If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
A warm welcome to BlownMortgage.com!
We are among the mosttrusted free home loan modification, debt relief and independent mortgage industry commentary sources online. We have fiercely and successfully been helping fellow homeowners facing economic hardship or foreclosure since 2006.
We are honoured to have been named to be among the Top 3 influential Mortgage Blogs in the industry (by Inman News).
Our US editorial team consists of high profile writers and industry insiders such as Morgan Brown, Jay Hammond, Constantine Von Hoffman and many others. Our frequent stream of unique articles often blows the lid of various Mortgage related topics and our articles are often featured on various authority sources. At the bottom of this page you will always find our 9 latest published articles.
We invite you to take advantage of years of our collective efforts and we look forward to keeping you updated ahead so that you may achieve a lower level of stress and a higher level of financial freedom.
What is a Home Loan Modification?
Mortgage modification is where your current mortgage lender agrees to change the terms of your current home loan so that you may afford to service the monthly payments and avoid foreclosure. Generally the mortage provider will lower the interest rate and change the length of your repayment.
One of the most frequent questions we encounter is from people wanting to know how they can modify their mortgage with a loan modification from their current home loan provider. These folks are usually in adjustable rate mortgages that have exploded, leading to monstrous mortgage payments that have gone delinquent. The process ofloan modification is not easy but worthwhile! It takes some gumption, resolve and a bit of salesmanship to get the job done. But if you get your loan moddone you’ll usually receive a new fixed loan at a competitive rate.
Be very careful if you choose to use a loan modification company that takes a fee up front to negotiate your loan modification for you. They cannot guarantee a successful modification and can end up costing you another month’s mortgage payment in exchange for false hope. The best of these companies have done the modification countless times and will actually try to help you in earnest without guarantee. The worst are scams that take your money with a cursory attempt to help you (if any).
We have found that Foreclosure Fighter offers useful advice that achieves a high loan mod success rate and we therefore recommend you visit their site.
Do It Yourself Loan Modification – A DYI Guide
We are big fans of Do it Your Self Home Loan Modifications. And we currently believe that the down to earth ebook entitled The Mortgage Relief Formula is the most useful resources currently available on the subject . This book walks you throughhow to modify your loan on your own – saving costs and headaches of false promises of loan modification companies. This book is wide ranging and covers everything from loan modifications to dealing with debt collectors to short selling your home in 9 days. Even if we receive a small commission for recommending it this ebook we are confident that if you are in a situation where you are looking to modify your home loan or short sale your home you will be happy you have read this book.
Below you can see a sample of the type of loan modification information you’ll find in Mortgage Relief Formula. If you find the sample video below interesting we are confident you’ll really appreciate the loan modification course and book.
Loan Modifications can be a way to save your home from an imminent foreclosure. It will also affect your credit score, and this could affect your chances of getting another loan or when applying for a job. This makes many people think twice before applying for a loan modification. The truth is that you could end up without being accepted for a loan modification but still suffer a drop on your credit score. There is also the time wasted applying and waiting for a response. Some troubled homeowners automatically assume they are not eligible for such a modification. A good way to make sure you are even eligible for a loan modification under the HAMP program is to visit http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/modification_eligibility.html and see if you pass the program’s requirements. This will help you save time and your credit rating without asking for an outright modification. The requirements are straightforward and will give you a clear understanding of your position. This questionnaire will also help you get used to the kind of question you will be asked if you go ahead with the modification. Use it as a trial run that has no negative consequences on your record. The questionnaire is set as a test that tells you if you are eligible for a HAMP modification based on the information you provide. What questions are asked? There are only 5 questions that determine your eligibility. 1) Is your home your primary residence? 2) How big is your mortgage? The key question here is if it is below the $729,750 mark, the maximum mortgage size to fall in the HAMP program. 3) Are you struggling with making payments toward your mortgage? You guessed! If you say no here you will not qualify. I tried! 4) Was your mortgage contracted before 2009? This is also a key question as all loans after this date do not qualify. 5) The final question relates to your debt to income ratio. That is how much money you owe in relation to how much you make. The key question is if it is higher than 31%. If your debt to income ratio is not higher than 31% HAMP cannot help you. You will have to find some other kind of alternative. Put simply you must answer yes to all five questions to be eligible. If you knew anything about the HAMP program you probably did not get much out of that questionnaire. However, after you determine if you are eligible for a loan modification you can download an RMA form at http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/docs/RMA%20Interactive%20-%20Updated%2011.10.09.pdf . This form will help you collect the information you need to apply for a modification. You can then contact a free counselor and ask for advice on your particular case. Unfortunately qualifying for a HAMP loan modification is the easy part. The hard part is getting your lender or servicer to approve it. There are also grey areas when applying for a loan modification, which makes the questionnaire we looked at above a little bit of an oversimplification. However, it is a great place to start. As you can see the process is not that difficult, you can do it yourself and save yourself a small fortune instead of spending your last dime on a foreclosure rescue company. Nevertheless, you must accept that applying for a loan mod is going to be complicated and require a lot of your time and patience. If you do not have either you might still want to use a paid company.
Troubled homeowners are so worried about losing their home they will do anything to save it. This generally ends up including a loan modification. Loan modifications are a way of reducing monthly payments by a) reducing interest rates, b) extending the tenure of the loan, and c) in some rare cases even by reducing the [...]
The HAMP program has finally started to get some momentum and provide a substantial amount of troubled homeowners with a way out of foreclosure. Unfortunately, this help seems to be too little, too slow, and too late. However, one must accept that steps are being made and that although not all targets have been met, [...]
Homeowners are so desperate to find solutions to their mortgage problems they will try anything. Some lawyers and consultants have encouraged homeowners to carry out mortgage audits to assess if any irregularities were committed. In this blog we have previously pointed out how over 90% of mortgages have some kind of irregularities that could make [...]
Last week was National Consumer Protection Week and the Government wanted to make the most of the heightened awareness to publish some general guidelines and advice. One of these releases was made by Florida Attorney General, Bill McCollum, on the issue of loan modification scams. This issue is right at the top of the list [...]
The last three years have seen an amazing growth in the number of schemes designed to help homeowners keep their homes and help them avoid foreclosure. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult as the issue homeowners are having with their mortgages is not so much the interest rate and loan tenures, but with the fact [...]
For borrowers, Federal Housing Administration changes are on the horizon. Some of the new policies are effective next month, and are all part of a plan to bolster FHA’s reserves.
Last year, FHA insured one-third of all approved mortgages. The capital-reserve ratio is no longer at the Congress-mandated 2 percent threshold. FHA Commissioner David Stevens even [...]
Despite the Government’s best efforts and greatest intentions the wave of foreclosures continues to increase. The borrowers that are now defaulting on their mortgages and not qualifying for loan modifications are no longer people with subprime loans and bad credit rating. The fastest growing demographic in foreclosures are prime borrowers with prime loans that have [...]
The sad truth is that most troubled homeowners do not qualify for a trial loan modification. Of these, only a small percentage will receive a permanent modification. Analysts estimate that over 5 million households have underwater mortgages and are struggling with their payments. This represents nearly 20% of all American households. Many of these homeowners [...]