Loan modification advice needed

[JennaGG]

Hi there. I am new here & need some help. I hope I'm posting this in the right area.

We purchased our house in Aug. 2007 for a little more than we wanted to spend. We've had trouble making the payments since the beginning. We struggled through & were reassured by our mortgage guy we would be able to refinance in a year & get a lower interest rate. Well we all know what happened to the market & we were unable to do the refinance.

We continued to struggled & in June 2009 I realized we just couldn't do it anymore. I contacted Bank of America to see what help we could get. I was told we couldn't get help until we were in default. I asked about a loan modification & was told it could take up to 45 days to receive the paperwork. It never came.

July & August payments were late. We never paid September or October. My husband hurt his back in September & had to go on sick leave. That meant we had to take a week unpaid. It really killed us financially because our daughter just went back to school & had her birthday. We had all of those expenses & then this unforeseen loss of a weeks pay right after.

2 weeks ago Fed Ex delivered a letter from BOA. It stated we could get a loan modification (which I had asked about in June). All we had to do was send in X amount of money right away. The next day we mailed out the check.

A week later a man showed up at our door from a company called Titanium Solutions. He said he was a realtor & was contacted by BOA to come out & explain our options to us. The only thing he suggested was doing a short sale. We don't want to lose our home so we told him "no thank you".

We then received the actual loan modification papers from BOA. I'm having trouble figuring out exactly how to fill out the 4506-T form. It's a Request for Transcript of Tax Return. I'm just not sure which lines I'm supposed to fill out.

Also, here is a copy of the hardship letter I wrote up. I was wondering if you all could look over it & give me some feedback. I copied most of it from a very helpful thread here but changed it a bit.


ffice:smarttags" name="City">ffice:smarttags" name="place"> To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter to explain my unfortunate set of circumstances that have caused us to become delinquent on our mortgage. We have done everything in our power to make ends meet but unfortunately we have fallen short and would like you to consider working with us to modify our loan. Our number one goal is to keep our home and we would really appreciate the opportunity to do so.

The main reason that caused us to be late is my income has been frozen since July 2008. Our medical co-payments have gone up and with an 8 year old daughter with a rare autoimmune disease, it adds up quickly. Our property taxes have increased. Olace w:st="on">urlace> car insurance and homeowners insurance have also increased. With the increase of property taxes and homeowners insurance our monthly mortgage payment increased as well. Our monthly utility bills have also gone up. Along with the pay freeze and all of our bills continuing to climb, I hurt my back in September and had to go on sick leave for the second time in two years. In order to do this, I had to take a full week unpaid. This makes it impossible to pay the bills when we are already living paycheck to paycheck.
> >
Soon after being late and our income not being nearly enough, we had fallen further and further behind. Now, it’s to the point where we cannot afford to pay what is owed to Bank of America. It is our full intention to pay what we owe. But at this time we have exhausted all of our income and resources so we are turning to you for help.
> >
We have maxed out our one credit card, taken out a line of credit from our bank and have even had to borrow money from a family member to make ends meet. We feel that a loan modification would benefit us both. The lowered monthly payment will be much more manageable for us. We would appreciate if you can work with us to lower our delinquent amount owed and or payment so we can keep our home and also afford to make amends with your firm.

We truly hope that you will consider working with us and we are anxious to get this settled so we all can move on.

Sincerely and Respectfully,
XX


I would greatly appreciate ANY and all input. We've never been so far behind on our bills as we are now & it's just extremely stressful. I want to make sure we present ourselves as best as possible to the bank.



Thank you,

Jenna

[St.LouisBlues]

#1 you should have never sent them any money when they tricked you

#2 do not send that detailed hardship letter...will only hurt your case and they dont care.

#3 the bank is not your friend or confidant

#4 they only care about income

[nitag]

Jenna, Hi and welcome.. In your packet that you got from BofA did they ask for a Hardship letter? If they did then you will need to send them one.. I have done 2 modifications for myself and am working one for my parents with Chase. Each company is different however with both of mine I HAD to do hardship letters as well as with Chase. If they care, they don't but they usually do ask for them.
ON the 4506 T - Make sure line 6 is filled out. They will want the last 2 yrs 08 & 07 make sure you fill that out sign and date it.. Very important.. If they have requested a copy of your 08 Tax return make sure the copy you send to them is SIGNED!! Last but not least, send them 1 month's worth of paystubs..

If you have any questions just post - someone will answer your questions..

Anita

[JennaGG]

Hi Anita & thanks for the welcome!

In the paperwork we received there is a paper titled "Home Affordable Modification Program Hardship Affidavit". This paper has 6 scenarios (high medical bills, loss of job, etc) written in paragraph form. You are to check yes or no to each. If you check yes, you are asked at the end of each paragraph, to provide details in the section titled "Explanation".

I figured that is where the hardship letter would be appropriate. It provides the reasons why we have become delinquent.

Thanks for the advice on the tax paper. I was completely confused on what I was supposed to check. I will also send our tax information & a copy of my husband's check stubs. I have almost all of that ready to go.

To St.LouisBlues, why do you say we should not have sent the payment when the bank tricked us? I don't understand how they tricked us. How will sending a detailed hardship letter hurt our case? I am confused because all of the research I have done says to do this, if asked.

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.
Jenna

[litehouse01]

A hardship letter explaining your circumstances is most advisable...they need to know whats going on to cause your hardship....I feel its best to explain in a letter thats what I did..........I wrote a letter to them and attached it to the hardship portion of the application. The space they provided on the form wasn't enough space for me.. I don't expect them to care...but I felt better telling them the truth about our situation.........make sure you include your account number on the hardship letter and every peice of documentation you send them.......things have a way of getting lost........be prepared for a long ride stay strong and stick with it......Best of luck........I am about to make my 4th trial payment

[JennaGG]

Hi Litehouse01, Thanks for the advice. We only have coupons to make 3 trial payments. Are you with BOA & did how many trial payments do you get?

I'm confused if the payment we sent in a few weeks ago, when we originally got the paperwork, is for November's payment. My husband tried to call today & after talking to the stupid computer system for 20 minutes he got so frustrated he hung up - I can't say I blame him. That automated system is nerve wracking. One day I was actually yelling at it to please just give me someone in customer service to talk to, LOL.

Oh and I know how things get lost there. I've faxed over a letter from my husband authorizing them to speak with me (mortgage is in his name only) about 6 times now. They still don't have it. I've given up on it.

Jenna