Interesting letter and phone conversation

[firemedic679]

wow, where do I begin. back in 2006 we refinanced our house to help with our credit. we were supposedly doing a quick credit fix loan that was an ARM for 2 years at 10.3%. then to 12.3% in 11/08. our current mortgage is $2732. going to $3532 in November. the guy said dont worry your credit will get better and we can refi before the two years is up. at the time and the hardship we were in it sounded like a good idea. we got some equity out of it and was able to pay off a lot debt. well, 6 months go by, 12 months go by and still nothing. guy says credit not high enough yet. it was 620 at that time. 18 months later we get a call saying we did a great job our credit is acceptable now and we can refi. send in all the paperwork. get all the way to the appraisal and thats where we found out that our house was worth less than what we owed. sorry cant help you he says and refuses to answer our calls or emails ever since.

contact Homeq (our lender) and talk to a nice lady who seems helpful but eventually tells me we wont help you until you are 3 months late and are near foreclosure. now, ive worked very hard the last two years to get our credit score up almost 200 pts. (my wife is above 700 now). now i have to purposely miss payments, ruin my credit before they will help. talk about frustration. we make good money. (im a firefigher/paramedic, wife is a RN) but because of our mortgage my family is struggling paycheck to paycheck.

fast forward to today. get a letter in the mail from a company saying they can help with a loan modification. so i call them and talk to Alex Reyes. senior load modification specialist. conversation actually sounds very promising. he says there is no way with our credit that we should be at 10.3% he can get us down to below 6% give us a 30 year fixed and take close to $1000 off our mortgage payment. i tell him our hardship, he ask a few questions about income. then the conversation goes wierd. he says all he needs is $3500 (fees, closing cost, etc....) and we can get started. i tell him if i had $3500 i wouldnt need a loan modification. he then says well we can do a payment plan. then he says actually dont worry about it well just take it out of your first few mortgage payments. now the red lights start going off and im starting to get suspicious about this. he tells me its legit and they just want to help hard working americans like myself. he gives me a website to check out (link removed) and says he'll email me the application.

ok, first question. is that company and what there claiming to do legit? or am i being or going to be scammed out of $3500?

second, can companies other than your lender help with a loan mod?

thanks for reading, i know it was long but were getting close to november and the stress level is rising and im wondering if we are going to be able to keep our home.

thanks

Greg

[Moe Bedard]

Hi firemedic679


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

This is something that you can try on your own..........and you don't need to be in default first.........you have a rate that is predatory at 10.3%.......


Loss Mitigation
PH 1-877-867-7378
Fax 1-866-577-1227



If you find that you are not able to do it yourself, or you just want to keep the stress level down ............please check with our attorney and see what they can do to help...........we offer modification services in all states..........and they are very reputable........

Law Offices of Gregory A. Paiva & Associates
1325 Corona Pointe Court
Corona, California 92879
Telephone (888) 432-6634
Facsimile (951) 860-4763


Hope this helps.............
Please keep us posted on your progress.........

[firemedic679]

so that loan mod company is bogus? thought so!

thanks so much for your help. i just stumbled upon this site looking for loan modifications and found you guys. thank god i did. i think i can handle it myself. but thanks for attorney info anyways. i will get that hardship letter off asap and let you know what transpires. thanks again!

[Moe Bedard]

No problem..........that is what we are here for...........


Also if you need help formulating the hardship letter.........there are examples in the Homeowner Tool Box to the left of the forum.........

Good Luck!!

Please keep us posted on your progress............

