Hope Now's Successes May be Over Rated

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It is time that the Consumer Credit Counsel Home Retention Department act as the Advocate for the citizen. The Lender will be required to provide Investor Guidline Requirements to the CCC. The citizen will complete a credit counseling session and the CCC will provide a plan that inculdes the financial support for the Loan Modification. The information will be submitted to the Lender for approval. If the Lender does not accept the proposal then a counter offer must be proposed with in a two week time period. Once the citizen has completed the session and the Lender has accepted of made another arraingement with the citizen they will proceed to the Loan Modification Document Department. The Lender will work with the CCC to insure that these documents are completed in a timely manner and that the citizen signiute for the Loan Modification is Notorized and sent to the appropriate department for processing. Since this is a loan modification no additional fees including Escrow or Title fees will be required. Only the terms of the loan have been changed. However A one time 0.50 point processing fee will be added to the loan for this process. These fees are paid to the CCC for the cost and support of the program. If the citizen is behind on Taxes and Insurance then a loan from a special fund from the Treasury Deparment will fund the expense. A repayment plan for these funds will be established with a 3% interest rate for 60 months. This will insure that local taxes are current and that the property is properly insured. All new loan modifications should have impound accounts on them to insure that they remain current. The idea is to give the citizen and the bank a fresh start.

Above Posted By: Douglas M. Thomson Sr. | Thu, 3 Apr 2008 11:03:40 EST

In response to the HOPE NOW failure. From the start the only thing they can do is give you phone numbers to counserlors. That is the only thing they do. The Consumer Credit Couseling Service will contact your lender a get you in touch with the Loan Modification Department. Along with a plan for review of your current income and expense report. However the bank will ask for additional financial documents. This is just a stall tactic. After weeks of submitting various documents I was asigned a Loan Negotiator. Then a few weeks later they changed my negotiator who said that I did not qualify. After multiple calls I spoke to a supervisor in the Negotiation Department. I sent new documents all over again. This time I was told that I needed to make a payment to bring my account current and that I was approved for a loan modification for 5% interest only for 60 months. Once the funds clear the I will receive a call from my new loan negotiator. Then they will send me a package in the mail to sign and send back. It takes two weeks for this process to be completed. I sent the money and I waited a week. No call so I called repeatedly. Finaly I spoke to someone in Loss Mitigation who said that they had re submitted my information for review with the investor. This is a minipulation to get you to make a payment. I was told that I was not approved for a loan modification and that it take 6-8 weeks for the investor to review the request. I spoke to someone in the Office of The President Executive Department Countrywide Bank 1-800-638-5207. He said that they will contactact me shortly. I just received a call from Lisa she said my loan modification has been escallated and I will hear from them in 48 hours. I will let you know if I hear back from them.

Above Posted By: Douglas M. Thomson Sr. | Thu, 3 Apr 2008 10:38:59 EST

I'm a motgage broker located in GA. and I do not feel like hope now is the answer. I feel bad for these families but I am just as guilty for writing those loans you want to help people get into a home but I never understood why charge such a high interest rate when its apparent they already had credit issues, we use to crack joke among fellow workers that if you had a pulse bear sterns would give you a loan the only way I believe hope now will work is for everyone to turn the cheek the other way put everyone in this situation on a 6-6.5 % interest rate fixed for 30 years and forgive the lates and behinds if the wall street investors don't want to loose all there money then put the lates on the back of the loan in long term the will make money still and not loose there investment even on a 200 thousand dollar house doing this the will still make$255085.82 on there money we need to swallow it and start over before any more people from construction, to builders and plumber and electricians and financial career people continue to loose there jobs and in turn loose there house. It does not have to be this difficult its like exxon saying we made 123 billion but if we lower the cost of fuel it will hurt us more than help us but we still want are 18 billion dollar tax right off.. greedy stays greedy as the rich keep getting richer

Above Posted By: Jake House | Thu, 3 Apr 2008 09:25:46 EST

Kim Butler, RESCIND your refinance!!! You have 3 business days from the day you closed. Why would you pay $15,000 for $35,000? At that point, you have to be willing to walk away and do one of two things: 1. Look for a Mortgage Broker or Banker that you can be REFERRED to (they work with many different ledners so you aren't locked into their rates/guidelines), or 2. Just wait for the pendulum to swing in the other direction. Right now there is a knee-jerk reaction in the financial industry to our country's financial problems (as they relate to real estate/mortgages). In fact, even a 20% down payment isn't enough to get you the best interest rate anymore. In most cases, if your credit score is even 719, you have to put 40% to get the best interest rate. So wait for the pendulum to swing in the other direction and underwriting guidelines will relax and a reliable commone ground will be found. Best wishes.

