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Loan Modification

Banks help more homeowners than the Obama Plan

If you aren’t eligible for the HAMP loan modification program, don’t worry too much. Bank are modifying more loans through their own in house loan modifications programs.

Banks have realized that foreclosing on home after home after home may not be in anyone’s best interest — least of all their own. So they’ve ramped up the number of loan modifications they’re handing out to their delinquent clients.

Banks are doing nearly twice as many modifications under their own foreclosure prevention initiatives than under the Obama administration’s signature Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP.

But before homeowners rejoice, they should take a close look at the terms of their bank modification offers, consumer advocates say. Many may not be as good as HAMP, which lowers monthly payments to 31% of pre-tax income.

read more @http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/30/news/economy/foreclosure_modifications/

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com/blog

Loan modifications trials go down

Lenders and loan servicers last month reduced the number of loan modification trials that were at least six months old, going from 166,000 to 118,000, according to the latest update on the federal program for distressed homeowners.

The 29 percent drop in “aged trials” reflects pressure from the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on the mortgage industry to stop keeping people in limbo. The two departments run the Making Home Affordable program, which was started in April 2009 to help lower monthly payments for eligible homeowners.
Long Island borrowers and homeowners’ attorneys have complained about modification trials that went on and on instead of just three months, after which the modification was supposed to be permanent or canceled if the homeowners failed to pay on time.

The number of trial modifications went up last summer after lenders and loan servicers were called in by the White House and chastised for not offering enough modifications. Afterward, the number of trials went up, but Long Island attorneys trying to help homeowners said they noticed some people were being given loan changes that they clearly could not sustain or did not qualify for, and some were eventually denied permanent modifications.

Recently, federal officials began requiring lenders and servicers to verify documentation upfront instead of during the trial period.

The report said that slowed the number of new trial modifications, from 50,000 in June to 37,000 in July, a 26 percent drop. Despite the issues, federal officials said the loan modification program has made several improvements, from standardizing loan modifications terms to lowering borrowers’ payments.

Read more @ http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/real-estate/real-li-1.812034/loan-modifications-trials-go-down-1.2230949

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com/blog

Could 62 Million Homes Be Foreclosure-Proof?

Over 62 million mortgages are now held in the name of MERS, an electronic recording system devised by and for the convenience of the mortgage industry. A California bankruptcy court, following landmark cases in other jurisdictions, recently held that this electronic shortcut makes it impossible for banks to establish their ownership of property titles — and therefore to foreclose on mortgaged properties. The logical result could be 62 million homes that are foreclosure-proof.

Mortgages bundled into securities were a favorite investment of speculators at the height of the financial bubble leading up to the crash of 2008. The securities changed hands frequently, and the companies profiting from mortgage payments were often not the same parties that negotiated the loans. At the heart of this disconnect was the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, a company that serves as the mortgagee of record for lenders, allowing properties to change hands without the necessity of recording each transfer.

MERS was convenient for the mortgage industry, but courts are now questioning the impact of all of this financial juggling when it comes to mortgage ownership. To foreclose on real property, the plaintiff must be able to establish the chain of title entitling it to relief. But MERS has acknowledged, and recent cases have held, that MERS is a mere “nominee” — an entity appointed by the true owner simply for the purpose of holding property in order to facilitate transactions. Recent court opinions stress that this defect is not just a procedural but is a substantive failure, one that is fatal to the plaintiff’s legal ability to foreclose.

That means hordes of victims of predatory lending could end up owning their homes free and clear — while the financial industry could end up skewered on its own sword.

Read more @http://seekingalpha.com/article/221344-homeowners-rebellion-could-62-million-homes-be-foreclosure-proof

As always

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com

Obama’s ‘HOPE’ Failing American Dream: GMAC One of Many Conspirators

Claudia and Mark’s Torres dream went down the drain last week. Unbeknownst to them their house was sold while they were trying to get a loan modification, for the fifth time with GMAC.  They found out their house had been sold from a friend in the real estate market who recognized the name of their street on a listing of houses put up for auction minutes before the property was sold.
GMAC has yet to inform them of the sale.

For the better part of two and half years, the Torreses (not their real name) had tried unsuccessfully to refinance their $410,000 mortgage or get a loan modification. Despite paying $2,500 a month, and most recently, nearly $4,000 a month, they saw their $410,000 mortgage balloon to over $530,000, the result of added fees, interest and penalties they had no way of controlling. Their home was sold off for under $330,000.

Like thousands of other homeowners in their situation, they ran into one wall after another. They were buried in stacks of confusing paperwork, subjected to repeated misdirection, and to quote Mark, “lies and cover ups and generally crappy treatment from anonymous people hidden away in some call center.”

GMAC, yes the same GMAC that received billions in federal bailout money from taxpayers like Claudia and Mark Torres, is shamelessly running amok, without any real oversight because they are not a federally regulated bank, not to say the banks are doing any better. There are thousands of Claudias and Marks out there, it’s time for legislators to step in and protect them from the scoundrels like GMAC

Read more @ http://egpnews.com/?p=20021

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com/

Bachus calls for hearing on incentive payments tied to HAMP

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) has called on House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to convene a hearing in September on whether Fannie Mae executives improperly implemented the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in order to benefit from incentive payments offered by the Treasury Department.

Bachus is the Committee’s ranking member and in an August 6 letter to Frank said he was concerned by reports that Fannie Mae executive allegedly pushed as many borrowers as possible into short-term trial modifications to receive incentive payments from the Treasury.

