Loan Modification Question
Date: Fri, 02/13/2009 - 15:22
I'm about 65 days delinquent on my mortgage and home equity line. Both are through Wells Fargo. All in all, the communication has been pretty courteous with both groups (WF Home Mortgage and WF Home Equity). They both call me every 3-4 days, and every day thereafter until i return their call. That gives me about 3-4 days until they start again.
Anyway, I did notice when I talked to them last night, that they definately were much more testy than normal. I guess 60+ days is some sort of threshhold perhaps, before things are elevated. Particularly the Equity Line folks are getting very pushy. I suspect it's because the home's FMV is probably at least $50k below the first mortgage balance in a best case scenario, so the second (equity line) is looking at a goose egg if this is foreclosed upon.
They've been really pushing me to do a loan modification. Now, I'm in a very unique situation on this home, which makes me almost indifferent on even getting a modification. I don't want it to be foreclosed, but not interested in making more payments on the loan at this time. The home has a significant water issue which floods the master bedroom, and I am in litigation with the neighbor because the source of the water is her property. I've spent over $125k to try to fix the problem on my property, but all the engineers, architects etc say it has to be fixed on the neighboring property and I can't get access to do the fix. Litigation going on 2 years, but 4 years total dealing with the neighbor to fix it. So you can see why I'm not interested in paying another penny, because the house floods when it rains and I literally cannot get it fixed without a judge's intervention (all injunction attempts denied). To me, without the ability to fix the water issue, the home isn't even worth the value of the land it's built upon.
This brings me to my question about loan modification. They keep asking me about my income, employer, expenses, etc. They want me to send them my pay stubs and tax return, etc. I've told them I'm unwilling to provide any of this information. The way I see it is that if they want to modify my loan, they don't have to perform a full underwriting to do it. Am I wrong on that?
Basically, a modification is a concession made by the lender to amend a borrower's loan agreement (usually at a trade-off like higher pricing, but in this market that's not the case). It should be at the lender's discretion to make these changes, if THEY are interested in working out the loan to avoid a loss. I am willing to modify, but not at the cost of sharing more personal information, or at the cost of making another payment until I know the outcome of the litigation (late June trial date).
Am I completely unrealistic that a loan modification shouldn't require more personal information from me?
And then they keep telling me when I refuse to share my private information, that they are making note that I've declined modification assistance. Now that's not exactly true, I've just declined to provide information they want from me. I'm not sure what significance this comment has if any, but they keep saying that to me.
The other thing I'm hearing a lot: I'm not hearing a hardship here. As if spending $125k on a flooding house without fixing it, the inability to even sell it at a huge loss, or inability to rent it out isn't a hardship. Give me a break.
Thoughts on my modification questions?
Anyway, I did notice when I talked to them last night, that they definately were much more testy than normal. I guess 60+ days is some sort of threshhold perhaps, before things are elevated. Particularly the Equity Line folks are getting very pushy. I suspect it's because the home's FMV is probably at least $50k below the first mortgage balance in a best case scenario, so the second (equity line) is looking at a goose egg if this is foreclosed upon.
They've been really pushing me to do a loan modification. Now, I'm in a very unique situation on this home, which makes me almost indifferent on even getting a modification. I don't want it to be foreclosed, but not interested in making more payments on the loan at this time. The home has a significant water issue which floods the master bedroom, and I am in litigation with the neighbor because the source of the water is her property. I've spent over $125k to try to fix the problem on my property, but all the engineers, architects etc say it has to be fixed on the neighboring property and I can't get access to do the fix. Litigation going on 2 years, but 4 years total dealing with the neighbor to fix it. So you can see why I'm not interested in paying another penny, because the house floods when it rains and I literally cannot get it fixed without a judge's intervention (all injunction attempts denied). To me, without the ability to fix the water issue, the home isn't even worth the value of the land it's built upon.
This brings me to my question about loan modification. They keep asking me about my income, employer, expenses, etc. They want me to send them my pay stubs and tax return, etc. I've told them I'm unwilling to provide any of this information. The way I see it is that if they want to modify my loan, they don't have to perform a full underwriting to do it. Am I wrong on that?
Basically, a modification is a concession made by the lender to amend a borrower's loan agreement (usually at a trade-off like higher pricing, but in this market that's not the case). It should be at the lender's discretion to make these changes, if THEY are interested in working out the loan to avoid a loss. I am willing to modify, but not at the cost of sharing more personal information, or at the cost of making another payment until I know the outcome of the litigation (late June trial date).
Am I completely unrealistic that a loan modification shouldn't require more personal information from me?
And then they keep telling me when I refuse to share my private information, that they are making note that I've declined modification assistance. Now that's not exactly true, I've just declined to provide information they want from me. I'm not sure what significance this comment has if any, but they keep saying that to me.
The other thing I'm hearing a lot: I'm not hearing a hardship here. As if spending $125k on a flooding house without fixing it, the inability to even sell it at a huge loss, or inability to rent it out isn't a hardship. Give me a break.
Thoughts on my modification questions?
Four days later... No one has any mortgage modification informat
Four days later... No one has any mortgage modification information to share? I figure my next call will come today or tomorrow, based upon their track record.