Fight Foreclosure!
July 10, 2008
Many of you out there are in fear of facing foreclosure. Interest rates are rising, your adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are resetting. And you are scared.
What should you do?
Well, before we talk about that, let’s talk about what you absolutely shouldn’t do. And that’s just to bury your head in the sand, leave your keys on the counter and walk away!
It’s not only the chicken way out, it also leaves you in the worst possible situation because you have options and, if you don’t seek them out, you are making a bad situation worse.
So, here’s four steps to take if you are facing foreclosure or think you might be in the future:
1. Ask for help!
There is no better way to get what you want than to ask. Most of us are too afraid or ashamed to ask for help and so we give up and give in before exploring all of our options.
You have nothing to be ashamed of and you don’t need to be afraid. When you ask for help, you will get the help you need. But, you’ve got to ask first.
2. Don’t get conned.
You do need to be aware of people who will try to prey on your circumstances. This can be a time of confusion, worry and fear for you. And you must not allow this fear to cause you to make bad decisions.
But how do you know what’s a bad decision?
Well, first off, never sign any legal documents without having them reviewed by a trusted lawyer. While you may think having a personal lawyer is not accessible or affordable to you, it’s not true. A personal lawyer can save you tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime by saving you from bad decisions. Find a lawyer who won’t bill you hourly and you can turn to throughout your lifetime before making important financial and legal decisions here.
And never, never, never sign over the deed to your home without talking to a lawyer. Doing so could cost you and your family dearly.
3. Get help from trustworthy sources.
There are some trustworthy sources to turn to if you are facing foreclosure. Start with these:
Gold Cross of America
USA Freedom Corps
Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America
Homeowner’s Hope
Acorn Housing
And, even when working with a trusted resource, don’t enter into any agreement without first talking to your own personal lawyer first. This is a scary time for you, but with good advice and trusted guidance, you can come through the other side in a better position than before and ready for massive success in your life.
4. Keep your chin up!
I know this seems like the worst thing that could possibly happen to you, but you can choose to see it a different way.
Look at this as an opportunity for growth and learning and see it as the first step on your journey towards the life of your dreams.
Many famous and very successful people have experienced bankruptcy and faced foreclosure. And several of them have even been heard to say that it’s a rite of passage.
The real test is whether you can get back up, brush yourself off and create something even more amazing. You can, but not if you bury your head in the sand, don’t take responsibility and act like a chicken!
Hold your head high, take responsibility, ask for help and make this the turning point of your life.
http://www.familywealthmattersonline.com/
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Home Again--A Community Helps Out
Home Again
The bank gave notice. But a community rallied, and Maria Leon got her house back.
By Lisa Collier Cool
From Reader's Digest
A Community Helps Out
Maria Leon saved for 15 years before putting $48,000 down on a $242,000 Bridgeport, Connecticut, home where she could live with her daughter and four grandkids. Like four in ten Hispanic borrowers (and more than half of African American ones), she could get only a subprime loan, at 8.1 percent. In August 2006, Maria was laid off from her job as a spot welder. Then her daughter, who'd been helping with the bills, moved out, leaving Maria to care for Vanessa, 11, Lorenzo, 10, Alexie, 8, and Shawn, 7.
Christian Abraham/Connecticut Post
Thanks to Rev. Nunes, Maria Leon and her grandkids are staying put.
Maria, 47, was three months behind on the mortgage by the time she landed a factory job paying $1,800 a month. She called the servicer, hoping for a rollback of the overdue payments. "All they did was send tons of forms to fill out," she says. She paid $600 to a financial services company to get her loan modified. No luck. They sent her to a lawyer, who charged $150 and advised her to file for bankruptcy. The bank posted a Public Auction sign in her yard. "I'd go out the back door so the neighbors wouldn't see me," she says. "The kids asked where we'd go. I had to tell them I didn't know." Soon after the house was sold, Maria had a heart attack. The kids, who attended an after-school program at Summerfield United Methodist Church, told Rev. Marjorie Nunes what was going on. Nunes discovered that no one had bid at the auction, so the bank had bought the house but hadn't yet transferred the title. Legally, Maria still owned it. The pastor and a team of volunteers negotiated with the bank, which offered to sell the house back if Maria paid $50,000 to cover late fees and foreclosure costs. Nunes, a pit bull in high heels, demanded a deal Maria could actually afford. The officer said the $10,000 the group had raised wasn't enough, then called back to accept the offer and agree to Nunes's other demands—forgiving $30,000 in foreclosure expenses and rolling back the interest to 2.5 percent for the next five years. Maria burst into tears. The kids jumped up and down, screaming, "We're not leaving!" Maria can't believe her good fortune: "I can walk out the front door with my head held high. I've opened the shades to let the sunshine in, and I'm going to plant flowers in my yard, because we're going to be around to enjoy them."
