Professionals get SUCCESS with CW and help from LoanSafe!!

[prof88]

This is the story of our journey through the loan modification process with Counrtywide.
We refinanced our home in March of 2005 to a 3 year interest only adjustable rate loan @ 7.25%. The amount of the loan was $384,500. Our loan was soon sold to CW, and they became our servicer. We also took out a second mortgage with HSBC in the amount of $95,000 @ 11.25%. Our monthly payment on our first mortgage was $2310, and $958 on our second. At the time of the refinance, our home was appraised at $525,000. Our credit scores were in the low 600’s.
We are both self-employed. I own a small construction company, and my wife is a real estate attorney. We have both been in business for over 15 years, and now also owns a title company.
In 2004 we started an extensive remodel of our home. We performed all the work ourselves through the construction company. We were near completion of the project in 2005 when we refinanced, but not completely done. As I stated we had not the greatest credit score, but we needed to refinance to pay the bills for our remodel project. Based on the market in 2005, we were confident that when the project was complete our house would have appraised for about $650K. This was based on similar home sales in our neighborhood, as well as assurances from several realtors and appraisers who are friends. We continued to work on the house financing the project ourselves, and making our mortgage payments every month. Our plan was to wait until January of 2008 and refinance to a fixed rate 30 year loan before our payment adjusted in April. This would have given us four months to go through the process, as well as improve our credit scores to qualify for a better rate.
Our plan worked perfectly except for one problem. Our house appraised in October 2007 for about $400K. Our credit score is 767, but we cannot refinance due to our diminished home value. Our only option in order to afford our home was to ask for a modification. If not our mortgage would adjust to 10.25%, and our payment would go up $956. We contacted CW to discuss our options in December of 2007. We were told that we likely would qualify for a modification. This is how the process has gone to date. Keep in mind that we are professional people who have worked in the real estate industry for over 15 years.
We started our modification request in January of 2008. We contacted the modification department on 1/16/08 and provided our financial information. During that conversation we had to provide all of our bills and income and they adjusted the income to get us in the system. We then drafted our hardship letter and put together all of the documentation they requested. We were told not to fax the information at that time, as they would call us back to confirm we were in the system and assigned to a negotiator. We were told to call back in 10 business days to confirm where we were at in the process. We were told the process could take 12 weeks for review.

After numerous calls, it took until the beginning of February to finally confirm we were in the system, and what else was required to move forward. We were told that everything was on hold because they had not received our documentation and hardship letter. So even though we were told not to fax everything in January, that was what was holding up our deal (of course during our conversations with customer service no one ever told us this until the 15th of Feb)- we faxed all of our information on 2/15/08 one month after we started the process, base on what we were told.

On 3/6/08 it was confirmed that our information had been obtained and our case was assigned to a negotiator. We were told she (Katherine Richards or Katherina Richards) would call us soon – every time we called they supposedly emailed the negotiator of our contact and to call us. We used our cell phone # to be sure they would reach us.

Finally on 3/12/08 we spoke with Richards and she said they had all of our information, they were checking on the status of our property taxes, and she would then submit to management. She stated it should take 5-10 business days for the decision to be made. Our payment due April first was going to adjust up $956. She told us to make the April payment if we could, otherwise they would add the amounts due to our principal. We were told to call back in one week.

We started calling almost daily starting on the 3/20/08, but could never get an answer. Every time we were told that a message had been sent to Ms. Richards and that she would call us back.

Finally on 4/14/08 (three months later) we were told that Richards was no longer our negotiator, and our new negotiator was Misty Bennett. Of course she was not available. Again, we called every day at different times of the day to try and catch the negotiator. We were never told that additional information was required.

On 4/23/08 we were told by customer service that it would be another 90 days before anything would happen and that it could be up to 120 days since there was a new negotiator. Countrywide had made changes on 3/25/08 as to how they were handling modification requests.

Late that afternoon (4/23/08) – 5:30 our time – Misty did call us back and immediately started asking financial questions. She indicated that although they had our bank statements, they did not have our hardship letter, tax returns, or any other information we had provided. She requested that we resubmit all of our information. She stated that if we provided all of the information, she would review within 24 hours and call back with additional questions or concerns. She also stated that once the information was in the system it could take as much as 30 days to get an answer – she was very defensive and not helpful at all.

On 4/25/08 we faxed all of the information requested – and updated - along with copies of the prior request.