[faith]

Originally Posted by firemedic679

wow, where do I begin. back in 2006 we refinanced our house to help with our credit. we were supposedly doing a quick credit fix loan that was an ARM for 2 years at 10.3%. then to 12.3% in 11/08. our current mortgage is $2732. going to $3532 in November. the guy said dont worry your credit will get better and we can refi before the two years is up. at the time and the hardship we were in it sounded like a good idea. we got some equity out of it and was able to pay off a lot debt. well, 6 months go by, 12 months go by and still nothing. guy says credit not high enough yet. it was 620 at that time. 18 months later we get a call saying we did a great job our credit is acceptable now and we can refi. send in all the paperwork. get all the way to the appraisal and thats where we found out that our house was worth less than what we owed. sorry cant help you he says and refuses to answer our calls or emails ever since.

contact Homeq (our lender) and talk to a nice lady who seems helpful but eventually tells me we wont help you until you are 3 months late and are near foreclosure. now, ive worked very hard the last two years to get our credit score up almost 200 pts. (my wife is above 700 now). now i have to purposely miss payments, ruin my credit before they will help. talk about frustration. we make good money. (im a firefigher/paramedic, wife is a RN) but because of our mortgage my family is struggling paycheck to paycheck.

fast forward to today. get a letter in the mail from a company saying they can help with a loan modification. so i call them and talk to Alex Reyes. senior load modification specialist. conversation actually sounds very promising. he says there is no way with our credit that we should be at 10.3% he can get us down to below 6% give us a 30 year fixed and take close to $1000 off our mortgage payment. i tell him our hardship, he ask a few questions about income. then the conversation goes wierd. he says all he needs is $3500 (fees, closing cost, etc....) and we can get started. i tell him if i had $3500 i wouldnt need a loan modification. he then says well we can do a payment plan. then he says actually dont worry about it well just take it out of your first few mortgage payments. now the red lights start going off and im starting to get suspicious about this. he tells me its legit and they just want to help hard working americans like myself. he gives me a website to check out (link removed) and says he'll email me the application.

ok, first question. is that company and what there claiming to do legit? or am i being or going to be scammed out of $3500?

second, can companies other than your lender help with a loan mod?

thanks for reading, i know it was long but were getting close to november and the stress level is rising and im wondering if we are going to be able to keep our home.

thanks


Greg

Hello Greg,
Peace be with you.

Sometimes you have to follow what your heart says and I am glad you did.

Like what *** said, it's best to contact your own lender and explain the difficulty and your hardship.

Most of the junk mail that we all receive from unknown all of a sudden company has only one purpose: steal, deception, fraud, I'll say 93% and I am being generous in my rating.

These companies are all over and they are trying to roar like a lion seeking whom they will devour. If you don't know the company the best thing you do when you get junk mail is to shred them. Even big and well known companies like Countrywide etc. has unfair and predatory lending practices, which is one of the reason why this market is such a mess. How much more is the little unknown company such as the one you just received.


You can also verify the Better Business Bureau and find out the company's rating and you will surprise how much bbb search help could bring to you and me.

You and your wife deserve the best because you do the best, being a paramedic and RN is such an awesome job. I can't remember how many times Paramedic like you and fire department came to the rescue to save my life when I had 3 car accidents of which none of it is my fault. And I can't remember how many times a Nurse like your wife touch my hand, encouraged me and gave me injections, brace and medications and served me the best way they knew how and assure me that I will be okay. I have so much respect for all the paramedics and fire department and doctors and nurses. Thank you so much for saving lives and making this world the best place to be.

I wish you the best, you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
God loves you and God bless you.


Faith

[firemedic679]

Faith, thanks for the kind words and prayers. we need a lot of prayers right now.

Funny you should mention BBB. after i posted here i continued my research and went to BBB, and i wasnt surprised to find an F rating and numerous complaints regarding the above company. and some questionable tactics and complaints as well. However homeq also got an F rating and had complaints as well. so well see how far i get with them.

Im glad my gut instinct told me to investigate this whole issue. im going to send that hardship letter to homeq and see what happens. two things are going to happen, we short sale or we get a loan mod. thats it. i hope its the latter. thanks for the encouraging post and its nice to see that there are people that truly want to help home owners such as this site and not everyone is out to make a buck.

[RudyJay]

Firemed... I know you can do this ... hang in there...keep posting..rj

[firemedic679]

How does this look for a hardship letter. i used the template and added some of my own thoughts. too much? did i get the main points? criticism welcomed.

To whom it may concern
Re: Loan # XXXXXXXXX

This letter is to request a loan modification on a loan that we have with you.

