Joy Olivia Miller

Archive for the ‘Loan’ Category

A car loans after a bankruptcy is one way to help build back your credit history. In fact, once your bankruptcy closes, you can apply for a car loan the next day. To get approved with the best rates for your car loan, follow these tips.

Review Your Credit Report

Before you start applying for a car loan, check out your credit report and make sure all your accounts are in order. It is not uncommon after a bankruptcy to see open accounts that should be closed, which hurt your credit rating.

While looking at your credit report, consider adding a page explaining the situation that resulted in your bankruptcy. If there were extenuating circumstances, lenders may approve you for a better rate than under normal conditions.

Plan Your Car Purchase

Before purchasing a vehicle, decide what you can afford in a monthly car loan payment. This will help you decide which financing package is best for you. Both the loan amount and length of payments will determine your monthly payments, so there is flexibility in determining which vehicle you can afford to purchase.

Use A Car Loan Lender

Car loan lenders make their money by finding you a loan. Car loan lenders work with several financing partners to back loans with all types of credit risk, including bankruptcies.

Online car loan lenders deal with thousands of loans, and can usually find you a better deal than your local car dealerships. Online car loan lenders will send you a check when you are approved, basically making you a pre-approved car loan buyer.

Explain Your Situation

Car loan applications will ask if you have ever declared bankruptcy and why. This is your chance to explain what led up to the situation and what steps you have taken to resolve your credit situation. Be sure to include improvements in your financial history too.

Consider Refinancing

Once you are approved for a car loan, keep your eye on future refinancing. By making regular payments on all your bills, in a year’s time you could qualify for significantly lower interest rates. In three years, you can build your credit score to near excellent and qualify for even lower rates.

To view our list of recommended auto loan companies online, visit this page:
Recommended Auto Loan
Companies Online.

Loan modification goes by a lot of different names. Whether you call it a loan modification, mortgage modification, restructuring, or a workout plan, loan modification is when a borrower, who is having difficulty making their mortgage payments, works with their lenders to change the terms of their mortgage loan. The workout plan could result in temporary or permanent changes to the mortgage rate, the term, or the monthly payment of the loan.

If you are an investor who foresees your interest rate increasing, or who is behind on your mortgage payments, you are not alone. While you may be temped to, the worst thing you can do is to hide from the banks. Banks will likely work with you if explain your situation to them. They might modify your loan, defer your payments, or offer other forms of assistance so you can make good on your commitment without losing the investment.

This article will help real estate investors gain an understanding of the step-by-step loan modification process, and teach them how to reach a successful result.

What Type of Loan Should Be Modified?

If your loan’s interest rate is adjusting, every month, every 6 months, or every year or if your interest rate is above 5%, you should consider negotiating with your bank to modify the loan. It’s not uncommon to see banks lower the interest rate to the 2% to 3% range for as short as three years, or as long as the remainder of the loan.

Some types of loans that have low introductory interest rates, but that have hidden costs may also need to be modified. These mortgages may have been easy for you to obtain and afford initially, but will not be affordable later on.

One example is a balloon loan, whose full principle is due 3-5 years from the loan initiation rather than the 30 years term of convention loan. No one can pay the full principle unless you try to sell the property before the due date. If your loan is upside down, the only option is to short sell or to foreclose. The former requires bank to approve; the latter will hurt your credit score. You will want to start negotiating with the bank early on, at least 1 year prior to the due date to allow sufficient time to solve the issue to your own interest.

Some other loans may have conventional 30 years term; however they are embedded with a provision called a prepayment penalty, which you may not even know about it. A fair-minded loan agent should never sell you a loan with a pre-payment penalty unless they disclose it in advance. You will usually pay a steep fee if you want to refinance or sell your property unless you fulfill the entire 30 years term. If these terms are present, they should be completely removed during loan modification.

Investors vs. Homeowners

This article is focusing on providing information for real estate investors. We will not cover homeowner-specific topics such as Making Home Affordable, the federal program announced in early 2009. A lot of our focus will be on the differences the investors will face when negotiating with the banks whose loan modification largely concentrates on federal programs and helps homeowners rather than investors.

It’s unfortunate that there is a lot of more help from the federal and state governments for homeowners but very little for investors. This article provides detailed and specific information for investors to get a head start on their loan modifications.

Should I hire a firm?

