Need help/advice with ASC/Deutsche Bank Please!!!

[drea28]

Our story, like most, is a long involved one, so I'll just try and give the highlights. Our mortgage was originated in December 2006 by New Century Mortgage Corp. Purch price of our home was $380,000. Current loan balance is $341,000, but with all the fees, back payments etc... ASC/Deutsche wants $420,000 to pay it off. We were self-employed when we bought the house, and needed to do a stated income loan. Needless to say, New Century overstated our income and I believe, intentionally misrepresented our property taxes to enable the payment to be "affordable" to us ($3000 per month was our limit). The interest rate we were promised was incorrect on the documents at closing - it should have been 8.25% and was 9.985%. We had to delay closing, but since we were selling our old home at the same time, our possessions were on a truck and waiting to be moved into the new home. We had nowhere to go, and needed to complete the closing asap. We were told the lowest they could go was 9.675% - that our credit was too much of a risk. We felt like we were backed into a corner, and agreed to the increase but insisted the payment stay under $3000. When they emailed new docs the payment was $2978. We hurriedly signed (big mistake) and went to settle into our new home. We had been told that after 1 yr. of clean mort. history we could refi to a much lower rate, so were not too worried about making that high of a payment for a year. We made 11 months of payments before the sh** hit the fan. Our loan had been sold to ASC, and we were informed there was a massive deficiency in our escrow. Our taxes were listed at $300 per year when in fact there are $9,200. Our payment of $2987 per month would be increasing to $4600 per month to cover the deficiency. At the same time, the recession was in its early beginnings and we had to sell our restaurant because we knew it was going to go under. The business was not generating enough income for our usual draws, and we could barely afford $2000, let alone $4600. My husband was forced to take a job paying much less than we were drawing and I could not work because I was pregnant and labeled high risk - and placed on bed rest. We could not pay, even if we wanted to, and the house went into foreclosure. We managed to negotiate a better repayment of the escrow to $3900 a month, but still not doable for us. My husband got laid off, my baby was born 2 1/2 months premature...just one thing after another. We tried for mod after mod but were denied every time. Deutsche Bank is our investor and apparently there are quite difficult to work with. We applied for H4H and were denied, and most recently have requested the Obama HAMP plan 5 different times, only to finally be told by ASC that Deutsche does not participate. We currently have an Aug. 28th sale date and are still trying to save our home. I have not even detailed the counteless hours of letter writing, faxing, phone calls, mis-placed docs by ASC and conflicting info we received as I know everyone has these same horror stories as well. As of right now, we finally did receive a mod offer from ASC just last week, as my husband found a decent paying job and has been steady since April, and I was substitute teaching. Both of my kids have heath issues from prematurity, so it makes it almost impossible for me to have a full-time "normal" job. I need flexibility for Dr. appts, and the ability to stay home with my kids when they get sick. Because my income is so variable I don't even want to count it in our budget. They offered us a fixed rate or 5.125% for the remainder of the loan, but are forgiving no principal, and the loan balance is increasing to $420,000. When we tried for H4H, the appraiser told me he was valuing our house at around $295,000. I really don't want to have a $420,000 balance on a house worth that much less. Plus, the payment of $3321 a month is still too much for us. It strecthes our budget to the absolute limit and if I don't work (like now in summer) we are actually negative after all bill are paid. My husband brings home $1200 a week. If we could get the principal down to less than $300,000 and put $25,000 - $50,000 down on the new mortgage, we could definitely afford the house. My parents have offered to help us refi/get a new loan and try to work a short sale/payoff. Does anybody have any ifo or experience with this? We are not sure if we should contact the forclosure attny. to make an offer, or to try to get NACA or a mediator to negotiate. Any info/advice would be appreciated. Also, anybody have any short experience with Deutsche? We were even thinking of trying to buy the house at sheriff's sale if all else fails. Thanks for all the advice and help on the forum by the way!

[drea28]

I wanted to post an update to our saga with ASC/Wells/Duetsche.
After over a year of trying to qualify for a mod, thousands of phone calls and faxes, we were told we were approved for a mod on July 12th.
After 100 more calls, we FINALLY got the papers TODAY. The offer is:
5.125% for the life of the loan - reduced from 9.675% 3/1 ARM
$8000 contribution payment
Approx. $90,000 in back pymts./fees etc... being added to the end of our loan bringing the outstanding balance from $341,000 to $432,134.
House is currently worth about $260,000 (zillow)
Our original pymt. at inception of loan was $2988 including tax & insurance.
Pymt increased to $3900 a year after purchase due to an escrow shortage.
current mod offer would reduce pymt. to $3321
The current offer is still about 65% of our income and leaves us with a defecit of about $1400 per month.
I had to call ASC several times a week requesting the paperwork, because we never received it. Reps kept checking and it was always "printed but not sent yet".
Finally yesterday, the rep sent an email to my negotiatior AND HER SUPERVISOR and magically the papers appeared on my doorstep this morning.
Yesterday, we met with a counsellor and began the NJ foreclosure mediation process. They advised us not to accept the mod offer and work through them because they feel that they will be able to provide us with more leverage and get us a deal closer to the HAMP plan, which our investor supposedly does not participate in. We we also referred to an attorney who is provided through the state, at no charge to us, and were given paperwork to send to ASC/Wells for a QWR.
If you live in a state where this is available, I highly recommend looking into it. The counsellor has been an excellent source of advice and was extememly knowledgable about what the banks are willing to do/accept these days.
I am hopeful that the mediation process will work, because I don't think we have too many other options left if it fails. I was going to try and go through NACA because they had seemed so sucessful with getting 2% rates, but since we are getting a stay of sheriff's sale (currently we have one scheduled Aug. 26th), and an attorney through the mediation process, I am thinking it is definitely a better way to go. Plus I have been reading a lot of compalints about NACA dropping the ball lately.
Hopefully the mediation process will work wonders and we can finally get on with our lives and have a home again. Right now I feel like I am overwhelmed by all this, and some days I just want to tell them that I have had it and to take the house and shove it. I love this house too much to ever do that really, but I have come to realize that at some point, that will be our only option left. I am still hoping and fighting every day though. We will not give up!!!!!