still on the hamster wheel

[lugson]

Here's our long-story short. We have a first and second mortgage with CW and back on 10/30/08 we submitted a request for loan modification due to financial hardship. In the letter I stated that due to medical bills and unforeseen big expenses (like roof repair, car repair, etc.) we got behind were struggling to catch up. Currently we are behind three months on the first mortgage (M1) and five months on the second (M2). Additionally, we originally requested a loan mod a year previous and accepted a modification agreement in July of 2008 (with CW) on M1. In this agreement the loan length was extended and the interest rate dropped, which saved us about $600 a month (not complaining about that).

In the 10/25 letter to CW, we asked them to look at M2 since we heard nothing regarding this loan in the previous mod. The original mod helped, but out of fear of being foreclosed and NO COMMUNICATION from CW as to mod status, we cashed out our 401k and came current on everything. 3 days later, we received our mod. This 401k money could have wiped out all other debt we had - so we are now asking for our M2 to be modified. Needless to say, we would not even be asking for M2 (although a predatory loan) to be modified if they would have communicated with us as to a positive status of the original mod. Truthfully we feel a little like we were royally and purposefully screwed by CW - as throughout the original mod we were told they could foreclose any day.

Currently, both M1 and M2 are being considered for modification, and CW has told us that both loan requests are "referred for final documentation". Anybody heard that one before? We haven't seen a reference to that particular term on this site before.

Additionally, we were totally confused as to who we are talking to when we dial a 1-800 number - from reading these strings I now think that we are being helped by the Heart team, although when I ask the CW representative, they have repeatedly told me that Hope and Heart and Home retention are all branches of CW.

I'm also told that I can't talk to my negotiator (Roxie Hollingsworth, anybody work with her?) directly as negotiators don't take calls. However I see several of you have managed to sneak through. Any advice in this area would be greatly appreciated.

My wife and I both have steady income - no layoffs in site (luckily). We can afford our mortgage if the M2 could be modified.

[lugson]

We are new to this forum and are thankful for the info we have found.

Does anyone know what it means when you are told your paperwork is "out for final documentation"? We are worried because it has been over three weeks. Are they going to make us wait over 4 mos and thenturn us down?

Also, how do we determine who our "investor" is? We had always thought it was cw on the 1st and 2nd... On our paperwork cw is the only comany listed.

Thank you for your help!

[Moe Bedard]

Hi lugson,



Welcome to the forum and thank you for joining................

CW is the servicer on your loan.............they retain a small number of loans in their investment portfolio...........but the chances are that there is a different investor. You can ask CW who the invstor is, and some reps will let you know, but due to pooling and servicing agreement guidelines between them and the investor...........they are not required to.

if someone heard the same thing and knows what it means, I am sure they will post..........if not, you would need to clarify with CW what exactly that means and to get a timeframe on how much longer the modification process should take..............it can run anywhere form 45-60 days...........sometimes more.

CW Home Retention
1-800-669-0102

[lugson]

***,
Thank you very much for your response. We will call tomorrow and ask cw about our investors.

As for the "final doc" q. - cw originally told us that process would take 10 days (they told us this on 1.13.09). They just keep telling us wait. The timeline prior to the final documentation stage was appx three months. We will keep the forum posted in case anybody else out there is having similar problems.

Thx again!

[lugson]

We did find our investors are Fannie Mae (1st) and BofNY (2nd). As for the final doc q - well, nobody seems to know what that means or what the status of our loan is. The Heart Team says the Home Ret. people have our info - call them - and the Home Ret. people say we need to call the Hope/Heat Team. And nobody will give us a number for our negotiator.

We have seen a few posts for people having success by contacting the office of the pres. We are doing that - called all day yesterday. Left two messages, and let the phone ring forever. No luck. Will call again today. We have been in limbo since October. If anyone has any suggestions on a good way to get through to the office of the pres - we would greatly appreciate the help!

[Dan Bailey]

Lugson, unfortunately, sometimes once a hole is opened, they slam it shut. They did that with many e-mail addresses,
If you were able to get messages in using that number, all you can do is continue trying....I am sure that number is being innundated with calls.

[lugson]

Does anybody know if the mods already in the works with cw will take into account the new plan announced by Obama today? We are calling cw later to ask, but they have a bad track record when it comes to good information...

[lugson]

Yesterday a company called Digital Risk requested my W2's for 2004 and 2005 from my place of employment. Don't really know what this means... Has anybody had something similar happen - any ideas? We are really confused and worried.

[Dan Bailey]

Have not heard of this...did your employer release that info?

[lugson]

The accounting department had no idea where the files that old would be (new accountant/owners out of town) so he asked me to bring in my W2's - so I did and yes, off it went today...

[Dan Bailey]

I would attempt to contact "digital risk" and ask who/what they are.

[Dan Bailey]

PS: a google search of them shows them to be a risk mitigation company. Seems they are being used to asess the info provided to determine eligibility/ provide clarification of financials. (from what I can decipher)

[lugson]

Dan -
Thx for your reply. I did google them. I emailed my company about the request they received and found out Digital Risk requested this info regarding my 2006 CW loan. I am just a little confused as to why they are requesting such old info. We did call CW and got no info from them. We also called the office of the pres and left another message.

