ALS 1st/Saxon 2nd SUCCESS!!

[need2savemyhome]

Here is my story.

Purchased our home in Maryland in '06 for 725K, 100 % financing.
First mortgage is with Aurora Loan Services at 580K, interest only at 7.1% for 10 yrs with escrow.
Second mortgage is with Saxon, interest rate 9.3% for 15 yrs.

Since last November, my husband isn't working as much overtime and our income was reduced. We have been able to pay all the mortgage ontime every month but its a struggle. Our property taxes were increased to 11K a year causing our 1st mortgage payment to increased by $500 since December 07.
I did an appeal and got the assessment reduced to 584K in April but it will not cause our escrow to get lower by the same amount of the increase.

When we first purchased the house, we were under the impression that we could refi to get better terms. Well, the market started to crumple and now we are upside down. Some properties in have sold on a short sale for about 555K.

My questions is, would ALS allow us to obtain a loan mod w/o being late and reduce our interest to allow us to pay principal. Our main goal is to start paying the principal.

Would Saxon Mortgage allow us a loan mod as well to reduce the interest rate?

I have the financial worksheets from both of them and have read about the 100-250 surplus which we have.

We also have about 20K in emergency funds, will this hurt us?

Thanks for all your help. I am grateful I found this site.

[schwefls]

Welcome to our forum need2savemyhome:

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

[need2savemyhome]

Thanks, I will wait to hear some suggestions/ideas?

[Moe Bedard]

Hi need2savemyhome,

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

This is what you would need to do to get started with ALS........

https://www.myauroraloan.com/ui/comm...retention.aspx

but I will tell you that having a 20k emergency fund is not showing a financial hardship.............you will have to see if they will work with you........

You might want to see what can be done on the first........before getting into the second...........but here is the contact info for Saxon......

Saxon Loss Mitigation
1-888-325-3502

Hope this helps get you started..........
Please keep us posted..........

[need2savemyhome]

***,
Thanks for getting back with me.
I have all the info you supplied.

Do you think that we are stuck and won't be able to modifiied the 1st loan to reduce our interest rate so we are able to start to pay back on the principal. We have tried to refinance, and we have 750's credit score for both of us and minimal credit card debt but can't refi b/c our house is worth 170K less.

We tried lifeline but because its a jumbo loan, they can't help us.

I don't know what to do. We have been struggling to pay the mortgage every month since the escrow was increased by $500.00. The only reason why we have the $20K in the bank is because we saved our refunds for the past 2 yrs and haven't touched it.

[Moe Bedard]

The only thing you can do at this point is to submit what ALS needs on the page of the link I gave you and see what options they have for you after reviewing what you send in.............

Please keep us updated........

[need2savemyhome]

I sent a QWR last week to ALS and see what happens. I am almost donw witht the docs and hardship letter but I am a bit scared and worried. We really want to keep our home but want to start paying on the principal. I guess it is a matter of try, call, call , and fax ,fax just like everybody else has said.

I haven't seen to many success stories w/ ALS. Maybe 2 or 3 and they don't fit our story.

I did finish the financial statement and show a surplus of $238 from our net income vs. our household expenses?

It is from our net income vs. household expenses or is it from the gross income that the surplus needs to be?

They won't freeze our account if we start this process, right? We are not behind.

Sorry I am a bit too nervous to start this process.

[Moe Bedard]

You would need to ask ALS about the gross or net and which they use..........just tell them that you are trying to put together the income/expense sheet and on the bottom where it says income do you put your gross or net............they will tell you.........same thing with the account........just tell them that you want to continue to keep the account in good standing through the process.............

[need2savemyhome]

Just a quick update.

I faxed the financial form, hardship letter, paystubs and comps on Monday night.

I just called to see if they received. So when I called the billing department, I asked the lady that I was calling about my fax and she asked me if it was regarding the modification request and I said yes. So I got a bit happy because she asked me about the mod before I could say it and leading to believe that they got it.

So, she transfer me to the home retention dep and the guy that answer the phone told me that they haven't received it. he offered to send me another form package and I told him that I downloaded the form online and if it was different that the one he was going to send, he said no it was the same. He also said to call back next week to see if they have it in the system.

So, I will call first thing Monday AM, but I am going to refax the package tonight just to make sure they get it.

[mary11]

Hello, from Mary11... I understand the frustration, I had to send three times to EMC
faxed three times to be told not received, then partial received, and then received
after keeping in contact two three times a day with different reps. Eventually got a
rep who was concerned enough to stay on phone and go check to see if all the paperwork was on fiche, she checked and all was there , and would start to work on them the next day and told me to call the end of the month, I called there two times a day until I got the answers I wanted. You must be persistent . Please also be as pleasant as you possibly can, you need to get to know this person and they will also
start to feel your pain and your needs. You might also try to talk to the same rep . at first you start getting different people ,ask the rep who will be working on your file for their telephone number and extension you will be more successful getting your updates. will talk later.

