Loan Modification

Loan Modification
Loan Mod Hardship LettersForeclosure
Deed in Lieu
Loan Modification
Short Sale Hardship Letters

In 2008, finding myself caught in the (pick your title) Great Recession/Mortgage Meltdown/Credit Crisis of the Century, I felt a sense of dread. My negative-am loan, a condition of refinancing that seemed sunny two years previous, was about to balloon my monthly payment by $600. My house, appraised at $700,000 at that time, suddenly was worth half that. I couldn’t afford my house with this 30-year mortgage, but didn’t want to leave, and didn’t want to be foreclosed upon. What to do? I naively called the mortgage holder and inquired, “Is there any way we could, um, ‘refinance’ again at a lower rate that I could afford?” At that point I had never heard this phrase: Loan modification. I had a lot to learn. Namely, I wasn’t alone in this mortgage predicament, and the banks were flying nearly as blind as I was. I soon learned that my only salvation could be a loan modification – revised mortgage terms to be granted only IF the bank wanted to have mercy and play ball. And the direct route to a loan modification was via hardship letter (basically a resume of how and why my financial situation had belly-flopped). I would eventually learn that not everyone seeking a loan modification gets lucky … but chances for a happy ending in loan modifications are greatly increased with a proper declaration.