Bank of America loan mod -SUCCESS!!

[Tom H]

Congratulations!!

[LHarveyMadman]

Originally Posted by bluekayal

Thank you so much for the information and email ids here. I wrote about our situation, and lo and behold there was a phone call. And as promised by the caller, the Bofa Loss mitigation dept is working with us.
They say that the Making Homes affordable Program is the best in our situation. Asked me to speak to them around the middle of June when they will have all the info. any advice?

It sounds like you have your foot in the door. I don't know what the analyst means by waiting until they get "all the info" about MHA. The guidelines have been in place for nearly 3 months.

Get all your information together and ready to present to the analyst when you do call back. I suppose you could wait a couple more weeks, but calling a little earlier couldn't hurt either....

[LHarveyMadman]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills Worrier

I will continue to try to get a modification in the works. With a Pay Option ARM from Countrywide/BofA in 2006 I was set to refi in 2009 but by then I was underwater. However, my loan type is one of those determined to be predatory and in CA the Attorney General reached a settlement. From reading the document it seems I could get a principal reduction and a new fixed loan but try as I might I can't get through to the different programs. I am often told that I am currently in a work out but never get any follow-up and would like to be considered for Help For Homeowners as well. One of my problems is my current less than interest only payment is less than 31 percent of my income so I seem to disqualify myself. I am gong to try the email approach listed above. I stay current to avoid harassing phone calls and theatening letters, but I am now hearing that the court settlement is pretty much a toothless sham. So the saga continues.

That 31% target is supposed to include principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. So if your neg-am payment is under 31%, it does not disqualify you from the plan. What might disqualify you is your loan balance - I think the MHA plan has a limit on the loan balance is covered under the plan.

[Astro]

I'm new to the forum, but I have been lurking here for a few weeks paying particular attention to this thread. I am glad LHarvey had success, and I really appreciate all the knowledge that he and ***, and others have shared here which hashelped me in my loan modification request with B of A. I am in a very similar situation to LHarvey, I am current in my payments, but I am hoping to avoid a problem in the near future to some financial setbacks I am facing, namely a significant reduction in income.

I just sent my loan mod request to B of A, and I have a few questions:

1. They told me to expect a response within 30 days. Should I wait for this response before I email my hardship letter to some of the executives previously mentioned in this thread? If the response is positive, I will not need to contact the executives. Or should I cc the executives now to ensure that someone will pay more attention to my request?

2. They did not request any information regarding my assets or money in bank accounts. Do they look into savings accounts and CDs, or is the process based solely upon your income situation?

3. After all that I have read, I think I am an excellent candidate for a modification; if B of A does not offer me a modification, what are my next steps? Is there a formal appeal process?

Thank you.

[emorybetsy]

Hi Astro

I too followed harvey's advice and got my mod. I was not late but could not afford my payment any longer due to a decrease in income.

1. I did go through the usual chanels before sending the email. I started back in January before the Obama plan, so things have changed. In my email I expressed my frustration with the process and that I did not feel as though I was being treated like a valued customer.

2. They did not ask about bank account balances, but they did ask about assets like cars. Make sure you have all your figures together, do the math, and put the figures down on paper. After I sent my email a rep from BoA called me, I had been over the numbers several times over the phone before that but don't wing it. If you get somebody who is willing to listen to you make sure you have all the numbers figured out in advance.

3. There is no formal appeals process that I know of. But I can tell you one thing that I know for sure, if somebody says no, speak to somebody else and don't give up until you talk to somebody who says yes. I submitted all my documents several times, spoke to several different people and was denied several times. I sent the email and with the same numbers, nothing had changed in my situation, but for some reason they approved it. As a matter of fact, a couple days after I got my offer to modify I got a denial letter from a previous attempt! One hand does not know what the other is doing.

4. Follow Harvey's advice!!!

[Astro]

Thank you Emorybetsy for your reply.

It seems that perhaps there has been a change in the process in the past couple of months, particularly regarding people who are not yet behind in their payments. When I first called B of A a few weeks ago, I told them I was not yet behind, but that did not seem to matter to them; this contradicts the reports of many others on this site as well as stories I have read elsewhere.Maybe there is a new process in place at B of A? Or maybe this relates to the new/ revised legislation?

So far, I have had no problems and no resistance. I think I will give them the thirty days they have said it will take to give me a response. From the conversations I have had with their customer service people, I probably won't even hear back from them as long as my documentation is sufficient. Supposedly, the next thing I will hear back from them is either a "yes" or a "no"; though I am questioning this - could this process be so simple now?