On 4/25/08 Customer service said we were up for review with management and the negotiator had been checking the status as well.

On 4/29 – Again we were told the information was there but they could not review and the negotiator was monitoring.

On 4/30 - We called in to make our late April payment ($3441 with late fee and phone pmnt chrg.) in order to avoid having a late payment on our credit. At this time we were told that our modification was denied, and that the negotiator had tried to call us on 4/29 but was unable to reach us. This was not true since we have V mail, and caller ID on every phone we own. They said we would receive a letter in few days. When we asked why we were denied they stated that our income was too low, that we were negative by $1400. We argued that we were never contacted by the negotiator, and based on the information we had sent them our income was higher than our expenses by $400 per month. The CS agent said she would change the income amount to match what we had said, and see if she could contact the negotiator to reopen the file. After being on hold for 15 min. she stated that the negotiator had closed our file and we would need to start over. She stated we should call back in a week to find out the status.

On 5/7 – We contacted C Service and were told our file had not been assigned yet but we would likely be denied because our numbers did not match the outline of the system. We were now at positive 14% and needed to be at 10%. They said they would adjust the numbers on out file, and hopefully our file would be assigned soon. We asked how long, and they said at lease 30 more days, but maybe three more months.

While all this has been happening our construction company has had very little work. We have been forced to use income from our other businesses to cover our personal bills, as well as the bills for the construction business. We have considered walking away from our newly remodeled home. This would be sad since we have done so much work on it, and we know the market will come back, and we will be able to refinance.

We have heard through our many contacts in the business that this is happening to many people like ourselves who are only trying to use the resources we have to ride out the bad market. We do not want to walk away from our home. We love it here. That's why we spent our time and money improving the place. But if we are faced with paying $4,000 a month, and getting no equity for who knows how long, we would be better off to walk away from our great house.

The situation with CW is appalling. If we treated our customers in the title business this way, we would not only loose all of our business but would likely be in jail. Why are these people allowed to get away with this.http://www.loansafe.org/images/smilies/mad.gif

[schwefls]

Welcome to our forum prof88:

Boy you have definitely been through the ringer, while being patient, polite and persistent. Have you read our CW success stories section? There are some key contacts that we have here on the forum for the execs at CW. Shortly someone will be stopping by with that information and some sound advice moving forward. In the interim please hang in there.

[Moe Bedard]

Hi Prof88,

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

The first mistake you are making is waiting the times that they tell you to and then calling..........the second is talking to the wrong department.....

Now lets correct this.............what you need to do is to put your hardship letter into the body of an email and send it along with your loan number and best contact number to each of the email addresses below.......you should receive a response from the correct department within 48 hours......and you will be on the right track then and you will have to stay on top of the contact that you get...they will help you.........

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

[prof88]

I sent the emails as you suggested. We shall see if it pays off.

Thanks for all your help.

[prof88]

Well it seems your system for getting some action is quite spectacular. After sending out the 10 emails this morning with my hardship letter, I received three return emails from CW within an hour. Two hours after that I received a phone call from CW stating that our Mod was approved to put our loan back to our original rate and it was locked for five years.[/SIZE] They said they were sending the doc's and I should have them by Friday. Great! That's what we wanted them to do three months ago. We are excited but skeptical. I also received a phone call from the CW presidents office this afternoon. Erica said she would monitor our file to make sure the doc's were sent to us this week, and if we had any questions or concerns to contact her directly. She gave me her direct number. I tried her back a few minutes later and she answered. Wow a real person to deal with.

If this works I thinks we will be the shortest to ever make the success thread.

Thanks for the great contact info it really does work.

[Moe Bedard]

that is Awesome!!! So glad it worked for you!!!
Glad to Help!! That is what we are here for.........

Keep us posted when you receive the docs......just make sure to call again tomorrow or Thursday to make sure they were sent to you.....

Sometimes Professionals just need a little help from other Professionals who completely understand........

[prof88]

Approved In One Daythis Site Is Incredible
We Received Our Doc's Today By Fed Ex. My Wife Approved Them And We Have Our Mod. They Even Cut Some Of The Fees We Expected To Pay.

To All Who Are Ready To Hang It Up, Follow The Advice Of This Site And You Just May Get What You Want. We Did It In One Day

Thanks To Everyone.

[Moe Bedard]

Prof88,


That is great news!!! Congratulations!!!

I am glad we were able to help you!!!!

