“Dear Andy,
I was injured and out of work for over a year,and required surgery. My husband was a truck driver, and leased a truck, that was new, and kept breaking down. He could not hardly make enough money to pay the bills,except the mortgage payment. We had to also let a car go back to the bank. We had fairly decent credit for years before this happened.We still have one car payment that is current and another car payment that our daughter pays. I work now for almost half of what I was making,and my husband had to let his truck go back and has a job that pays 15 an hour now. Bank Of America will not modify our loan,and wants enormous money that we dont have.
How can we get the Bank to modify our loan so we can afford it? Is it true that since the loan is insured with FHA, that is the reason that they do not want to modify the loan? If that is true, then the problem in the USA is going to get worse with time. If you have any information that would help us, we appreciate it very much.
Thank you,
Dana and Robin”
Dana & Robin,
There is no way to force a lender to modify your loan. You must qualify based on the criteria set by your lender and the investor on your loan. If the lender is telling you that you don’t qualify, the only way to change that is to change the financial dynamic of the household. ie.. income, expenses, etc.
It is true that FHA loans are not eligible for certain modification programs that may otherwise be widely available on other loan types. One example is the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)…. FHA loans are not eligible for this program. It’s kind of weird because in this example government backed loans are not eligible for a government backed modification program… wierd, but that’s how it’s been since the beginning of HAMP in 2009.
Yes, I have seen FHA loans succesfully modified, but they typically have a longer review process and the results may only offer a slight reduction in monthly payments. I can’t say for sure but I believe the reason behind this is that most FHA loans have decent terms already. Many times, the FHA loan that you have now may represent the best terms you will ever get on the loan, and there is not very much flexibility to improve upon it.
I have a couple questions that may help me provide further advice or tips:
How much do you owe on your property? How much do you estimate it is worth? What is your current interest rate? Have you fallen behind on payments?
Please use the comment section below and I will do my best to help you out.
Good Luck!
Andy is a licensed real estate broker in Massachusetts and is the founder of Northeast Properties in Norton, Massachusetts. His brokerage is designed to help homeowners in today’s difficult real estate market, specializing in short sales. Andy speaks with Massachusetts homeowners every day, helping them to address their questions or issues with short sale or loan modification. He enjoys helping consumers arrive at the correct solution to their problem, and believes that the only way to correctly do that is by presenting them with all of their options in an un-biased manner.
If you have a mortgage, short sale, real estate, or loan modification question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.
- How Can We Get Our Short Sale Approved Fast? – Mary - April 2, 2012
- How Can We Get Bank of America to Modify Our FHA Mortgage. We Make Less Now. – Dana - January 4, 2012
- We Are Trying to Buy a House With a Short Sale But It’s Going Nowhere. – Joy - December 15, 2011
We have fallen behind, with one income lost for over a year, we are now 2 years behind,. The loan is about 121,000.00 and the house is worth 60,000.00 maybe. We did a refinance with a mortgage company that fabricated the house value, and we paid off a lot of debt.Time is running out. They have not foreclosed yet, but its coming this month. thanks!!
I believe it’s time that you begin looking beyond this home. With the amount of missed payments, and the home’s value only being 50% of what you owe, there is nothing out there that will turn the home into a positive investment for you. No matter how you slice it, keeping it will sink you eventually.
I’m all for staying in the home for as long as you’re allowed. You should use that time to save money wherever you can, so you have a reserve for when the time comes that you move out. You could also list the home as a short sale. If you can find a buyer quick enough, this could stall the foreclosure a bit, allow you to negotiate the deficiency, and put you in a position to buy a home sooner than you would if it goes through foreclosure.
I know it probably sucks to let go of your home, but you really have to look at this as removing a massive liability from your life. Think about where you want to be two years from now… would you rather still be handcuffed to this toxic asset, still sitting $60 underwater and sucking every last dollar out of you? … or buying your perfect home at today’s prices, with a loan that you can pay easily every month?
Hi Andy,
I really like what and how you said this: “Think about where you want to be two years from now… would you rather
still be handcuffed to this toxic asset, still sitting $60 underwater
and sucking every last dollar out of you? … or buying your perfect
home at today’s prices, with a loan that you can pay easily every month?”
A recent fed paper stated: “Currently, 12 million mortgages are underwater, with aggregate negative
equity of $700 billion. Of these mortgages, about 8.6 million,
representing roughly $425 billion in negative equity, are current on
their payments.”
It may only take 2 to 4 years for the individual to be repositioned as a home owner. Today’s delinquent and underwater borrower will have the opportunity to later provide themselves with a more solid forward looking financial picture than those represented in the 425 fed figure above.
My point here is that deciding to move on from a toxic relationship with your home may suck now, but many will find when looking back, it was the first step taken toward a brighter financial future.
I completely agree.
But the hardest thing people can do in times like this is take action because they are afraid and instead they stay and slowly sink over a longer period of time. Sometimes you need to cut your loses and prepare for a better future.
Seems like we are all on the same page on this one.
Steve