Posted on 12/23/2009 5:38:26 PM PST by Steelfish
2009's Mortgage Modifications Pretty Minor
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
December 23, 2009
This was supposed to be the year of loan modifications. With great fanfare early in the year, the Obama administration unrolled a plan to spur banks to help troubled homeowners avert foreclosure by reducing their monthly payments. But at year end, the plan is widely considered a bust.
Borrowers complain of months of begging and endless phone-tree loops. Banks complain of borrowers who don't submit documentation and don't return calls.
The net results have been paltry: Just 31,382 borrowers nationwide had received permanent loan mods as of Nov. 30 under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the Treasury Department reported. Meanwhile, First American CoreLogic says that 1.7 million homes are likely to be lost to foreclosure next year.
"HAMP is turning out to be something of a disaster," said Lisa Sitkin, an attorney at Housing & Economic Rights Advocates in Oakland, who works with many struggling borrowers. "There are delays and lost steps at every turn. The bureaucratic requirements are endlessly frustrating."
Richard Leong of Daly City is a case in point. He and wife Rachel Lim have owned their Daly City home since 2000. But after he lost his biotech job, they fell behind on payments. He contacted the loan servicer, JPMorgan Chase, a year ago to request a loan modification, and says he calls the bank at least once a week.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/23/BU041B6FAO.DTL#ixzz0aZ8lHDPV
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
And fools want these same people to run their health care.
Hey, Harry...the war in Iraq is going a lot better than the loan modification program that BO and you feckless pols tried to promote. I’d say that war is definitely “lost.”
” But at year end, the plan is widely considered a bust”
HEY JUST LIKE OUR DEAR READER!
I think what I got should be called a “reverse modification”. It started with a 6% fixed from Countrywide in 2005. Then Bank of America got it when Countrywide went belly up. Now, it seems that Bank of New York/Mellon has it, but someone called Litton Loan Servicing is billing.
When Litton got the loan or the servicing or whatever it is they are doing, they started out billing me with a loan balance $22,000 more than the original note. This after I paid extra principal every month for 4 years.
It’s a nightmare. No one answers the phone at Litton, horror stories all over the internet about them.
We’ve hired an attorney to sort it out. Litton can’t or won’t produce paperwork, saying the original note has been “lost, stolen or destroyed”.
Yikes.
No Tickey? No Laundry! If they admit losing the note you should immediately stop all payments, get your attorney on it right now and forget about the $22k ,, that's the wrong strategy.
Sounds like they can't prove you owe them anything.
10-4 A free house for you!!
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