VOLUNTEER YOUR TALENTS Do More
The USA Freedom Corps has a Financial Literacy Volunteer Initiative. Share your knowledge with people who are struggling to manage their money or avoid foreclosure (usafreedomcorps.gov).
MAKE A DONATION Gold Cross of America helps families facing foreclosure with educational material, financial assistance, and referral services (407) 284-9357 http://www.gold-cross-services.com TRY COUNSELING Neighbor-Works Training Institute offers a range of courses in foreclosure intervention counseling—from two-day seminars to a six-month certificate program. Many are open to nonprofessionals (nw.org). If you're facing foreclosure, the following organizations can refer you to HUD-approved nonprofit agencies that will work with you free or at little cost. They can negotiate on your behalf with a lender; explain your rights, responsibilities, and options; and set up a realistic budget. ACORN Housing's Home Equity Loss Prevention (HELP) Program 888-409-3557 acornhousing.org Homeowner's Hope 888-995-HOPE 995hope.org Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) 888-302-NACA naca.com
From Reader's Digest - June 2008
The bank gave notice. But a community rallied, and Maria Leon got her house back.
By Lisa Collier Cool
From Reader's Digest
A Community Helps Out
Maria Leon saved for 15 years before putting $48,000 down on a $242,000 Bridgeport, Connecticut, home where she could live with her daughter and four grandkids. Like four in ten Hispanic borrowers (and more than half of African American ones), she could get only a subprime loan, at 8.1 percent. In August 2006, Maria was laid off from her job as a spot welder. Then her daughter, who'd been helping with the bills, moved out, leaving Maria to care for Vanessa, 11, Lorenzo, 10, Alexie, 8, and Shawn, 7.
Christian Abraham/Connecticut Post
Thanks to Rev. Nunes, Maria Leon and her grandkids are staying put.
Maria, 47, was three months behind on the mortgage by the time she landed a factory job paying $1,800 a month. She called the servicer, hoping for a rollback of the overdue payments. "All they did was send tons of forms to fill out," she says. She paid $600 to a financial services company to get her loan modified. No luck. They sent her to a lawyer, who charged $150 and advised her to file for bankruptcy. The bank posted a Public Auction sign in her yard. "I'd go out the back door so the neighbors wouldn't see me," she says. "The kids asked where we'd go. I had to tell them I didn't know." Soon after the house was sold, Maria had a heart attack. The kids, who attended an after-school program at Summerfield United Methodist Church, told Rev. Marjorie Nunes what was going on. Nunes discovered that no one had bid at the auction, so the bank had bought the house but hadn't yet transferred the title. Legally, Maria still owned it. The pastor and a team of volunteers negotiated with the bank, which offered to sell the house back if Maria paid $50,000 to cover late fees and foreclosure costs. Nunes, a pit bull in high heels, demanded a deal Maria could actually afford. The officer said the $10,000 the group had raised wasn't enough, then called back to accept the offer and agree to Nunes's other demands—forgiving $30,000 in foreclosure expenses and rolling back the interest to 2.5 percent for the next five years. Maria burst into tears. The kids jumped up and down, screaming, "We're not leaving!" Maria can't believe her good fortune: "I can walk out the front door with my head held high. I've opened the shades to let the sunshine in, and I'm going to plant flowers in my yard, because we're going to be around to enjoy them."
VOLUNTEER YOUR TALENTS Do More
The USA Freedom Corps has a Financial Literacy Volunteer Initiative. Share your knowledge with people who are struggling to manage their money or avoid foreclosure (usafreedomcorps.gov).
