Suntrust Loan Modification Advice and Experience?

[accension]

Hello everyone, this is my first post on this forum, but I feel like I can really get some help. I was wondering if anyone had experience working with Suntrust loss mitigation department or if they are active in a loan mod at this moment.

Just a quick background, I'm self employed now, but I was making a good salary, in fact, more than my wife. I was downsized about a month ago due to a merger, so now here I am scraping by on freelance work.

I've just gotten started with home retention program about a month ago. I filled the online application, then got a letter, faxed some documents they wanted. They said I wouldn't qualify for anything because even if they made my mortgage free, I would still be losing money, so I cut back a bunch of expenses, and worked on my business to generate some income. I updated my information with them, and now I'm just waiting.

I have a fannie mae loan, so based on the making homes affordable program, if they reduced my payments to 31% of my household's gross income, then based on my new income/expense I would still have a slight positive cashflow. I'm hoping that would help my situation. Right now they have all my information and they have not requested anymore. I asked for a time frame on a decision and they couldn't give me nada.

Anything I can do to speed this up or any experiences doing loan mod with suntrust?

[Moe Bedard]

Hi accension,


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

There really isn't too much you can do to "speed" up the process......
1.800.443.1032, Option 3.


The servicer has a series of steps that they will follow for the modification program............with FannieMae, if you meet the eligibility..........they will most likely put you on the Trial Modification for three months and then update your financials at that time for the permanent modification plan.


You can go to the top of the forum and use the search feature to query "Suntrust" and you will be able to locate the other members of the forum that are in the process of a modification with Suntrust for help and support.




In summary, participating servicers will (in order):


• Determine that a loan meets the minimum eligibility criteria (owner occupied, originated before January 1, 2009, UPB equal to or less than $729,750). If yes:

• Obtain sufficient income information to determine if the borrower has a front-end debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of 31% or greater (verbal income may be accepted for initial evaluation subject to verification prior to final approval). If yes:

• Capitalize (add to the loan amount) accrued interest, past due taxes and insurance, delinquency charges paid to third parties (e.g., for inspecting the property), and escrow advances by the servicer – but not late fees or other default fees charged by the servicer;

• Determine how much of an interest rate reduction is required to get the borrower's mortgage payment to 31% DTI, and if the DTI still exceeds 31% at the rate floor of 2%, modify the loan in other respects specified in the Guidelines;

• Apply a Net Present Value (NPV) test to determine if modification (including the incentive payments) provides the investor with a better financial outcome than foreclosure. If yes:

• Put the borrower on a trial modification at the new interest rate and payment for three months.

• If the borrower is current at the end of the trial modification period, the servicer will execute a modification agreement that includes escrows for taxes and insurance even if the prior loan was not escrowed.

[accension]

Thanks for the info,

I mean, if it doesn't get modified in the next month or so I'm going to run out of savings. Would you reasonably foresee a response within 60 days of submitting all the documentation?

[accension]

Also someone told me that I need to be behind, is that true?

[Moe Bedard]

No you do not need to be in default.................and most servicers have been implementing the Trial Mods for Fannie/Freddie backed loans pretty quickly.............

[davidalf]

I have been working on modifying my Suntrust mortgage since Novemember 2008!! Frist of all, Suntrust has outsourced its negotiations to a company called First American Financial. This delays the process because you have to provide all the information initially to Suntrust, then an Analyst from First American Takes over but the have no decision making authority. They have to send their recommendations back to Suntrust. We where only 2 months behind and had $300/month in discretionary income. At the time we started there was no program to modify our loan since it was owned by Fannie Mae. It took 5 Months to get that fact down. It was such a waste of time. Everyone on their side knew there was nothing they coould do since Fannie Mae's guidelines for modification required the loans be no more than 5% bellow current value. In Florida home prices have dropped 40-50% in some areas like mine. Finanlly the Analyst from FAF said they could not provide a modification and recommended we do a short sale. We listed the home, got 2 offers within a month and waiting 2 months for the FAF to get a broker's price opinion. The Broker's Price Opinion (BPO) was exactly what the buyers offered and now we have to wait 15 days - month for Suntrust and Fannie Mae to approve the offer. However, according to the FAF analyst it is unlikely the offer will be accepted. Get this...since the offer is about 45% bellow purchase price it is better for Suntrust/Fannie Mae to foreclose on the property and claim the PMI insurance. WTF!! Why even bother asking us to do a short sale if they knew it would not be accepted anyway.

The irony is that now we qualify for the new Fannie Mae modification where the monthly payments would be no more than 31% of income. I have been told by the FAF analysts that I have to wait for the short sale to be rejected before I can apply for the modification. Then I will need to wait 3-months again to get a response. It will be 1 year since we stopped making payments. We were only 2 months behind, a simple temporary interest rate reduction with the arrears tacked on to the loan would have avoided this whole mess.

