any success with ASC/Wells Fargo?

[mzladyjan]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and live in Illinois. My mortgage is with ASC/Wells Fargo and I owe $380K. I have a first and second with ASC/Wells Fargo and they have modified my first mortgage, but are unable to modify the second because I barely qualified for the payments on the first (divorcee).

Of course the appraised value has dropped tremendously as I'm sure is the case with most folks. My problem is coping with continued mortgage payments of $3200 monthly, knowing that if I decide to sale, it will evitably be a short sale; ASC won't write down the amount due; I'm underwater; and the second mortgage hasn't been paid for quite some time.

What should I do?

[auroraproblem]

Originally Posted by mzladyjan

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and live in Illinois. My mortgage is with ASC/Wells Fargo and I owe $380K. I have a first and second with ASC/Wells Fargo and they have modified my first mortgage, but are unable to modify the second because I barely qualified for the payments on the first (divorcee).

Of course the appraised value has dropped tremendously as I'm sure is the case with most folks. My problem is coping with continued mortgage payments of $3200 monthly, knowing that if I decide to sale, it will evitably be a short sale; ASC won't write down the amount due; I'm underwater; and the second mortgage hasn't been paid for quite some time.

What should I do?

In the long run only you can decide. I would start by gathering some information about your state, like is it recourse (can they come after you for the funds after foreclosure), what kind of foreclosure must they do to get the recourse ruling (some states require judicial to get a judgement for the difference). All this information is easily available on the internet with some google searching. This is important information even if you decide to keep the house; knowing your rights has really helped me when talking with the second.

Was the modification on the first under the MHA plan? From my understanding Wells Fargo (if that is your second) still has the TARP funds and must modify the second in line with the first if the first is under the MHA plan (don't quote me on this, but so far WF is my second and they have been confirming this to me, they are currently in a holding pattern until I complete the trials on the first). If your first modification is not MHA, you might ask WF if it would still apply for them to do the mod. WF told me that there would be no trial payments on the second under their HAMP mod (this is what they are calling it now, HAMP).

If you decide to keep the house, then start offering to WF. Perhaps half principle write down if they can qualify for the HAMP and collect some money against the write down amount. Even if they don't, still offer them half, under shorter terms (they will see return faster) and under reduced interest rate. If your state is non-recourse they are in a bad situation.

Some others should be posting as well soon with more insight, as I am still new to the process and have not yet completed it. Good luck.

[mzladyjan]

Thanks for responding Aurora; I'm going to look into the paperwork and continue pursuing the write down plan. It's funny, the bank will consider a short sale offer from an outside party before offering such short sales to the original homeowners.