MAKE A DONATION Gold Cross of America helps families facing foreclosure with educational material, financial assistance, and referral services (407) 284-9357 http://www.gold-cross-services.com TRY COUNSELING Neighbor-Works Training Institute offers a range of courses in foreclosure intervention counseling—from two-day seminars to a six-month certificate program. Many are open to nonprofessionals (nw.org). If you're facing foreclosure, the following organizations can refer you to HUD-approved nonprofit agencies that will work with you free or at little cost. They can negotiate on your behalf with a lender; explain your rights, responsibilities, and options; and set up a realistic budget. ACORN Housing's Home Equity Loss Prevention (HELP) Program 888-409-3557 acornhousing.org Homeowner's Hope 888-995-HOPE 995hope.org Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) 888-302-NACA naca.com
From Reader's Digest - June 2008
The American Nightmare -- Home Foreclosure
LIVING THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE
FORECLOSURES ON THE RISE: As the housing market softens, a combination of consumer naivete and aggressive lending means owners with subprime loans are increasingly getting sucked down a financial black hole
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, July 29, 2007
To many people in the affluent Bay Area, losing a home to foreclosure sounds like a Depression-era relic or a Rust Belt phenomenon. Our real estate prices have defied gravity for so long; our job market is so strong; our cachet as a place to live seems so obvious. How could foreclosures happen here?
Faces Of Foreclosure
But in recent months, the Bay Area has proven to be home to numerous victims of the subprime loan debacle. Just like elsewhere in the country, people here with tarnished credit or limited funds bought houses that proved to be beyond their means, often putting little or no money down, and borrowing money through exotic, expensive loans that were virtual time bombs set to soar to unaffordable levels after an introductory period.
Aggressive mortgage brokers, voracious lenders and naive consumers combined to create an unstable situation. The tipping point came a year and a half ago when real estate prices started to flatten or fall in some areas. Suddenly, home buyers who had planned to refinance saw that door slammed shut because they no longer had equity in their houses and their "introductory rate" mortgages quickly became unaffordable as interest rates -- and their monthly payments -- rose. This year, almost 1 million people nationwide will enter a stage of foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac.com. That great tidal wave is ravaging the already beleaguered real estate market and causing repercussions from Wall Street to Washington, D.C.
In the second quarter of this year, 2,206 homes in the nine-county Bay Area were lost to foreclosure, according to real estate service DataQuick Information Systems. That was the highest number for this area since DataQuick started tracking foreclosures in 1988, and an almost nine-fold increase from 258 foreclosures in the April-June period last year. Also in the second quarter, DataQuick said 7,696 Bay Area homeowners received notices that they were in default on their mortgage payments -- the first step in the foreclosure process. That was more than double the 2,910 default notices received at the same time last year.
Some observers say that many of those facing foreclosure should never have bought a house. To be sure, many consumers were seduced by the American dream of homeownership and so financially unsophisticated that they didn't apply due diligence. For Bay Area residents, more than a decade of consistently rising home prices may have led to a mob mentality of people overeager to jump into the real estate market, confident they would quickly gain equity.
On the other side of the equation, many lenders pushed the envelope. For example, Ameriquest Mortgage Co., the nation's leading subprime lender, is now paying $325 million to 725,000 borrowers nationwide for allegedly improper sales practices, including failing to adequately disclose home-loan terms and rates, refinancing borrowers into inappropriate loans, inflating home appraisals, and charging excessive fees and prepayment penalties.
Foreclosures have a much broader impact than just misfortune for the people who lose their homes. Within neighborhoods, they cause real estate prices to sink because houses on the verge of foreclosure or already foreclosed upon often are resold at lower prices. That, in turn, has a ripple effect on the overall real estate market. Increasing foreclosures are one reason the current housing downturn has proven to be more severe and long-lasting than anticipated.
Foreclosures also take a deeply personal toll. As shown in these profiles of several Bay Area homeowners who got in over their heads, a foreclosure goes through many stages, and is an extended and complex process during which homeowners desperately search for solutions to save their homes and salvage their credit ratings.
Foreclosure trail
Foreclosure is a complicated process that usually takes many months. Here are some of the steps involved in a foreclosure.