Above Posted By: Greg | Thu, 3 Apr 2008 07:11:49 EST

I am a mortgage banking credit person. Although I feel bad about the people who truly got suckered into this mess, I guess I can't feel anything for Kim or Tony. They're part of the problem. Stated income borrowers who take that route only so they can profit from not declaring their income or overstating their income so they can speculate on the housing market. People who have 2 mortgages and maxed out credit cards and then say they don't understand why Hope Now can't help them. What do you want them to do-give you something for nothing? What are you bringing to the table. Kim-if you can afford the loan, file the recission and go and get a real loan and not one of the pay option loans where you don't have to make a full payment. I agree with you about payiong $15,000 to borrower $35,000 but didn't you do the math BEFORE you applied. You sound like you know your way around the system. So what are you doing refinancing on these onerous terms? And Tony, how did you get maxed out on both your mortgages and credit cards. Are your mortgages stated income loans. Did you overstate your income just to get the home? If your loan wzs legit and you could afford the original loan except that the lender increased your rate to the moon, then yes, I agree. Hope Now should try to help you. But why should you be entitled to help when you put yourself into this financial mess so that you could continue spending on your credit cards. Hope Now is supposed to help people that legitimately got in over their heads by predatory adjustable rate loans,lost their jobs and can't afford the property, not be a conduit for people who lived for today at the expense of tomorrow. I may disagree with the numbers that Hope Now is taking credit for but tehn again why should they be any different than the people who overstated their income to justify getting a loan. Hope Now is overstating their success to get more funding for their future. A lot like the mortgage mess problems.

Above Posted By: Bob | Thu, 3 Apr 2008 06:10:46 EST

The consumer has had enough of these guys. To Everyone, call all "creditors" who report anything negative to the 3 credit scoring agencys, Transunion, Equifax, and Experian. These creditors WILL TAKE A MINIMUM PAYMENT and REMOVE the barrier off of the credit report and it can come off fairly quickly. The the lenders love, poor credit..Credit scores may not be as hard to fix as one thinks. There is only one website that lets you order all 3 for free, once per year. I beleive it is annualcreditreport.com. or freeannualcreditreport.com. Never pay for a credit report. When we go in for refinancing we will then know our credit is good or just how many dings are on our credit and we are then able to question the lenders, we need to ask them how they come up with that score they have. Make them tell you. You were most likly screwed in the first loan anyway. Very few people know how a loan works and lenders count on this. Tell them that they can not just come up with any score that they want, just to charge more interest and fees. Lets not give lenders anymore ammunition, the only way this can happen is to get your creditors to take a payment and remove it from your credit report. Do not just trust any lender because they ACT like they know what they are doing, they do not know what they are doing. I am an educated consumer, educated by a select handful of professionals in the housing industry. Consumers needs to know how a loan works. APR, YSP, ripoffs is what they are. I do not profess to know alot, but, I now know some things about lending that I did not know before.

Above Posted By: Brenda Paris | Thu, 3 Apr 2008 00:17:21 EST

First we all have to learn from our mistakes. I would pay off your credit cards. Why would anyone add that to a 30 year mortgage. Get a second job.Do what ever it takes to pay down YOUR debt. Cut up your credit cards. People in this country have had it too easy. It is changing and we all have to be accountable for our own financial futures. Many of us have done well but others have made bad choices. Learn from it and change what you have been doing. This is called responsiblility.

Above Posted By: Sue | Wed, 2 Apr 2008 16:58:54 EST

If New Hope is helping anybody : I'm wondering what they are re-negotiating the interest rates to for loan modifications : or are they even doing that ? I've called them and spoken to a loan counselor : They are useless. I would be fine with a %5.00 interest rate and no closing cost refinance from my current lender. As it is I'm sitting on 2 adjustable rate morts and 2 maxed out credit cards that no one wants to consolidate at a descent rate or even cover the entire debt. Looking 2-4 years down the line even if I refinanced and had some debt hanging that wasn't covered by the re-fi ... I will be in the same boat if not worse off. Bankruptcy looking like the only alternative and I have very good credit and never late on a payment. Any suggestions ?

Above Posted By: Tony | Wed, 2 Apr 2008 15:38:14 EST

As a Realtor trying to help a struggling homeowner deal with a short sale, I would have to agree that the lenders are not doing everything they can to prevent foreclosures. I am working out a short sale with the first lien holder, Countrywide, and they have just approved a short sale which we have been in contract on since December 2007. The 2nd lienholder, Citimortgage, refuses to accept a negotiated settlement unless the homeowner pays them an additional $7000 above what Countrywide will pay plus the homeowner has to sign a new loan for 10 years. My client has no money. He is in a medical hardship situation. Citimortgage as 2nd lien holder won't get anything once the Countrywide forecloses... instead Citimortgages negotiator tells me to just let it foreclose. They don't care. They'd rather get nothing. Does this make sense?

Above Posted By: Dana | Wed, 2 Apr 2008 15:25:34 EST

I don't feel so bad to hear about defaults when a bank pulls a number on me like they did last week. At the 11th hour, World savings Bank (Wachovia)only agreed to loan up to 65%LTV (originally quoted 75%)on a cash out refi, FICO>700. I had to buy out of the prepayment penalty to a tune of 10,500 (2 points) AND they charged me an origination fee (over and above my brokers fee). In essence, I got 35K cash out after all their fees. The excuse: I'm STATED Income because I'm in Sales. Also, we haven't owned the property for >1 year. Mind you I got a deal on the property and did over 150K in improvements, and the house appraised for 820K (paid 480K)They charged me $15,000 to borrow 35K...What a bunch of crap.The underwriting guidelines are unrealistic for people like me who actually know what they are doing and have a track record...it needs to be looked at on a case by case basis

Above Posted By: Kim Butler | Wed, 2 Apr 2008 14:10:18 EST

Hope Now's Successes May be Over Rated

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