WaMu Lawsuit – Don’t Try to Trick the Loan Modification System
By Heindrick • Aug 6th, 2008 • Category: ArchivedAs a mortgage professional, one of the strangest things that has happened during this housing crisis is the process of handling those in default. This latest story shows a couple in Boston who stopped paying their mortgage so that they could be “eligible” for help. Unfortunately, they were eligible, but never received that help. In response to their pending foreclosure, they have now filed suit against WaMu.
After reading on WaMu’s website that it would assist distressed borrowers with loan modifications, Lori Pestana called and was told they could not qualify until their payments were 50 days late. To become eligible, they stopped paying and applied for help on Oct. 9, 2007.
When negotiating short sales or loan modifications, sometimes the CS rep says that they will not even consider it unless you have either missed payments or are already in some kind of default. Now, I would never advise one to purposely stop paying their mortgage – but the message sent by lenders is a bit confusing. I mean, everyone wants help. But if you try to purposely “game” the system, this is what can come back to bite you. It would be nice if lenders took a more proactive approach and modified these loans to avoid having borrowers default – but I think given the current situation, there is just not enough man power to handle all the troubled loans out there.
Bottom line, no matter what you hear or read, don’t purposely not pay your mortgage and not expect a foreclosure to happen. Sure, you might be eligible for help – but, that is just an eligibility requirement, not your ticket to a loan modification.
For the full story, find it here at the Boston Globe
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- Will Energy Efficient Mortgages Solve the Climate AND Housing Crisis – probably not, but still interesting.
Heindrick is is an electrical engineer in the medical device industry.
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Hi I have a question, you seem pretty knowledgeableand Im on my last leg trying to hold on to my wamu home loan. Heres a short version of my situation. i have had my home in leaguecity, tx for 9 years. dream home been fine making payments untill last year my husband cheated on me and then had a nervous breakdown was hostpitolized and left his job pays me zero money and moreover left me with a 10 year old with a few mental disorders. I opened a new bussiness just before this happened, I mad 6-8k per month last year and part of this year. then came ike which resulted in a 50% decrease in income. I do hair and i lease a small space and people around me lost roofs ect. so salon is very slow. Then the economy hit and just made things so much worse. i was barely surviving befor ike. anyways, i havent mad a payment since sept because i had no savings and if i dont wrk i dont get paid. so icould not catch up after ike. I have tried feema among other avenues even sold majority of the inside of my home to earn money, (at x-mas time) I am now four months behind and according to wamu that puts me in foreclosure as of the 30th.I have no food in my home barely survivng trying to raise money to catch up. i cam working on all the paper work for the loan modification program, and my husband doesnt even contact me so im lacking a few things reguarding the proof they need to back up my story. I have to problems. 1. my house is souly in my husbands name so its very hard handling this tragic situation when no one will speak to me. so i am filling out the form to allow me to speak to them, but cant just call up and get advice and i dont know where to turn so i preyed hit the first site on wamu modifications and there you were so im hoping you can advise me of thisissue. Im sure your first thought is walk-away right? well thats the other prob. 2 We owe 124k and its prob worth, worst case 175k so, im sure you can understand why i am freaking out. its my equity, my question is. what do you think i should do? I have one more issue. the husband of mine. “forgot” to inform me that our insuance had lapsed, so much to my surprise i check the mail, and sure enough my payment had gone from 1559 to 1897 per month. fyi i am a single mother with no help at all. credit not so great right now its like 560?? i ran to my agency got a binder told him to make sure he got itin his name because loan is in his name and i as informed that they must match. and to top it off he didnt stick around long enough to get a confirmatiion fax from agency nor wamu. and i sent 300 over the last month i paid and made it very clear i didnt want it to go to the principle they didnt do that either. i got the insurance binder in nov. 1 wamu is now saying that my total amount due is 72xxk and because of the rearige they will not credit me for the insurance i did have which i think is wrong i was binded by another co. (side note so when we had damage in the hurrice we had no insurance cuz wamu gets it for wamu not for the customers even though you pay 300 a month for it.) wamu told me if i could make a payment it would help with not sending it to foreclosure, butttt th is my deilema because i will have to pay 1897 at christmas time when im so broke then what will happen to the back payments i can never catch up because of the late fees i feel . because if i pay that money and they deny me ?? im out of everything, then i cant even go to an appt. i am so sorry, very confussing. I feel that if they would take those payments stick at the end of my loan modify my payments by 40 % for a couple years i could catch up. when i write my hardship letter do i mention my x doesnt live here and use his story as the hardship for him or do i,because we are married, just tell the truth but the problem is he is not asking for the hardship and i cant cuz its not in my name. i cant. that was my big question, and heres my biggest question…what are the qualifying requirements for becoming approved, if i make this payment its impairative that i get approved or i just lost everything. please help. i know your busy and i am so sorry for asking, i just dont know what to do ive asked called emailed filled out forms, and no one seems to have any advice or opinion. im really scared and time is of essence so go figure. lol. if your not able to answer my question on the requirements whats the front and back door ratios maybe.?? then can u pleaseguide me to someone who can? sorry for taking up so much of your time. im just lost. and its the holidays and i dont wanna make a bad move that changes everything negativly.
thanks and again im sorry if you delete this i totally understand. Jessica.
Well said, finally a good report on this stuff
Very useful information . Thanks for sharing. many folks are in need of a loan modification lawyer or a real estate agent show specializes in short sales.
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[...] Other Key Benefits in addition, the popularity of loan modifications should also help other lenders to follow suit during this mitigation process. Ask anyone who has been through a modification, and they will tell you it’s no easy feat. At best, it may feel like another refinance – on average, it could takes months before you reach an agreement. At worst, it could take months and still end up in the foreclosure process. [...]