You will see a bunch of firms that claim to be able to help you with the loan modification, saying that having an attorney on your side will boost your chance of success. The truth is that the attorney at these firms does not work on your case directly. Instead he or she hires a bunch of assistants who take your financial data, fill out forms, and call the banks on behalf of you. These attorney in these firms is a means for them to charge retainers up-front before you even know their quality of work. The assistants will not know your situation better than yourself, so they generally aren’t worth the cost.

Think about how many client files these assistants handle a day coupled with the frustration of having to deal with banks’ overworked negotiators, who go through thousands of files and voice messages daily. You can imagine the hoops you have to jump through in order to get a status update from the chain of people handling your file. Most of the investors we talk to ended up tossing the firms they hired (after wasting money on the up-front lawyer retainer) and started over the process on their own. Most have more success this way.

This does not mean you will have no hurdles in trying to get hold of your bank negotiator or getting the correct financial data through to the banks, but you will have one fewer layer between you and the bank.

Remember that loan modification is not the only option you have when it comes to handling your real estate. “After Crash, What to Do with My Rentals Now?” helps you to decide if loan modification best suits your financial, tax, and life situation.

Trying to apply for a loan modification but worried about whether you will qualify? It’s true that not everyone will qualify for a loan modification to lower their payment-so how can you be sure to get your application to the front of the line and have the best chance for approval? Here are 3 Important Qualifications for approval you should know before you apply.

Loan Modification Qualification #1: You must be able to demonstrate to your lender that you have suffered a financial hardship that has made your current mortgage payment unaffordable. There are certain circumstances that lenders will consider as an acceptable hardship situation. Divorce/separation, military service, death of a family member, job loss, reduction in income, medical expenses, illness, incarceration and job transfer are all considered to be eligible for consideration. Loss of equity alone does not. There are three critical elements in an effective hardship letter-do you know what they are? Here is one tip-use the phrase “imminent risk of Default” and you will get your lenders attention.

Loan Modification Qualification #2: Can you prove to your lender that if given the new lower modified mortgage payment you will be able to afford to maintain it now and in the future? Lenders want to know that you will not be at risk of defaulting again. How can you prove this to them? Make it simple by providing the required financial statement that will demonstrate your ability to pay the new payment and help convince your lender to grant an approval for your proposed new lower payment. Your current mortgage payment, including your property taxes, homeowners insurance and any Homeowners dues, must equal more than 31% of your gross monthly income. Learn how to calculate your new target payment based on the Obama HAMP guidelines. If you are confused about how to do this, use the software program designed specifically for homeowners that automatically does all the calculations for you.

Loan Modification Qualification #3: Be able to submit an accurate, acceptable and complete application to your bank for review and consideration. Your lender will make a decision based in large part on the information you provide to them. Submitting an incomplete and poorly prepared application can result in a denial of the help you need. Be sure you prepare the paperwork properly and then submit everything your lender will need all together in a professional and acceptable loan modification package.

TIP: Make sure that you prepare your financial statement before you call your lender. Do not disclose any of your income or debts until you have taken the time to work on your budget-make any necessary adjustments and know that you fit into the approval guidelines. This is easy to do if you follow the directions in a handbook and software program that does all the calculations for you automatically. Simply input your own monthly income and monthly expenses and you will see immediately if you need to make some adjustments to your budget in order to meet the approval guidelines. You can avoid costly mistakes and save hours of frustration.

These are extraordinary times and more homeowners are faced with losing their homes than at any other time in our nations history. Borrowers who need help cannot wait to be rescued-help is available but you must know how to get it and be prepared to fight for your home. Start now by learning and preparing to submit your application to your lender to get the help you need and deserve. Billions of dollars in your tax dollars have been allocated for loan modification programs to help stop foreclosures. Don’t miss out on your chance to save your family’s home.

Introduction

Loan Modification is arguably the most effective tool that can be used by homeowners in midst of financial hardship to prevent their homes from entering foreclosure. Loan modification Agreements come in different forms but quite frequently they involve the reduction of mortgage’s interest rate for a specified period of time so he/she can continue to make payments and stay in the home. Beware Paying too much for a loan modification is detrimental to your pocketbook. Loan modification is the most cost effective and timely manner to help the millions of defaulting homeowners get back on track. Loan Modification is a HUD approved workout solution becoming more common during this foreclosure crisis. Loan Modification is a procedure in which a loan’s terms, like the interest rate, the monthly payment or the term, are changed to meet the current situation of the homeowner. Loan modifications are the best solution for you and your lender.

Loan

Loan Modification Specialists (LMS) will be responsible for initiating the sales cycle by qualifying potential clients and then analyzing and determining their specific needs. Loans currently insured by MGIC may be eligible for an MGIC Loan Modification depending on the details of the transaction.

