Saxon Success with Obama Mod!! Have question?!

[rlhoneydew]

Hi, I have just joined but have been reading everyone's comments since March! Thought I would add my experience.

I have just made my 1st "Trial Payment" on the Obama Plan Modification... I originally contacted my lender, Saxon, in March knowing that my loan was going to adjust in May, and every six months after, to a crazy amount that we would not be able to afford! We, like many of you, took out a 2 year adjustable loan (interest only) to get us back on our feet after my husband was out of work for several months. We assumed that we would be able to "just refinance" before the loan started adjusting.. well you know the story!?

So, in March we contacted Saxon and they sent the paperwork to apply for a modification. I called every week & not much progress occurred until early May... On that call, they told me that we did NOT qualify for a modification due to a negative income after all is paid at the end of the month - this was not true, we had about 200 to 300 left?! When I confronted them on it, the person looking at the file could not figure out why it was rejected, he did not see that we were negative, he saw exactly what we sent... strange. Anyway, after I was about in tears, he said, hold on, let me see what I can do... He got back on the line and said he would like to transfer me to another dept. and that I could be considered under the new Obama mod. plan (thought that with the original mod application, I would automatically be considered??) and that I could apply instantly over the phone... which I did and was "pre-approved" on the spot. Wondering if the reason I was rejected on the original mod. was because they wanted to use the Obama Mod. that they get a kickback on??! Anyway, they overnighted me the paperwork, I overnighted it back with my 1st Trial payment, and so here I am. It will not be "in stone" until I make all three trial payments on time. I did receive letters indicating that I was missing paperwork... a misunderstanding. Because this program is so new, the phone reps. sometimes don't know the answers to your questions, quite annoying, although we are so thankful for this opportunity to keep our home .

One question I do have is that on the Obama Plan, your payment s/b 31% of your gross income.... I THOUGHT that the final payment should be @ 31% including taxes and insurance, but Saxon tells me differently? Here is what they did:

Gross Income $5,800

31% is around $1,800 (This is what I thought my total pmnt to be)

They added in taxes & insurance, which brought my new payment to approx. $2,200.00 (they tell me that my new interest rate is around 4.25% which is actually great.)

From what I have read here... I thought I was right?? Maybe I am misunderstanding??

Is this correct... or should I call again & ask to speak to someone else?? (I have NEVER talked to the same person twice @ Saxon.)

Thanks to anyone who can answer this for me.

Some advice, if you have a Saxon Loan, call right away - the Obama Mod. moves quickly & you will immediately know if you qualify (instead of waiting months just to be rejected, like what happened to us ).

Good Luck.

[nitag]

From my understanding and with what Litton did (they are doing similar to Obama plan, but not Obama plan) it is supposed to be 31% of gross income INCLUDING taxes and Insurance. My trial payment is 1876.67 including taxes and insurance and thats right at 31% with an interest rate of 2.87%.

[rlhoneydew]

Hmm, this is what I thought?! My paperwork is the official MHA "Obama" mod. I suppose I should contact them & see if I can get another opinion? Seems like if it is government regulated, they should be able to get it right?

[keyluvs2travel]

Hello,
Congrats on your success with the Obama Mod. I have submitted all my paperwork except the financial worksheet. I am working on it and will fax to my servicer Doven Muehle tomorrow. I have been reading many forums and it seems like you need to have a surplus left over. Is this true? I thought you would need to be in the negative

[nitag]

Most want to see a surplus of 100 - 200 a month with your current payment.

[mcasey8sci]

hello,
we are in the exact same situation as you- even the part about rejected first. We too have made our first payment. The problem is the missing paperwork. Look on line and search "saxon missing paperwork". We have resent it 4 times, and still they do not have it, and we will be bumped out of the program if they don't have the paperwork. There are dozens of stories on many blog sites about saxon and missing paper work until the home is foreclosed on and sold at auction, saxon never saying anything about the forsclosure. Don't assume its all ok. Resend the paper work immediatly by certified mail. My understanding is even if the payments are made, this can still happen, and has. Call them and make sure there are not foreclosing. My question is how to get them to "find" and deal with the paper work. I have called and complained to attourney generals office, and other related companies, Morgan Stanley, etc. Does anyone know how to communicate with the actual investor? thanks!

[rlhoneydew]

Hi "mcasey8sci",
Yes, I have had to send paperwork multiple times .... What's strange is that they received some of the paperwork that I sent UPS overnight with my first trial payment, but not everything... Although in the last couple days I did receive a letter indicating that they had "all the paperwork needed" to process my modification -"BUT" they may need to contact me in the near future with additional questions and/or need additional paperwork. Thank You though for the heads-up, I will be on my toes with them! Were you already in the foreclosure process when you requested your mod??

Can you tell me how they calculated YOUR 31% trial payment??? As I mentioned before, mine is at 31% of gross income PLUS my insurance and property taxes... making my total payment well above the 31%. I spoke to a woman that is supposedly my "processor" (just found out I had one) and asked her what the correct payment should be... She said that she understands that the total payment (PITI) should be 31%, and that when it goes to underwriting, they should recalculate my payment.... BUT she wasn't totally sure since it is such a new program?! I keep getting that reply when they can't answer my questions directly... Oh well.