Default: When a homeowner falls behind on mortgage payments -- how far behind varies with different lenders -- the bank sends a notice of default and records it with the county recorder's office. Homeowners can try to rectify the situation by bringing payments up to date or refinancing. They can try to sell the house, but selling for less than they owe on the mortgage -- a "short sale" -- requires approval from the lender and can have negative tax consequences. The percentage of default notices that result in foreclosure is rising. DataQuick Information Service said one year ago only 12 percent of defaults resulted in foreclosure. This year, 45.4 percent of defaults ended up being foreclosed.
Notice of trustee sale: Three months after the notice of default, the lender can announce that it is putting the property up for auction. The lender notifies the homeowner and files a notice with the county recorder's office. It is common for auctions to be postponed, sometimes multiple times and often at the last minute, as the homeowner tries to stave off foreclosure.
Auction: Properties are auctioned on the courthouse steps in the county where they are located. Because sales are all-cash and "as is," the vast majority of homes revert to the lender at auction. Once a house has been through a courthouse auction, a trustee's deed is filed with the county signifying that it no longer belongs to the homeowner and is a foreclosure.
Resources
Here are some places homeowners facing foreclosure can turn for assistance.
Your bank: Lenders stress that homeowners should contact their lender immediately if they have trouble making their mortgage payments. Ask to speak to the workout department. Ask if your loan can be modified, for example, by adding a year onto its term. Ask if you qualify for "forbearance" -- temporary reduction or suspension of payments.
ACORN Housing -- http://www.acornhousing.org/; (866) 672-2676 or (888) 409-3557: This nonprofit has programs with many lenders to help homeowners negotiate affordable loan workouts, payment agreements and foreclosure prevention. It also advocates for policy reforms to stop predatory lending.
Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America -- http://www.naca.com/; (888) 302-6222: Nonprofit has a $1 billion fund to offer below-market refinances for people who are at risk of losing their homes. Homeowners must meet a variety of qualifications.
NeighborWorks America Homeownership Preservation Foundation -- links.sfgate.com/ZMV, (888) 995-4673: This community development group offers free foreclosure-avoidance counseling and assistance contacting lenders.
HUD-approved housing counseling agencies -- links.sfgate.com/ZMW (800) 569-4287: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sponsors housing counseling agencies throughout the country that offer advice at little or no cost.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Gold Cross of America – http://www.gold-cross-services.com 407-284-9357 This nonprofit provides loss mitigation services to homeowners to keep them in their homes. You may also join and donate to help other homeowners that are facing foreclosure.
FORECLOSURES ON THE RISE: As the housing market softens, a combination of consumer naivete and aggressive lending means owners with subprime loans are increasingly getting sucked down a financial black hole
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, July 29, 2007
To many people in the affluent Bay Area, losing a home to foreclosure sounds like a Depression-era relic or a Rust Belt phenomenon. Our real estate prices have defied gravity for so long; our job market is so strong; our cachet as a place to live seems so obvious. How could foreclosures happen here?
Faces Of Foreclosure
But in recent months, the Bay Area has proven to be home to numerous victims of the subprime loan debacle. Just like elsewhere in the country, people here with tarnished credit or limited funds bought houses that proved to be beyond their means, often putting little or no money down, and borrowing money through exotic, expensive loans that were virtual time bombs set to soar to unaffordable levels after an introductory period.
Aggressive mortgage brokers, voracious lenders and naive consumers combined to create an unstable situation. The tipping point came a year and a half ago when real estate prices started to flatten or fall in some areas. Suddenly, home buyers who had planned to refinance saw that door slammed shut because they no longer had equity in their houses and their "introductory rate" mortgages quickly became unaffordable as interest rates -- and their monthly payments -- rose. This year, almost 1 million people nationwide will enter a stage of foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac.com. That great tidal wave is ravaging the already beleaguered real estate market and causing repercussions from Wall Street to Washington, D.C.
In the second quarter of this year, 2,206 homes in the nine-county Bay Area were lost to foreclosure, according to real estate service DataQuick Information Systems. That was the highest number for this area since DataQuick started tracking foreclosures in 1988, and an almost nine-fold increase from 258 foreclosures in the April-June period last year. Also in the second quarter, DataQuick said 7,696 Bay Area homeowners received notices that they were in default on their mortgage payments -- the first step in the foreclosure process. That was more than double the 2,910 default notices received at the same time last year.