Lender

Lenders and servicers are very busy with desperate homeowners trying to save their homes from foreclosure. Lenders have financial incentive to actively pursue a home loan modification or short sale. Lenders are not in the business of foreclosing on homes; rather, a mortgage company will analyze the home owner’s situation and if it is possible for the borrower to continue making payments (which is composes of both the principal owed against the home and the interest payments to the mortgage company), the lender will find a solution to help the home owner continue making principal and interest payments. Lenders will give you the run around, throw confusing “industry terms” at you, refuse to negotiate, or negotiate terms in their best interest. Lenders want to give as little as possible, distressed to borrowers that don’t know how to get the best deal, or what the best possible deal can be. Lenders are starting to prefer LM over a short sale. Lenders “say they’re doing all these things, they’re trying all these modifications,” said John Taylor, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Lenders look at loan modifications on a case-by-case basis.

Payment

Payment shock after interest rate resets on subprime adjustable mortgages, many made to high-risk borrowers, has propelled owners into foreclosure. Loan modification team helps Americans retain their homeownership by renegotiate their mortgage with affordable monthly payments.

Modifications

Modifications often consist of lowering interest rates, fixing interest rates, preventing ARMs from adjusting, lowering your principal balance and/or lengthening your term. Modifications would be designed to achieve sustainable payments at a 38 percent debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of principal, interest, taxes and insurance. Modifications must be handled by a special group who are more highly trained and better-paid, and the increased cost of expanding their number cuts into the bottom line. Recent state legislation and Congressional initiatives require mortgage lenders to make possible every effort to provide loan modifications to homeowners risking foreclosure. In the past, mortgage note modifications were nearly impossible, but now lender are modifying by the thousands. The new FDIC and Treasury program would provide incentives to lenders and mortgage servicers to offer long term affordable loan modifications.

Borrowers

Borrowers with good credit are now deciding it is better for their own personal situation and balance sheet to walk-away from the hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt they owe on their home and opt to rent instead. Borrowers coast to coast have been benefitting from reduced interest rates that were renegotiated in the note modification. All lenders ask for the same general information from their borrowers which they then review to determine if the homeowner will qualify for a loan modification. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD offer loan modifications to loan servicers and borrowers as a tool in the area of default management. A forbearance agreement provides short-term relief for borrowers who have temporary financial problems, while a loan modification agreement is a long-term solution for borrowers who will never be able to repay an existing loan. Although certainly not streamlined or mainstream loan modifications are generally available to all borrowers in trouble.

Short

Short-sale or forbearance are not good options because they have negative tax and credit history consequences associated with them. Short Sales may not always be the answer. If you have incurred a short term financial hardship and your loan is 90 days to 365 days past due, the loss mitigation specialist will also consider submitting a request for a special forbearance.

Conclusion

Loan modifications used to be reserved for borrowers whose mortgages became delinquent because of job losses, divorce proceedings, or illness, but today they are also open to those individuals who are suffering in the aftermath of adjustable rate mortgages skyrocketing and placing the monthly payment beyond the means of the borrower. Loan Modification is the #1 way to Stop or Prevent foreclosure & Stop Foreclosure and Rising Payments. Are you behind on your payments. Are you losing your family’s home Is your lender refusing your payment. Are you worried about your credit Loan modification is a term very unfamiliar to homeowners but not for very long. Loan Modification Requirements sounds intimidating to the average homeowner but the process is indeed simpler than you might think. Loan Modification- This term has been getting a lot of attention lately and rightfully so. Loan modifications are less of a loss to lenders than foreclosure. Consult a reputable group to navigate you through the process. Be leery of anyone who wants any money upfront. Make sure you exercise your rights & fight hard to stay in your homes.

Current Housing Market Status:

In the last 3 or 4 years, a large number of homeowners have been trying to complete a “loan workout” with their current mortgage lender to lower the interest rate and improve the terms of their loan. Many lenders have chosen not to accept any new terms, rather, let the property go into foreclosure.

Because lenders have an overwhelming number of properties in foreclosure, they are starting to accept loan modifications via their loss mitigation departments. The time is ripe for consumers (who own homes) to take action and request that their loans be modified towards better terms and a lower interest rate they can afford, if they have high interest rate sub-prime loans or are at risk for foreclosure.