[trajay]

Would love any updates...as we have ALS and we are not behind either but in need of a mod. Would be curious if they are willing to work with you.

[need2savemyhome]

I called Friday and they still don't have my docs yet. I was told again to call this week to see if they have been upload into their system. I faxed it again today and I will call tomorrow to see if the ones that I faxed 2 weeks ago were received.

I will keep you updated. G/L to you w/ the mod.

[need2savemyhome]

Also, I sent my hardship letter to Saxon (2nd mortgage) via email and never got a response since I sent it on July 14th. I faxed the package to Saxon too via fax and called 4 times on Friday just to be hunged up. I couldn't even speak with a person, after being on hold for about 5 minutes I got disconnected. That was very weird.

[need2savemyhome]

ok quick update with the 2 mortgages.

I called ALS today and was told by the home retention group that a 53page fax was coming thru the system today and I should call back tomorrow to make sure all pages came in. The agent listed all the items that I had faxed and it looks like all pages might go thru. I will call them again tomorrow to make sure.

I also called Saxon (2nd Mortgage) and I was assigned a negotiator on August 1. I was given his ext. and then transferred but he didn't answer the phone and his voice mail was full so I couldn't leave a message. I will have to all again today and tomorrow.

[Moe Bedard]

Thank you for the update...........

Good Luck!!

[need2savemyhome]

Ok, quick updates on both loans. I called last week with ALS and was told that I was assigned to a negotiator and to call back after August 22 because the neg was reviewing the documents.

I got assigned to a new negotiator for Saxon Mortgage and he told me that he would be able to approve me with a new lower interest rate but couldn't avoid the ballon payment at the end of the 15 yrs. He said he was going to call me back once he has the final figures.

Question: I don't want to get too excited over the SM loan mod because if I do, it might go away. I keep thinking that he might call me back to say that he can't mod my loan and I got my hopes all up. I am at my wits end now.

[Moe Bedard]

It shouldn't be much longer now...............

Good Luck!!
Please let us know what you hear...........

[need2savemyhome]

Ok, here is another update. I spoke with my neg (Aurora Loan Service, 1st mortgage holder) on August 14 about the status of my loan mod and she told me that they are running 30+ days late on the mod and she is currently reviewing the packages she got late June and my was received on July 22.

So, I am still waiting to hear back. I so want to call her again to see if she is getting closer to my package but I don't want to upset her since she told me she is running behind. What should I do? Will I make her mad if I call her again after 2 weeks of waiting? She told me she got everything and doesn't need anything else but that's it.

Ok, for Saxon Mortgage (2nd mortgage), I am still waiting too.... and its being processed and per the neg, he is waiting for final approval to give me any figures. So, I am hopeful there.

The ALS is killing me with this waiting game/ uncertainty.

[Moe Bedard]

Maybe you can call the main Loss Mit line and just check on the status on your file instead of asking for that particular person...........that's what I did.

[need2savemyhome]

Ok, so last week I called ALS and was told by the main Loss Mit line that my review was complete but no notes. I called the next day again and spoke with another person in the main Loss Mit who sent a message to my neg and the neg told him to tell me that call back in 2 weeks because she hadn't reviewed the file yet. He told me that the mod wasn't denied nor approve, it hasn't been reviewed yet. He thinks when the other agent told me that the review was complete meant that the information was put in the system and that's all.

I am begining to think that they won't offer any help for us. This waiting is killing me...

[yaya01]

Are you still making your payments on time?

[need2savemyhome]

Yes, I am still current on my mortgage. In fact, the agent at the home retention group said that I should try to keep my account current so that I won't get denied. I don't know if that is true or not. Maybe he was just saying that so that I can keep paying them $$$.

[yaya01]

That's were I'm at right now. I don't know if I should still make the payments. I have never been late on any account but the mortgage counselor told me that since I'm not late and our rate does not adjust for another 1 1/2 years my case would be put in the back burner to allow them (the lender) to handle the ones that are nearing foreclosure.

As of right now I don't have the money for this month but might have it before the end of the grace period. Thanks to the suggestions on this board I will start by calling today to inform them and then will follow up with the hardship letter.

Good luck to you.

[trajay]

So I wonder what is going to happen now that Lehman went under?? ALS is a Lehman company. I hope you still get your mod. Keep us posted.

[need2savemyhome]

I was wondering that myself yesterday when I read the headlines. I still haven't heard back from my neg since last week when she told me that the case was assigned to someone else and would have the new neg contact me. I am going to wait until tomorrow and then I will call the main line in hopes of some answers.

So far the 2nd mortgage, Saxon has been responsive and the neg told me that I would be approved for a reduction in interest and redo the loan so that we won't have the ballon payment anymore. He said he doesn't have the figures yet but will let me know as soon as he gets approval. I have some hope there. But our main concern is the first mortgage w/ Aurora. Our loan is interest only and with the increased in escrow last year, it has put us in a bind. I really hope they are able to modify us.