My question is..How true is it that the bank will not approve the short sale because they would rather get insurance. Keep in mind, this was told to me by the analyst from FAF which is sub-contracted by Suntrust to handle negotiations.

[Dan Bailey]

David, in some cases, though not fair..it is true.

[accension]

david, can you still do the mod?

***, are there any good recent suntrust threads in here that you can recommend?

UPDATE:

Well, it's been 4 weeks since I sent more info they requested and 8 weeks since I've started the process and nothing yet. I'll keep calling them, but it's getting hard to make the payment. I normally pay on the first, but this time it's probably gonna take me close to the "late fee" date before I can save enough. No guess on next month. Suntrust says that there is nothing I can do to speed up the process (but I'm guessing missing a payment or two will probably speed it up). I'm afraid to do that though, as I've read the make homes affordable act requires you to be on time to do the mod.

Anybody else out there having luck with suntrust?

[auroraproblem]

Originally Posted by *** Damiano

Hi accension,


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

There really isn't too much you can do to "speed" up the process......
1.800.443.1032, Option 3.


The servicer has a series of steps that they will follow for the modification program............with FannieMae, if you meet the eligibility..........they will most likely put you on the Trial Modification for three months and then update your financials at that time for the permanent modification plan.


You can go to the top of the forum and use the search feature to query "Suntrust" and you will be able to locate the other members of the forum that are in the process of a modification with Suntrust for help and support.





In summary, participating servicers will (in order):


• Determine that a loan meets the minimum eligibility criteria (owner occupied, originated before January 1, 2009, UPB equal to or less than $729,750). If yes:

• Obtain sufficient income information to determine if the borrower has a front-end debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of 31% or greater (verbal income may be accepted for initial evaluation subject to verification prior to final approval). If yes:

• Capitalize (add to the loan amount) accrued interest, past due taxes and insurance, delinquency charges paid to third parties (e.g., for inspecting the property), and escrow advances by the servicer – but not late fees or other default fees charged by the servicer;

• Determine how much of an interest rate reduction is required to get the borrower's mortgage payment to 31% DTI, and if the DTI still exceeds 31% at the rate floor of 2%, modify the loan in other respects specified in the Guidelines;

• Apply a Net Present Value (NPV) test to determine if modification (including the incentive payments) provides the investor with a better financial outcome than foreclosure. If yes:

• Put the borrower on a trial modification at the new interest rate and payment for three months.

• If the borrower is current at the end of the trial modification period, the servicer will execute a modification agreement that includes escrows for taxes and insurance even if the prior loan was not escrowed.

***,

I keep hearing about 3 months, yet we received a letter wanting 4 months of trial payments. Our investor is FannieMae as well. Is there something wrong, or can they go out 4 months as well?

[StnDiane]

We're currently going through an attorney to help us with SunTrust. We got nowhere with them when we tried on our own. We've tried to get this done since November 2008. SunTrust delays, delays, delays. Now, at this late date they are telling our attorney they do not give revised loans, they demand that we have an impound account, and the payment will be the same as it was before or more. They have us in preforeclosure with a foreclosure sale date set for 6/13/09. I told the attorney they weren't negotiating in good faith and we needed something to make it workable for us. They want us to pay all back taxes and they they will capitalize our unpaid balances. Doesn't sound like they are willing to give much yet.

[accension]

Okay, I don't mean to spread disinformation but it doesn't sound like anyone has gotten anywhere with loan modifications from Suntrust. The only person I know of got their loan mod was behind two months in payments, and this isn't someone over the grapevine or on some forum, this is someone that I know personally.

So, again, I know the advice around here is to NOT go into default. But when we're down to the choice of lunch meat or spam, and others have had success by getting the mortgage company's attention by not paying them to prove that we are "really" in need, how can I plop down another $2500? I have a family to take care of, and my shortfall is just a few hundred dollars, but that's a few hundred dollars AFTER making drastic lifestyle changes.

Can anyone offer me some kind of proof that Suntrust does ANYTHING with loan mods without going into default?

On another bad note, I think I read somewhere that going into default exempts you from the making homes affordable plan and thus banks will not be as likely to help you since their money won't be matched by the government. Is that true? If so, it sounds like I'm in between a rock and hard place, underneath a huge pile of boulders, in the middle of a nuclear winter.

[accension]

Okay, so here we go again. If it wasn't for me calling suntrust over and over this would probably take years to get done. I called and discovered that the last time they requested documents, they never received them, and now they have a new fax number for me. Not counting having to re-send more documents, this will be the fourth time sending them information! Two, I can understand... but 4? These guys have to just be trying to stall.