Since, the rate of foreclosures is increasing, everyday, the federal government, congress and the president have approved and signed a new bill which will allow homeowners to take advantage of a new “FHA – Hope for Homeowners Program” designed to save more than 400,000 homeowners from foreclosure. This program will go “live” on October 1st, 2008.

The new FHA loan program will assist homeowners who are currently in foreclosure, close to foreclosure or those who have high interest rate mortgage loans like those called sub-prime loans. The program is different than a loan modification in several ways.

The following is a bulleted layout of the deference’s between completing a loan modification and getting approved to do a FHA -Hope for Homeowners program.

Loan Modification:

1. You can recast your current loan into different terms, with the hope to benefit from a lower interest rate, which is fixed rather than an adjustable interest rate.

2. The costs of the loan modification are rolled on the “back-end” of the loan, which will increase the amount of money you owe.

3. The loss mitigation department may choose to keep the amount (that you own on your loan) higher than your current home value. Or they may choose to lower that amount, some, but not as much as it could be to make your new payment comfortable in the long term. This could mean that you may be in financial jeopardy, in the future.

4. It’s a fact, what cause your current lender to be interested in keeping your loan on their books are the servicing rights. They make money servicing your loan over the term of the amortization schedule. The problem is that many lenders have filed for bankruptcy or just got out of the business (due to poor credits markets) and the servicing rights have been sold to other investors. This often causes a strain, since; the servicer does not actually have your loan documents at their facility, so they rely on others to get your original loan information to them for review. This process can cause the loan modification workout to be slow, in many cases. Timing is very important, since, homeowners are not knowledgeable in the process and they often wait to late to get the loan modification process started. It is important to communicate with your current lender and get the loan modification process stated, months before your home goes to foreclosure sale.

5. If your request for a loan modification is rejected, you may want to try it again in a few months, since; some lenders don’t document the loan modification attempt you made. They are often motivated by changes in the housing market and their intent changes as more and more loans go into default. It does not hurt to try again. It is smart to work with a loan modification specialist, a seasoned loan officer or an attorney who specializes in real estate, mortgage lending and loan modifications. They understand how to speak to loss mitigation department, personnel and can get a general idea of the mood and trends of your lenders loss mitigation department.

6. Many loan modification specialist work together with attorney firms to get the loss mitigation departments to act in a timely manner. Those same attorney firms work with the loan modification specialist to make sure the original loan documents are not fraud ridden. This is a good approach, yet it can cost the homeowner additional money, since both the loan modification specialist and the attorney need to be paid for their services.

7. Homeowners are required to pay the loan modification specialists and attorneys for the services, provided. Many homeowners think that the cost will be included in the new loan amount, but this is not the case. Logically, lenders are already loosing money when they agree to modify the loan terms and conditions for the homeowner, so, you can bet that they will not agree to “package” the costs of doing the loan modification into the new loan. That cost is paid by the homeowner, directly to the loan modification specialist and/or the attorney. The cost can range between $995.00 and $, 5000.00; as an average. Many loan modification specialist, senior loan officers and attorney firms can work out a payment plan, yet, many require at least 1/2 upfront before they start the loan workout. Understand, there is no guarantee that your loan modification or loan workout will be accepted. You will still have to pay your representation your agreed amount. A large percentage of loan modifications and workouts are accepted. So, it’s a good bet, since, most people do not want to loose their homes to foreclosure.

8. Loss mitigation representatives, (most often) do not require you to pay for a new appraisal. Instead, they have your representative provide census track data, a BPO (broker price opinion) or a print out of valuation from title company market sales data. 9. If you are in foreclosure and costs have been incurred from posting your foreclosure sales data, attorney fees, title costs or other costs; you could be liable for those costs, if our current lender requires it (as a requirement to the loan modification).

10. Loss mitigation departments may choose to approve you for a new loan which is (another adjustable or tiered -fixed loan). Be careful. Do your homework or “talk-it-over” with your representation.

FHA- Hope for Homeowners Program:

1. The federal housing administration (FHA) has required that all homeowners who become approved for this program accept a 30 year fixed rate program. No other loan types will be accepted. You can only qualify for this program.

2. FHA will loan up to 90% of the current value of your property. This means that if you purchased your property for a higher purchase price and currently have a loan amount higher than what the value of the property is presently, you can become approved to do a loan amount at 90% of what your current house is worth.

3. If you have more than a 1st trust deed lien (subordinate liens) on your property and your property value has severely, diminished; your current lenders may take the loss when you get approved under the “Hope for Homeowners Program”. Usually, the subordinate lenders loose, unless they purchase the primary lien. Most do not purchase the 1st trust deed lien. So, the subordinate lender takes a loose on their investment.