So, hopefully, I will get a positive response and a reasonable offer in the coming month, since I believe I meet all of the requirements that I understand to be part of the Obama plan. If not, then it will be time to escalate to the executives, and take it from there.

I also read a small item somewhere in the past few days about the banks receiving a payment of something like $2.8 billion from the Federal Government related to this program? Does anyone have information on this? Maybe the money is starting to flow a little easier now.

[emorybetsy]

In your post you said that you would not hear from them unless there was something they need from you. Again things may have changed but that was one of the biggest problems in the past, was that they do not follow up if there is something missing from you. They seem to just ignore your request rather than ask for something. so follow up, dont just assume they will contact you if there is a problem. I would (and have) called weekly for an update. And it continues to be a nightmare, I have completed the mods on my second and third mortgages but I still have not recieved the final documents on my first mortgage. Last week I was told that I would have my documents in 7 days. I did not recieve them so I called, now they are going to be sent out in two weeks. They did not notify me and would not have known if I hadn't called them. There was no explination for the delay except that they are busy.

I believe the banks are getting $1000 for every loan they modify.

[Astro]

Thank you for that. I will stay on top of them. I am persistent.

You reminded me of another question I forgot to ask: How do I handle my 2nd mortgage? I am not nearly as concerned about this as I am about my 1st, but I would like to address it at some point. I am in a fixed rate at 7.375% amortizing a little bit over ten years. I was just planning on dealing with this after hopefully fixing my first. Any suggestions on how to deal with this? Is it even the same department that handles this? What kind of modifications have they been making for 2nds?

Thank you.

[Astro]

I have some more questions, but I think this might not be the appropriate place for them, so I am switching my questions to the "loan modification" forum which seems to have a lot more varied and general questions. Since this is a thread about LHarvey's success, and not about my new questions, I will post the following in the other forum, but if you have a response, please feel free to respond in the loan modification forum. Thank you for your help so far, and congratulations again to LHarvey for his success.

"I am just starting the loan mod process with B of A. I am trying to understand what they are looking for as an "ideal" monthly deficit/ surplus for a loan mod. They asked me for income and expenses today; I went through it with them and came up with a slight ($40) surplus based upon net income and fixed monthly expenses. A few of these expenses like food and gas could be modified a bit to get to a "better" number; for example, I could probably easily increase the surplus to about $200-$300 per month. Would this be to my advantage to do so. The representative I spoke to told me I could call back and change these numbers after I think about it some more.

Can someone possibly tell me what they are looking for? I am a little confused, because if I have a slight surplus, then why do I need a loan modification? Does it really make a difference if my surplus is $40 or $200?

Thank you."

[LHarveyMadman]

I just made my July payment, my seventh since modification. With this payment, the deferred interest that was capitalized (added onto the principal balance) is now paid off, and I'm finally paying down the original principal balance. I still owe a lot on my house, but it feels good to see that I've actually made a dent (only a couple hundred bucks, though ) on my original debt.

[emorybetsy]

Hey Harvey,

Back to the grind of paying off the loan! Nice to know you are headed in the right direction with this!

I finally got the last "official" loan mod documents and sent them in, they are not updated online yet but... I think I can finally take boa off speed dial

[2much2pay]

Hello LHarvey,

I was wondering if you or anyone in here could help me figure out some numbers? My account has been messed up and I am just now noticing it. Actually I started noticing it when I couldn't keep up with the payments in March. Right now BofA is trying to fix my account and I want to make sure that everything will be correct.

I have a 20 year loan. My account saysI have 18 years and 2 months left. Balance is 110,321. I asked the rep once the account is fixed will the balance go down because my account is not reflecting 2 plus years of payment. She told me no balance will remain the same. All we are correcting is the loan date and the maturity date. They had my loan starting in May '07. My concern is, will the balance change? How do I figure out the numbers?
I signed the papers in June '04. My loan was the 2/1 buydown. 1st year rate 5.25, 2nd 6.25, 3rd and locked is 7.25. In 2008 I had a partial claim and got interest reduced to 6.375.
Please help me figure out my balance. I was denied a modification in June because I asked about the inaccuracies of my account. Until my account is correct they will not be able to work on my file. Thanks in advance.

[LHarveyMadman]

Originally Posted by emorybetsy

Hey Harvey,

Back to the grind of paying off the loan! Nice to know you are headed in the right direction with this!

I finally got the last "official" loan mod documents and sent them in, they are not updated online yet but... I think I can finally take boa off speed dial

That's great to hear, emorybetsy. It was a long slog for you, but now you have all your mods in hand. The updating takes time, like you already know, but once you've got your stuff signed, it's essentially a done deal. Congrats again!