When I applied for the "first" modification, they said that to obtain my investor info. I would need to send a formal request... but I did notice that on the MHA Obama paperwork I received ("second" mod.), they are named there. You may want to check that out.

Hang in there....

[Survivor_in_KY]

rlhoneydew,

I read the required "goal" is 31-38%. The government price supports 50% of the reduction from 38%down to 31% to encourage it further. Maybe Saxon doesn't like this extra % loss in payment income???? It's the servicer/investors choice how far to reduce it, but government proposes that range for receiving incentives.

My "trail payment" is at 38% and includes tax and insurance (which is great). However, my first payment was a struggle due to a financial low point - given my ex shorted my child support within the month (so I've already started off "borrowing" against my savings) ...

I'm afraid my small savings (from not making payments/saving excess while trying to modify) will not last through the winter if I have to pay the higher percentage of 38% and face any more surprises (car breakdowns, emergency household repairs, medical or other necessary expenses, etc) . I'm very afraid of the high utilies in my area - I can't control the annual winter rate increase. It would be SOOOO much better... and ACTUALLY affordable... if I could get this at 31%.

Survivor

[PERSISTENT32]

I thought the whole point of the HAMP program was to get your payments to 31% of income. I have not received my updated loan modification. I am about to make my 2nd trial payment. Currently the trials are 31% of my income. However, I was behind before the trial. If the payments are more than my original mortgage. i will have to fight to get it lower. I was under the impression the government was helping homeowners get the payments down to 31% by offering incentives to the mortgage companies.

[rlhoneydew]

Hi Persistent,
YES, that is what the HAMP guidelines are.... If Saxon does not do the 31%, then they will not get their incentive payments. If you are at 31% on your trial payments, you should be fine. Any missed payments, I believe, Saxon will tack on the end of your loan (should not affect your payment amount because you payment cannot exceed 31% for this particular Gov. Plan.)

My trial payments were calculated at 31% THEN they added on my taxes & insurance - bringing it to 38%. This was done wrong. The phone rep was not fully trained for this plan, & my payment should be (better be) adjusted after my last trial payment, 8/1.

[rlhoneydew]

Hi mcasey8sci,
How are things progressing with your modification?

I made my 3rd HAMP payment to Saxon on 8/1, and am waiting for my final docs...They keep telling me they are in underwriting.

[keegee23]

Well after being in forclosure with Saxon and being 10 months behind (I was stalling because of lost of income). My payments went from $1250 a month to $736.87 a month and that includes PTI and tax. Yay!!! I am so bless. I make my first trial paymnet Oct 1st. Now I have a question! I have a 20% loan that Fremont sold to Litton. I've been going back and fourth with Litton for months. Until they finally wrote off my 20% loan and sold it to MOUNTAIN PEAK FINANCIAL (which is a collection agenecy) What does this mean. Does anyone know if this colection agency can foreclose on my home. My second loan is only $28000 that doesn't include any of the lat fees that Litton probably added on. Has anyone every had their 2nd mortgage written off? Please and advice will be good.

[Liliane]

I thought 2MP says that if they do a HAMP mod on the 1st, one HAD to be done on the 2nd...?

question for keegee23 and rlhoneydew: Did you count your 2nd loan payment in your bills on the HAMP application financial sheet you did for Saxon?

Saxon is the servicer for both our loans. I'm posting the following chronology to share my experiences and the information I’ve gathered. I would appreciate any feedback or advice.

1. May: Applied for HAMP by phone, they said we didn't make enough money, but they would try to qualify us for a trad. mod.; I should get application papers to them by June 1. While I was preparing the docs, Shapiro Ingle went ahead with a hearing and got an order for foreclosure sale (i.e. they foreclosed during active negotiations).

Wells Fargo is the one foreclosing, but my HUD counselor called them and they had no record of us or our loans. Called the Fed; they say Saxon is not a servicer for WF.

2. June/July/Aug.: Saxon letter saying they had reviewed our file for HAMP… call them asap.; 3 reps told us our HAMP mod was already approved. Gave us the payment amount, interest, due date, said the papers were being Fed-Exed that day, etc.

They called back 30 min. later and said we didn't qualify for HAMP, but we should still send in the papers and they maybe could do a traditional mod. Their proposed mod/s were laughable. We didn't even respond and expected them to set sale date for house.

3. Sept: Saxon rep said they had stopped all foreclosures until after Sept. 11 because their “Tri Calc” was being updated; we shouldn't worry...no sale scheduled for our house; they would contact us after 9/11 so we could re-apply for HAMP.

Just to be sure, I called back and asked specifically about the 2nd loan status. This rep said that the foreclosure sale was scheduled for Sept. 10 and that they weren't doing mods on 2nds. I called Shapiro Ingle… “no sale scheduled”.

Last week: Saxon letter saying we didn’t qualify for HAMP, but they would try to do another traditional mod with updated info (this was before they had updated info); we should send in application package. Said 2nds are not eligible at all for HAMP.

I'm thinking that they overlooked the 2nd when they gave us a HAMP, but then realized at the last minute that they'd have to modify the 2nd too and changed their story. Now trying to force us into usurious modifications. We got a lawyer.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this.

Thanks.