Help please... getting ready to start process...

[JNJ716]

Hello Everyone!

I too am getting ready to go through this process. UGH! I am so thankful I found this site yesterday before I submitted all my info to OOMC/AHMSI however. I do have a few questions before I submit my monthly budget. As it stands my budget is about -$600-650/month now that our loan has adjusted. My question is will they deny me because of this? I read on some threads that you have to show an excess of $100-200 in income.

I currently have things for sale to lower our monthly debt payments but in the meantime this is where it stands. I have never been over 30 days late on my mortgage but it is going to be a definate struggle with this new payment! Any advice would be appreciated!

Thank you!

[elpjohnson]

Now I'm not sure if any of those addresses are for Jeanne Drake....so in that case I would use the fax number provided.

[elpjohnson]

jnj716

Welcome and thanks for joining.....my suggestion to you is to start your own thread and put all of your info in it like what state you're in, balance, do you have a second, payment, has it adjusted, does your payment include taxes and insurance.....that way you can keep track of all of your questions and info and we can better assist you....plus, we won't be hijacking someone else's thread LOL

[JNJ716]

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I will do that!

[JNJ716]

Hello Everyone!

I too am getting ready to go through this process. UGH! I am so thankful I found this site yesterday before I submitted all my info to OOMC/AHMSI.

Here's a little background. We filed bankruptcy about 6 years ago and we've worked long and hard to keep our credit in good standing since then. We have lived in our house for going on 5 years. We re-financed our loan 3 years ago and at the time we thought a 3yr ARM was ok because 1. we'd either sell by then or 2. refinance before the loan adjusts. Now who would have thought the housing market was going to crash! We unfortunately also took a second mortgage about a year and a half ago and paid off our truck and some other things. Needless to say we are now about $25-35k upside down. I have tried to refi but I've been told no because we dont have any equity. We have been wanting to sell and that is still our intention as soon as the market changes. We thought about doing it now but how do we come up with the negative equity? We have also spent all our savings trying to stay caught up on bills. I'm not even quite sure how we've made it this long! At this point all we can do is try and get a loan mod and wait things out till it gets better. Hopefully sooner than later!

I do have a few questions before I submit my app, monthly budget, etc. As it stands my budget is about negative $600-650/month now that our loan has adjusted. My question is will they deny me because of this? I read on some threads that you have to show an excess of $100-200 in income.

I currently have anything and everything for sale to lower our monthly debt payments but in the meantime this is where it stands. We unfortunately have alot of CC debt. We have our horse trailer for sale which would give us an extra $350/month! I did get a call tonight from someone that is interested! I'm crossing my fingers and praying it will be gone soon. We have never been over 30 days late on our mortgage but it is going to be a definate struggle with this new payment! I don't know what I'm going to do this month and it's really scaring me! Any advice would be appreciated!

PS. We are also starting Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover! I highly reccomend it to anyone that doesn't know about it. We just went to one of his live shows and it was very inspiring and has given me alot of hope. It's going to be a long hard road, that's for sure!

[JNJ716]

Here is a quick hardship letter I came up with using one of the sample letters and my information. Any input welcome. Thanks in advance!

To Whom it may concern;
We are contacting you today due to the recent adjustment to the mortgage we currently have with your company, We are finding it very difficult to afford the new payment and are struggling to find a way to make this months payment. We have a 3 year fixed rate which just adjusted this month from 7.5% to 9.5%.

Considering our current debt to income, there will be no way I can afford to continue these increased payments. Our current housing expense is nearly 50% of our combined monthly income. We currently have anything and everything for sale to help try and reduce our monthly debt. We are hoping there is way to renegotiate the terms of our current mortgage to avoid late payments and god forbid default on our home. We have worked very hard to keep our credit in good standings and we plan on trying everything in our power to keep it that way. We do not want to lose our home and we do not want to continue to make late payments to your company.