[LHarveyMadman]

Originally Posted by 2much2pay

Hello LHarvey,

I was wondering if you or anyone in here could help me figure out some numbers? My account has been messed up and I am just now noticing it. Actually I started noticing it when I couldn't keep up with the payments in March. Right now BofA is trying to fix my account and I want to make sure that everything will be correct.

I have a 20 year loan. My account saysI have 18 years and 2 months left. Balance is 110,321. I asked the rep once the account is fixed will the balance go down because my account is not reflecting 2 plus years of payment. She told me no balance will remain the same. All we are correcting is the loan date and the maturity date. They had my loan starting in May '07. My concern is, will the balance change? How do I figure out the numbers?
I signed the papers in June '04. My loan was the 2/1 buydown. 1st year rate 5.25, 2nd 6.25, 3rd and locked is 7.25. In 2008 I had a partial claim and got interest reduced to 6.375.
Please help me figure out my balance. I was denied a modification in June because I asked about the inaccuracies of my account. Until my account is correct they will not be able to work on my file. Thanks in advance.

2much2pay, I can't really follow the course of events based on this post. I understand the concept of the 2-1 buydown with FHA. But I'm not sure what the terms of your partial claim were. Are you making payments that are being held in suspense? I'll bet that there are some limits on whether you can receive a modification with the partial claim in place.

What inaccuracies are you talking about? The balance not changing, or something else?

Depending on when in 2008 you got your partial claim with interest reduction, 6.375% was possibly a good rate for the market at the time. Of course, when you look at rates now, it seems "bad", but it really isn't.

[2much2pay]

LHarvey,

BofA just corrected the start date of the loan. They had my loan starting on May '07 but I purchased my home in June '04. Did not refinance, loan was transferred to Countrywide from National City. When they made the transition they had keyed in wrong information. That part has been corrected. My account does say loan was intiated in '04 instead of '07. Now the other part of the issue I am concerned about is the payments that have not posted. If you look at my account, it says I have only made 22 payments. What did I do the rest of the time I was living in the home? The partial claim payment was for 12 months (got it in Oct. 08) and that should be deducted from the balance because I have to pay back HUD. I will try my best to explain this....
I bought the house in June of '04. It is now July of '09. The remaining payments left should say 15 yrs and 5 months. Would the balance still be 110? I didn't count the 4 missed payments for this year. They also have the maturity date to end in July 2027. It should be July 2024. If it ended in 2027 I would be paying an extra 3 years.
The reason the mod got denied was because of the account not being accurate. He said he was basing the numbers he came up with on what the account has. If the terms and the years left on the loan was not correct he would have to deny the offer until I got the account fixed because the payment amount should be less than what he figured. Right now I am still waiting for them to fix it. I have a negotiator assigned already but she has been told to hold on until all corrections have been made to the account. I just want to make sure that when she calls me to tell me the account has been fixed everything is correct. They are trying to work with me on the modification. I hope I didn't confuse you..

[LHarveyMadman]

Originally Posted by 2much2pay

LHarvey,

BofA just corrected the start date of the loan. They had my loan starting on May '07 but I purchased my home in June '04. Did not refinance, loan was transferred to Countrywide from National City. When they made the transition they had keyed in wrong information. That part has been corrected. My account does say loan was intiated in '04 instead of '07. Now the other part of the issue I am concerned about is the payments that have not posted. If you look at my account, it says I have only made 22 payments. What did I do the rest of the time I was living in the home? The partial claim payment was for 12 months (got it in Oct. 08) and that should be deducted from the balance because I have to pay back HUD. I will try my best to explain this....
I bought the house in June of '04. It is now July of '09. The remaining payments left should say 15 yrs and 5 months. Would the balance still be 110? I didn't count the 4 missed payments for this year. They also have the maturity date to end in July 2027. It should be July 2024. If it ended in 2027 I would be paying an extra 3 years.
The reason the mod got denied was because of the account not being accurate. He said he was basing the numbers he came up with on what the account has. If the terms and the years left on the loan was not correct he would have to deny the offer until I got the account fixed because the payment amount should be less than what he figured. Right now I am still waiting for them to fix it. I have a negotiator assigned already but she has been told to hold on until all corrections have been made to the account. I just want to make sure that when she calls me to tell me the account has been fixed everything is correct. They are trying to work with me on the modification. I hope I didn't confuse you..

Unfortunately, your situation still sounds too muddled to offer any specific help.