Some observers say that many of those facing foreclosure should never have bought a house. To be sure, many consumers were seduced by the American dream of homeownership and so financially unsophisticated that they didn't apply due diligence. For Bay Area residents, more than a decade of consistently rising home prices may have led to a mob mentality of people overeager to jump into the real estate market, confident they would quickly gain equity.
On the other side of the equation, many lenders pushed the envelope. For example, Ameriquest Mortgage Co., the nation's leading subprime lender, is now paying $325 million to 725,000 borrowers nationwide for allegedly improper sales practices, including failing to adequately disclose home-loan terms and rates, refinancing borrowers into inappropriate loans, inflating home appraisals, and charging excessive fees and prepayment penalties.
Foreclosures have a much broader impact than just misfortune for the people who lose their homes. Within neighborhoods, they cause real estate prices to sink because houses on the verge of foreclosure or already foreclosed upon often are resold at lower prices. That, in turn, has a ripple effect on the overall real estate market. Increasing foreclosures are one reason the current housing downturn has proven to be more severe and long-lasting than anticipated.
Foreclosures also take a deeply personal toll. As shown in these profiles of several Bay Area homeowners who got in over their heads, a foreclosure goes through many stages, and is an extended and complex process during which homeowners desperately search for solutions to save their homes and salvage their credit ratings.
Foreclosure trail
Foreclosure is a complicated process that usually takes many months. Here are some of the steps involved in a foreclosure.
Default: When a homeowner falls behind on mortgage payments -- how far behind varies with different lenders -- the bank sends a notice of default and records it with the county recorder's office. Homeowners can try to rectify the situation by bringing payments up to date or refinancing. They can try to sell the house, but selling for less than they owe on the mortgage -- a "short sale" -- requires approval from the lender and can have negative tax consequences. The percentage of default notices that result in foreclosure is rising. DataQuick Information Service said one year ago only 12 percent of defaults resulted in foreclosure. This year, 45.4 percent of defaults ended up being foreclosed.
Notice of trustee sale: Three months after the notice of default, the lender can announce that it is putting the property up for auction. The lender notifies the homeowner and files a notice with the county recorder's office. It is common for auctions to be postponed, sometimes multiple times and often at the last minute, as the homeowner tries to stave off foreclosure.
Auction: Properties are auctioned on the courthouse steps in the county where they are located. Because sales are all-cash and "as is," the vast majority of homes revert to the lender at auction. Once a house has been through a courthouse auction, a trustee's deed is filed with the county signifying that it no longer belongs to the homeowner and is a foreclosure.
Resources
Here are some places homeowners facing foreclosure can turn for assistance.
Your bank: Lenders stress that homeowners should contact their lender immediately if they have trouble making their mortgage payments. Ask to speak to the workout department. Ask if your loan can be modified, for example, by adding a year onto its term. Ask if you qualify for "forbearance" -- temporary reduction or suspension of payments.
ACORN Housing -- http://www.acornhousing.org/; (866) 672-2676 or (888) 409-3557: This nonprofit has programs with many lenders to help homeowners negotiate affordable loan workouts, payment agreements and foreclosure prevention. It also advocates for policy reforms to stop predatory lending.
Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America -- http://www.naca.com/; (888) 302-6222: Nonprofit has a $1 billion fund to offer below-market refinances for people who are at risk of losing their homes. Homeowners must meet a variety of qualifications.
NeighborWorks America Homeownership Preservation Foundation -- links.sfgate.com/ZMV, (888) 995-4673: This community development group offers free foreclosure-avoidance counseling and assistance contacting lenders.
HUD-approved housing counseling agencies -- links.sfgate.com/ZMW (800) 569-4287: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sponsors housing counseling agencies throughout the country that offer advice at little or no cost.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Gold Cross of America – http://www.gold-cross-services.com 407-284-9357 This nonprofit provides loss mitigation services to homeowners to keep them in their homes. You may also join and donate to help other homeowners that are facing foreclosure.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Stop Foreclosure Now: Gold Cross of America
Gold Cross of America
Stop Home Mortgage Foreclosures Within 48 Hours
MORTAGAGE LOSS PREVENTION: THE HOMEOWNER DIRECTLY NEGOTIATING WITH THE LENDER
GOLD CROSS OF AMERICA
In many cases, it is possible to negotiate directly with your lender, on your own, in order to stop foreclosure and reinstate your mortgage. However, we now know that using an experienced, reputable Loss Mitigation Professional Organization, like Gold Cross of America, can drastically increase your chances of approval and save you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the mortgage loan. Nevertheless, some H.U.D. - sponsored Home Mortgage Housing Counselors are still encouraging delinquent homeowners to make a courageous, honest attempt on their own before hiring a professional.