4. FHA’s goal is to keep as many homeowners in their homes. They understand that it would be better to do a loan for a homeowner rather than have that property go into foreclosure, be place into the retail real estate marketplace, causing a further degrading of the housing market.

5. The FHA underwriting guidelines are currently more liberal than any other loan guidelines in the current market. FHA is more forgiving in their approach to mortgage lending.

6. The FHA underwriting guidelines have not been disclosed. As October, 1st, 2008 approaches, lenders, processors and underwriters will have a more clear idea as to what is required to get a loan approval.

7. Homeowners will (probably) be required to pay for a new FHA appraisal, as a condition for loan approval and closing. Underwriting guidelines will determine if this is true. The average costs for an FHA appraisal is ranges, $300 – $450.

8. Income to debt ratios will be determined and posted in the underwriting guidelines. Consult your loan modification specialist or loan officer.

9. The loan servicing companies that service, sub-prime loans will (probably) be more inclined to accept a loan modification, since they will want to transfer the lien to FHA, rather than keep it on their books. They have taken huge losses and have an overwhelming desire to get rid if their current problems. Have patience with these lenders, since, they do not keep your actual loan documents at their facilities. They will have to request them. Many loss mitigation personnel are stressed and will want to make a determination as to your file, fast. This is an advantage to you! Work closely with your loan officer to get the items needed for loan submission.

10. If you live in a heavily populated area like Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Miami, etc., you will more than likely have a higher percentage of success with a loss mitigation department. This is because there are more homes in foreclosure in concentrated housing areas.

11. Even though we have not seen the FHA underwriter guidelines, (since they have not been delivered to the underwriters) they will be available on or before October, 1st, 2008. We can expect that the guidelines will probably focus on a person ability to make the new housing payment and not the persons credit score. We call this “ability to pay”!

12. If you’re, FHA -”Hope for Homeowners Program” loan application is accepted by FHA; your current lender will still have to accept the condition which FHA places on the loan. This means that your current lender may to take a loss in equity by accepting the FHA loan buyout, offered.

13. The good news is that your current lender (already) understands that they will take a loss in equity, if the property goes into foreclosure. If they don’t accept the FHA buyout, they may have to place your foreclosed property into the retail sales marketplace. This means that they may have to pay a Realtor up to 6% commission, wait for the property to be purchased, incur additional holding cost, pay a gardener, electricity and water bills. All the while, they realize that the property will probably be reduced in value even more as additional foreclosure properties come on to the marketplace. This is not a rosy situation for them, so, most will realize that it would be better to sell the loan to FHA and take less of a financial loss.

14. The main benefit to your current lender in accepting the terms of a FHA buyout is that under the FHA guidelines, they can benefit from a portion of any equity gain in the property for up to 5 years, at the time FHA buys the loan. If the homeowner chooses to sell the home within the 5 year period after the close of the new FHA loan; the lender can participate in a percentage of any equity gain. This single condition will cause many lenders to accept the FHA loan buyout. Ask your loan officer for information regarding lender participation in an equity gains.

15. Many lenders are fully; “FHA approved lenders” and will require that your loan be recast within the FHA loan department of your current lender. Therefore, ask your loan officer if your current lender (note holder) is FHA licensed. This will save you time and headaches, since; many loan officers will try to do the loan on your behalf without determining if your current lender wants the new FHA loan on their own books. This may be a condition for an FHA loan approval, by your current lender. If our current lender is already an approved lender, they might as well sell the loan to FHA, direct, correct?

16. Third party cost like, attorney fees, loss mitigation fees, foreclosure posting fees, etc., will be absorbed by your current lender under the FHA – Hope for Homeowners Program. You will not incur these fees under the program. The lender will take this loss, too.

17. As part of the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, 1st time homebuyers are encouraged to purchase homes between April, 2008 and July 2009. They can receive up to $7500 dollars in tax credits from the federal government. This program has been established to speed up the housing recovery by getting people to purchase homes. Additionally, it will cause home sellers to purchase homes, as well, since they are often “move up” buyers. This program is part of the overall attempt to correct the bad housing market.

18. Credit Score vs. Your Ability to Make the Payment: These two factors will be outlined in the underwriting guidelines. I would expect that the ability to pay will override the credit score issue, since, most people having problems making their housing payments, already, have degraded credit scores. Consult your loan officer for details.

