Considering Mod - needs some help

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

First I want to let you know how much I like this forum - I'm so glad I found it. Thanks so much for making so much information available! Just Awesome.

Here is my question. First we are in need of a mortgage modification, but here is our situation. I'm pretty sure we were involved in a predatory lending scam, looking over our paperwork we were listed at making 160k a year, this was based on bank statements only. My husband is self employeed so his income is hard to document. I'm sure we did put that kind of money through our accounts however my husband has expenses associated with this business. He does Carpentary - so there are a lot of materials and sub cost that comes out of the our money. Also, I think the home appraisal was inflated too, I'm not positive on its current value, but their value was 327,000 town assessment is 273,000 - I know we could get 327,000 for it, our loans is for 308,000, no second mortgage. Anyway, its been apparent since we got the loan that we're struggling to make the 2666.00 payment a month. The mortgage was adjustable, but Vanderbilt automatically converted it to a fixed at 9.95 a few months back, which is good, but we still have a prepayment penalty for another 1 1/2yr. It would be like 15,000 dollars. Now with the economy my husband is making even less money. I want to call vanderbilt and see what they will do. I haven't seen much on line about this company, nothing good anyway. And the odd thing is they actually specialize in Manafactured homes, ours is stick built, I know this because we built it. So I don't know why they have it, Select Portfolio sold it to them.

So if I call Vanderbilt and by some mircle they are willing to look at our situation I'm not sure how to handle the income thing - will they still use our bank statements and not our income tax returns? If they use our returns they just laugh and see you can afford that house no matter what we did, but if they use our bank statements how do we explain that not all the money is ours to use - his expenses come out of there too. I was also considering trying the FHA thing, but again, we don't have well documented income - I work and get a W2, but that wouldn't support the mortgage. Also, because business is gotten so slow for my husband he is going to go BK, we stopped paying his bills awhile ago, but that still isn't helping us much. Anyone know if that helps or hinders negotiations?

Would FHA not even consider us if hubby is going BK?? Not sure how to proceed here - any help or suggestions would be greating appreciated. Thanks.

[Dan Bailey]

Wannastay,
Welcome to the forum and thank you for joining. *** or Moe will be by as soon as they can to give you some help.. Hang in there!
I'm not sure how the BK affects things, but its good that there is no second for the FHA deal.

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

PS I meant to say we could NOT get 327,000 for our house. Maybe the 273,000.

[Moe Bedard]

Hi WannaStayAHomeOwner,


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

If you file a Chapter 7 BK you will need to wait until the BK is fully discharged before you can apply for a modification while keeping the payments current thruout the modification.

If you file a Chapter 13 BK you may require permission from the court as well as Vanderbilt before intitiating a loan modification.

If you want to start the process of modification on your own right now you would need to begin by putting together a hardship letter and an income/expense sheet there are examples in the homeowner tool box to the left of the forum and contact Vanderbilt to see how they will handle the income issue and what they would need.


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

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

Thanks for your reply. At this point we have not technically filed bk, my husband hasn't paid his bills in the last several months and we have only put a deposit on a lawyer - soooo with that said, could we technically go ahead a try the modification, only listing the expenses that we are paying, which I think would still qualify us. But my fear is if they did pull his credit they would see that there are obviously a lot of additional expenses not listed, as well as not being paid. Do they pull your credit on a modification? I just don't think I can keep our mortgage current waiting to file and have it discharged.

The other thing I was thinking was asking for an extention, apparently Vanderbilt will do a 1 to 3 mos extention, are these any easier to get? I thought it would buy us time plus get through what is probably going to be a very slow winter for my husband work and get this bk done or whatever. I need any advice you can give - my head is swimming and I desperately want to stay current on my mortgage.

Thanks!

[Moe Bedard]

Call Vanderbilt and ask what the options are from the investor on your loan....if they offer the option that will give you some relief, then ask them if you can do that while going through the modification process..........as far as credit goes, some lenders will pull it as part of the modification and some don't...........I am not sure about Vanderbilt.......that might be something that you could ask as well as going over the financials with them.............so that you will know what they will ask for and be prepared......

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

Ok so I called vanderbilt today, the guy I spoke to was nice - I initially asked for an extension, which I'm sure is easier then a mod - and I'm looking for something immediate - not try and make my payments for the next 1 1/2yrs before they do something. So anyway, he immediately starting taking my financial info, which thanks to this board, I had all right in front of me. Then told me to call next Wednesday. I then started talking to him about modification - we asked me if this mortgage was a refi - and I said yes (It was in a interest only initially) he said it would probably be a little tougher because I knowingly refinance at such a high interest rate - um well, the first mortgage people didn't knowingly sign at yucky terms too. At any rate, he said I can definately pursue it and that of course they would consider it - he did say they would do everything possible to keep me in my home. Hopefully he means that - but we'll see. I'm hoping for a three month extention - although I realized after I got of the phone he didn't even ask me - so I'm sure if they agree to it they will only offer me one - I'm hoping I can convince them to go three - my husband is in construction and its not going to be a good winter. They also said as long as I'm good about staying in touch with them - and not ignore them if I get behind then they will work with me.
Again, I don't know a lot about vanderbilt - but so far they have been pretty descent to talk to, but I'm behind on my mortgage yet either.

