Catch 22 with BOA

**smith 2901** · 04-26-2010, 08:17 PM

We are stuck in a situation with a bad loan (interest only at 5.5 for an underwater first home ) and unsure on what to do. My husband lost his job and we have been making it by on one check. When he lost his job BOA was uninformative and advised us their best advise was to short sale.

I thouht he would find a job soonl; A couple months later we have not fallen behind on payments yet but know the funds will run out. The unemployment has now cut off and we are on one salary alone with no job in sight. To make matters worst my car is at the end of its life and more money is being invested in it than a used car payment would be.

Stuck in this predicament but with some savings left we called BOA again and were advised if we had more than 3 months of house payments in the savings we would not be considered. Furthermore they advised if we bought a car regardless of type and they saw in our history we would be declined for a modification?

The rep said all else falls into the qualifications minus our liquid assets?Any advise. Can they decline us if we have liquid assets equal to about 4 months? As an alternative if we use some for the car can they then decline us then too?

**samtall** · 04-26-2010, 10:01 PM

YES THEY HAVE AND WILL decline you if you have more than 3 months savings. I highly suggest you take it our BEFORE you apply. There are lot's of post on this form where people have had this problem.

**smith 2901** · 04-27-2010, 04:52 AM

How far back do they look at your financials? If I pull it out now and they ask for three months bank records I will be declined too?

**justdeb** · 04-27-2010, 05:09 AM

here's another thing -

is your current bank accounts with the same bank as your mortgage, i.e,. BOA? If so... get your money moved to another bank because as soon as you miss a payment - they can and will take any and all monies out of your account if its with BOA. Legally they can do it. If you're not with BOA for your checking/savings I'd recommend pulling most all of the money out that you can, put it "under the mattress" and out of sight, out of mind. If they ask you can tell them you used it for car repairs, food, whatever.

also - before you go depleting all of your savings and assets that you have to try to pay your mortgage - think about that first. Its all you have left - and right now, you're willing to deplete it all to pay a bill that in a few months time, you wont be able to pay as it is - with or without a mod, right? If you're current on the mortgage, its going to be harder to get assistance with BOA - some have done it, but not many - so save what little money you have left to your name for that "just in case" scenario.

We know its hard to be in this position of possibly losing your home -we've all been there - but if you remove yourself emotionally from it and look at it from a business sense and long term, you'll make the best decisions, even if they're the hardest ones. Have a plan A B C and D as back ups because if you've read the forum, you'll know that this is a very very long process and nothing is guarenteed - so you have to have those contingency plans in place for those "oh crap" moments.

Wishing you all the best.

**hecrec174** · 05-01-2010, 06:30 AM

I'm so sorry about your situation, first off. I'm with FF which was bought by BOA. I know from experience they will not do any mod unless you fall behind on payments. Otherwise they see you are not in imminent danger.

My first mod request was back in June 09 and that is what they said. They basically told me to do any thing I could to pay, so I did, by emptying out my savings , borrowing from friends and my 401K. Even took out money from a loan shark! Guess what? I'm an idiot? Don't listen to these people!

By the grace of God, my wife is now working again and we are able to start paying down all this debt. But from what I have seen, the economy and job market are such that folks have gone for over a year with no work. I have two friends with great experience and master's degrees out of work for over a year.

So the choices one have to make are

o I think that emptying my savings and paying the mortgage is right for me and my family? Will we find work in due time and be able to build our finances back up? If we don't will we lose the house anyway?

What I would suggest is this:

1. If you have someone you trust implicitly( parent,grandparent) open up a new savings account in their name.
2. Take a tenant, sell stuff on ebay (I sold my treadmill and gym), whatever it takes to increase income. Use that new income to fund the new account.

3. Miss a payment on your mortgage then apply for a modification. Miss two payments. The money you would have used for your mortgage put in your new savings account.

4. Once the mod process starts, (it will take 4-6 months), use the money from your "old" savings account to make payments to your mortgage until it is empty. They will see you have no money in your savings account due to your efforts in paying down this debt! Meanwhile you have been socking away funds in the new account.

If the mod , goes through, the late payments will be pushed to the back of the loan. If it doesn't and you are in a better position (new job) , you will have some money saved away in the new account to pay off a chunk of the late payments.

Oh, and best is to try to buy an old car. A car note now will not help you.

These are just ideas. You have to decide what is best for you, and others may not agree with me. I will pray you get eh ehlp you need!

**smith 2901** · 05-02-2010, 03:46 AM

It bewilders me as to why the banks do not work with those who want to truly pay and live in their homes. Even being underwater I would still make my payments, all I want is affordability due to the job loss.

We are going to give it more thought and see if time is our friend and my husband finds something soon before we deplete.

The whole process is just horrific. I'm sorry we are all in this spot.

**Maurice Bedard** · 05-02-2010, 09:13 AM

For HAMP, you do not have to have less than three months savings to qualify. You can also qualify by being delinquent by more than 30 days on your mtg. If yo are worried about your credit score, just being in a trail plan will affect it, so you might as well be 30 days late, and NOT have to use all your savings. Using all your savings is not a HAMP requirement, you can EITHER be delinquent OR you can be in imminent default. Imminent default is where three months savings comes in. Read all the guidelines- then tell the banks what you know. Most of those idiots just follow a form when they are talking to you. Getting a lawyer might be necessary if they screw you around.