Home Loan modification 101--Part 1

Ok..I have been getting a lot of emails and phone calls lately on home loan modifications so I'm going to have a series of posts dedicated to home loan modifications.

In this post, I'm going to tell you exactly what "Home Loan Modification" is and who qualifies for it. "Home Loan Modification" is also referred to as a "Loss Mitigation Program." It is the process of renegotiating one's mortgage with their current lender. The definition of "loss mitigation" to the lender is to minimize their loss from a defaulting loan. Loss Mitigation is NOT based on credit or equity. It is solely based on the ability of the homeowner to afford some type of reasonable payment moving forward. A homeowner must exhibit one and / or a combination of the following qualities in order to be considered for loss mitigation by their lender.

1) Inability to afford their mortgage payment recently or currently. Most lenders will not consider the homeowner for loss mitigation unless they are behind in their payments OR they have an adjustable rate that is due to adjust within the next 90 to 120 days. The further behind the homeowner is, the higher the priority is with the lender.

2) A legitimate reason for falling behind on mortgage payments, known as HARDSHIP. We must be able to show that they have recovered or are recovering from the hardship or that the homeowner can afford to make a lower payment on a consistent basis. Legitimate HARDSHIP reasons include the following:

a) Increased expenses or decreased income. b) Rate or payment increase. c) Death in family, divorce, illness, incarceration and many other case by case situations. d) Lenders WILL NOT accept a HARDSHIP that the homeowner says they were tricked by a mortgage broker or any reason where the homeowner points the finger at the lender. I will follow up with more information.