Anyway have any insight to the comment about it be a refi? And also, I was looking at the FHA loan requirements and I get the feeling they are are really only extending this to people with adjustable mortgages. Is this correct? Mine was, but vanderbilt automatically converted everyones mortgage to fixed - think this was to be proactive on their part - or to insure they wouldn't have to following any government guidelines??

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

Just wanted to give a quick update. Vanderbilt did approve my extension. They gave us 2 months - next payment due 12/1. I'm not sure that this is going to really help. I think I will need to ask for a modification. I'm not finding any info on Vanderbilt Mortgage. Does anyone know anything about them? Contacts etc. When I talked to them about the extension I casually asked about a modification. The gentleman said I could go ahead and try but because the loan was a refi they probably wouldn't do it - anyone heard of that? We originally had a interest only mortage. We were afraid we wouldn't be able to refi because of my husband being self employeed and the income he showed our tax return wasn't going to be enough - are scores weren't good enough for a stated income loan. Anyway, I found a broker that was able to get it done. We're paying big time for it at 9.97% interest and a 2666.00 mortgage not including taxes. The loan is for 310,000.

Any suggestion or thoughts on his comment would be appreciated. And how to proceed. BTW, Vanderbilt bought our mortgage from Select Portfolio - they really only do modular homes but ours is stick built. So I don't know why they even have our loan.

Any contact info and/or experience with this bank would be appreciated!

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

Anyone got any info on Vanderbilt? I know its a Warren Betty/Berkshire Hathaway Company. Does anyone know anything about these people?

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

I'm still hoping someone can give me some contact info to Vanderbilt and experience on how they are to deal with - Anyone???

[Dan Bailey]

Wannastayathome,
A google search of "Vanderbilt homes" showed they do have a website with contact info (vmf.com) , it also showed a "rip-off report" page a little further into the google search.
As to why they have yours...perhaps because many of our loans were bundled and sold...vanderbilt does land mortgages also...they may have been trying to expand during the "boom" and purchased yours and others.
Their website does have contact info with phone numbers and physical mailing addresses.

[Moe Bedard]

Here is the link to the page with the information for modification options through Vanderbilt and the documents needed...........

Foreclosure Prevention | Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, Inc.

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

Wanted to come back and update. It's December and my extensions up. We will make December's payment barely. We called today to inquire about a modification. The women we spoke to was pleasant enough but basically said that it didn't look like it "was in the cards" that we were to far in the negative - based on the info giving at the extention and was only 200.00 and because we haven't had the loan for a year. Well we haven't the loan WITH THEM for a year - because they bought it. But of course she doesn't have the final say and our supposed loan rep was not available, but we did his name and extention and will call again Monday.

But I have some questions that I'm hoping someone can answer before I start doing this. We have taken a significant income decrease over the last year with my husband's business, and he has let some of his equipment go and has defaulted on his cc's. We will probably go bankrupt eventually, and I know you can't be in bankruptcy when applying for a mod. Which we are not at this time. But I don't want to list all the items we're not paying on towards are income worksheet, but I'm afraid if they ran credit reports they would see all this additional expenses. - has anyone else dealt with this problem and if so how as the bank reacted? I don't want to file first and then find after that we can't afford our home and not be able to include them - because I'm sure they would come after us for the balance. I guess I could probably not reafirm with them, but then would they be will to do anything under those terms? But I also don't know that I can wait for bankruptcy to go through before going for a mod - the mortgage is just too much and even without paying some of these other expenses its extremely hard.

If anyone has any suggestions or experience with this I would appreciate your insight.

Thanks! This board is awesome and I'm very thankful for it, it really helps to know your not alone.

[WannaStayAHomeOwner]

Ok, so as you can see I've been going back and forth with our situation for a while now. Our income has decreased significantly over this last year. We are planning on filing bankruptcy, but have not done so yet. Meanwhile, we have stopped paying all CC bills and whatnot, we have stayed current on our mortgage, barely, but current. We will find it very difficult to continue to pay this mortgage amount while waiting to file bk. So my question is, is there any negotiating with the bank on a modication before filing bk. My concern is we have all these debts that we are not paying - but I'm assuming they will consider them in are income/debt ratio - especially if they pull a credit report. I guess I'm really wondering what others have done in this situation. I can't imagine that all people are keeping current on other obligations while going through these hard times or don't have to look at eliminating other debts in the process. We have tried talking to our bank, but can't get anyone with a brain to talk to. And I guess I'm hesitating because of all these other debts. Does anyone have experience with negotiating with there bank and explaining that they will be going BK on other obligations - any success or failure. Vanderbilt is a tough one, I just want to go at them the best way I can. And I know I should wait til I've file and have a discharged BK before approaching them. But I don't know if its possible.

[Moe Bedard]

the best thing that you can do when faced with a decision like this is to sit down with the bk attorney and go over all options and outcomes and see what they think would be the best course of action.....including whether you should try a modification first. If the other debt is causing a large deficit in your income/expenses, then you may want to wait if you are filing a Chapter 7, until it is discharged so that the financials will be in a better position to modify the loan.