It seems like one major problem is that you don't know whether your current principal balance is correct. The only way to figure this out is to use an amortization calculator to figure out what your balance should be based on your interest rates and payments. You can't use the calculators that are commonly found on Yahoo or Bankrate, because those are for fixed rate loans. Also, there's going to be some confusion since you have to take into account the partial claim changes as well as the missed payments.

Do you know if they are taking the missed interest payments and adding it to your principal? They might be doing this, which would cause your principal balance to go up.

If you are able to find an amortization calculator that works, then you will also be able to tell when your loan will actually be paid off (i.e. in 2024 or 2027). But again, with your partial claim and missed payments (and possible adding of missed interest payments to your principal), you will almost definitely calculate a payoff date that is later than your original maturity date.

When you say that your payments have not posted, what exactly do you mean? Are you saying that you see only 22 months of payment history? Or are you saying that when you make a payment, your balance is not changing?

If it's just that you only have 22 months of recorded payment history, but your loan balance is changing appropriately with each payment, then I don't think there is anything to worry about.

What was:

1) original principal balance
2) original monthly payments
3) the monthly payments at each change of your interest rate
4) the number of payments you actually made before the partial claim
5) the monthly payment of your partial claim
6) the date you stopped making payments
7) the total number of payments you actually made

With this information, we might be able to figure out how much your principal balance should be. It will be a rough number, because I don't know how the partial claim payments might be applied.

[Joy White]

I noticed most of these messages are old. Our situation is unusual I think. Our mortgage was with greenpoint, I had done all the paperwork for a loan mod. and they said it would go through than all of a sudden we got a notice it was sold to Country Wide. When I called Country wide they said I would have to start all over with the loan mod process. I did. They said it was signed to a negoitor and would hear something by end of May. We got behind with everything and filed chpt. 7 but want to keep the house. In meantime my husband lost another job. than June 1st our loan was sold to Bank of America. I called them and they said because of the bankruptcy they werent able to work on the loan mod. Had to have my attorney give them permission to start all over on a new loan mod. My husband has gotton a job that looks permenant so I am starting again with the 3rd loan mod in 9 months (riducles). Anyone else doing this process with B of A? Any advice.

[2much2pay]

LHarvey,

I apologize for not explaining my concerns clearly. You are correct about my major concern. I am unsure of the principle balance on my loan. I have actually tried using the amortization calculator provided by bankrate. I used the interest rate of 6.375 for the terms of 240 payments and its giving me $100,935.25 after 55 payments. Right now my account shows $110,321. Thats about $9,000 difference. I just want a rough amount, not exact.

They couldn't have taken any interest or missed payments and added to the back of the loan yet. They haven't fixed my account yet. If you are talking about when I did the partial claim...I don't recall of any fees.

The rep that I spoke with said they would be correcting the maturity date. She said she was sending a request for them to fix the account to have the maturity date of July 2024 instead of July 2027. This whole confusion started when my loan was transferred. Why did it take me this long to figure this out? I can't even answer that. I guess it was just negligence, irresponsible and too trusting. I didn't think the banks can screw the account up like this.

What I was saying about when my payments have not posted to my account was, it only says I've made 22 payments. Lets say I was current and July would've been my 60th payment.....where is the other 48 payments? Why shouldn't I worry if my account said 15 years or 18 years? If 48 other payments were made and it's not showing, how can the principle be reduced? I know that my principle balance has changed...but is it correct/accurate? I have never paid attention to the balance until now. Please forgive my ignorance. You're probably wondering what age group I am in to be so careless....I'll wait til you ask to answer that.

I'm going to answer your questions in the order that you have asked.....

1) $116,260

2 & 3) 1st year 5.25% $957.16
2nd year 6.25% $1021
3rd year 7.25% $1064
12/01/08 interest rate is 6.375% $1181/month
06/01/09 $1210/month due to shortage in escrow.


4) 40 payments

5) No payments on partial claim

The terms of a Partial Claim ...........these promissory notes assess no interest and are not due and payable until the mortgagor either pays off the first mortgage or no longer owns the property.


6) 03/01/09

7) 55 payments

I appreciate you responding to me. Please ask for more information if needed to assist me in this matter. Thank You....

[LHarveyMadman]

The payments that you quoted must include property tax and insurance, correct? If this was an FHA loan, then mortgage insurance premium would also be added to your monthly cost. When I plug the original loan balance and interest rates into the ARM calculator that I use, I get the following data:

Start of year 1, interest rate 5.25%, loan balance $116,260: monthly P&I = $783.41
Start of year 2, interest rate 6.25%, loan balance $112,882: monthly P&I = $847.07
Start of year 3, interest rate 7.25%, loan balance $109,682: monthly P&I = $910.55

After 40 payments, before the partial claim, your loan balance (the principal) should have been $105,531.

