Terrified and confused

[patmck]

Hi to all,

First let me say that I live in Florida. My house is "underwater" meaning that I owe with first and second mortgage almost double the present value of the home.

In Jan I applied for a loan modification with Countrywide. They had me answer a lot of questions and fax many documents. I did not get a reply so I called 2 weeks later. I was told that I was denied the day after I applied because I had a fixed-rate mortgage, which they already knew. The woman on the phone said to try back again because new programs were coming up.

In Feb I called again. I was trying to get my payments lowered so I could rent the house out and cover the mortgage. A very nasty woman in the loan workout dept. said that it wouldn't matter what they did because we still couldn't afford the house.

She said "get a second job, or borrow from friends and family" My husband has two jobs and I have been ill and in the hospital. I also live in an area with high-unemployment and low-paying jobs and I have borrowed from family. She said they would not accept a short sale because of second mortgage (which is with Bank of America, owner of Countrywide).

I told her I wanted a copy of a denial letter which I never received and she said, "We don't do that, your file is closed".

For extra info, my loan is owned by Fannie Mae. I am current on the mortgage but cannot go on paying because it is running up too much debt.

How do I "give back the house?" What happens then? What do I do about the equity loan which is currently interest only with no money paid on principal?

We live paycheck to paycheck so it isn't possible for us to pay this money back.

I would appreciate any advice you can offer.

[Dan Bailey]

patmck,
Glad you found the forum and posted.

If you have tried on your own, and received no help from CW, you may want to try going through NACA:
https://www.naca.com/refinance/refinanceSubmission.jsp They are a non profit HUD approaved homeowners advocacy group that have helped many folks out in dealing with their lenders.
Alos, you may want to contact this number:
CW home retention: CW Home Retention
1-800-669-0102
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You may have just been dealing with collections people thus far-they just want to mark "payment made" in their computer.

If you think you just want to walk away from the home or do a deed in lieu (give back the house) there is a section of the forum called "Deed in lie/walking away" with many of the answers to those questions. Prof. Shays has some excellent insight to the process for that, there.

[patmck]

Thank you for the info Dan,

I was also wondering about what to do with the Home equity/second mortgage. Is there any benefit in continuing to try to pay the interest on that when I stop paying Countrywide? Our credit is so good that it is breaking my heart to see it ruined. I am trying everything I can to salvage what I can.

[Dan Bailey]

patmck,
I think alot of that answer depends on the state you are in, etc... I have always seen Moe and *** advise to 'pay whenever you can" when going through a modification....for implications of that when "walking away" , you'd have to see what Prof. Shays and others who are going that route say in that part of the forum.