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.
HAMP’s loan modification program seems to be finally speeding up its conversion rate from trial loan modifications to converted modifications. However, the 4 million troubled homeowners targeted by the program are not even close to receiving the help they need.
The debate continues on exactly how much responsibility the Government has towards troubled homeowners. Should they simply shoulder their responsibility, lose their home and start from scratch?
One, obviously upset, commentator had this to say about the issue:
How many people seeking home loan modifications used their home as their own personal ATM’S? How many people who are seeking loan modifications bought homes using an interest only ARM, and purchased a home they could not afford? How many people “fudged” their mortgage apps in order to qualify? I have no sympathy for them. I do feel sorry for those who were really victims of poor mortgages, and job loss. I think more people made poor personal choices and want others to bear the responsibility for their poor financial choices.(Quoted from a comment on the RGJ.com, Reno Gazette Journal online edition 31/1/2010)
This opinion is by no means unique. Many, especially those that didn’t buy a home because they felt they couldn’t afford it, feel people are being unfairly shielded from their own bad financial decisions.
However , the distress and misery the current credit crisis has created does make most of us feel the Government has some responsibility to stabilize the situation just as it did when the banks were the ones that needed bailing out.
Sadly, even those that do receive some kind of “financial help” on their mortgage are often just taken advantage of. The media is full of cases of troubled homeowners that qualify for a loan modification just to see their monthly mortgage payments are more expensive and they are deeper in debt and deeper underwater on their mortgage.
The Government has issued some new guidelines that put more pressure on servicers and lenders to reduce monthly payments by extending the loan term to 30 years and dropping the interest rate to current low levels of 2%-3% for a fixed 30 year loan. Unfortunately, servicers were often simply picking up the months the borrowers were behind on and loading them on the mortgage, without actually modifying the loans in any useful way for the homeowner.
The lessons we can learn from these situations are important although often of little value for the homeowners that are suffering the consequences of poor financial judgment and unfair lenders.
Lesson 1.) Do not spend your life savings paying a loan modification company to manage your application. If you do decide to hire such a company check their credentials and find out their history.
Lesson 2.) Never pay for any services before they have been carried out. This is not only illegal in most states it is also rather stupid. Would you pay a day worker on a farm before he started?
Lesson 3.) Contact the HAMP free counseling services before you are committed to a loan. Even if you later decide to go a different route you will at least have one opinion you can use as a benchmark. Contact a lawyer and ask him what your options are. Is there any way to fight the legality of the loan? Do you have any leverage on your bank?
Lesson 4.) Loan Modifications are not the holy grail of mortgage woes, they are not for everyone and they don’t always improve your mortgage payments all that much. Even though it will severely affect your credit score foreclosures and short sales are often a way to have a fresh start and are sometimes more practical than hanging on to a sinking mortgage. They are, obviously, not an ideal option but sometimes they are best of two evils.
The media has been rife with horror stories of scam artists preying on one of the most vulnerable sectors of our population, troubled homeowners and their families. However, many homeowners just haven’t got the message so we shall revise a few of the signs that can help us spot a loan modification scammer.
These leeches of [...]
Forensic Loan Auditing is a fancy way of describing a thorough revision of the documents you signed when applying for your loan. This includes the accuracy of the math in the interest rates and payments schedule, the legality of the terms of the loan and any proof that you were misled in some way.
Why is [...]
HAMP, the Government’s Loan Modification Program is changing their tune about the paperwork required to apply for a loan modification. Homeowners applying for a loan modification must now include their paperwork before even entering the trial stage.
Previously troubled homeowners could apply for a loan modification trial by simply providing proof of income over the phone. [...]
A loan modification is a loan modification, right? If it helps you avoid a foreclosure on your home it is good news, right? Not necessarily. It is a little more complicated than all that.
HAMP is a Government sponsored loan modification program. This might not give you much peace of mind but the truth is that [...]
The million dollar question millions of Americans are asking themselves is “should I walk away from my underwater mortgage?
The situation is so dire that according to Moody’s Economy.com 17.4 million homes will be underwater by the end of 2010.
That is worth reading again: By the end of 2010 17.4 million homes might be worth less [...]
Loan Modifications do seem to have finally got moving. Trial loan modifications are heading towards their first million, there has been over a 100,000 completed loan modifications and even Bank of America, the sleeping giant of loan modifications has hit the 200,000 trial modifications line.
However, what is not clear is if loan modifications are actually [...]
Have you ever heard about having your cake and eating it? That’s what many mortgage providers are trying to do with loan modifications. How so? As it is well known the Government offers lenders incentives for processing loss mitigation actions. Loss mitigation action is code for loan modifications. What has been the result of the [...]
The debate in the last months has centered on how the Government and lenders were not doing enough to get troubled borrowers into a loan modification. However, a recent report might indicate that this has actually a good thing for borrowers!
A report released last week by the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group disclosed that about [...]
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