Just Starting CW SUCCESS!!

[lcooper]

Hey Everyone,

My husband and I purchased our first house almost two years ago. We had a high enough income but poor credit (on my husband's side) to qualify for a fixed loan. Instead, we settled for an 80/20 loan. Our first loan is an ARM that is set to reset on August 1st. The second is an interest only ARM that is also set to reset on this date. We accepted the loan with full intentions of improving my husband's credit and refinancing after two years (due to a pre-payment penalty). Now, of course, our house has lost value due to the housing market and we are unable to refinance.

I am definitely interested in a loan modification. We can absolutely pay our current mortgages and have never been late on a payment. However, we do live on a tight income and will not be able to afford a significant increase. We have about 400 surplus a month (after paying all bills).

I called Countrywide today to ask about a loan modification. I was told that I have the type of loan that they can't modify before 90 days of the reset date. First, is this something that actually exists or are they just trying to delay the process? Secondly, what is my next step (whether it be tomorrow or May 1st)? I really want to get things started because I've read that this process can take months.

I would really appreciate any advice you all can offer.

Thanks in advance,
Laura

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

The loan probably is not able to be modified yet or a request to modify can not be accepted until 90 days prior due to 2 reasons...they are overwhelmed with the ones that really need it NOW. They have a pool that they have not gotten the terms that the investor will accept on the pool yet so they have no idea how it will modify out yet as the investor has not provided that data.

You can ask for the package and explain that you want to get a jump on the process in your household and get the hardship letter written and all of the budget prepared so that you can be ahead of the curve in late May and early June.

The packages are fairly simple and they do need paycheck stubs within the most recent 30 days on all borrowers. The hardship letter and budget are the hardest part of the package.

[lcooper]

Sounds good.

I'm afraid we are going to fall into the 'we make too much' category. My husband recently took a new position with about a 7000 dollar increase in pay. We have not yet received a full paycheck so I don't know the exact amount we will have after we pay bills. However, based on his previous salary, we had about a 400 dollar surplus. This extra money did not include groceries as these were budgeted at 200 a month. (We keep a very detailed budget that goes back about three years). Obviously, with this increase in pay we will have a larger surplus.

We can handle a small increase in payments. However, a significant one would definitely put us over the edge. We have exhausted our savings in this job transition and would have no choice but to go into foreclosure should our rate increase. For this reason, I feel we would qualify for a loan modification. Is there a magic surplus amount that seems to get the best results?

Also, I've been speaking to some of my co-workers about my situation and they all suggested that we put our house on the market. Their justification is that if we are unable to qualify for the modification, we could try to convince Countrywide to do a short sale. We would have a jump start on the process by already having the house for sale and possibly having potential buyers. Obviously, our goal is to keep our house but I would much rather short sale than foreclose. Do you think this is a good idea? Would this impact our chances of getting a loan mod, which is of course our first choice?

I'm planning on calling Countrywide tomorrow and asking for the loan modification package. I was thinking of also sending an email to some higher-ups telling them that I've asked for the package and am 'looking forward' to working towards a loan modification come early May. My plan is basically to bug the heck out of them. Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Laura

If the increase is not until August and your husband just got the job and you are current and the income is going to allow the payments today...it is tomorrow that you are concerned about and I think that you are putting the cart before the horse. At this point stressing about the future that is no where near you yet, and talking Short Sale, at this point is over worrying and over stressing.

The surplus that they are looking for is 200 to 250.00 in monthly net income to gross household expenses....that is everything. Well, some things are a little much for them to swallow, but for the most part all essential bills and expenses with all of the consumer debts in relation to the net income.

Remember bug them, but realize if they have not addressed this pool yet with the investor as this is so far out, they too do not have the where with all to modify the loan until they have the terms that the investors will accept.

You have to realize that these things are staged...and right now the staging is on the current mess, and the mess 60 days down the road....the mess 6 months from now is not yet in their ability to address, it is on their radar screen, but they do not have the ammunition to deal with it yet.

[lcooper]

Hi,

I was wondering if I could get an opinion of my hardship letter. I appreciate any feedback!

Countrywide Account Number:
Address:
Re: Loan Modification

To whom it may concern,

My husband and I purchased our home in July of 2005. We have an 80 adjustable rate / 20 balloon loan. Our larger loan is set to adjust August first of this year. We have never been late on a mortgage payment since the inception of our loan and are attempting to avoid this situation in the future. We are able to pay our current mortgage payments without difficulty, but considering our current income and necessary expenditures we will have difficulty once our loan resets. We are hoping to renegotiate the terms of our two loans to avoid future late/default payments. Our goal is to keep our house, good credit ratings, and to continue to make on-time payments.

When we decided which house we wanted to buy, we first sat down with a loan officer for Ryan Homes (the company which built our house). After reviewing our credit reports and financial information, we were told that we would qualify for a 30 year fixed loan without issue. Hearing this, we put down the required five thousand down on our house. As our house was being built, we made efforts to remove some of the blemishes from my husband’s credit report. Before we closed on our house, he had a perfectly clean credit report and his credit score had improved significantly from when we first started this process.

