Bank of American putting me in forebearance before loan mod

[kuchu0]

Hey guys, I'm new here and I hope that you can give me some helpful advice with my situation. After weeks of trying to get hold of my negotiator I finally got a phone call from him and he has informed me that to qualify for a loan mod under the terms of the private investor who owns my loan, I need to be behind by three months. Therefore, he suggested putting me in forebearance for three months where I will be responsible for only 1/4 of my regular payments. He has assured me that I will not be liable for late fees and won't be reported to the credit agencies but I can't help to feel a little uneasy about being late on these payments...even if it's bank assisted.

I bought my house for $740k 4.5 years ago and it's current valued at a little over $500k. I put down 10k at the time and did an 80/10/10 so I'm currently tried to get both the 80 and 10 modified. The 10 is a home equity line of credit so I will need to handle that separately. Right now my focus is on the primary mortgage which has been a 5 year ARM at 5% (interest only).

My wife has been a student for the past two years (she worked when we got the house) so I've been using the loss of income as the primary reason for the need to mod the loan. My secondary reason has been the fact that my ARM will readjust soon and make my payments unaffordable. My monthly net income is around $7100 and I currently pay $2450 (first loan) + $800 (property tax) + $70 (insurance) + $220 (second loan) which is around $3500. That puts my house expenses at around 49-50% of my net income right now.

I understand that's pretty high and my negotiator has hinted that it may help to get a second job in the next three months so I have another source of income when they try to mod my loan at the end of the forebearance period. However, he has also told me that he would tell me not to even waste my time if he thought my situation was hopeless. I currently have about a $700 deficit.

Here are my questions:

1. Is it true that some private investors do require people to be behind because I'm really worried about screwing up my credit history with these late payments if bofa forget to stop the credit reporting.

2. He mentioned that a plan they may look at was going to involve something like a 40 year fixed with 2.375% for the first five and 5% or a little higher for the remainder of the loan period. That brought my deficit down by some $550 or so. He mentioned that the private investor was going to need a 10% surplus which is a $710 surplus if I understood him correctly. I'm worried I'm going to have to start under-reporting my expenses to fit these requirements. Do you guys have any thoughts on what I should do?

I'm currently behind by about 7 days and I'm just getting ready to make my first forebearance payment. Please let me know if you guys think this is a bad idea and if I should just pay off the whole amount and try to get back to being current.

[kuchu0]

Sorry I couldn't edit. I said I put 10k down when I bout the house. It was actually 10% down.

[priscilla]

KuchuO,
Congrats on getting the forbearance. I dont mean to discourage you with this. But a word of caution. My cousin was given that same story by BoA and she had forbearance for three months since April this year. Guess what after the three months was over, she tried calling the guy who claimed to be her analyst. The very person who gave her the forbearance to now modify her loan in July. And guess what the lying machine did.They said they had assigned her a new analyst and that she should wait. COllection people have been calling her asking her for the full amount she originally pays.So you have to be proactive with it. They lie and lie and lie.This is my opinion about BoA. But keep fighting.The very thing I am also doing.
Good luck

[kuchu0]

Thank you Priscilla. I already missed my payment by a week but I'm going to continue talking to bank of america to make sure that I'm not shooting myself on the foot here by falling behind purposely. Technically, they don't report you to the credit bureaus until you're 30 days late so I suppose that gives me a few more weeks to get to the bottom of this. But yes, it definitely sounds a little shady. By the way, I've already made my first payment and I have two more to go but if I feel uncomfortable with this, I'm just going to pay them the 3/4 I didn't pay this month.

[priscilla]

KuchuO,
My cousin didn't complain about BoA reporting her to the credit bureau. They did not do that. They just didn't follow through with the promise of modifying after the three months. So I wouldn't worry about them reporting you. I believe you should be rest assured about that. I just wanted to share her experience with you, so that you will hold them accountable when the 3rd month comes and to be on their case. The good thing is that you are here and you can email the OOP if they dont back up the promise of mod after 3 months. Thelma is just getting the run away now. Good luck to you.

[priscilla]

She said they sent something to her in the mail and she signed and faxed it.Did you do that? I guess any help is better than no help. So enjoy your three month of not paying but just be ready to start fighting them after the 3rd month for a long term solution.

[kuchu0]

Thanks for responding prsicilla. It's good to know that they didn't report her the first three months. What I'm concerned about is, if they don't keep their word, this is going to go into a fourth month of delinquency and I don't know what happens once the forebearance period expires. I don't want to wake up to a telephone call from a collection agency telling me I owe them four months of mortage payments. Anyway, I wish all the best to your cousin. What is OOP?

