Don't be threatened when a banker tells you the U.S. Treasury has made a
determination that stops your program - they may be wrong - as CHASE was wrong
this week.
A big applause for everyone working at the Making Home Affordable Program. https://www.hmpadmin.com/portal/about/overview.html
As you may know, I am an attorney working with short sales in Manhattan, and
assisting some home owners in loan modifications. Both programs are
frustrating, irritating, hair-pulling, down-right horrible - but there is
nothing more satisfying than the feeling when it works!
Since July 2009, I have represented a single homeowner who faced the loss of
her company and was struggling building a new company and needed to apply for a
home loan modification because of changed circumstances and the loss of income.
One loan- from CHASE - which qualified under the Home Affordable Modification Program
("HAMP") limit of $729,750.00 - for a modification.
Three months into the process, CHASE lost the short sale package - reason: change of computer systems. The process began again, from the beginning.
The homeowner received nearly
daily phone calls (mostly rude) from the bank's collection agency demanding payments -
the homeowner kept explaining that they were in the home modification program -
no department of CHASE reports to the other she was told and the phone calls would continue - which they did through October.
November rolled around and CHASE again lost several of the documents -- again they are re-sent....December arrived, CHASE doesn't know what happened to those documents, they need to be sent again and this time, they need to be embellished. More info supplied.
By the end of December, CHASE reports that all seems to be fine and that they are waiting for a "representative" to be assigned.
Encouraged by the press releases and statements from the Obama administration demanding to know why only 5% of all loan modifications are approved, and asking for twice-monthly reports on status from the banks, I am hopeful that a modification approval will be eminently forthcoming.
I'm "buddies" now with "Eric", "David" and
"Jennifer" with whom I've spoken over the past several months and they have shared that
they are sitting in the same office together (Texas) with a few desks
separating them. How cozy.
But NO -- I received a phone call from "Jennifer" January 18th, 2010, with the news that the "U.S. Treasury has put all loan modifications on hold since December until further notice." WHAT? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? "The Underwriters are not able to make a decision". And even though the loan had every appearance of being approved, "should have been approved", it is not. The late payments continue to accrue.
I said - show me where this is in writing - this is completely contrary to what our administration is saying needs to be done! Oh no, I was told, it is an internal memo and only information to be provided to the homeowners.
I wanted to throw the phone through the window. People wonder why homeowners destroy their homes because they are so angry at the banks.
What to do?
I went to the Making Home Affordable website - easily found the Contact Us page (upper right hand corner in big letters) where the page clearly states: "Whether you are having problems registering online, require support for
the servicer tools, or have general questions about the Home Affordable
Modification program, we can assist." So I called. And they did.
The phone number is (866) 939 - 4469; and you can also e-mail - which I did too - support@hmpadmin.com My e-mail was answered within two hours.
I called - was transferred to a "HELP Team Member" - explained in detail what had been happening and asked if they knew anything about the U.S. Treasury putting a hold on home loan modifications. It seemed absolutely contrary to what should be occurring. She concurred and assured me that their upper management spoke nearly daily with the U.S. Treasury department and she was unaware of anything of that manner.
BUT importantly -- she said she personally would bring their management knowledge of what I was going through and it would be addressed that afternoon with the U.S. Treasury department.
Now, if you're like me - you're skeptical of anything like that being done - but apparently it happened.
I called CHASE later that afternoon and at 4:25 p.m., as I was speaking with the CHASE representative, he stopped me to read to me an email he had just received.
He read: the U.S. Treasury has notified us of some information that has been not quite accurately imparted to some homeowners. Not all loan modifications are on hold. Those that may qualify under HAMP will continue to be processed.
So there you have it. We changed a policy - and hopefully helped accelerate some loan approvals.