We met with our loan officer a few days before closing and were told that we did not qualify for the fixed rate loan as we were previously told, despite the fact that our credit scores had improved and our financial state had not changed. At this point, if we backed out of the house we would have lost our five thousand dollar down payment. We decided to proceed with the 80/20 loan that was offered with every intention of refinancing as soon as possible. Our loans were originally written by another mortgage company and were sold to Countrywide soon after we closed on the house.

I would also like to state that the information on our loan application is not accurate and is not the information that was provided to our loan officer. Our stated incomes are incorrect and I feel that they were changed without our knowledge. I have our paycheck stubs from the time we filled out the loan application to prove the discrepancy.

Unfortunately, we are unable to refinance our home at this time. Due to the current market, our home has lost significant value and we are upside in the amount our home is worth and the amount that we owe. We have recently begun efforts to decrease our monthly expenditures in preparation for our rate increase. We would greatly appreciate it if you would work with us to renegotiate the terms of our loans to a 30 year fixed rate or to simply extend the fixed rate period on our larger loan.

Attached you will find a copy of our current monthly budget, detailed explanation of our expenditures, copies of our bank statement, and recent pay stubs stating our current incomes. Thank you for your assistance in this process. I look forward to resolving this situation quickly.

Sincerely and respectfully,

[Moe Bedard]

Laura,

It looks great, however, if I were you I would just take this paragraph out...
This type of paragraph would go into a QWR (Qualified Written Request)

Otherwise the rest is great..........



"I would also like to state that the information on our loan application is not accurate and is not the information that was provided to our loan officer. Our stated incomes are incorrect and I feel that they were changed without our knowledge. I have our paycheck stubs from the time we filled out the loan application to prove the discrepancy."

[lcooper]

I guess I'm confused at what exactly a QWR is. I've looked over the samples... Can you explain it to me?

Also, I was just told by Countrywide that because I've already paid my May payment I am unable to start the workout process. It sounds like they will only start the process if I am late on my June payment. This is what we are trying to avoid in the first place. Is this true? Is there any way to get around this situation?

Laura

[Moe Bedard]

A Qualified Written Request is a request that you make of your lender if you have had problems with your loan and servicing of your loan, and if you were a victim of predatory lending..........you make the request to get the documents from your closing that the lender has so you can compare them to your closing package for discrepancies and anything else that you want to know.......such as payment streams and how they are applied..........what fees are exactly for.......and such.........



In order for them to start working with you.......no you don't have to be late....
What you need to do is put that hardship into the body of an email and email it to each of these addresses below............you should receive a response within 48 hours and be able to start the process.

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

[lcooper]

Alrighty, I just sent a copy of the hardship letter to the emails you listed. I'll let you know when/if I get a reply.

I did remove that one paragraph as suggested. My uncle, a lawyer, read through the letter and agreed that that paragraph was misplaced. Do I still need to do a QWR? Is this something that is suggested for everyone?

[Moe Bedard]

Not necessarily...........just wait and see how the contact and replies go from the emails...........if you don't think that you are going to pursue legal action against CW then you most likely have a copy of everything you would normally receive in the closing file.

When you receive a modification there is a clause that you sign that you waive all rights to bring legal action against CW anyway.......

[lcooper]

Hi,

I sent out my email on Thursday and got a response Friday morning! I've copied it below.

I have forwarded your email on to our Office of the President for response, as that is the correct department for you to be speaking with. If you do not hear from anyone in the next few days, feel free to follow up with me.

Lisa Riordan
Executive Vice President, Investor Relations
Countrywide Financial Corporation
4500 Park Granada
CH-19
Calabasas, CA 91302
phone: (818) 225-3959
fax: (818) 225-4051

I sent a reply today to thank Lisa for her prompt response and further state that all my husband and I want to do is to continue to raise our family in the house that we love. I informed her that as of yet, we had not heard anything from the Office of the President and that I would appreciate it if she could advise me of the next steps I need to do in order to accomplish our goal.

Is her response good, bad, neutral? I can't really tell but I was happy to at least get something back. Hopefully I'll hear something from the Office of the President soon.

[Moe Bedard]

Laura,

Lisa is on the list I provided as a facilitator...........so any contact from them is good.....she should be able to get you started, and you did the right thing by letting her know that you didn't hear anything yet..........

Just keep on top of it..............

Keep us posted........

[lcooper]

Alrighty, my husband and I received a call from the Office of the President. They left us their direct extension! We've been trying to call them back for the past two days and Angela never appears to be at her desk.

1. I think this is either a great thing or a terrible thing. They're either going tell us we qualify for a rate freeze or we don't.

2. Any suggestions in how to get in touch with Angela if she continues to not answer her phone?

I'm excited that at least something is happening.

[Moe Bedard]

Follow up with Lisa and tell her that you are having trouble getting in touch with Angela and see what she suggests......

here are two additional numbers to the Office of the President......


OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
400 COUNTRYWIDE WAY
MS SV-314
SIMI VALLEY, CA 93065
1-805-578-6380
1-805-578-6311

[lcooper]

Angela Tovar called me back from the Office of the President. She gave me a fax number to send in our two most recent paystubs and a copy of our budget. What information am I allowed to include in this budget? I've read that I want to end up somewhere between 200 and 250 surplus- Is this still correct?

[Moe Bedard]

Laura,

That is correct.........and we have an example for you to follow in the Homeowner Tool Box to the left of the forum entitled........
"Income & Expense Sheet"

Hope this helps.......
Keep us updated.......

[lcooper]

Without adding anything extra (dog food, perscriptions, etc.) we ended up with a surplus of 212.52. So, we definitely fall into that 200-250 range. Yea (I guess, in reality that's not really a good thing). I'll get the rest of the information she requested together and fax it out by the end of this week.

Question. I've read that other people are being asked for copies of their bank statements. Is this unusual that I'm not?

Sorry for all the questions. I really just want to make sure I'm doing this right so that hopefully we can get this done but successfully and quickly. This website is a life-saver!

[Moe Bedard]

Sometimes they will ask for bank statements if you are self employed.....if they don't ask you that is o.k. too, just forward what they ask for....for the surplus....that looks good........

[lcooper]

I got all the paperwork together and emailed it to Angela Tovar. I'm going to fax it to her tomorrow as well. Since I sent my original email with my hardship letter, things have been going just as you all said they would. Hopefully this trend continues.

After Angela confirms that she has received my fax (or email, I guess), she told us we should hear within 24 or 48 hours whether we are approved or denied for the loan mod. What is a reasonable amount of time to wait if I have not received confirmation of my fax or email (that seems to be where a lot of these stories start to go bad...)?

I've been reading some of the success stories on this site and really have my hopes up that things will work out in our favor. Countrywide has a bad reputation and I'm hoping that the rumors are proven false. Although we definitely aren't a success story yet, this site had given me the confidence and strength to fight.

[Moe Bedard]

Laura,

By following the advice you should have a good outcome and soon.......it sounds like you are on your way.....and as long as the numbers work........CW will modify.....

Just check back with her on Monday or Tuesday to make sure she received everything o.k......

Keep us posted........it all sounds good........

[lcooper]

Hurray! I just got a call from Colemon from the Office of the President. He'll be handling our account from here on out. He took down some basic information, asked us what our goal is in this process, and gave me his number and extension. He said that we have an investor that doesn't require permission to change the loan and that that was a very good thing. I asked him if he could guess whether or not this will work out for us. He said that he couldn't guess, but that usually when people are escalated to the Office of the President they are there for some specific reason (taking too long, CW lost information, etc) and it typically works out in their favor. (He doesn't need to know that the only reason I'm there is because I sent one little email...) He was super nice and said to give him three or four business days to look things over but then after that I can call and check in if I haven't heard from him. So far, no complaints. Hopefully this keeps up!

[Moe Bedard]

That is great news Laura.................

Good Luck with the modification............I am so happy everything is working out for you........

[lcooper]

Hey,

Well, we've made zero progress. When we first spoke to Coleman, our negotiator, he asked us to give him a few days to get started and then we could call him for updates. Well, we gave him those few days and he hadn't even looked at our loan. He said that he had loans longer than ours and wanted to deal with them first. (Makes sense...) He told us he was going to be out for a few days and to call him in the middle of this week. We called him today and his voicemail stated that he would be on vacation until Tuesday the 26th (Today is Tuesday the 27th)... Alright, no problem. We all need a vacation. Except for one thing... Unless he was doing work on our loan on his vacation, he's made no progress from when we first called him.

What do I do? I realize we are not his only loan but I don't want to be forgotten. I'm planning on calling tomorrow but I don't expect much to be accomplished.

Why do some people get what seem to be instant results and others don't?

Starting to rethink those not-so-bad-things I said about Countrywide...

[Moe Bedard]

Laura,

You spoke to Coleman for the first time on the 17th which was a Sat. so he really only had a chance to put together your file in 5 business days and if he left for vacation in the middle of the week that cuts it down to 2 or 3 days......

If I remember correctly your adjustment doesn't come until August correct?

Most that they are working with are adjusting now or have adjusted already.......so your modification is actually progressing at a really good pace for an August adjustment........
I am sure you will hear something most likely before the end of the week.......the modifications take time.........

[lcooper]

Well, I think we finally have some good news. My husband called Coleman today (who has actually been very easy to reach) and he told us that he had worked something out. Our larger loan is currently at 7.9% and it will remain that way for five years. This is an interest only loan. In 2013, the new rate will be 8.25% fixed for the remainder of the loan. Our other loan is currently 11.something% and it will now be 8.25% fixed for 30 years. This will save us about 125 a month and we'll be able to keep our house. Coleman said he is putting the paper work together and we should have it in a couple days. I am super excited right now but think I might actually cry when I have that paperwork in my hands.

These interest rates are definitely high but they're stable... to me, right now, that's more important. This website is a lifesaver. I absolutely do not think we would have had success so quickly and fairly painlessly if it was not for the advice we received from loansafe. I want to let everyone I know about how great this site is.