[priscilla]

I noticed that you are being made to pay 1/4 of your mortgage. She was made not to pay anything at all for 3 months. Every situation is different so just do what you think is right.

[kuchu0]

I haven't received anything yet but my analyst has told me that I'll be getting in the mail soon.

[kuchu0]

Originally Posted by priscilla

I noticed that you are being made to pay 1/4 of your mortgage. She was made not to pay anything at all for 3 months. Every situation is different so just do what you think is right.

I don't really have too many choices. In other news, I just got off the phone with BOA (I was talking to a lady for 2.5 hours) and they put me on a 0% interest plan for the next couple of years for my second loan (72,000 balance). That's a HELOC loan and I was paying $216 interest only, she said I qualified for the 75% off program, which made my payments for the next two years only $54, all going towards the principal.

The strangest thing about this was I was able to qualify on the phone. Not bad for 2.5 hours of work.

[priscilla]

Office of the president.Barbara Desoer. her email address is all over this site. I emailed her office on saturday and someone called me yesterday. Her situation was that, her payment went back to where it was by the fourth month. They were not asking her for all the four month payment. They just wanted July payment and no hope for the agreed upon mod.

[priscilla]

Good news. im glad for you.

[kuchu0]

Originally Posted by priscilla

Office of the president.Barbara Desoer. her email address is all over this site. I emailed her office on saturday and someone called me yesterday. Her situation was that, her payment went back to where it was by the fourth month. They were not asking her for all the four month payment. They just wanted July payment and no hope for the agreed upon mod.

That is terrible. I would be pretty upset if they did that to me. Were you able to get any help from this lady's office (on your cousin's behalf)?

[priscilla]

I actually emailed OOP for myself. My situation is completely different. I just called Thelma to give her the contact info for the OOP so she should be contacing them. She is very proactive and stays on top of her stuff. They are just telling her that they are reviewing her file.Same thing they've been telling all of us. She has made her July payment and is very frustrated and dissappointed for the lie and run around.

My situation is that I bought my townhome with my ex husband. Husband at the time of purchase.lol. But he left me for another woman unfortunately. We divorced and the court awarded the house to me. I went to Naca's save the dream event in DC July 2008. They sent my file to BoA. I make 45000 a year and I took a roomie that gets me an extra $700 a month. Guess how much my mortgage is, it is $2670 a month. PITI. This is undeniably too unberable for anyone. I am virtually struggling. I have been going through the run around forever for like a year now. Lady called me yesterday from the OPP. thanks to this website. She said she will email the negotiator to work on my file. I hope to get the good news soon. I havent missed my payment. But I am struggling making them. I have been late for under 30 days a few times. The most the CSR did for me was to waive the late fee.

[kuchu0]

Originally Posted by priscilla

I actually emailed OOP for myself. My situation is completely different. I just called Thelma to give her the contact info for the OOP so she should be contacing them. She is very proactive and stays on top of her stuff. They are just telling her that they are reviewing her file.Same thing they've been telling all of us. She has made her July payment and is very frustrated and dissappointed for the lie and run around.

My situation is that I bought my townhome with my ex husband. Husband at the time of purchase.lol. But he left me for another woman unfortunately. We divorced and the court awarded the house to me. I went to Naca's save the dream event in DC July 2008. They sent my file to BoA. I make 45000 a year and I took a roomie that gets me an extra $700 a month. Guess how much my mortgage is, it is $2670 a month. PITI. This is undeniably too unberable for anyone. I am virtually struggling. I have been going through the run around forever for like a year now. Lady called me yesterday from the OPP. thanks to this website. She said she will email the negotiator to work on my file. I hope to get the good news soon. I havent missed my payment. But I am struggling making them. I have been late for under 30 days a few times. The most the CSR did for me was to waive the late fee.

That's pretty rough but I'm sure there will be brighter days ahead for you How is your loan structured? Is it two mortgages or you have a HELOC for your second mortgage? My understanding is that you don't want you deficit to be so large that it seems like a hopeless case but at the same time, you also want to demonstrate that you are in real financial trouble. Looking at your income and the mortgage, it shouldn't be too hard to see that, but in my experience these guys are not always the sharpest people out there. When your expenses are reported (since you're in the red) you should probably leave yourself with the option to trim some of it down if you're required to (like food,entertainment,phone,etc) qualify for the programs. I understand that with bofa you can just call them and update it over the phone if necessary. My friend was able to do that twice (he was stuck in the process for over four months and there were some changes in his financial situation) and he said he had no problems.

