Melissa Henderson called! Need advise.

[kapsarchana]

Received call from Melissa today just a couple of days after faxing all the documents.
As MHA program goes by 31% of gross monthly income and since 31% of my wife's gross monthly income (it includes a 1 time bonus so in the essence regular salary is less) is exactly what our payment on 1st mortgage is she does not know what else she can do as far as MHA is concerned. We asked if 2nd could also be considered for mod under MHA and she said she would look into reducing the interest rate on that.

My question:
Since I lost my job our household income has been reduced into half. After medical and flex spending deduction my wife's gets almost of half of gross as net. We have only $225 left at the end of the month after all the expenses. Is there no in-house program that can help us reduce our payments by considering the net income?
Should I argue with her that the one time bonus is not guaranteed and she may not get it the next year?

Appreciate the help!

[so-cal-gal]

Originally Posted by kapsarchana

Received call from Melissa today just a couple of days after faxing all the documents.
As MHA program goes by 31% of gross monthly income and since 31% of my wife's gross monthly income (it includes a 1 time bonus so in the essence regular salary is less) is exactly what our payment on 1st mortgage is she does not know what else she can do as far as MHA is concerned. We asked if 2nd could also be considered for mod under MHA and she said she would look into reducing the interest rate on that.

My question:
Since I lost my job our household income has been reduced into half. After medical and flex spending deduction my wife's gets almost of half of gross as net. We have only $225 left at the end of the month after all the expenses. Is there no in-house program that can help us reduce our payments by considering the net income?
Should I argue with her that the one time bonus is not guaranteed and she may not get it the next year?

Appreciate the help!

Boy, nothing like trying to have a crystal ball to see if the job will have the same benies next year with all the potential changes for employers coming down the pike.

Is the bonus tied to anything that is a known quantity at this time? Is the company doing as well as it has in the past? Unless the company is willing to provide some assurance (which might look a bit greedy to some bosses), how can you count on this bonus being the same as in past years?

I know of some companies who have instituted abrupt changes in bonuses even before this economic mess developed.

So, I would QUESTION whether the bonus should be 'counted on', not set out to ARGUE the point, okay?

[ama125]

Do you know who the investor/lender is that owns your loan?

This is an excerpt from the HAMP FAQs:

Q4. Can a loan be modified to a monthly mortgage payment ratio below 31 percent?

Servicers must apply the specified modification steps until the borrower’s monthly mortgage payment ratio is reduced as close as possible to 31 percent, without going under 31 percent. A servicer may modify below 31 percent, subject to applicable contractual agreements, but incentive payments will be made based only on modification terms that reflect a 31 percent monthly mortgage payment ratio.

[kapsarchana]

Originally Posted by ama125

Do you know who the investor/lender is that owns your loan?

This is an excerpt from the HAMP FAQs:

Q4. Can a loan be modified to a monthly mortgage payment ratio below 31 percent?

Servicers must apply the specified modification steps until the borrower’s monthly mortgage payment ratio is reduced as close as possible to 31 percent, without going under 31 percent. A servicer may modify below 31 percent, subject to applicable contractual agreements, but incentive payments will be made based only on modification terms that reflect a 31 percent monthly mortgage payment ratio.

Our loan is owned by Fannie Mae.

[ama125]

Originally Posted by kapsarchana

Our loan is owned by Fannie Mae.

Here is the HAMP FAQ from Fannie Mae's site (similar wording, but essentially they, BofA, can request to go under the 31%):

Q4. Can a loan be modified to a monthly mortgage payment ratio below 31 percent?

Servicers must apply the specified modification steps until the borrower’s monthly mortgage payment ratio is reduced as close as possible to 31 percent, without going under 31 percent. Servicers must request prior written approval from Fannie Mae to deviate from the specified modification steps or to reduce the monthly mortgage payment ratio below 31 percent. In any event, incentive payments will be made based only on modification terms that reflect a 31 percent monthly mortgage payment ratio.

Taken from: https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides...f/hampfaqs.pdf

PS - was told by my nego in the same office as Melissa Henderson that they do not have internet access. I saved the pdf file to my computer and emailed it as an attachment (not this document, but one on the NPV test). I would email Melissa this proof that they can in fact do something...or at least try by requesting this!