When a Mortgage Overwhelms, Change the Terms

Reader Comments
Back to blog

If you want your lender/servicer to grant a loan modification, you need a LAWYER!!!!!
Use a firm that uses Lawyers to get you a Loan Mod.
You wouldn't want to go to court by yourself, and you shouldn't try to play the loan mod game with these lenders without a lawyer. Contrary to what HUD says, most lenders act as if they could care less about troubled homeowners.
For them it's bill collecting, nothing more.
Good Luck in 2009.

Gary P. of CA 1:03PM January 10, 2009

i have been trying to contact countrywide for over one year. they keep telling me that until i am delinquent on my mortgage they will not talk to me. yet i know once i am delinquent, my options are limited. what do i do?

cheri dimond of VA 8:32PM January 03, 2009

Would we be able to ask to skip a month and add a month to the terms of our loan so that we can get a better handle on our utilities, etc.

Linda of IL 1:59PM December 04, 2008

Hi, my mortgage co,is going bankrupt on me or will WaMu-Where then will my payment be sent since there will be no bailout for them? Thanks

of 11:53AM September 11, 2008

Does anyone have knowledge of any reputable company's and/or agencies in existance that are able to assist with refinancing a mortgage or that can assist in renegotiating the term of my mortgage with my existing lender. About six years ago I refinanced my home changing the term from a 30 year fixed rate term to a fifteen year fixed rate term because of the obvious savings in interest. My financial situation very stable and total household montly income easily afforded me this change. About one year after making this change to the mortgage my partner lost his job and after struggling for some time looking for employment became ill and was forced to file for disability which took nine months and he had to cash out his 401K, mutual funds and savings trying to help keep our heads above water. Now I am trying to get the lender to allow me to refinance changing the term back to a 30 year to make the payments affordable. The lender is telling me that because I am behind in my payments and because they haven't been made timely that they cannot work with me in changing the term of the loan back to a 30 year.
I am at my wits end with this! I don't want to loose my home nor can I afford the cost of finding new housing, moving expenses etc. but they simply will not agree to make this change when it will make the difference in me being able to make my payments and make them on time! Does anyone have any suggestions?

ArkansasTexan of TX 7:22AM September 08, 2008

Like another person's comments here....I had a mortgage with ABN_AMRO for over 25 years. Over the years we have had a few times where we were 1 or 2 months behind due to economic hiccups but ABN_AMRO had no problem helping out with reasonable terms for repayment. Last November our mortgage was sold to CITI MORTGAGE...And in March my husband lost his job. Now we are 3 months behind in the payments. We are making partial payments and trying to catch up but CITI MORTGAGE won't talk about any other ways of helping us until we are ALL caught up. And they are holding the partial payments in an unapplied account until we are all caught up...Refusing to apply any amount to the mortgage. So even though they have $1400 of our money in an unapplied account they won't make April's payment of $900 to the mortgage. I have had it with this mortgage company and don't reccommend it to anyone.
We are working as hard as we can to get this account brought up to date...And CITIMORTGAGE won't listen to any suggestions we make...And I have made ALL the suggestions in the article here already. They won't work with us and they have the nerve to say "WE" aren't meeting them half way. Their halfway...IS...catching fully up, then they will work with us to see what they can do.
Foreclosure is looming for us. After living is the house for over 28 years...We will loose it.

Peggy Sue of NC 9:53AM July 16, 2008

We have a mortgage through Citi Mortgage, we called them back in January as we were having financial difficulty, they could of cared less, they would rather your home go in foreclosure than help you. I do not recommend this mortgage company to anyone. Our mortgage used to be ABN_AMRO never had a problem till they sold it to Citi.

Mary Williams of MI 9:14AM July 16, 2008

This country is in trouble! This is sad. Talk about the rich getting richer!!!

Kevin from Indiana of IN 7:56AM July 16, 2008

My husband has recently had to go on temporary disability. I contacted our lender because our payment has gone up over $500 and told them we can not do this. We have another home in the area we moved from that has not sold because of the economy and we have two homes that are our retirement with renters who are not paying. I ask SPS to work with me and help me and they refused to do this because we do not qualify because we have the rental homes even though they are not sold yet. We will be able to get on track when something sells but nothing is selling. I do not want to get behind on my payments but we can not do this with my commission job and his temporary disability and nothing selling. Someone needs a program to help people who do not want to loose everthing in this economy. I have been in the real estate business for many years and I have never seen so many people hurting.

of SC 7:32AM July 16, 2008

Repayment/Special Forbearance Plan*
Your lender, mortgage insurer and investor may agree to delay any foreclosure or other legal action if your promise to repay the delinquent amount over a specified period of time.
View the Details
How the process works
You may be able to delay any foreclosure or other legal action if you promise to repay the delinquency amount over a specified period of time. You will be pre-qualified for a special repayment/forbearance plan, and once you are approved, your plan will be monitored by us during the repayment period, until the loan is brought current. In the event your loan is transferred to another Servicer, the new Servicer will monitor your Repayment/Forbearance Plan.
Documents that are required
o Updated financial information for all parties on the loan
o Verification of income
o Any certified upfront funds that may be required
o Completed repayment agreement
Estimated Timing
The repayment plan process typically takes 15 to 20 days to complete, but may take longer. The primary stages are:
o Review financial information and determine payment schedule - 3-5 days
o Document preparation - 2-4 days
o Document signing - 1 week
* All plan options may require investor/insurer approval. All time durations listed are estimates only.