Here's our situation.

In November of this year our ARM is going up 2% to an unheard of 12.3% from our current 10.3%. Our current mortgage is $2732 and we’ve been told its going to go up to at least $3532 +/-. After going over our finances and looking at our budget there is no way that we are going to be able to afford that increase. We are barely making ends meet as it is. My wife and I have very stable and secure careers. (I’m a firefighter/Paramedic and my wife is an RN). And although we make good money, between mortgage and bills and life necessities, we are living paycheck to paycheck. We love our home and want to stay in our home but if our rate goes up that’s going to be impossible.

As you can see in my payment history, we have never been late or missed a payment. We can pay our mortgage now. It’s a struggle but we’re doing it. I’m lucky enough in my profession that overtime is available but not always. And by always working I’m missing valuable time I could be spending with my kids. I’ve worked really hard to improve our credit scores almost 200 pts from when we did this refi. I would be devastated if I couldn’t make the future payments and ruin my credit that I worked so hard to improve. We plan on staying here at least until our kids graduate high school (16 years from now) or I retire. We don't want to jeopardize that by having an unaffordable mortgage. This is why we are asking for your help. We know that if we can get this loan modified to a more affordable payment, it would allow us to keep our home and focus on our family and what’s important instead of worrying about keeping our house. I want to do something before November comes and not wait until its too late and the rates adjust and then we become delinquent.

We are looking forward to continue to have a good relationship with you and are hoping that you will find a way to help us. As we mentioned before, we really love our home and anything you can do to help us keep it would be greatly appreciated by not only my wife, but my children and myself.

I believe this addresses the situation we currently find ourselves in along with many other homeowners. If you are able to help us please let us know how to proceed. We would be happy to provide you with any documentation that is required.

Thanks for your time and consideration regarding this matter.

Mr and Mrs Greg XXXXXX
Loan # XXXXXXXXX
Address:
Phone:

[firemedic679]

i forgot to add that my wife after having severe back pain for months has been told that surgery is the only option and she'll be out of work for at least 4-6 months. which means less income. is that something i should include or does it make it seem that we cant afford the payments even with a loan mod.

thanks

[Moe Bedard]

I would just leave that unless they were to tell you that the income the way it is would be too much for a mod..........then bring up what you wife's situation will be at that time............but if it is not needed to be discussed............just wait and see what they say.........

The letter is good.......send it off in the emails and let us know how it goes.

Good Luck!!

[firemedic679]

sounds good. letters sent off tonight. will let you know when i hear a response.

thanks!

[Dan Bailey]

Good luck firemedic...I'm sending out some hope for you!

[firemedic679]

well its been 3 days and i have heard nothing back. should i resend the emails or call that number. since im not behind yet will loss mitigation even be able to help me?

[Moe Bedard]

Call into the number to get started on the mod as well.........tell them you have a hardship and would like to apply for a loan modification.


HomeQ
Loss Mitigation
PH 1-877-867-7378
Fax 1-866-577-1227

[firemedic679]

sounds great, thanks!

[firemedic679]

got a phone call today from the modification department. After crunching numbers and running stuff in his computer i was able to get our interest rate down from 10.35% to 8% for 5 yrs. impounding our property taxes and homeowners insurance. takes our mortgage from $2732 to $2350 get to skip a payment and no pre-payment penalty. with the impounding and lower rate we are going to have about $600 more a month than normal!!!!!!

I was hoping to get lower than 8% but at least our payments are not going up and i didnt have to ruin our credit for this mod to happen. I am pretty stoked!!!!!

just need to fax over all the docs he requested and he said probably somewhere around next week well get our loan docs to sign!!!!

thanks to this site and ***'s help we were successful. crossing fingers until we get the loan signed but im very excited about this.

thanks everyone!!!

[Moe Bedard]

Congratulations!!

Please let us know when you receive your docs and if you have any questions on them.............

