If YOU are attempting a loan modification with your mortgage company, and they are sending you delinquent notices and tell you to "pay no attention" to those notices... do not believe them.
Time and time again, homeowners are being told by their mortgage company that they (a) should stop paying their mortgage while they are applying for their loan modification (b) to pay no attention to the delinquency notices or default notices or warnings of an impending foreclosure.. and the loan mod department continues to ask for documents, information and more "stuff" from the homeowner. All the while, the department that processes delinquents/foreclosures is indeed moving forward with foreclosure measures, and before you know it, the mortgage company forecloses on the property.
In one case that I know of, the loan modification department asked for information to process the modification twice AFTER they'd already foreclosed on the home!
In another case, the loan mod department told the homeowner that their modification had been completed successfully, and reduced the payment... and then suddenly sent a letter saying that the full amount that was delinquent was due immediately or the home would be foreclosed upon 10 days later. Needless to say, another home was lost.
In still another case, a friend lost a home that had been in her family for generations when in fact she could have begged or borrowed funds from other family members to bring the loan current, had the loan modification department not told them that the loan modification was going through!
Please don't be the next victim. These stories are breaking my heart, especially when they happen to friends.
An important note to this story - Wells Fargo seems to be the name I am hearing most often associated with these kinds of stories, although it is certainly not the only bank.
Some loan modifications are successfully approved, but VERY few... and of those, even less modify the loan enough to make the loan affordable. You may be better off to consider a short sale.
If you are in the Loudoun/Dulles area, and are considering a short sale, I'm pleased to offer you a free consultation to determine if that is a good option for you.
703-669-3142
Other blog posts with short sale information:
