Countywide Hard Ball

[scoobit]

Hi All -

Hoping to get some decent feedback here.

Countywide 30yr Adjustable Jumbo 5yr.
Have been delinquent on my loan since 2/08 due to divorce and bankruptcy. Been going through hoops trying to get loan mod. Finally got a loan rep to assist. Today he came back with my options.

1. Want 4 months of back payments $8,800
2. First two years interest reduced to 3.25 with a approx $1770 monthly payment
3. At 3rd year loan will increase to 4.25 to approx $2000 per month
4. At 5th year loan will increase to my current rate of 5.25 with a 2,200 and that rate and loan will turn into a 30 year fixed.

Seems pretty reasonable...and think I can swing it, but here is the kicker. My loan adjuster wants me to send in the $8800 right away or they won't continue with the loan mod process. No specific details on the loan and everything above was stated as a "estimate". I've been advised by multiple people to give them a cent until I have something in writing. Let alone these funds could be used to move to a rental if need be.

Another thing is the loan was for 365,750 if they tack on my outstanding payments of 28k that will bring the final loan of the house up to 393,750. The house if I am lucky is worth 325-350. As someone else stated in a post...if that is the case...in 5 years...unless the market swings back up, I will continue to be upside down for a long long time. Since I am only a year out of my bankruptcy it will probably be another 3-4 years before I could qualify for another loan anyway and no way I could ever qualify for a house like this on my own so trying to do what I can to stay in it.

Oh and...I thought they were going to use some specific income to debt ratio rules to figure out what is a affordable payment. In my situation almost 50% of my monthly salary will go to the mortgage and thought it was supposed to be closer to 31%.

Feedback...insight, ideas...whatever would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks
SGM

[Countrywidesucks168]

Dealing with CW has been a roller coaster to me that has not stopped. You will get no where dealing with them directly. I would try NACA, everyone here seems to be advocating them in a positive way, I am going with them since I am not getting anywhere with CW directly... They are horrible.

[MP927]

Yes I cannot stress enough, going on my personal experience with NACA/CW--do not give yourself the headache of dealing with CW directly. We never spoke with CW, ever! There were a couple of collection calls but once we applied to NACA the calls stopped within 2 weeks. And we never called them to ask about mods/programs/nothing! I have not seen anyone speak about many positive experiences of dealing with CW directly. More times than not, people are frustrated after attempting resolution with them-or any help in general!
So my 2 cents would be to get NACA involved, cooperate on any level, and you will see results.
We were paying around 60% of our income before NACA, and now it has been reduced to around 45% (which includes all impounds/insurance (PMI). Our P & I is 31% though.

[Evelyn]

Indeed it seems that the CW direct offer mods seem to me to be "predatory mods". How sad!! Talk with NACA. If anyone can help, they can.

[tandm]

scoobit ~

I'd be very hesitant to send in the money first - whenever you buy a home, you sign docs and bring your money in then. So if you decide to take the offer, I'd say I'll give you the money when I sign the docs (and even then, I'd worry they could still back out after you'd signed - seems I've read somewhere on here that they changed it after that but I'm not sure).

Is this their first offer? If yes, maybe you could think about responding with something like, "that's very helpful and I appreciate your attempts to help me with this but I really need something more because... give them reasons." See where that gets you. It got me a "what is it you're looking for?". I said what I was then two weeks and I was told, "I'll check with my boss." Two weeks later, same offer came back. I still held back and said I needed something better and am waiting to hear response.

If this is not the first try, and you can live with it and afford it, then maybe you should think about taking it - but not giving them the money until you're sure it's a done deal.