Comments on: Hope for Homeowners Equity Sharing

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:22:05 +0000

While it is true that very few people were helped by the original H4H program, there have been some changes made to the program that will hopefully help more people. Check out Monday's article for more info on the changes...they were just signed into law on May 20th, so you'll need to talk to Citi again.

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:17:21 +0000

I agree with Becky…give them the bank routing info and let them take it automatically. They’re trying to protect you and them both by making sure you don’t forget to pay. Remember that even with a loan mod, over half of the homeowners that get a workout agreement with their lender fail within the first 6 months.

The 3 month trial program is part of the Home Affordable Program, though, not H4H. It’s very confusing…

I’d double check that the payment isn’t going to go up and see if the paperwork:

1. Indemnifies Homecomings from any predatory lending or Truth in Lending violations on the original loan.

2. Stipulates that you can’t include the mortgage in a bankruptcy proceeding in the future.

If they’re included, it’s up to you whether you want to worry about trying to get them changed or not, but I’d at least try…to protect yourself in the future.

7 – 8 weeks is not abnormal.

By: Beatriz Costa

Beatriz Costa — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:53:42 +0000

Dustin, Citimortgage does short refinances, so get with a professional loan officer on your area that can help you. What state are you in? It’s a very long process but well worth it if they reduced the principal. Good luck

By: DUSTIN

DUSTIN — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:57:40 +0000

ISNT IT TRUE THAT ONLY A VERY LIMITED NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARE BEING HELPED BY h4h? Do you have any idea of what lenders are participating? I called Citimortgage a couple of months ago and they said they are not reducing pincipal balances on any of their loans.

By: Becky DeGrossa

Becky DeGrossa — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:29:16 +0000

Todd – GREAT post. Thanks for providing all of this valuable information to people in such an easy to understand format!

Angelo – I’m seeing this request for trial payments to come directly from my folks’ banking account, more and more. I’m assuming that you provided your full packet, per Todd’s instructions, so you can only hope that your trial payment amount is close. They’ll still have to go through underwriting to get the final payment, but they most likely want to take the payments directly from your account to make sure that you are “successful” in the trial period, allowing them to finalize your loan mod (and get paid their government incentive for doing so!)

I wouldn’t worry about it, though. I’d take the 1/2 payments and run and make sure that you pay each of the three.

That’s what I’ve concluded, from what I’ve seen, anyway. Todd may have more insight!

Becky
HardshipLetters.info

By: Angelo

Angelo — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:36:39 +0000

After mailing in my loan mod packet info in April, Homecomings just got back to me. It took them 7-8 weeks for me to get an answer. I just received a letter from Homecomings Financial stating they want to put me on a 3-month trial basis starting July 1st accoding the the H4H. It appears my mortgage payment was split right in half with this trial basis. What is the catch, and what do I need to look out for? During this trial basis, Homecoming wants to take their money out directly from my back account. So they are asking for my routing info and so forth. What’s the deal with this?

Thanks,
Angelo