The problem most struggling homeowners are faced with these days is who can they trust. With so many foreclosure scams out there it’s no wonder they turn directly to the Mortgage Servicing Company employed by their lender. Unfortunately for most, they end up in foreclosure anyway. While the HAMP loan modification sits on someones desk who’s up to their eyeballs with loan mod files, the foreclosure department continues down the path of foreclosure. And please don’t think just because you received a Trial Mod agreement in the mail you’re home free, we see many of these denied modifications after making even 10 payments on time. The truth is your Mortgage Servicing Company is a DEBT COLLECTOR, period, end of story!

There’s a acronym out there you need to know about called NPV. Net Present Value is the future value of the loan to the investor whether they modify, foreclose, or short sale. The truth is the HAMP program is being abused by the lenders, and companies servicing the loans make more money while you’re in default and foreclosure. Are they acting maliciously? You decide for yourself. Go to the Consumer Affairs website and type in your lender or mortgage servicers name and see what other consumers have to say. Now that we have probably agreed that these mortgage servicing companies do NOT have your best interest at heart as a bankruptcy attorney I would strongly suggest you sleep with both eyes open when applying for a loan modification on your own. We have had hundreds if not thousands of perspective clients come to us to late in the loan mod game. Yes, that’s right, they can’t even afford a Chapter 13 plan to save their home from foreclosure. Bottom line, you can’t trust your lender, I don’t care what they say! Whether intentional or not the lose paperwork, deny they received anything from you, and even worse, recant their offers for modifications based on mis calculations.

So what can you do?

You need to be ahead of the foreclosure curve and know in advance if you are even a good candidate for a HAMP loan modification. It’s more than what’s known as the Waterfall effect to determine borrower eligibility, it’s all about NPV. For this reason even though you can go it alone you should run a REST report to determine if your modified loan is NPV positive or negative.
Let me explain, if your mortgage note is worth more to the investor if they foreclose, they will! That does not mean they won’t try and get partial payments out of you in hopes to get your HAMP loan modification. Bottom line, get help from someone who knows what the lenders are looking for and get your financials structured so the servicer knows how to interpret them.

The Law Offices of Zhou & Chini can order you a REST report through an independent third party and review it with you to determine HAMP eligibility. We offer foreclosure defense and consumer bankruptcy consultations. We are bankruptcy attorneys and know how bankruptcy courts and mortgage servicing companies interpret monthly adjusted gross income. If you are going to package up all your financial information and send it to your lender in an effort to help them modify your loan, we think you’re crazy….. but what do we know…. we’re only bankruptcy attorneys who file Chapter 7, Chapter 13, and Chapter 11 bankruptcies in Federal courthouses. If you want to try and save your home from foreclosure or walk away please call our office and consult a bankruptcy attorney. Even if you want to avoid bankruptcy we can help with a free consultation. Call us today at (800) 972-9600