In any case, this will be 3 and a half months now since mid-march that I have been trying to do the loan modification. It takes a lot of patience, and a lot of money to pay the mortgage that you can't afford on a house that is worth half of the loan.

I lost my job due to downsizing, so, I'm not one of those guys who bought a house they couldn't afford. My household lost 70% of it's income due to my job, so now we're living off that 30%. That 30% that is supposed to be the magic number that your mortgage payment can safely be at and live comfortably? Well that's our entire income now. No money for gas, car payments, electricity, or food. I would love to commiserate with anyone else in the same situation trying to get it worked out with Suntrust. These guys don't care.

For anyone willing to listen, unless you have truly an 8 month emergency fund, and I don't mean 8 months of survival money, I mean 8 months of the same amount of income that you make right now, then I wouldn't let your mortgage payment exceed 20% of what you make. Now that sounds ridiculous, and that's why you need to build up the emergency fund, and make a healthy down payment when you purchase a home.

Think about it like this, a 200k home with 50% down payment, is around $600 a month. So maybe with all expenses, $800/month to live in your home. That I can live with, and should be the way we all live from now on. I could lose my job and with an 8 month emergency fund, I could probably live in the house for the rest of my life without working another day (if I changed my lifestyle).

[Murray12]

I agree it does appear that SunTrust does not care. Start sending your stuff return receipt required. Also, you can send docs through their secure email. Then ask for confirmation that they received it. When you send it you have to pick a subject. Pick the one that is something to the effect "Misc all others" you will actually get a response. If you send it to any other departments you may never hear back.

If I send anything to SunTrust, I fax email and return receipt.

[elephanche]

I would love to hear from other people dealing with Suntrust and find out if there are any ways of getting a supervisor or negotiator on the phone.

[Murray12]

Saw this interesting article. SunTrust is featured (not my site).....

SunTrust Mortgage Inc., with more than $150 billion in loans, is the holdout with the largest servicing volume. Hugh Suhr, a spokesman, said the company was still considering whether to join the modification program.

Gov’t Foreclosure Program: Who Are The Holdouts? - ProPublica

SunTrust is the largest holdout!! No surprise there.

[rickmc]

Originally Posted by accension

I called and discovered that the last time they requested documents, they never received them, and now they have a new fax number for me. Not counting having to re-send more documents, this will be the fourth time sending them information! Two, I can understand... but 4? These guys have to just be trying to stall.

The documents we mailed were supposedly 'not received', though USPS Tracking showed them delivered 3 weeks previously.

Have since discovered from local Postmaster that Suntrust Loss Mitigation in Richmond VA have set up 'escrow mail', i.e. the incoming mail for Loss Mitigation is held rather than being delivered to their offices. It seems they have so much incoming mail, they don't have room for it in their offices, let alone sufficient staff to open and process it all!

We use a local Suntrust bank branch to fax our documents. It's free, fast and we get a detailed Transmission Log. They also email the fax addressee in Loss Mitigation to ask for receipt confirmation and they include a 'Return Receipt' in that email that lets the bank branch know when the email has been opened by the addressee.

We call the bank branch the next day and get confirmation that Loss Mitigation have opened the email and replied to confirm receipt.

Without the local bank branch involved, I think the fax you send lands on the floor and is swiftly buried by the next one, and so on, ad infinitum.

If they're not accepting their mail, can one assume that they're reading/processing all the faxes they're requesting?

I do see online that Suntrust Loss Mitigation is actively seeking staff, though they seem to be having little success. Even if they do hire people, though, they need training, which takes time, and all that time, the backlog is increasing.

I supect that nothing much will happen very quickly.

[Murray12]

Yea the whole fax thing is BS. It is 2009, not 1975. I was told by my negotiator that the fax goes to her computer.

What state are you in? In Mass. for instance they have a consumer statute called 93a where you send a demand letter and they have to respond within 30 days or you can sue for 2-3 times damages.

[rickmc]

Originally Posted by elephanche

I would love to hear from other people dealing with Suntrust and find out if there are any ways of getting a supervisor or negotiator on the phone.

Following great advice received on this forum, I called HopeNow on 1-888-995-HOPE (4673)

They are a HUD-approved Counseling service, and I spoke to a counselor. After going through my financials, she called Suntrust on my behalf and we had a conference call with a supervisor.

That was an edifying experience. Lots of 'I don't know who told you that', and 'We're doing the best we can', and 'Do you know how many cases we are dealing with?' but little concrete info.

If you think speaking to a supervisor is going to produce a guarantee of anything, think again.

[Murray12]

Honestly, the worst thing is waiting and not knowing. If they said you will have a modification done in 3 months and it was actually 3 months. It would be much better then the roller coaster of emotion the banks put people through.