To Both of you, there is no shame in being sold an Interest Only, Option ARM or Pick-A-Pay Loan. While we may have been slightly over our heads... one has to remind themselves that the entire industry was pushing these loans as safe, sound, reliable ways to finance homes. It's not our fault, we bought into that. I don't blame myself, and neither should you.
Regardless, I do have a theory and some advice for both of you. One thing that is clearly apparent, is that Millions of People are currently in forbearance on their loans, with no apparently way to catch up -- short of a lottery ticket. Congress seems realize this, and if you ask me, I would put money on it -- that a new version of Making Home Affordable / HAMP, is on the way. You've got millions, and millions (apparently close to 15 Million) loans that are at risk of falling into foreclosure, and few homeowners are going to be able to catch up.
And... if that first version of the program does not come into fruition, than something far worse than 2008 - 2009, is going to hit next. The wave of defaults & foreclosure inventory be so far and wide, that it's my personal believe that we will see home prices fall in some areas to values not seen since 2001/2002.
If that were to occur, you would have people who could willingly pay their loans, but decide not to anyway. Congress, once again, would come together, in my opinion, and formulate some sort of housing market/mortgage bailout.
My advice is personally this -- I've put all my mortgages that I can into forbearance, and I have been stashing the cash (the monthly payment) into a Savings Account. Since Mortgage Servicers are not reporting accounts in forbearance to credit bureaus - the ill effects of this are basically none. However, there are some significant upsides -- if these companies, or a new law goes into effect.
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NewbieFed, I think you should call Mr.Cooper and ask for copies of your loan modification agreement. I would bet that you have a "step rate" modification, instead of a revert to an Adjustable Rate. If this is the case -- your loan will adjust two a rate, two points above what you are currently paying, at a designated time. However... if your loan is simply converting back to a Adjustable Rate -- you need to ask, and understand what the Margin Is and... what Index the Loan is on.