[nitag]

Congratulations!!! How nice it is to read about another success due to the assistance of Loansafe and ***!! You Rock ***!!!!


nitag
_________________________________
I fought Avelo Mortgage and won!!!

[schwefls]

Congratulations Prof88:

Kudos to you, party hardy, you deserve it.

[prof88]

Thanks all for the warm wishes.

Compared to where we were a week ago, I feel like we got lost in the twilight zone. We had some issues with how they were doing the mod. Up front escrow and rolling our June payment into the mod. My wife called them and C service immediately put her through to the VIP department where Brandon the supervisor was very nice to her and fixed all the problems. We will be able to pay them for what we owe for our June payment, and starting in July our payment will go back to what it was before it adjusted in April. My wife said that even C service was very kind and attentive putting her on hold for only a few seconds and apologizing for it when they came back on. She said it was like we were friends of the president. It seems like whoever got my email the other day told them to get our deal done ASAP or suffer. We couldn't be more happy.

Best wishes to you all, and I will update when the deal is finally over.

[Killwind]

Hi,

I'm in a similar situation. Did you have to be delinquent, at least 30-90 days, before they approve your modification?

Alex

[prof88]

Hi Alex,

No we were late a few times but never more than 30 days. I do think the key to success is to get to the right department. Getting past customer service to the people who actually do the work at CW is the key. The people we are dealing with now are very responsive, and have helped out like you would expect them to. I also think that the problem is bigger than CW can handle, and unfortunately they are learning as they go. I noticed in the main CW thread that Andrew had a post on the Loan Escalation Department. That is the department I spoke with on the first day.

Hope this helps, and hang in there.

[Killwind]

Hi,

Thanks for the response. Before the modification approval, what type of loan did you have? Was it the 30 Year PayOPtion ARM? (This is the loan that I have...the awful, pick a payment plan....4 choices. We would have never went w/ this loan if we were better informed) If so, I'm interested as to which payment you used when you reported the income and expenses to CW? I do not know if CW use the minimum payment or the fully amortized payment when they are reviewing/factoring my income and expense?

This is why I am asking the above question....
I too submitted my hardship letter and all supporting documents back in 12/07 and has been getting the run-around. First, I was approved but when my documents never showed up, I called back and was told it was denied because I did not have enough surplus. Reportedly, we needed more of a surplus because we were only at 7% surplus and the investors denied it. Several weeks later, I called to advise customer service to update my financial as my husband secured a second job. On 5/1, I was told my customer service that the investors felt we had sufficient income and since we are current no modification was needed.

We just can't make them happy. Help.....an example of your breakdown of your income and expenses and what surplus you have by the end of the month would be very helpful.

I have put in so many hours on the phone and have been assigned to 4 different negotiators w/out my knowledge. 2 of them never returned my numerous phone calls and the 2 that I spoke to acted like they were interested in helping me but after I got off the phone with them, and I later called back to follow up, my account had already been transferred to another negotiator.

I will continue to fight and whatever advice, examples, phone numbers you have would be great. Do you have the number to the Loan Escalation Dept?

Thanks,
Alex

[prof88]

Hi Alex,
We have the same loan you do. We made the interest only payment. We knew what kind of loan it was but could not qualify for any other kind at the time. They are using the minimum payment for your mod. This makes no difference to them. If you have been current after your payment adjusted they take that into consideration, but it is not the only factor.
I can tell you this. I don't think our income had very much to do with why we got our mod done. I think we qualified a long time ago, but it seems CW has a line of defense you must get through. You have to get to the other side before they will look at you case objectively. Have you sent a QWR, and your hardship letter to all of the emails listed on this site? They are listed in numerous threads here. CW has your information, but as you can see they seem to train the front lines to make as may people get in trouble that they can. Keep in mind that my wife is a real estate attorney, and we own a title company, and we got the same response you are getting until we sent out the emails. We were then no longer dealing with the front line, but with a rep. from the presidents office. We were given a contact in the presidents office to notify if we ran into the front line again. I would say if you can bug them enough through the advise of this site, you will get a real person to deal with and get a real answer. Once we got through, we have found CW to be very cooperative and responsive. They have done everything they said they would do, as well as offered some help we hadn't thought of to get our deal done. You must tell upper management of the problems you are having with the front line. If you don't get a response then call and send emails again until you do. As stated on many threads, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. All that surplus and negative stuff is part of the front line.

Hope this helps, and hang in there you can get it done. If you give up then the front line wins.