[Dan Bailey]

lugson,
If you are in the process of a mod, I would imagine it would be to check the validity of your financials? ie: hardship, etc..?? I don't know really???

[lugson]

In another thread I read you could view and print your loan documents online. Out of curiosity I checked it out and discovered our HUD Settlement paperwork was indeed posted and had line numbers added and info crossed out and written in. We did not get copies of this altered paperwork. Can anyone tell us if this is normal?

On a side note, I found out my husband received a call from Jan Lee with the office of the President - I guess she is in the Escalation Department (?). This call came prior to the request for my W2s from 2004 and 2005. She mentioned she may have to start the process over since it had been so long. We are also wondering of the process this new department would use is different from the typical process used and that is why my W2s were requested? Jan had called to confirm the paperwork was received and asked for some time to search out what was happening to our loan. It has been a week with no word from her but we hope to hear next week.

[Dan Bailey]

lugson,
Going over you HUD statement would require a forensic audit, or someone well versed in the process.
I'm still scratching my head as to why they wanted w-2s from so far back. You wrote that the loan originated in 2006.

This is just kind of strange.

If you have your original paperword (HUD) It would be interesting to compare with the altered statement online.

[lugson]

Dan,
We had the very same thought. We are going to go through the paperwork tonight. I had asked the accountant at my work why he thought my old W2s were requested. He felt someone is checking to see if our 06 loan was properly supported. It is all a little confusing for us... We'll keep you posted.

[lugson]

Wow - I don't even know where to start... a lot has happened. We were just looking into a chapter 13 to strip our 2nd when we got a call from the office of the president. Ok - fine, she is looking at our paperwork. She does see a mod for us, wants us to sit tight until next week. Btw, she is nice, understanding and intelligent. And we are thankful for her. She called early (I know!! Early!!).

As an update. We did do a mod last summer on our 1st. But a couple days before we received the mod paperwork, we cashed out our 401k and came current because we were told by cw foreclosure was imminent. As I said - we got the mod days after coming current. The mod was great - we signed it and sent it back. We have never been able to get out of cw what happen to our "come current $$". Looks like this nice lady in the office of the president has found it. It has been sitting in a partial payment account for almost a year. She is applying to our past due - which will nicely catch us up on our 1st. Oh, and the mod for a 2nd is starting over. Bummer. Nice to be caught up on the 1st, though... Looks like we will dive back in for the 2nd.

[lugson]

I am wondering about the Second Liens section of the Obama Plan... Right now our 2nd mortgage in in active modification. How do we find out if we are eligible to have our 2nd mortgage extinguished? Our home is currently worth less than what we owe on our 1st. And if we accept a mod on our 2nd does that preclude us from being able to see if it can be extinguished through this new program? Are there credit ramifications if your 2nd is extinguished through this new program?

We are worried CW won't be able to help us enough with the 2nd... We have looked into chap13 and have been told we are good candidates to have the 2nd stripped - but we really want that to be a last resort.

[Moe Bedard]

You would have to be modifying the first lien under the program.........and then you would need to contact the servicer of the second lien to see if the investor on the lien is willing to participate by extinguishing their lien.



Second Liens:

While eligible loan modifications will not require any participation by second lien holders, the program will include additional incentives to extinguish second liens on loans modified under the program, in order to reduce the overall indebtedness of the borrower and improve loan performance. Servicers will be eligible to receive compensation when they contact second lien holders and extinguish valid junior liens (according to a schedule to be specified by the Treasury Department, depending in part on combined loan to value). Servicers will be reimbursed for the release according to the specified schedule, and will also receive an extra $250 for obtaining a release of a valid second lien.

[j-nice]

***, in reading the guidelines for the second liens doesn't it read that the Servicer (i.e. Countrywide), would be the one to contact the jr lien holder to negotiate the extinguishing of the lien? Afterall, it puts the first lien holder in a better position with no other encumberances on the property and the Servicer receives $$ from the government.

[Moe Bedard]

It is the servicer of the second lien holder that would be contacting the investor that holds the lien.
A first lien holder is already in a good position............

[j-nice]

Oh, gotcha...I can't imagine many 2nd lien investors jumping on the band wagon for that without tremendous pressure from the government. I would think a better alternative would be the pressure coming from the first investor to the second. All investors carry the burden of both 1st and 2nd mortgages just not neccessarily on the same property. They could barter with one another...I'll remove this one if you remove that one. I still think the only way to remove a second mortgage with any chance of success is through chapter 13 bk.

[lugson]

Thank you for clarifying -

Our 1st was modified last summer. I thought perhaps they would extinguish the second if it looked like we would do a chap 13 - although now that I read the verbiage, it is the servicer being compensated rather than the investor, right? So how would it ever benefit the second lien holder - am I missing something?

In any case, we will wait to see what they come forward with as a mod on our 2nd - perhaps we can avoid a chap 13...