[faith]

Originally Posted by firemedic679

got a phone call today from the modification department. After crunching numbers and running stuff in his computer i was able to get our interest rate down from 10.35% to 8% for 5 yrs. impounding our property taxes and homeowners insurance. takes our mortgage from $2732 to $2350 get to skip a payment and no pre-payment penalty. with the impounding and lower rate we are going to have about $600 more a month than normal!!!!!!

I was hoping to get lower than 8% but at least our payments are not going up and i didnt have to ruin our credit for this mod to happen. I am pretty stoked!!!!!

just need to fax over all the docs he requested and he said probably somewhere around next week well get our loan docs to sign!!!!

thanks to this site and ***'s help we were successful. crossing fingers until we get the loan signed but im very excited about this.

thanks everyone!!!

__________________________________________________ _____________

Firemedic679,

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ask and you shall receive!!!!!!!!Yay, Happy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank God for his goodness!!!


Faith

[firemedic679]

thanks everyone. still waiting for the official docs and signing before we get too giddy but its a great start and im very happy. faxed everything just now and they said if all is right probably be receiving the docs next week. im just surprised at how fast it happened when i was reading horror stories about this stuff taking months and months. proof that there is help out there for all of us. dont give up!

[donna317]

there is help out there
But most of us couldn't have made
it without this forum
just another "God wink moment"
good luck!!!

[firemedic679]

arrgghh!!! i am so pissed right now. homeq just called back after receiving our docs and said based on our paystubs it shows we can afford the payments and instead of a loan mod they are wanting to just do a rate freeze for 5 yrs.

so instead of going up we are going to stay at $2732 for 5 yrs. i told them we are living paycheck to paycheck and that $2732 is tougher some months than others and that didnt seem to matter. they were like "oh well at least your not having to foreclose like so many other americans. consider yourself lucky" i almost hung up the phone right then and there. anyways she is giving me until the weekend to make a decision. she also game me a number to call FHA and see about a short refi??

what should i do? what do you guys know about a short refi?

[RudyJay]

Hey did you mention to the rep about your wife's back and Dr. recommendations? and the pending hardship for the surgery and wife's rehab?

[Moe Bedard]

firemedic679,


They are most likely referring to the FHA bill that doesn't go into effect until October 1st. It is basically qualifying for a new loan on the home at 90% of the market value..............but the current investor has to be willing to accept the shor payoff because it is voluntary participation for them..........

Here is the info so far..........

FACT SHEET: FHA TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE TO STRUGGLING HOMEOWNERS

[firemedic679]

Originally Posted by RudyJay

Hey did you mention to the rep about your wife's back and Dr. recommendations? and the pending hardship for the surgery and wife's rehab?

yeah and she didnt seem to care too much. basically it was a short term hardship and based on our income we have $872 left over and thats plenty to be able to handle the lack of income for a while. (she said that). the thing is if i have $872 left over where the heck is it cause according to my checkbook we dont have it. even after adding some more stuff and upping the misc spending we were still at $400 left and that wasnt enough.

oh and get this, she also told me "well sir, maybe you should just cut back on eating out, buying fun stuff for you and the family, and taking vacations. reduce your cable, phone, internet, unnecessary expenses like lawn service, house cleaner, etc....try washing your car instead of going to the car wash.....blah, blah, blah. lawn service? house cleaner? i wish i had those. i basically said ok so ill just work and come home and sit on the couch then for the next 5 years.

anyways, i think well just suck it up the best we can for the next 5 years and go ahead and at least freeze the rate so it doesnt go up. we can continue to work on our credit, save some money and hopefully refi or get into a bigger house later on.

Honestly, we do have our house, we have our family and well just do the best we can with what we've got. life gives you challenges and its all about how you handle it, learn from it and make it better. i know well get through it and hopefully its a blessing in the long run a few years from now.

(actually not as frustrated anymore)

thanks for letting me vent. (feels good)

[RudyJay]

You know ... everything in this housing market is changing so rapidly.. not 8 months ago you hardly heard of loan modifications and now.. short refi and agencies... Long story short ...who knows what willl happen down the road... could be better .. even a year from today... who knows... take care...rj