If you are among those valiant and highly patient homeowners who are willing to take this advice, I have lifted the following directions from a letter written to one of our clients by a HUD-Certified Housing Counselor. Here are the steps (with editorial comments in parentheses and bold italics) that the Housing Counselor recommended that you will need to take:
1. Gather all your income and expense documents for the last two years. You should have pay stubs, income tax returns, bank statements, property tax statements, and proof of any other income you receive.
2. Prepare a hardship letter that includes exact dates when your hardship started and ended, as well as documentation to collaborate your hardship claim. This should be as detailed as possible and should be typed, so the agent can clearly read and understand the letter.
3. Contact your lender once you are two months behind. (Most lenders will not negotiate with you until you have missed a few payments, so even if you have contacted them previously, with no results, you will need to do it again.)
4. You should be prepared for long hold times (sometimes more than an hour and a half) and don’t expect the agent to always be friendly. (However, they may agree to listen to your case if you are persistent and keep calling.)
5. Once you have gotten the lender to talk to you, tell them that you would like to apply for a workout plan or a loan modification plan. (Both of these options may be available, depending on your financial situation.) Your lender should then be willing to send you a financial worksheet to fill out and return to them along with the financial documents you have already gathered. (There is no HUD regulation or law that requires the lender to provide you with any assistance, but some of them will if you are diplomatic, diligent and persistent in your efforts.)
6. If the lender does provide you with a copy of their financial worksheet form, you should try to complete it and fax this back to them on the same day that you received it. (This helps move the process forward, as “the clock is ticking” against you and toward the date that the lender is going to officially serve you with a Notice of Foreclosure – including the foreclosure date.)
7. When (and if) you and your mortgage lender have verbally agreed to a workout plan, you will need to get (and here’s the really hard part) everything that has been verbally agreed to in writing from them and signed by them.
8. Once the mortgage lender has completed Step #7, you will need to sign their paperwork, fax it back to them and send them the total monthly payment amount stipulated in the workout plan (no matter what the increased amount works out to be) as soon as possible by certified check, cashier’s check or money orders to solidify the legality of the workout plan.
Your lender will be looking for several things to see if you qualify, but the main qualification will be to determine if you can afford to keep the home. You will need to show that you can afford the monthly
payment after all your other monthly expenses. If you are attempting to get a workout plan, then you will need to be able to afford your normal monthly payment plus an added amount to pay off the arrears. In
direct negotiations with the homeowner, most lenders will require that the arrears must be paid off in 18
months or less and you will usually need a minimum of one and a half payments to begin the workout plan.
In most cases, if a homeowner qualifies for a loan modification through direct negotiations with a mortgage lender, the borrower is required by the lender to also begin a “stop gap” repayment plan while waiting for the loan modification to go through. A “stop gap” repayment plan requires the mortgage borrower to make payments at a much higher rate than the original mortgage contract in order to “stop the gap” created by the missed payments until the mortgage company allows the loan modification plan to go through.
Mortgage lenders routinely take from 60 to 240 days or more to finalize an approved loan modification plan in writing. This also serves, even if unintentionally, to move the mortgage borrowing homeowner closer to the irrevocable nightmare of a foreclosure date.
If you are not successful in trying to work with your lender on your own, or if the payment plan that they set up for you is unaffordable, then you may want to consider hiring a professional loss mitigation company, like Gold Cross of America, to negotiate a better plan for you. Remember, we are the foremost, “not-for-profit”, Christian faith-based Mortgage Resolution Service Company in the entire United States of America.
