Deficit in Budget ... probably impossible to modify??

[Smooth Earl]

Hey, all ...

I've made a post or two on here before, and at the moment my status is thus ...

• I faxed in my stuff on December 9th to the two AHMSI VPs that everyone name-checks
• Dec. 10th, a rep named Rosa McZiel called me and said they were "taking a look at it" and that she would call me back the next week
• That "next week" was LAST week, with no call
• I left her a voicemail on Friday, Dec. 19th to call me
• Today, Dec. 23rd, I faxed a note to her, AND the two VPs for them to CALL ME and give me a status update

Now, here's my question ... everyone says you have to show a positive cash flow of $100 - $250 when you submit a budget to them ... including my current mortgage payment (pre-adjustment, which comes Feb. 1st), I end up with a NEGATIVE $1800 per month ... it's only through constant "bill juggling" that it halfway works ...

... I plan on paying the December payment (was due 12-1-08) on Dec. 26th. With such a messed up budget, do you think they will most likely just say, "get lost" ... because I'd hate to pay them the $1600 mortgage payment only days before they "flip me the bird" and I get ready to "walk" anyway ...

[Melina]

If you can't get your cash flow into the black just a little bit, there's no way they will modify your loan. They're going to assume you won't be able to make the new payment, either.

Can you take in a lodger, sell a car, anything to bump up your income? I had to do both before I could get a modification.

[Smooth Earl]

I'll have to see if there's anything we can "unload" as far as the monthly budget goes ... $800 a month between two car payments IS a bit excessive, but ...

It's obvious to ME that we just need to quit paying the mortgage to play "hardball" with AHMSI, but my wife seems to still think we can somehow come out of this and salvage our credit (which is in the 630-640 range, 4 years after a Chapter 7 bankruptcy).

I'm not so optimistic.

So, we'll pay the December mortgage on the 26th so we don't go over 30 days late and get "dinged" ...

... but I'm going to call up that Jeanne Drake and (if I can even get her on the phone) tell her, "Look, lady ... either you guys modify the loan NOW (not two or three months from now) and lower our payment so we can keep making timely payments like we have for the last two years (this is the first time we've ever made a payment later than 7 days past due) ... or you're practically forcing/begging us to say 'screw it all' and go delinquent and live here for FREE for the first half of 2009 ... it's your choice."

[elpjohnson]

SmoothEarl.....

Merry Christmas to you and your family......yeah, I agree, you are going to have to be a little more in the black before they'll modify you....have you cut out all extras in your budget to boost it a little? The car payments are excessive but you have to have transportation to get to your jobs.....are you upside down in your cars? Can you possibly trade down and get something a little more econimical? Also, try submitting a package where you tell them what to modify your loan to (like say 5%) and see if that helps.....

God bless you and your family.

[Smooth Earl]

Well, it seems that you have to BADGER the folks at AHMSI to get any kind of response ... after I faxed a "status" request to each of the two VPS and my rep, I got a call back on Monday, December 29th, from Rosa McZiel ... she indicated that they were "working" on our modification and said something about "waiting on escrow info" ... I tend to think it was just a "canned response", though ... she said she'd give us a call when she had some info, and I told her I'd call her back in about two weeks.

January 14th rolls up, and I called her number, left her a voice mail, and a week has gone by with no response. I understand she's just a lowly worker there, and she probably hates her job and the umpteen million people like me who are in desperate straits and won't stop endlessly "hounding" her, but ... that's little consolation to ME.

So, we're working on reducing the cable bill, refinance a car to get a lower monthly payment, etc. ... our payday is on January 23rd, and we haven't paid the January '09 payment yet (my wife STILL thinks we can salvage our mediocre credit score through all this ... I still think her priorities are skewed). My wife and I's income together for this two weeks won't be enough (just barely) to make the payment (and if we DID, what about the OTHER bills, and food, gasoline, etc.). We're both so stressed and tired of juggling money from place to place ... yeah, we're piss-poor money-managers, but ... DAMN!