I'm still hazy on your situation....in order to get a partial claim, you have to be late on your mortgage by at least 4 months, if I understand correctly. So are you saying that after 40 payments, you stopped making payments? How many monthly payments did you miss before resuming payments after the partial claim was finalized?

I just looked up some info on partial claims on the HUD website. It states that "Legal fees and related foreclosure costs for work actually completed and applicable to the current default episode may be capitalized into the modified principal balance." This means that if your lender incurred any costs in foreclosure proceedings, before the partial claim was put in place, they can add these costs to your principal balance. Maybe this is the source of the discrepancy. These foreclosure-related costs can be quite substantial.

Is the amount covered by the partial claim listed as a separate lien, or is this included in your total principal balance?

The problem that you're facing is that since you didn't follow your balance after each payment you made, either before or after the partial claim, it's hard to know exactly how your principal balance changed over time. Your current balance could be accurate.

Maybe you could request a complete accounting of all your payments. You should also pull your old bank statements and/or canceled checks to verify the information that you receive from your lender.

[2much2pay]

You are absolutely correct about the payments including tax, insurance and the mortgage insurance. The payments you have listed for each year is also what I show on my paperwork. You sound like a very intelligent man. At least we're getting somewhere..... I just have to pull my file for when I received the partial claim. If my memory is correct, I remember zeros for fees and stuff. I wasn't in foreclosure....not that I knew of. I wasn't served papers or had sale dates. I will get the information about the fees tonight.

I was late before I received the partial claim. When Countrywide submitted my paperwork for the partial claim I was about 6 months late. Countrywide took a year to get everything done so I received the full claim (12 months.) This would be after the 40 payments made. If we add on the 12 months from the partial claim it should be 52 payments. The partial claim is a separate lien. I'm assuming they would subtract from the principal and count the payments? I made a payment in November for $480. Thats what they asked for so I paid only that. December I made a payment of $1181 and for Jan, Feb. Total of 3 full payments after partial claim. That's how I got the 55 payments made towards the loan. I am now 5 months behind. If I was current it would be a total of 60 payments. This is where I am confused....what should the balance be after the partial claim? I will check on the exact amount later also. The way I look at the partial claim is like I got a loan to pay a years mortgage and don't have to pay for it until I pay off the house or no longer own it. Maybe this is why BofA is taking so long to fix my account...they're probably as confused as I am. Thanks LHarvey......

[2much2pay]

Alrite....pulled the filed and this is what they charged me for $42.26 in late charges. No attorney fees, inspection or miscellaneous fees. There is an amount under the late charge in parentheses for $1095.53. It says less in partial. Total claim was for $11,078.58. I divided this by 12 and it only equals to the principal and interest. No escrow. I'm about to give up on trying to figure this out. Guess for my negligence I gotta accept what ever the balance is.

[LHarveyMadman]

Makes sense that it would only be P&I in partial claim - you can't defer your property taxes, mortgage insurance, or homeowners insurance.

I'm at a loss for the balance that you're seeing. Sorry. I don't think you should give up, though - you need to have an accounting for every payment that you have made. Maybe when B of A finally fixes everything things will be clearer.

[2much2pay]

LHarvey,

I am lost myself. I don't know why I thought a stranger would be able to figure out myself. I guess we'll have to wait and see.....you've been a great help.

[trying hard]

Been working on a mod with Countrywide/B of A for months and was assigned a negotiator today with the advice of this site.

I am hopeful, but realistic. To be able to sustain the payment, long-term we'll need one of those 2% fixed for 40 years.

If its not close to that, it will simply push the problem off to later date and that could be a few months or a few years, but neither will be any fun.

After doing this for months, its not something I ever want to have looming out there in the future.

If you have received a 2% fixed for 40 years - please tell if there are any secrets.

[Jaws1875]

I'm hoping someone can give me some recommendations on my next step. I've applied for loan mod with BofA. I gave them my info over the phone and faxed my hardship letter and corresponding info to the fax number they requested I send to.

They responded back with a letter within one weeks time. The letter said this "the type of assistance you have requested is not available. If you are unable to continue meeting your monthly mortgage obligation, you may want to consider listing the property for sale at fair market value to attract potential buyers"...

My situation is I'm self employed and my income has drop by 60% therefore I asked for them to combine my first and second loan into a 30 or 40 year fixed loan at a low interest rate. I further asked them to take my $3,100 mortgage payment down to about $1,500 for the next 3-5 years till I get back on my feet. I've never missed a mortgage payment but need some relief.

Any ideas on the next step I should take? thanks--