Gold Cross of America is the only Christian faith-based Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Service. http://www.gold-cross-services.com 407-284-9357
Stop Home Mortgage Foreclosures Within 48 Hours
MORTAGAGE LOSS PREVENTION: THE HOMEOWNER DIRECTLY NEGOTIATING WITH THE LENDER
GOLD CROSS OF AMERICA
In many cases, it is possible to negotiate directly with your lender, on your own, in order to stop foreclosure and reinstate your mortgage. However, we now know that using an experienced, reputable Loss Mitigation Professional Organization, like Gold Cross of America, can drastically increase your chances of approval and save you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the mortgage loan. Nevertheless, some H.U.D. - sponsored Home Mortgage Housing Counselors are still encouraging delinquent homeowners to make a courageous, honest attempt on their own before hiring a professional.
If you are among those valiant and highly patient homeowners who are willing to take this advice, I have lifted the following directions from a letter written to one of our clients by a HUD-Certified Housing Counselor. Here are the steps (with editorial comments in parentheses and bold italics) that the Housing Counselor recommended that you will need to take:
1. Gather all your income and expense documents for the last two years. You should have pay stubs, income tax returns, bank statements, property tax statements, and proof of any other income you receive.
2. Prepare a hardship letter that includes exact dates when your hardship started and ended, as well as documentation to collaborate your hardship claim. This should be as detailed as possible and should be typed, so the agent can clearly read and understand the letter.
3. Contact your lender once you are two months behind. (Most lenders will not negotiate with you until you have missed a few payments, so even if you have contacted them previously, with no results, you will need to do it again.)
4. You should be prepared for long hold times (sometimes more than an hour and a half) and don’t expect the agent to always be friendly. (However, they may agree to listen to your case if you are persistent and keep calling.)
5. Once you have gotten the lender to talk to you, tell them that you would like to apply for a workout plan or a loan modification plan. (Both of these options may be available, depending on your financial situation.) Your lender should then be willing to send you a financial worksheet to fill out and return to them along with the financial documents you have already gathered. (There is no HUD regulation or law that requires the lender to provide you with any assistance, but some of them will if you are diplomatic, diligent and persistent in your efforts.)
6. If the lender does provide you with a copy of their financial worksheet form, you should try to complete it and fax this back to them on the same day that you received it. (This helps move the process forward, as “the clock is ticking” against you and toward the date that the lender is going to officially serve you with a Notice of Foreclosure – including the foreclosure date.)
7. When (and if) you and your mortgage lender have verbally agreed to a workout plan, you will need to get (and here’s the really hard part) everything that has been verbally agreed to in writing from them and signed by them.
8. Once the mortgage lender has completed Step #7, you will need to sign their paperwork, fax it back to them and send them the total monthly payment amount stipulated in the workout plan (no matter what the increased amount works out to be) as soon as possible by certified check, cashier’s check or money orders to solidify the legality of the workout plan.
Your lender will be looking for several things to see if you qualify, but the main qualification will be to determine if you can afford to keep the home. You will need to show that you can afford the monthly
payment after all your other monthly expenses. If you are attempting to get a workout plan, then you will need to be able to afford your normal monthly payment plus an added amount to pay off the arrears. In
direct negotiations with the homeowner, most lenders will require that the arrears must be paid off in 18
months or less and you will usually need a minimum of one and a half payments to begin the workout plan.
In most cases, if a homeowner qualifies for a loan modification through direct negotiations with a mortgage lender, the borrower is required by the lender to also begin a “stop gap” repayment plan while waiting for the loan modification to go through. A “stop gap” repayment plan requires the mortgage borrower to make payments at a much higher rate than the original mortgage contract in order to “stop the gap” created by the missed payments until the mortgage company allows the loan modification plan to go through.
Mortgage lenders routinely take from 60 to 240 days or more to finalize an approved loan modification plan in writing. This also serves, even if unintentionally, to move the mortgage borrowing homeowner closer to the irrevocable nightmare of a foreclosure date.
If you are not successful in trying to work with your lender on your own, or if the payment plan that they set up for you is unaffordable, then you may want to consider hiring a professional loss mitigation company, like Gold Cross of America, to negotiate a better plan for you. Remember, we are the foremost, “not-for-profit”, Christian faith-based Mortgage Resolution Service Company in the entire United States of America.
Gold Cross of America is the only Christian faith-based Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Service. http://www.gold-cross-services.com 407-284-9357
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