Success! Permanent Modification Paperwork Received Today!

When I saw the thick Fed Ex envelope from IndyMac/OneWest, I ripped it open, hoping against hope that it would the permanent HAMP modification documents. To my joy, that’s exactly what I found inside.

 

I immediately started dancing around the house (or hopping on one foot, since I sprained my ankle the other day, lol) absolutely giddy with happiness. I felt light on my feet, in a way I hadn’t felt in a very long time, at least since before this nightmare began. I hugged my husband tightly and both of us rejoiced: that nightmare is finally over.

 

Here are the details of my modification:

 

Principal balance: $258,780.07

Deferred principal: $16,536.08

Term: 37 years

Interest rate: 2 percent

Payment (P&I plus taxes and insurance): $997.27

Modification effective date: 7/1/2010

 

The deferred principal will be forgiven on the maturity date, so there is no balloon payment unless we pay off early, sell, or we refinance. Since I don’t plan to sell or refinance, this works for me. If I ever have the good fortune to be able to pay off the entire balance, I’m sure, I’d have enough to pay the deferred portion anyway. :)

 

While we are still underwater by more than $100K, I am not troubled by that because this house is my home, not an investment. It has intrinsic value beyond dollars and cents to me and my family, so regardless of its market value, I am content to make my payments and be secure that I am no longer in danger of foreclosure. Likewise, I am also content that I have an affordable mortgage.

 

 

As I write this, my happiness is tempered by the knowledge that there are still families out there languishing in modification hell. The HAMP program needs more work and more resources need to be brought to bear on the foreclosure menace.

HAMP Loan Modification Offer Received After A Year!

Good news! Last Thursday I received a Priority Mail package from IndyMac/OneWest. In it was a HAMP trial mod offer which would lower our payments to an affordable level, and if it is approved in the end, will result in saving my home.

 

Emotions are running amok inside me right now. I am happy to finally have the offer and I am also scared that it will end up being ultimately rejected either become somehow I have too much income or not enough income I can verify.

 

Being self-employed makes things a little harder than if I had a job with paystubs and the like, but it I can document what I earn. Whether they will accept that documentation is something I’ll have to find out.

 

I know if I get this mod, it will be a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. This past year has not been easy and has definitely taken a toll on my health and my sanity. It has also been difficult for my husband who is always calm, cool and collected. Even his temper is running remarkably short these days, no doubt due to too much stress.

 

When I think of the bankers and investors on Wall Street who created this mess and basically wrecked the economy to the point that we’re pretty much in another Great Depression, I get really angry. Most especially in light of the lack of humility and remorse among that crowd.

 

There is plenty of evidence that at the very least, these people were negligent. These guys are not unsophisticated folks who got taken for a ride. At all levels, it was known that the quality of the mortgages were not good and that their very design made them doomed to eventually fail.

 

I hope that the government takes a closer look at this and the Wall Street people are held to some degree accountable for what they’ve done. Given the climate in Washington and the amount of access to our Congressmen, Senators, and even our President that the bank lobby has, I doubt that anything will happen to them.

 

For myself, if I am able to get a permanent loan modification, I will be able to save my home. I will be happy with that and I will hope that other families will be able to do the same.

Apparently I Make Too Much Money

Yes, you read that right: OneWest denied my NACA mod request because they say my payment is already below 31% of my income. Huh???

All of my paperwork clearly shows my payment is in excess of 41% of my income, so my NACA negotiator is quite baffled by this response. Of course it is in line with the fact that OneWest has no interest in helping anyone.

I am now very worried that they will start the foreclosure process, which I have thus far evaded for more than a year now, by making at least one full payment a month, although never catching up on the three months I remain behind, but this month I have received no Breach letter which gives me the date by which I must make my next payment. Moreover, they’re not calling me constantly, haranguing me about payment.

I am very afraid that the process will be starting, and once that happens, options become extremely limited. If indeed they want to start foreclosure, even though I am making every effort to pay as a gesture of good will and to show how much I want to keep my house, I will be very upset.

Of course, my being upset will change nothing and won’t help me save my home. The only reason I am fighting so hard is because of my 80 year old mother who lives with us and whose home, really, at the end of the day, this is. My mother loves this house and has put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it. So have my husband and I. But for her, there is the additional dimension of the fact that her daughter died in this house ten years ago this February 19.

I can’t allow them to take this house. That has never been an option, but I am running out of places to turn.

I actually spoke to a lawyer who was willing to sue my servicer, but he wants $5000 to start. In my heart of hearts, I know that the courts are the only place I’ll see justice here, but where I am going to get $5000?

Well, enough of this sob story. Millions of other Americans are in my position and my heart goes out to them. I hope all of you find help soon.

NACA: My Last Hope

Since I've been denied by my servicer when I tried applying for a modification on my own, I have now enlisted the aid of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (or NACA for short.)

NACA's CEO is Bruce Marks, and he is known for taking the fight directly to the bank CEO's and their families...to make them realize how personal losing your home is and the costs to neighborhoods all across America that rampant foreclosures cause. He styles himself the "banking terrorist" because he will resort to rather interesting tactics to make his point. He will organize a group of homeowners and NACA representatives and dump a truckload of furniture on a bank CEO's lawn. He will organize protests outside the school where the CEO's kids attend. He is ruthless, and as far as I am concerned, the banks have it coming.

NACA has contracts with the major servicers, including IndyMac. I have a running appointment with one of the NACA counselors as I get my documentation together. I am hopeful that something can be done, even if the only thing that can be done right now is a forebearance to allow my husband and I to get back on our feet, and then do the restructure.

NACA works a little differently than HAMP or other modification programs. They start with figuring out how much of a house payment you can afford. There is no set interest rate that it has to be, or loan amount that it has to be. The only question is how much you can afford, after deducting all of your living expenses. Then NACA takes that number and says to the bank, find a way to get the payment down to that number. Whatever is done is a permanent change. No re-sets, no adjustments. The restructure is permanent.

If you're facing foreclosure, contact NACA as soon as possible. The sooner you start the process, the easier it will be for you. Go to www.naca.com