Summary:

Loan Modification:

Consumers, now have several options to preserve home ownership. If one option does not work try the other. Remember, time is of the essence, so act promptly to give your self time to use one or both options.

1. Loan modification is a good option for many, if your have proper representation and get a favorable deal. 2. You will have to pay the costs for this type of loan modification. 3. You will not have to pay for an appraisal, in most cases.

Visit this site for more information: http://www.LoanModificationContacts.com

FHA – Hope for Homeowners Program:

1. This program may be a better deal for you, if your lender is no longer in business (sub-prime lenders and prime lenders). It can still be a great benefit to you if your lender is still in business and wants to remove some bad assets from their books (understanding) you might become one of those bad assets. Your loan officer can provide this information for you.

2. Since, FHA will go to 90% of the current value of your property; you can be the real winner. This simple fact means that you will have a better opportunity to qualify under a 30 year fixed loan and your housing payment will be more affordable, then what you are currently paying.

3. You will most likely, be required to pay for an appraisal. Ask your loan officer about this, since; the underwriting guidelines have not come out, yet.

4. You may or may not have to pay for the closing cost to procure the loan. It has not been determined, who actually pays for the closing costs. It will be in the underwriting guidelines, when they come out. Ask your loan officer.

5. Credit Score vs. Ability to Pay: Underwriting guidelines will determine these two factors. FHA underwriters will probably be more forgiving and weight their approval on your ability to make the monthly housing payment. We will have to wait for the underwriting guidelines. Ask your loan officer about these two factors.

Loan modifications were created in order to offer the struggling home owner another option in dealing with the possibility of foreclosure. They are permanent changes in one or more of the terms of your loan. The most common changes include lowering the interest rate and payment, extending the number of years, adding arrears to the balance, and on very rare occasion, reducing the principal loan balance. However, as with most things that were created to help people, there are those self-serving, greedy individuals that prey on struggling home owners in the guise of being the savior for their home. In this article, I’ll explain how the scam works. In the next installment, I’ll explain how to avoid them.

One very effective scam preys on the desperate home owner’s need for a guarantee. This, to me, is the most contemptible way to do business. The company gets a hold of your already tattered emotions and uses fear of loss (of service fee and home) to convince you that you cannot use the services of a law firm that cannot give you a guarantee of some sort. If you are told that there is a guarantee of result, RUN!!! Because just like any service you’d pay a legitimate law firm for, no attorney can ever legally guarantee outcome. There are simply too many variables! When you retain an attorney to represent you in any situation, including a loan modification request to your lender – that is exactly what you are paying for – the service of representation – NOT the result.

Here’s how the scam works. You pay the fee, usually $2,000 – $5,000 (which is typical in California). The company guarantees that if they cannot secure a loan modification acceptable to you (regardless of how unreasonable your criteria) within 3 weeks, they will refund 75% of your fee immediately without hassle. The 25% will cover administrative and processing fees. That sounds like a pretty good deal, right? Well, it would be IF the intention was there to actually render the service to its completion.

First of all, your terms need to be attainable and qualified. For example, if you need a 4% fixed rate for the life of the loan to be able to afford your home, then you cannot afford your home. End of story. Also, most loan modifications take at least 30 – 60 days from submission, for the lender to complete, due to lack of staffing. But this modification service will basically agree to anything because they have no intention of actually performing a legitimate legal service. They send out a few letters possibly on attorney letterhead, on your behalf, to your lender (which you could do yourself) requesting a change in terms based on your criteria – regardless of your ability to qualify for the modification. OH! Yeah! You DO have to qualify for the modification according to the lender’s guidelines.

Then, when the contracted 3 weeks is up, you promptly get a refund of $1,500 – $3,750. The company retains $500 – $1,250 for sending out a few letters. That’s a very effective way to embezzle a tremendous amount of money from the struggling public. Imagine yourself paying $500 – $1,250 just to send out a few generic form letters, then wait the contracted amount of time until you are told that the lender would not agree to the terms. You actually DO get what you pay for – a guarantee that you will receive a refund! In all likelihood, the lender, being inundated with so many loan modification requests never even saw your request as REAL.

The worst part about this whole scam is that there is not much the authorities can do about it. You enter into a binding contract with specific actions to be performed. The company performs them. They did not secure the modification you were seeking so they refund the fee less their processing and administration fee. Pretty cut and dry. No wrong-doing here – except in the company’s intention. And it’s very difficult to prove intention except in the accumulation of many cases that happened the same way. So your best defense is to BEWARE and don’t retain a law firm that guarantees a particular result.