So what does $50 billion buy the US taxpayer?…..apparently only 66,000 mortgage modifications. According to a report released Friday, 900,000 US borrowers began a trial HAMP mortgage modification, but only 7% have been converted to permanent mortgage modifications. With 13.5% of American households behind on their mortgage, these numbers are not even a drop in the bucket of a very big problem.
Millions of Americans Work for Modifications- A Few Thousand Get Them Every day I have clients call or come into my office either seeking assistance in foreclosure or with mortgage modifications. If I accept that consumer as a client, I require that client to keep a log or notebook of all communications with their lender so that I can eventually show a judge how much effort the consumer has put in attempting to get a modification. After reviewing dozens of client’s notes, I was shocked to find that virtually every single client had the same story…hours on the phone, documents back and forth and the lenders again and again losing documents or not giving credit for payments made. I have come to realize….
THE LENDERS DO NOT WANT TO GIVE MODIFICATIONS.…..and they’re not. According to the results published on Friday
- Wells Fargo completed 8,424 modifications and has more than 10,000 additional fixes pending.
- J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. completed 7,139 modifications and has another 5,518 pending.
- Citigroup’s CitiMortgage unit has completed nearly 5,000 modifications and has 6,968 pending.
- Bank of America Corp., there were 3,183 permanent fixes with another 9,178 modifications pending
See the complete Wall Street Journal Article here.
TRYING FOR A MORTGAGE MODIFICATION- APPARENTLY IT’S A BIG WASTE OF YOUR TIME
So if you’re a good consumer just looking to get some value for the taxpayer dollars we’re all sending to the mortgage companies….forget about it. (Remember that when the modification program was sold to the US taxpayer, it was promised that borrowers with on time mortgages would also qualify for a modification….dare we even wonder how many of those got done?) The mortgage problem will continue to plague this economy for years to come….even if you’re current on your mortgage it’s dragging down values and the overall economy. At some point in time people may wake up and realize how futile and frankly stupid it is to continue paying a mortgage with declining property values and no equity….that’s when the real catastrophe begins.
