First Franklin w HSBC 2nd. Should I pay a company to mod the loans because they do it well?

[GrazingCow]

Hello, thank you for providing this forum to look for help. My wife and I are behind with our mortgages on the first and the second (HELOC). I have talked to the second and they say they are willing to work with me, they need a payment of some kind to show that we can pay at least something. It will be the second payment to them within 60 days, and that will fulfill the requirement needed to submit a request for a loan modification. I still need to talk to the first.
I went over our monthly expenses with the second, and their estimate shows about $800 a month that we would have left over. What expenses can I show? Can I show overdraft charges from my bank as an expense? Because it's real money (is that an oxymoron?) going out at times when it hurts the most...
I plan on putting together all the details of our expenses and then submitting the request.
I somehow got in touch with a company that negotiates loan modifications. They claim to be able to get a better response from lenders, mine in particular, than the homeowner can. It would also be a permant solution, i.e. modifying the first to a 30 year fixed at maybe 6 percent... rather than just applying a bandaid. Aren't modifications temporary lasting 12-24 months? They said with the New Hope plan, lenders cannot forclose until a homeowner is 9 months behind. Is this true? I've been looking for info to substantiate this with no luck. Maybe some luck, because I found this forum while searching...
They charge a fee that is 100% refundable if they can't do anything for me. The amount is comparable to a refi, probably less.
Does anyone know how well these companies work or are they just trying to take my money and leave me in the lurch?
We had a 2 yr arm and the payments went up 600 bucks in January and we are struggling. The payments are about $2400 and I think we could handle $1700-$1800 and make payments on time to everyone to improve our credit rating.
I also have set up an initial clinic with NACA for this Saturday.

[schwefls]

Ho Grazingcow welcome to our forum:

I wanted to stop in say hello and assure you, you are not alone. Someone will be reaching out to you to address your questions and provide you with some sound advice/suggestions. In the interim please hang in there and know that we are here for you.

[Moe Bedard]

Hi GrazingCow,

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

This is something that you can do...............wait and see what NACA has to say first...........and if you feel that you absolutely can not do this on your own or with the help of NACA.........you would be better off hiring a company that has a proven track record and the backing of attornies........click on the link for more information if you feel you would need the additional help..........

Safe Loan Modification Service | Free Foreclosure Help, Stop Foreclosure, Short Sales - Loan Safe

[GrazingCow]

Thank you for your reply! Do you know about the new rule of foreclosing only after 9 months of being late?

[GrazingCow]

I've heard lenders cannot foreclose on a homeowner until they are 9 months behind, according to some "Hope Now" rule. Is this true?

[Moe Bedard]

The foreclosure laws differ from state to state................if you would like to get a difinitive answer to your question for your state............it would be best to ask a real estate attorney familiar with the the foreclosure laws in your state............they would know if anything had changed in your state.