Need GMAC Mod advice

[saeta78]

Hello all,

What a great site! I have been reading posts and now ready to start my loan modification journey.

Background: I closed my loan in December 2005 with Bank of Florida in Fort Lauderdale with a no documentation loan. I didn't have to prove income. They approved me based on excellent credit score. It was then sold to GMAC. Original loan balance was $337,500, 6.5% fixed rate for 30 years. I am current and have not missed a payment.

However, my income was reduced last year. I have been able to make the payments due to supplemental rental income and using personal savings. Job prospects continue to remain bleak and still have not found a job with a higher income.

Initial Step: After reading posts, I first sought to find out who my investor is. I called the Loss Mitigation Dept. at 1-800-850-4622 and was told by the first person my investor is Residential Funding Corporation. I called a second time to make sure and was told that the investor is Homecomings. I asked if it was Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and the guy told me no, Homecomings.

I then proceeded to request a Loan Modification and was repeatedly told "no" since I am current on my payments. I know this is similar to what others have mentioned on this site. Since I am getting no where with Loss Mitigation Dept. I am drafting a hardship letter (which I will post under separate thread for review).

Next Steps ???

1) Is Residential Funding Corporation and Homecomings the same as GMAC? Does this mean my loan is in-house with GMAC?

2) To whom should I send the hardship letter? Who are the upper GMAC people?? I want to initiate a response to at least open a case.

Also, I have crunched the numbers and think that a 3% fixed rate with a 40 amortization period and no PMI would put me at $200 positive on a monthly basis. So I have reason to believe I should be able to qualify. Need to mention that a refinance and/or short sale is not an option since the value of my home has fallen over 40% based a foreclosure and recent sale of similar houses on my same street.

All responses are greatly appreciated.

Saeta78

[Dan Bailey]

saeta,
Glad you found the forum and posted! *** or Moe will be by as soon as possible to give you some advice/direction. It may be best if you kept all info in one threas, this makes it easier for them to follow along with you.

Good luck and hang in there!

[Moe Bedard]

Hi saeta78,


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

The modifications given are up to the investors and what they are willing to do.............if you have PMI now, a modification is not going to eliminate that............only be at an 80% LTV would. Some members have stated that the VP of home retention is no longer with GMAC.

if you were told that your investor is Residential Funding Corporation that is the investment arm of GMAC so............yes the loan would be an in house loan.............but they would also know what they as an investor require if that is the case.

[saeta78]

Looking for advice on the draft of my hardship letter.
All advice is greatly appreciated.

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to explain my unfortunate set of circumstances that will ultimately cause me to become delinquent on my mortgage. Due to a reduction in income, it will be virtually impossible to continue to pay my current mortgage payment and I would like for you to consider a loan modification as a solution. I have every intention of keeping my home and would appreciate the opportunity to do so.

Since my income was reduced, I have proactively kept my payments current through the addition of rental income and usage of my personal savings. I intend to pay what I owe but at this time I have exhausted all resources available and thus seek assistance through a loan modification.

A solution would be a combination of a reduction in the interest rate, extended amortization period and partial principal reduction will enable me to continue to remain current. For example, a 3% interest rate with a 40 year amortization period would cure my monthly shortfall and enable me to make all future payments until the loan is paid off.

Based on recent sales and foreclosures on my same street, the market value of my house has fallen by more than 40%. Therefore, a refinancing or sale is out of the question. I strongly believe it would be in the best interest of GMAC Mortgage and me to mutually agree to a loan modification that would benefit both parties.

I appreciate your time and consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

[Pedro]

my two cents....

cut the 3rd paragraph out....let them figure out what to give you....thats their job....who knows they might give you a better offer.

otherwise great letter

good luck!

[saeta78]

Hi all,

I had originally submitted by hardship letter and financial analysis forms to GMAC on Jan. 29th. I was told they were received on Feb. 2nd. (FYI my loan is owned by GMAC)

Since I didn't hear from them, I called on Feb. 17th and found out my financial info they had was wrong so the rep worked with me to change the info and officially alerted the account for a loan mod. I was told to call back 7-10 business days and have been calling every week.

The first couple of weeks I was told it has to be reviewed. Today, beginning of 5th week, I was told that it has been reviewed and awaiting approval, which should take at least another week. I asked if someone had been assigned to my account and was told not yet.

Is this a similar process other have had with GMAC?

Any insight would be great.

Thanks!

[saeta78]

Hi All,

Have an update and a question for others who can help.

I called again last Friday and got the same answer..."call back in a week" then I told the guy that I had been waiting for 5 weeks now. He said he would send an email to the rep. I called yesterday and was told that my loan mod has been reviewed on Monday and that it would take another week. Progress I thought.

So I got a call today, no voice mail. But then googled the number and it was Homecomings Loss Mitigation out of Dallas (my investor is GMAC). So I called the Loss Mitigation Department back 10mins later. The rep said, yes we tried to contact you regarding a BPO appraisal. Not sure if the intials are correct because he had a thick accent. He said they would get an appraisal to determine the value of the house and may need to contact me.

Can anyone shed some light on the request for an appraisal that GMAC is pursuing for my loan mod? What is the process? I know I read this somewhere on the forum months ago.


Thanks in advance!

[Moe Bedard]

A BPO is done as a part of the modification process.

[saeta78]

Ok another update. I just had my internal BPO done. The guy came in and told me he needed to take pictures of every room as well as any damage. I showed him the water leaks from the roof (cross fingers it pushes the value down further).

He told he that their office would send in the BPO today to the lender and apologized for the delay. I had called GMAC twice about the BPO already so I guess that got them moving.

