Loan Mod Suggestions & Tips needed

[bmjm1025]

Hello all,

I was up very late last night browsing these forums and trying to learn all i can. My wife and i are like many others these days we are seeing the tough times.

Here is our story.

We moved to Iowa an bought our first home in June of 2006. We were first time home buyers, and need to find a home and move in fast. This was because of the jobs that we were offerd. We were offerd positions and salary that was 3x what we were making when we lived in missouri. We knew that our credit was less than perfect but we were told that since we were making such good money we could buy a home anyway. We mistakingly went through a mortgage broker. This broker literally killed my credit score so bad that when we were at closing he stated that i could not be on the actual mortgage but i would be on the deed to the house. We went with a high intrest rate 12.2% ( because of our past problems) knowing that we could possibly refinance in a couple years. Well after we closed and moved in, my position was cut and i was jobless. We have struggled since then. I have had a couple low paying jobs since then but they have not worked our for my favor. Last year we even tried starting a business, but that has sence failed as well sinking us deeper in this hole.

Our current lender is Saxon Mortgage, we are about 6 months or so behind currently. This past summer we were set up on 2 seperate repayment plans. Our normal payment is just under $1400, the first payment plan was around $2000 and the second was $2200 a month. It seemed they were just sitting us up to fail as we could not even make the normal $1400 a month, but the saxon person that my wife spoke to each time stated this was the ONLY way for us to keep our home.

About 3 weeks or so i got a call from a company. Telling us about their program and how they could help us with our situation and get us a modification. We we decided that we would go with them. They took out their $300 fee on 10/3/08 and i faxed in all the required forms to them on the 6th. Since then i have not been able to speak with anyone. I have not even gotten a call from our account mgr (CJ) verifying that they recieved the materials. I have spoken with Saxon twice this week and they state that they have recieved nothing from the company.

As i was browsing this site last nite i found the 1888 HOPE line and decided to give them a call. I spoke with Nora for over an hour. After which i drew up a letter and emailed and faxed to the other company terminating their services. and Demanding our $300 back. Which of course i dont believe we will ever see.

I know this is a long post and hope not too many fall asleep reading this. But we are just looking for some advice on what to excpet, should do, or whatever. I am currently an Independant insurance agent, as i was an agent several years ago. I am stillin the learning process but we now do see a light at the end of the tunnel, but are afraid of loosing our home.

Brad

[schwefls]

Hi Brad welcome to our forum:

I am so sorry you are going through this. I wanted to stop in say hello and assure you, you are not alone. Someone will be reaching out to you with some sound advice/suggestions. In the interim please hang in there and know that we are here for you.

[Moe Bedard]

Hi Brad,

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

It sounds like you are in good hands now with your HOPE counselor........they will walk you through the process and help you with the financials and any questions you may have going along..........just make sure that you follow up often and make sure they have everything that they need for the modification.


Please keep us posted on your progress..............
Good Luck with the mod........

[coolata]

I feel your struggle. To date, I keep receiving solicitation offering help witha loan modification. I spoke to a few and ask that they send me info but felt bad vibes so I did not bother.

I was using an old newspaper for my son's class project and came across an article about HOPE/NeighborhoodWorks. They had help someone with Aurora. The person home was saved the day before a sheriff sale through approval of a loan modification.

The next evening I called and spoke with a counselor whotook my info as well as referred me to a local Neighborhood Works office. I have met with the local counselor, she sent my hardship letter, and today Homeq called to speak with me about a loan modification. Unfortunately, I was at work andthe Homeq rep said she understood. She said to call back this weekend to go over my budget, etc. I am being optimistic for myself as well as others.

[bmjm1025]

Hey guys,

I sincerly appreciate the replies and support. Well today we were served with the forclosure papers. Dont think there is going to be alot of sleep for me tonight. the wife called to speak with nora and she was not in, so we are awaiting her return call.

I spoke with saxon 2 times this week and both times they stated to me that just to keep working with the modification process and the house is NOT currently in foreclosure. Well like i said today we recieved the papers.

Anyway as i said i appreciate the support and will keep posting.

[bmjm1025]

Update,

This last few weeks since being served has been a nightmare. We have spoken to so many people that seem to be giving us all different answers. We were referred to united neighbor from the 888-hope line and this would be our go between for Saxon. Well now apparently Iowa Mediation is our go between and the united neighbors is just here to assist us.
My question to 888-hope and united neighbors was that on the foreclosure papers it stated that we have 20 days to answer. We were told that with us speaking to them about a modification this was our answer. Well an attourney from iowa legal aid called us last week to offer us assistance, as we spoke i told him what we were told regarding the answer. He told us that we had to file this with the court our self and we only had 3 days left to do this. He faxed us the papers and we got them filed intime alone with the demand for delay of sale. This will apparently buy us some time for the modification.
This attourney called us back yesterday evening, my wife and him spoke and went over the answer we filed and a couple other things. He said that he does not believe that we will win the forclosure, but our best bet will be to get the modification.

I guess im really confused over this whole thing, if we dont win the foreclosure how can we still get the modification???

[Moe Bedard]

OK, it looks like you finally have some good advice from the legal aid attorney. yes, you need to answer and what he did is perfect. This is my biggest complaint with non-profits, they are not attorneys and many homeowners are in legal situations such as yourself.

Thanks for sharing your story on Loan Safe and please keep us up to date on your progress.

