Comments on: Would You Take a Loan Modification?

By: Pablo

Pablo — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:03:29 +0000

My wife and I put 20% down on a loan backed by Fannie….. the house we purchased is 60 miles from where we were living before…. so we quit our jobs (oct 2008)…. planned to use tax return money and additional savings to make the house payments until we got jobs….I got a job on 1/2009……. making 1800 a month…. the mortgage is 1800 a month…. my wife has not been able to find work….. AT ALL……. savings have basically run out…. i have been selling personal property to keep afloat…. I have not been able to find a 2nd job….. we are current on our mortgage…… do you guys think I WILL QUALIFY FOR A MOD?

By: montana

montana — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:46:39 +0000

this sounds like a program that truly is intended for responsible people who are trying to remain responsible and not tip over due to compounding issues…when considering decreases in income it is not clear whether decrease in receipt (successful collection) of court ordered child support is within the description of “hardship”?

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Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:03:09 +0000

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By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:42:23 +0000

I think if there is an opportunity to save money you should do it.

This program was created to help prop up house prices and prevent foreclosures. No program is perfect and even if you weren’t really in the “intended” group of recipients – that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get it.

Besides – if you can benefit financially from this, that will mean you are (technically) less likely to lose your home because of foreclosure which is what the thing is designed to do!

By: JannyPi

JannyPi — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:03:02 +0000

I contacted ING regarding the loan modification program. The first thing the woman said was they don’t have to do it because they aren’t attached to Freddie/Fanny. I told her that had NOTHING to do with it. She got snarly then and said that ING is offering its OWN program. So I requested information on it. She let me to believe that no other lender would take me if I was in default (which I’m not).

I spoke with the Hope folks and have an appointment to go over financials in early April. They aren’t having trouble placing the mortgages (EVEN IN DEFAULT), according to the woman I spoke with.

Interesting how a government program becomes a Marketing Plan for banks that don’t want to participate. I will compare the two and see which one makes the most sense. I’m disappointed in ING for intending to deceive me. They might lose a couple of customers.

By: hfcs

hfcs — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:29:08 +0000

how could you not take advantage of this?? i agree with joe, sure you’re fine now and it looks like you’ll be ok in the future but who knows?

i will say though, that this is the part of the plan that irked me. the first thing i thought of was this scenario….a dual income couple with a couple kids, maybe in daycare, can just say, hey why use daycare. the wife can now quit her job and be a stay at home all the while living in a much nicer house than they could have been able to buy on only the husband’s salary.
i guess i am jealous and/or stupid for not thinking the govt might do something like this and instead prepared to downsize to one income. instead my wife is quitting to stay at home with our newborn while we rent and save up for a house to move out of our 1000 sq ft small rental with rotting hardwood floors and toxic oil smelling hvac system.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:31:52 +0000

Think about how much your investments have been devalued. You have probably already lost more than you would benefit from taking advantage of a program that is rewarding “failure, greed and incompetence” and through further incompetence during its implementation has allowed someone to benefit that isn’t in trouble. How do you know if you won’t be in trouble down the road? It is like not taking a tax deduction because you don’t really need the money or not using the first time home buyers tax credit because you were going to buy anyway. Senator Dodd and Senator Obama both got lower interest rates on their home loans than the general public (that would be us) did at the time they took out their loans. I think if you qualify, take it.

By: linda

linda — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:08:28 +0000

The program is set up to help people in trouble so if I were in your shoes, I would feel pretty uncomfortable taking advantage of it. Technically, you would be justified in going for it, as I’m sure some people in the gray areas are. I have told my husband many times that this program and other bailout programs are just rewarding failure, greed, and incompetence but I have come to see that it is a necessary evil if we are to get out of this mess.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:07:59 +0000

YES
If you qualify for something like this, I think that you owe it to yourself and family to take advantage of it. You probably don’t qualify for much when it comes to this huge pork package, but you will probably qualify to pay it back, so why shouldn’t you try to take advantage of something that comes out of it? It would actually be nice to see someone that has lived within their means benefit rather than people that have lived above their means.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:12:44 +0000

Does taking advantage of the program affect my credit in some way?

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:39:32 +0000

You qualify for the program, are funding the program, and your (if it were possible) entrance into the program would not prevent someone who qualified from using the program. Based on that, to not apply would be foolish. Because the authors of the program chose only to include active income, you should not feel obliged to take a “morally higher” road where you include your passive income, because the authors did not feel it important enough to include.

By: Madison

Madison — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:19:03 +0000

@ Brian: The loan would actually be modified to give you a new principal and interest breakdown. You could try a mortgage calculator to figure it out. Put in your current balance, the term you have left, and keep lowering the interest until the payment meets the 31% of income criteria. Your total savings will be the amount of the lower payments each month plus the new lower principal balance after 5 years. Don't forget to include the $1000 principal reduction you'd get each year for 5 years too.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:06:55 +0000

My mortgage payment is currently 32.43% of income. I think I would save an additional $59 a month for 12 months times 5 years… $3,534 before taxes?

Did I do that right? I’m confused, does the modification just cut the interest portion of the payment, so then each payment would pay the same amount of principal and the before modification payments?

Hmmm, maybe I need to get a nice low income job and quit mine to maximize the benefit of a loan modification.

By: Ifi

Ifi — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:20:03 +0000

YES!

Thankfully we don’t have any hardships, and can afford our payments. However, what irks me a little is the 31% of GROSS income…. Reason being, my mortgage payment is way below the 31% threshold. However, if it were on NET income (which is basically the money I really have left to spend), I’m above the 31%

Ifi