Will call GMAC on Friday to get status update again.

I asked the guy if I could find out what the value was they are going to tell the lender and he said to call him and he would ask his manager who is preparing the report.

Is it typical to tell you what the BPO amount is?

[Moe Bedard]

When the BPO is done it is being done for the lender's purpose...........not for you personally................

[saeta78]

Update:

I have been waiting for the BPO to post to my loan mod application and called back today.. I was told that yes it posted and the negotiator assigned to my account, Rebeca, put a note on my account saying unsuccessfully tried to contact borrower and denied my loan modification.

I told the rep. on the phone that I had not received a single phone call from GMAC since I have started this process. She was understanding and said it seems odd that Rebeca didn't give a reason only unable to contact borrower. So the rep emailed the Rebeca herself asking for an explaination. I asked if I could call her directly and please give me Rebeca's contact info. The rep said she was unable to do that but emailed my phone number to Rebeca (which is already on my account). Rep. said wait 24hrs for a response and if not, call back.

So my question to you all,

Is there anywhere else to go over their head, office of president, etc?

Any advice for next steps....? I am not giving up yet.

Thanks

[saeta78]

Update: No call from my negotiator Rebeca...so I called back Loss Mitigation and they told me it was useless to have her call me back since she closed my account. The nice lady said she would send me to Loss Resolution. I had her give me the phone number and so she transferred me. Another woman answered (she was American, so this was not a call center like Loss Mitigation). I explained my situation and she put me on hold. She came back and said, she opened my account again and has requested that someone review it. Was told someone would call me and I may need to send in again all the stuff I sent back in Feb. (I was trying not to blow up again).

I am not holding my breathe on this, so I asked when would I hear something back. She could not say. So like always, I will be calling back daily to get a status because if I don't no one will get my case moving again. At least now I am not dealing with a call center abroad.

[saeta78]

FYI. Just saw this press release...GMAC Mortgage has now officially signed the Home Affordable Modification Homeowner program on April 13, 2009. Read the article GMAC Mortgage Formalizes Participation in Home Affordable Modification Program

Its funny how they stress that we homeowners need to get our paper work in as fast as possible to get started.......just another example where the big heads have no idea what the worker bees are doing.

[saeta78]

Hi all,

its been a long time since my last post but I am finally getting somewhere. Today, I received a packet at home (partner called and read it to me) and it appears to be a 3 month trial at a lower monthly payment but it doesnt say what the new terms are. It did say, the terms would be decided at the end of the 3 month trial period.

Is this the obama plan? The payment is around $1,700 which is close to 31% of my income. I will read it carefully this evening but I just wanted to know if others have received the same deal from GMAC?

I

[MPDano]

Yes, please do post back of what's on those docs at home.

[osfan]

yes, please post when you can let other GMAC borrowers know what the docs said!

[saeta78]

Ok so where is a quick summary of the documents I received today.

The letter states that this is the Home Affordable Modification Program Loan Workout Plan. There are 3 requirements. 1. Explain hardship on affidavit. 2. Provide documentation of income. 3. Make timely trial period payments.

Ok, I already provided them with #1 and #2, twice. Oh well, well fed ex back to them as requested.

So the trial period payment is $1700ish for 3 months and then at the end of 3 months I will be notified if I qualify and terms. The rate will be fixed for the first 5yrs and then escalate 1% each year thereafter to market rate. I get $83 per month of principal reduction for on time payments for the first 5 yrs.

So it sounds like I pay a reduced amount. Now they included a frequently asked question section and one that concerned me was this: What if my trial period payment is less than my current payment? If this is the case, the remainder or total not paid at the end of 3 months will be amortized over the life of the loan once modified. Then it says, paying less than your current amount will affect your credit. WTF????

So I called them and asked, based on the number they provided. The guy who I spoke with said yeah, if u pay trial period amt then it will affect your credit. So I asked can I pay the full amount? He said yes and then it wont affect your credit. Ok, well they also included an ACH form so they can automatically deduct my trial period payment going forward. So I asked, there is no space to say what amount I want deducted. He said just write it on the form. Ok, well I continued to read and in the packet it says, if the trial period payments are different than the amount stated then you wont qualify.

Looks like if I pay less for 3 months, it will affect my credit. But I can pay the original amount and not afffect credit but not get the loan mod.

This just seems wacked. BTW I need to return this by June 1st.

[MPDano]

This sounds very typical of GMAC. Have you figured out what you will do with this?

[saeta78]

The number on the paperwork is the Servicing department. So I called back again and the girl I spoke with told me....its better I speak to Loss Mitigation..So then guy I spoke with in Loss MItigation said, the first guy in Servicing is wrong, you can't make any payment more than the amount in the package. So I asked what about reporting of my credit. He said no, once your loan is with loss mitigation, they dont report you late.

So I guess I will just fedex the package back to them tomorrow.

[osfan]

With us with GMAC mortgages, this is what we were waiting to here. Thanks for the update, perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel!

>>The letter states that this is the Home Affordable Modification Program Loan Workout Plan. There are 3 requirements. 1. Explain hardship on affidavit. 2. Provide documentation of income. 3. Make timely trial period payments<<

[saeta78]

The only thing I didnt like is that....well let me say first the fed ex package was sent 5/26. The letter said respond to us by June 25th. Then the contract I was to sign said the first 3 month due dates would be June 1st, July 1st and August 1st. So basically I had to make a quick turnaround to get them money by the first even though the letter said I have till June25th to respond. No one at Loss Mitigation could explain this. So, today the documents and check has been sent. It should get there June 1st. I can't wait till the 3 months are over and I get a permanent reduction.