, I would give it to early next week. Then touch base with them again, remember patience is a virtue but persistence pays off in these cases. The trick is balancing the two. I am sure you will hear from someone early next week.

[Andrew]

Jim,
Bank of NY is a great investor to have on your loan, CW has a direct delegate for them, which means its fairly easy for them to modify your loan.

[Jim B.]

Than you Andrew and Lynn

That is great news Andrew. It is really good to know in advance that CW has a direct delegate with Bank of New York. I am not asking for a lot here, we have enough equity to still have around 20% equity, even if they put the entire amount on the back of my loan.

Have you had any experience with CW and work outs when the buyer had a 5 year pay option ARM?. This is what we have.

Lynn, thank you for your encouragement. In fact Elizabeth Moyer almost immediately replied to my message this afternoon telling me if I do not hear anything from from the office of the President of CW by close of business Monday to let her know Tuesday morning. She said it has been her experience that that office usually gets back within 48 hours.

I will post my results, thanks, Jim

[Jim B.]

I received a call from Countrywide today, in response to my e-mail sent to multiple Countrywide officials, in the timeframe that would have been 48 hours but with the week-end in between. The caller was calling to go over my situation and do a quick assessment prior to referring me to the Home Retention Department to assign me to a loan counselor. I was assured I would be given a persons name to work with, within 48 hours of the call I received today.
I was also asked to fax my last 2 months bank statements and my last 2 check stubs to the attention of the person who called me today.

My problem is that my income as a Realtor is harder to show over a 2 month period as I am being paid by 100% commission and my income is hitched to my property closings which are spread out through the year. I have saved up a considerable amount of money, however I am hoping that I can save at least half the amount I have saved to put in reserve so we will not get behind in our payments again. What do I need to show the loan counselor to be in the most favorable position for a re-work of my loan. My loan is a Pay Option 5 year Arm with 2 years left. Your help will be greatly appreciated. I know I am on my way to being helped, I just need counseling to make my position most effective.

[Moe Bedard]

Jim,

They look for the same thing whether you are self employed or not.........I had to send 12 months worth of bank statements to Chase......but what they want to see is when you do the household income for one month and the household expenses for the same that you can show a surplus of $100-$250 at the end of the month...........so if you have some income like that over the months that they are asking for........just give them those pay statments..........they might ask for your tax return and a P & L also so just be prepared.......in case.......