Citifinacial playing dumb...using a lawyer

[RobRaposo]

OK, so here goes. I refi-d with Citi about 2 years ago and now have a mortgage of $320,000. However my house is now worth $285,000. My income/mortgage ratio is nearly 65% !!!! I'm only one and 1/2 months behind (i pay bi-weekly) but making the payments have become harder and harder, I've lost hours at work and am dow $400 less a month than I made 6 months ago. When I saw that Citi=group got there Bail-out money I called my agent. They acted as if I had 4 heads. So I was happy to recieve a letter from a lawyer who will do the process. After faxing in pay stubs, tax info and mortgage statements, I was told we qualify to reduce our fate from 7.6 to 2%. The lawyer requires a $3000 retainer to do the service and file all the paperwork (pretty standard fee as i looked around on the web)and they stand behind their work incase THEY make a mistake. AT this point i see it as a worth while investment. SO many people on this board who represent themselevs end up getting the runaround or the process takes 6 months.SO HERE'S MY QUESTION: AM I NUTS FOR RETAINING A LAWYER????

[Moe Bedard]

Rob,



Whether or not to hire an attorney is entirely up to you..........just make sure that you check their licensing information with your state bar association and also that you are working with an actual law firm and not a modification company fronted by a lawyer so that they can get away with taking the money up front.

[RobRaposo]

thanks ***, i'll double check.

[lookingforanswers]

They ALL play dumb. When are these num nuts out there going to realize that as soon as we stabalize the real estate market the sooner the economy will stabalize.