Loan Modification Clinics and fake Hope for Homeowners SCAMS H2H.
Date: Friday February 13, 2009Posted in: Credit Loans, Economics, Politics, Real Estate, finance, legal stuff, scams
Last Month I went to a so called Loan Modification clinic and they told me that they could help me to get my principal forgiven off of my failed investments mortgage. They told me all that I had to do was pay them $3000 up front and they would help me out in less than 3 months. If it took them longer I only had to pay them $600 per month. They told me not to worry and that their lawyers would protect me. They also told me to keep renting the house, but to stop paying the mortgage.
Well this seemed too suspicious for me and I choose not to do it. But what surprises me is that their office was full of lots of people in the waiting room. It looked like a hospital emergency room. I saw lots of less fortunate and probably less educated people, who were there with the hope to having their mortage problems miraculously resolved.
I will not mention the name of this place, because maybe their system actually works and then I would be accused of defamation. Also they claim to be lawyers so I do not want to get sued either. They seem to do a lot of radio and TV advertising too, so who knows maybe they know something that I do not.
The reason I did not trust them is because they told me that I qualified for the Hope for Homeowners program and that they could almost guarantee me that they were going to get me a reduction of over $100,000 from my principal and reduce my interest rate to 3.5 percent fixed for 2 years. As far as I have read and researched. No banks are yet participating in that H2H - Hope for Homeowners program and also it is not a program that applies to investment homes.
If somebody has proof to the contrary I would like to know this. In the meantime I am going to try to take this up on my own. I am going to skip a few payments and then ask my bank for a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The way I see it, I have no other chocie. The Financial Bailout is for the Banks and not for us homeowners.
Now there is one final request and I hope my new president can help with this. Since so many people are loosing their jobs. We need to make a new law that prohibits employers from not hiring people with a foreclosure on their credit reports.
1 Comment
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It is a scam!! Do not do it!! I went thru a Hope to Homeowners company thru a radio station website that charged $995 up front. Then I would pay the remaining balance of their $3500 fee once the refinance/modification went thru. Their offer was very appealing: You new mortgage loan would be 90% of the CURRENT market value and the excess of your mortgage would be forgiven. The 10% below current market value would then be a shared equity with FHA.
If you sold your home during year 1, FHA would get 100% of that 10% equity amount.
If you sold your home during year 2, FHA would get 90% of that 10% equity amount.
If you sold your home during year 3, FHA would get 80% of that 10% equity amount.
If you sold your home during year 4, FHA would get 70% of that 10% equity amount.
If you sold your home during year 5, FHA would get 60% of that 10% equity amount.
After year 5, FHA would get 50% of that 10% equity amount.
Not a bad deal.
So I signed up. I filled out all the paperwork showing my hardship and they had you complete a hardship letter explaining why you needed assistance from this program to avoid foreclosure. I did all the work and all the calculations on their worksheet. Sent it in. My “case worker” went on vacation so they had another rep charge my credit card before my file had even been reviewed. The very next day after they charged my credit card, my “case worker” was back from vacation and I received a call from her stating that I did not qualify for the program because my debt was too high!! Could not believe it! They did nothing on my case and charged $995 for nothing, then told me sorry, but you do not qualify for the hardship package because you are in too much of a hardship??!?!?!
Then they had the nerve to say, well we can try to negotiate with your bank to see if we can come to an agreement for a loan modification with them for the remainder of the $3500 fee, but again there is no guarantee. I asked them to stop everything and lose my file!! They did not do anything at all on my case except charge my card before doing anything, then called me to tell me I did not qualify!
A few days later I found out this “Hope to Homeowners” program never really took off and in fact had not been in force for several months. So there was no chance of me being approved regardless of my financial situation when they took my application since the program did not exist at that time.
I have since been negotiating directly with my mortgage bank and have been able to come to a modification agreement with them directly. I am currently trying to resolve my second. It has been a long and stressful process, but the best way is to deal with your bank directly. They do not charge you a fee and you get the same results as if you went thru a broker from what I hear. If anyone asks you for money to modify your loan, I would definately take a large step back.
Good Luck!
Comment by Mkuo on August 14th, 2009 @ 3:40 pm