“These allegations are of particular concern, not only because taxpayers have invested more than $85 billion in Fannie Mae to offset its losses, but also because it is being reported that the [Obama] administration might order the government-controlled mortgage finance company to forgive many Americans’ mortgage debts later this month,” the letter states.

read more @ http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/113261-bachus-calls-for-hearing-on-incentive-payments-tied-to-loan-modifications

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com/

Struggling US homeowners to sue lenders

VALLEJO, California – Bobbie Vivar is sick and tired of the way lenders are dealing with struggling homeowners like her. It took her two years to get a loan modification approved by her lender, Bank of America. But before she could begin paying a lower rate, she received a foreclosure notice from another department within the bank.

Vivar decided to sue her lender, who refuses to correct this mistake.

“The thing is lenders do not communicate well. They don’t communicate within their departments. They don’t communicate with us homeowners. I had no choice but to talk to a lawyer because my lenders are not budging. All I want is for my monthly payments to go down,” said Vivar, whose 4-bedroom home dropped in value from $800,000 to $300,000.

Vivar is just one of over 100 struggling homeowners who filed a lawsuit in California against their lenders, in an effort to get them to cooperate. Nora Echaure is a homeowner advocate from the Home Protection Group, which spearheaded a class action suit against lenders in April.

The class action suit is aimed at not just exposing fraudulent transactions within lending institutions; it also stops the foreclosure process.

read more @ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/08/06/10/struggling-us-homeowners-sue-lenders

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com

Realtors Warn Of Short Sale Scam

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors issued a scam alert on short sales.

People are claiming to help and taking advantage of people in rough housing situations. A short sale is selling a home for less than owed on it.

The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors said short sales account for 50 percent of housing transactions in the current market.

Realtor Carol Hill said many people short sell because they are afraid of foreclosure. Many people are offering a huge upfront fee to sell the home fast, Hill said, that’s a red flag.

It’s hurting people because they end up losing thousands of dollars and sometimes their home.  Hill also said when selling your home, do your research.

read more @ http://www.news4jax.com/news/24474333/detail.html

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com/

Bill would spare credit score in loan modification

If you are lucky enough to get your lender to modify your mortgage, you shouldn’t end up dogged by a miserable credit score. That’s the essence of a bill introduced in Congress by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif. It would insulate people from taking a credit-score hit for going through loan modifications.

Speier is trying to give people a fresh start as they get either a permanent modification that makes monthly payments more affordable, or a temporary modification, which lenders sometimes use before considering permanent relief. “I am seeing people with sterling credit have their scores dinged as much as 100 points,” Speier said.

A 100-point drop is substantial. It can prevent people from getting life insurance, loans on cars or homes, or even a job. For a small business, a credit-score hit can be a death knell as lenders refuse a line of credit essential for operations. “This is a doomed spiral,” Speier noted.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the No. 1 reason people are missing home payments is that they have lost a job or had to take a lesser-paying job. About 16 percent of Americans are unemployed or underemployed, and there are five applicants for every job available.

So if a lower credit score keeps people from getting a new job, that’s counterproductive for the person and the economy, Speier said.She added that modifications benefit neighbors and communities because property values remain intact as people stay in homes, make payments and mow lawns.

Read more @http://azstarnet.com/business/article_65548eec-a5d7-5c4d-8668-b753f03d3096.html

As always,

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com/

The American Dream Built on a Nightmare

Buyers willing to take a chance on the struggling housing market can purchase a repossessed home for an average of 27 percent less than a similar property not facing foreclosure. According to Realty Trac,  the company’s senior Vice President Rick Sharga says the majority of foreclosed property buyers are investors with cash or lifelong renters who have been waiting for the right opportunity.

Buyers have a growing list of properties to choose from. Already this year 528 thousand homes have been taken over by lenders. Sharga forecasts more than 1.2 million will be foreclosed on by year’s end. The number is unprecedented. In 2005, before the current financial crisis, the number of bank takeovers was a relatively paltry 100,000 homes. Housing analysts say the flood of home repossessions resulted from inflated prices and lenders who gave mortgages to unqualified borrowers. Once prices stopped rising the house of cards collapsed.

While purchasing a foreclosure might be tempting, some experts warn that the housing industry’s woes are not over. Lenders are artificially delaying the initiation of new foreclosure actions, to manage the inventory of distressed properties on the market. In other words, banks don’t want to flood the market with more repossessed homes and further drive down prices.

read more @http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/07/16/the-amercian-dream-built-on-a-nightmare/

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com/

Biggest Defaulters on Mortgages Are the Rich

No need for tears, but the well-off are losing their master suites and saying goodbye to their wine cellars.

The housing bust that began among the working class in remote subdivisions and quickly progressed to the suburban middle class is striking the upper class in privileged enclaves like this one in Silicon Valley.Whether it is their residence, a second home or a house bought as an investment, the rich have stopped paying the mortgage at a rate that greatly exceeds the rest of the population.

More than one in seven homeowners with loans in excess of a million dollars are seriously delinquent, according to data compiled for The New York Times by the real estate analytics firm CoreLogic. By contrast, homeowners with less lavish housing are much more likely to keep writing checks to their lender. About one in 12 mortgages below the million-dollar mark is delinquent.

Read more@http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/business/economy/09rich.html?_r=1

As always,

Shawn

http://www.diyloanmodkit.com/