Is it possible to have my current adjustable rate mortgage converted to a fixed rate? We would like to request one of two different options. Option 1. A modification to a 5% fixed rate mortgage for the life of the loan or Option 2. 4% fixed rate for year one (So we may catch up on other delinquent bills), then 5% fixed rate for year two and ending with a 6% fixed rate for the remaining term of the loan. We would also like to request our back taxes be included into the loan along with the November payment. We want to include our taxes into the new loan payment as well so we no longer have to worry paying it separately. We hope that you can meet one of these two requests and will anxiously await your answer.

We have had no problem making our payments for over three years now and do not want that to change. My mortgage was originally written by Option One and I believe bought by American Home Mortgage . The original mortgage terms we thought would be ok and I was assured that refinancing would be no problem but that turned out not to be true due to the downturn of the housing industry.

The main problem is that our home is now worth $25-35k less than what we owe for it which is preventing us from being able to refinance.

I believe this addresses the situation we currently find ourselves in along with many other homeowners. Attached you will find the documents requested.

Thank you for your time and consideration and we hope to hear from you soon.

[JNJ716]

Could anyone tell me about my budget question? I'm really wanting to get this paperwork off asap but would like to here some feedback first.

Thanks in advance!

[elpjohnson]

JNJ716.....

I was going to let *** take a look at this first....however, on the budget you should show a surplus of $100-$250 per month. AHMSI from what I understand is pretty solid on that so try to work on your budget a bit to show some kind of surplus....work with your gas and grocery bill a bit. I think selling the horse trailer is a good idea and will help you to achieve that.

The hardship letter looks good but you didn't really specify your hardship....ie, loss of income, health issues...etc. I would try to be more specific on that point.

I'm no expert, but I hope my input has helped.

[JNJ716]

Yes, it has. Thanks a bunch! I wondered about the surplus. I didn't know if that was for before or after the loan mod that I would need to show the surplus. As for the hardship there hasn't been a loss of income or anything. I think we've just dug ourselves to deep not realizing it. I didn't even realize we were short every month till I had done Dave Ramseys budget. Poor money management on our part and that's what we are trying to change as we have now realized it. I am hoping we can sell the horse trailer asap because that will give us an extra $350/month. I have also leased out one of my horses to cut that cost. My husband also just changed his witholdings so his paycheck will be more. We got a big chunk of money back last year so we figured it would be ok to do that for a few months. The -$600 doesnt include the extra money we will have coming in for that. Maybe include that for now to help us get the mod? His check was almost $400 more than usual. So thats about $800/month extra right there.

I also did try to start up my business by using personal credit cards and that has racked up some debt. It hasn't gone well and I'm trying to sell all of my inventory to pay back the credit cards. I guess maybe I should add that? I can also could lower the food and gas a bit.

[elpjohnson]

I would definitely base your budget on what you're paying now and go from there...don't do it based on the adjusted payment amount, then they will assume you can pay that. The most important thing that needs to be shown is that you have a "small" surplus in your budget. It wouldn't hurt to go through a non-profit credit counseling agency to help with your credit card debt....that may boost your budget a bit.

Just a few suggestions.....hope they're helpful

[elpjohnson]

Remember...."small" surplus no more than like $300 per month.

[JNJ716]

OK, right now my budget includes the adjusted pmt which went from $1388 to $1638. So should I change my budget and put my original pmt amount back in? Which would give us an extra $250 per month.

We are current on all of our debt (and always have been) except things like utilities, cell phone, etc. All the things you can get away with for a little while anyways until you get the cancelation notice. I really don't want to go through the credit counseling because that does show up on your credit report. We're trying to do everything we can from keeping anytype of negative marks on our credit report. We also just signed up for the total money makeover and really want to work at getting out of debt! We're ready for a change!

[elpjohnson]

Gotcha....yeah, I would do the budget with the original payment, not the adjusted payment because you want them to modify it to the original interest rate or even lower.

[JNJ716]

Good point! Well I guess there is my surplus then. Thanks for all your suggestions.

[elpjohnson]

You are so welcome! I'm here to help anyway I can....Good luck and God bless!