Last night, my wife was crying about all of this, and she doesn't want to lose the house ... I gave her Rosa McZiel's number, along with Jeanne Drake and Jim Davis' info, so she could get involved. She called Jim Davis this morning and actually got through to him ... told him about our struggle and started bawling on the phone. I guess he said he will "pull our file" and check it out, and that "THEY WILL HELP US" (easy enough to simply 'say' to ease a crying woman's tears) and supposedly he was going to call her back TODAY.

We'll see.

It's frustrating, though, to see that you basically have to harass (sp?) the VPs to really "get through" to someone at AHMSI ... we'll see if he can deliver. Even if they just definitively say, "GET LOST, LOSER!" at least we won't have to wait and wonder.

[elpjohnson]

Earl.....

I am so sorry you are going through this.....however, Jim Davis was very helpful to me and my husband and was instrumental in getting us our loan modification. I am praying that through your wife's tears (it shouldn't have come to that) that he heard your plea and is going to honestly help you guys out. I am definitely praying for you and your family.

Sending you positive thoughts and prayers! I believe Jim Davis is a man of his word and will help you.....don't give up hope!

[Melina]

I'm afraid you DO have to badger to make sure your mod request doesn't get lost, but it's better than losing your house. And the AHMSI modification staphers really are slammed. It's catch-22 really; modifying loans is good for AHMSI, but AHMSI probably has a hiring freeze in place so they can't hire more modification staff. So might as well pull up a chair and keep up the badgering. It paid off for me.

[Smooth Earl]

Well, it worked ... not the "dream" mod, but I can't complain. I'll have to go post a success story in the other forum.

[Smooth Earl]

I posted a few threads before (been trying to work on this mod since Oct. 15) ... and it finally happened. After I re-submitted on December 12th, they got back to me TODAY and said we'd been approved for a modification (they're Fed-Ex'ing the papers now).

We owe about $225K on a rowhome (like a connected townhouse) that has a current market value of $185-195K. Two years at 8.1%, and the payment was $1589, NOT including property taxes. ARM was set to rise to 8.8% for the Feb. 1st payment (would've been about $1,720). We paid the January '09 payment just a week ago.

We never fell behind more than 30 days (so no credit report "dings") but we've always struggled to even pay the $1589, so I had requested a couple months' "forbearance" so we could catch up on bills we've had to neglect (utilities, natural gas, electric [2 months behind]). Now, mind you ... we didn't "sugar-coat" our budget when we sent it in to them ... we showed a NEGATIVE (-) $1,800, as in "we have $1,800 more in bills than we do in income" ... (it's a juggling act that we're trying to get a handle on). No "show 'em $150-200" gar***e for US ... we kept it REAL. And somehow, that worked.

They finally called me back this morning and said, "You've been approved" ... so, they gave us a 30-year fixed at 5.75%, with property taxes and (mortgage?) insurance worked into the payment, which will now be $1,582 a month, with the first payment being due on April 1st ... So, no "dream" mod where they lower the principal, or give me a "3%-4"%-5%" step rate ... but I guess I have a victory. I should be happy. It's still going to be a struggle, with the cutbacks in overtime at work ... oh, well.

I should probably just be thankful, right?

In the meantime, we are refinancing one of our vehicles to reduce the payment (at a lower rate) by $130 a month ... only costing us $50 extra over the life of the loan, versus if we'd've just left it alone.

[Smooth Earl]

I want to offer thanks to everyone like elpjohnson, and Professor Shays, and Moe, and anyone else who created, advises, or just simply hangs around for fun on this website ...

... y'all gave me the confidence to stick with it and not give up immediately (Chapter 13 was always in the back of my mind) ...

...now ... if I can just figure out "whether or not / how" to divorce my wife with this house STILL burdening me ...

[Melina]

Have you considered taking in a lodger/boarder? Mine annoys me now and then but the extra $ has made a big difference. And boarders ARE trainable!

[Moe Bedard]

Congratulations Earl,


Let us know when you receive the docs and I will move the whole thread over to the success section.