[kuchu0]

By the way I just got off another call with bofa (this is like my life now..that's 4+ hours on the phone with two reps today) and a lady told me when the forebearance period is over I have the option to go into a repayment plan while my case is being reviewed for a loan modification. She claims the repayment plan will not make me current again and disqualify me under the terms of the investor but she thinks it also won't show up as delinquent on my credit history. Not sure if I buy that. I repeated my request to be assigned the same analyst and she said she'll put notes in my account...I also asked to have my analyst call me but the chances that I'll get a phone call are slim to none based on past experience.

[priscilla]

My loan is only one loan. My ex husband and I got a %100 loan. I am definitely in the red. I am working through naca. They are a HUD certified counseling agency and they have my budget and submitted for review. BoA said they are putting me through the hamp program. So fingers are crossed and waiting.

[priscilla]

My loan is 6.75 percent and it is a 30 year fixed.

[kuchu0]

Originally Posted by priscilla

My loan is 6.75 percent and it is a 30 year fixed.

Yeah hopefully they can get you one of those 40 year loans with the 2.375% 5 year rates. That should decrease your monthly payments significantly. I wonder if you can somehow be eligible for a principal reduction as well.

[kuchu0]

Ok folks, I know I've gone AWOL for that past couple of months when I was on forebearance but I'm back with some good news. After giving me a little more runaround Bofa has finally approved me for a loan modification under the following terms.

Currently, I'm on the fifth year of a five year ARM at 5% interest only.

Under the new terms, it will be

FIrst 5 years: 2.125% fixed (interest + principal)
Next 35 years: 5% fixed (interest + principal)

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome (the 2.125% is of course ridiculously low) because even after 5 years, a 5% fixed is a pretty good deal. In fact, I had tried to refinance my home to a fixed plan and I had been quoted at 6.7% so this is considerably better than what I would have received under your normal refi.

It's been a tough long road (5 months at least) but I'm really glad I stuck with it and my advice to anyone else who is in the process is to stay strong and never lose hope. If you are persistent enough, they'll give you a good deal.

[BadBobMo]

Bank of American putting me in forebearance before loan mod

Why do they do this all the time, plain and simple it's call "Self-Cure" their hope is that you strike it rich, in the next 3 months, but wait you are missing lets say your roll of TP. Now they need at least let's say 2 more month's because you did not send in your full roll of TP.
It's all just another BS collection game.

[Housebroken13]

Originally Posted by kuchu0

Ok folks, I know I've gone AWOL for that past couple of months when I was on forebearance but I'm back with some good news. After giving me a little more runaround Bofa has finally approved me for a loan modification under the following terms.

Currently, I'm on the fifth year of a five year ARM at 5% interest only.

Under the new terms, it will be

FIrst 5 years: 2.125% fixed (interest + principal)
Next 35 years: 5% fixed (interest + principal)

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome (the 2.125% is of course ridiculously low) because even after 5 years, a 5% fixed is a pretty good deal. In fact, I had tried to refinance my home to a fixed plan and I had been quoted at 6.7% so this is considerably better than what I would have received under your normal refi.

It's been a tough long road (5 months at least) but I'm really glad I stuck with it and my advice to anyone else who is in the process is to stay strong and never lose hope. If you are persistent enough, they'll give you a good deal.

Hi that's a great deal. I am in my 3 month of a 6 month Fannie Mae forbearance. Do yo know who your investor was. I would kill to get a deal like this at the end. I just got a notice of intent to accelerate last month. But have made all payments on time thus far.

[priscilla]

Kuchu O,

Im happy for you. I have not had any good result yet. But I am still here trying for a solution. Good news for you.

[kuchu0]

Originally Posted by Housebroken13

Hi that's a great deal. I am in my 3 month of a 6 month Fannie Mae forbearance. Do yo know who your investor was. I would kill to get a deal like this at the end. I just got a notice of intent to accelerate last month. But have made all payments on time thus far.

Housebroken, I had a private investor which is why I had to go into forebearance (at least that's what my analyst told me). My friend has a Fannie May loan and what happened with him was just ridiculous. They had told him that he was approved for a 4.5% fixed (30 years!!) loan but after giving him the run around for 2 months, they told him that Fannie May has approved him for a 3.5% fixed (30 years!!) and sure enough, the papers he got had 3.5%. He was in ecstasy for days following that so hang in there. I will say this though..he was never put into forebearance because he rolled the dice and decided to start missing his payments.

[kuchu0]

Originally Posted by priscilla

Kuchu O,

Im happy for you. I have not had any good result yet. But I am still here trying for a solution. Good news for you.

Hang in there Priscilla. They want you to give up and if you stick with it they'll have no choice but to do something about your loan sooner or later!