[bmjm1025]

Well it looks like we are going to loose our home. We cannot get no where with Saxon and we are so confused with the whole process it is just unreal.

Went to court on Friday 12/19 and lost. Judge issued the forclosure decree.

The question that i have been asking the attourney and the iowa mediation service all along is this.

No where in the court papers or anywhere does it say anything about Saxon mortgage. The first court papers had Mortgage Electronic Registration Service as the plaintiff. Then we recieved a paper which was a substuitiion of plaintiff. It was then changed to Deutsch Bank national trust company as trustee under novastar mortgage funding trust. Who is this Deutsch Bank and what does novastar have to do with this? Saxon purchaced the note from Novastar over a year ago. No one can give us a straight answer to any of this.

We were told that the only way we can keep the home now is to get this modification completed. Saxon recieved all the paperwork 2+ months ago. It was faxed in numerous times by us and by Iowa mediation Services, but they continue to tell us all that they have not recieved it.

Suggestions, comments, any thing?

[Moe Bedard]

Brad.............those would be the investors on your loan..........Saxon is just a servicer collecting your payments on behalf of the investor.
MERS is an industry-owned electronic registry and clearinghouse that revolutionizes the way the mortgage market works by eliminating paper, and cutting the cost of the mortgage process. A loan registered with MERS will receive a permanent 18-digit mortgage identification number (MIN) as early as loan application. The MIN will be a loan's identifier throughout the life of the loan, even if ownership or servicing rights are transferred. Currently, a lender records the mortgage or deed of trust with the County Recorder and this step will remain the same. In addition, an assignment will be recorded with the County Recorder reflecting MERS as the mortgagee of record. The MERS database will reflect the name of the actual owner of the loan.


You may want to see if NACA can help you out............they work to negotiate on your behalf with the servicer and the investor.........and their modification proposals are for low fixed rates.

click on the link to read more.............

https://www.naca.com/refinance/refinanceTenStep.jsp

[bmjm1025]

Thanks ***, but what about the novastar part? On the actual court papers this is exactly how it reads.

DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST
COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE UNDER
NOVASTAR MORTGAGE FUNDING TRUST,
SERIES 2006-5

Plaintiff,

vs.

us

shouldn't that read as trustee under Saxon?

When we bought the house the first lender was Acceleron, then right after closing Novastar Bought it. Then Saxon about a year and a half ago.

The attourney that was giving us advice from iowa legal aid even said that something was not right but he wasnt sure what to do about it.

Even more screwey:
On the last notice that we recieved prior to the forclosure it said Saxon was the servicer but the creditor was US. Bank.

Anyone confused yet? I know we are..

[Moe Bedard]

Novastar Trust would be different from their servicing arm.............this looks to be their investment portfolio trust. The loans get pooled into pieces............they may have retained a portion of the pool that your loan is in for investment...........you have to keep in mind that some investment pools get sold over and over..............as mortgage backed securities............
it can be very confusing...........here is the explanation that may help a bit to clarify............
Securitization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[bmjm1025]

How can we find out who the actual holder (s) is/are? We keep getting this run around and it seems that no one can actually tell us who it is. When i asked Saxon on one of our conversations they said, "well we are".

What would be your suggestion on our next plan of action. I know you had provided the link to NACA. Should we contact them even though we have been trying to work with the iowa mediation service for this modification? We were referred to them through 888 hope.

[Moe Bedard]

The investor on your loan is Deutsche Bank............and they do not deal with customers directly..........

The choice would need to be yours............if you feel that the non profit that you are working with is doing a good job and actually getting somewhere with Saxon, who is very hard to work with as a servicer, then stick with them.................but if you are not getting anywhere you may want to go through the process with NACA or at least ask them if they have had good results working with Saxon............

[bmjm1025]

Thanks *** once again i appreciate it. I will speak with our contact at IMS on monday and see if she has made any progress. I know she called the VP of loss mitigations 2 weeks ago about us. If nothing we will contact NACA.

once again thanks and will update soon.

Merry Christmas

[Moe Bedard]

Thank you! Same to you..............

[bmjm1025]

Update,

I received a call from the IMS earlier. Saxon has approved our modification. They are supposed to be sending us the papers to sign. Our original loan was a 12.2% interest rate, they made an offer of 1.9% for 5 years, and they would take everything we owe and put it on the back of the loan. They said all they needed was Just under $1600 for back taxes and insurance. We are doing some more checking on this because with the 1.9% interest rate that they said. Our payments should be lower than what they stated. But in any case the payments are still lower than we were paying.

I asked her what happens after the 5 years are up, and she said that it normally goes back to the original rate. So at least this will give us 5 yrs to get back on our feet, and try to refinance through someone else and get away from Saxon.

Also a side note, the IMA got the Iowa attorney general involved in this due to the fact they have had our paperwork since Oct of last year and nothing had been done. They were telling us that they have no records of us ever trying to get a mod. Att. Gen was notified on Wed 1/21, today 1/26 we got the offer..


Will post more as we hear...

Brad

[bmjm1025]

SUCCESS!!!!!!!

We have received our modification. Our final rate was 1.9% for 5 years and then 6.5%. Our payment went from $1400 a month to $601.

My advice to all is DON'T GIVE UP!!! Keep fighting.

Brad

[Moe Bedard]

Brad,


That is great news!!

Congratulations!!