Mortgage Loan Modification

Mortgage loan modification, if you qualify and get approved, is the best foreclosure help available today...

A goal of this website is to educate you on everything there is to know about loan modification. You will need to understand what is a loan modification so that you can determine to either attempt to do it yourself or decide to hire a professional to do it for you. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

You will find crucial and little known information regarding the bank's point of view as well as numerous tips and strategies to successfully negotiate a mortgage loan modification on your own or just use the information to learn how the process works.

An informed and educated homeowner is a worthy and respected opponent to creditors and banks during the process of negotiation. Believe it. It is true!

What is a Mortgage Loan Modification?

A mortgage loan modification is an agreement between you, the homeowner and your lender to restructure the original terms of your mortgage loan in such a way to make it affordable for your existing financial situation or hardship. It is structured as an immediate relief as well as a long-term solution if you are no longer able to afford your existing mortgage loan payments at the terms you originally agree to. This could be due to any number of recent hardships (outlined in a hardship letter) including:

Health or Medical problems
Job Loss
Death in the family
Recent Paycut
Loan amount is higher than current market value of your home
Current interest rate is adjusting higher

A successful mortgage loan modification could include one or a combination of the following benefits:

Principal Reduction
Reduction in interest rates
Stopping the foreclosure process
Longer loan terms to reduce monthly payment amounts
Elimination of late fees and penalties
Adding delinquent payments to the loan balance
Restructuring of adjustable interest rates to a fixed-rate

Loan Modification Programs

HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) - This is one of the main mortgage loan modification programs that you may be eligible for. This program is part of President Obama's Home Affordability and Stability plan that he was unveiled on February 2009. HAMP has its own guidelines and requirements designed to help most distressed homeowners from going into foreclosure. You only have one chance to apply for this program so make sure your request package meets all requirements and is assembled correctly prior to submittal. Read here for more details and how to qualify for HAMP.

2MP HAMP (Second Lien Modification Program) - If your first mortgage qualifies and is approved under the HAMP program, your second mortgage (if you have one) automatically qualifies for the 2MP program. This program was recently unveiled on March 2010 to complement the HAMP program that was geared for first mortgage loan relief. This is an excellent way to get your second mortgage loan or home equity line of credit modified.

Traditional Loan Modification Program - If you do not qualify for HAMP, you may apply for this program, which is based on your lender's own traditional loan modification guidelines. Every lender has different workout programs that they will offer you if your financial situation meets their qualification process.

Government Help

Today's disastrous financial and economic environment has brought on unprecedented challenges for both homeowners, banks, and other lending institutions.

As a result, the U.S. federal government has made loan modification one of their weapons against our economy's further demise. The government has mandated banks who received TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds to engage distressed homeowners and participate in the mortgage loan modification process.

This comes as a welcome relief for millions of homeowners who are struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments and are in need of debt and mortgage relief by renegotiating the interest rate and terms of their existing loans.

Mortgage loan modification is by far the best way to save your home from foreclosure. It should be each troubled homeowner's first step in trying to obtain financial refief.

If you are currently experiencing a recent hardship due to job loss, health problems, death in the family, salary reduction, interest rate adjustment, severe property devaluation, you definitely should find out if you qualify for a mortgage loan modification.

Banks have agreed to modify thousands of loans for struggling homeowners, so why not you too! Think of how much relief it would bring you and your family to have your mortgage loan payment cut by as much as 50%, and in some cases more. Wouldn't it be worth finding out?

Here's the best part...if you cannot afford the fees right now...

No Upfront Fee Loan Modification

You do not have to pay any upfront fees. Period. I have interviewed more than two dozen loan modification companies, both attorney-based and non- attorney based. The cost ranges from $1500 to $6000. The company I chose to refer my friends and family does not charge fees until your loan modification has been approved by your lender!

The above is excellent news especially if you are located here in California. You have probably heard that Governor Schwarzenneger passed SB94, the new law prohibiting all companies including attorneys from charging upfront fees for loan modification! This went into effect on October 12, 2009.

Countless mortgage loan modification firms have since closed business. Companies and attorneys are not willing to take cases on a contingent basis because the amount of time and effort involved are rather substantial. There are loan modifications that are taking longer than six to twelve months to negotiate.

Fortunately, this new law has put a stop to unscrupulous firms who would take applications from anybody and everybody and just collected fees without doing the dilligent work needed to get a loan modification approved. Unfortunately, these bad apples have spoiled it for those companies who were running mortgage loan modification businesses legitimately and were truly helping homeowners, leaving thousands of distressed California homeowners in a lurch.

BUT...here's the silver lining...

An extremely small amount of mortgage loan modification companies are able to maintain their business without collecting upfront fees. How are they able to do it?... By performing a very comprehensive pre-qualification process. The company I chose to refer friends and family to has a great success rate due to a very rigourous qualification process.

Based on information you give them, they will determine your chances of getting your mortgage loan modification approved, allowing them to decide whether or not to take your case. Obviously they will not take you on if they don't think they can succeed in negotiating a loan modification with your bank. The good news is that if they do take you on, you already know your chances are quite good.

Click on this link if you want to find out if you qualify for a No Upfront Fee Loan Modification now.

Loan Modification Success Stories and Approved Loan Modification Agreements

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