First Franklin Loan Services Review
Author: Rob K. Blake | Date: August 25, 2008 | Filed In: Mortgage Servicing
First Franklin Loan Services is a subprime mortgage servicer. We uncovered a website, phone numbers, and a huge number of complaints for First Franklin Loan Services. They were a heavy subprime mortgage lender using mortgage broker channels to sell the most aggressive loans in the marketplace.
First Franklin Loan Services Website and Phone Contacts
First Franklin Loan Services Website: http://www.ff.com/
First Franklin Loan Services Phone:
800-346-6437
800-464-8203
Address: 2150 North First Street , San Jose CA 95131
First Franklin Loan Services Review
Since First Franklin Loan Services dealt primarily with subprime mortgages unless your state has passed laws restricting the foreclosure of such types of mortgages, you may find them unwilling to modify your loan.
If you are facing foreclosure you need information on exactly how to deal with these servicing companies to avoid foreclosure, click the link to learn more, Stop Your Foreclosure Now!.
It appears when I search for complaints against First Franklin Loan Services, there are many. Click here to see all the First Franklin Loan Services complaints listed in Google.
BBB Activity on First Franklin Loan Services
“Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to failure to respond to a complaint.
The BBB processed a total of 55 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.”
See Comments Below to Add/Read Customer Opinions On First Franklin Loan Services
We would like to hear your experience with First Franklin Loan Services, so if put your comments in the section below.
Thanks!
Author: Rob K. Blake
Previous in Category:« Aurora Loan Services Review
Next in Category: Bayview Loan Servicing LLC Review »
Recommended Reading
Related Articles
Reader Comments
How To Use Our Comment Section:
1. To comment on the article or post: Simply cursor down to the bottom and add your comment in the box, hit "Save". After moderation, your comment will appear next chronologically.
2. To comment on a comment (not on the post) or what is called a "nested" comment: Remember the name of the commentor, hit the "Reply" link in the comment you'd like to reply to. You're taken to the bottom where you can confirm the auto-import of the comment name or chose it again from the "Reply to" drop down list. Then add your comment to the box, hit save. After moderation, your comment will appear "nested" under the selected comment.
I have an ARM loan with First Franklin which I tried to convert to a fixed loan but they gave me the run around. I know they what to foreclose on me because of the rate kept increasing. They told me they wouldn’t charge me the late fee’s so that I could catch up on the payments. I ask them to please put a freeze on my rate which at the time was 6.75%. Now my rate us 8.35% which increased my payment by $200.00 more each month. I can handle the payment I was paying at $685, but not now $885.
They lied to me know they said I’m behind $4000, which can’t be true since I know I’m only behind 3mo. They gave me there word that I can pay my $685 plus extra $150 to catch up and no late fee’s. I’ve been making every effort to pay those amounts that we agreed on.
First Franklin are cheats and will rip you off. What can I do? I cant lose my house. I’ve worked so hard to keep it. I don’t want to lose my home. I thought that Bush signed something giving people in trouble with there mortgage the ability to refinance…start over with a lower fixed rate. Please is that true? I need help like thousands of hard working people in this cruel world we live in.
Sincerely
Carolyn Rodriguez
Carolyn,
Sorry to hear about your troubles with First Franklin..but I must say I am not surprised. The program you mention is called Hope Now…but it’s a program that never worked.
Good Luck
RKB
Well people ….. ya’ll situation are REALLY SCARY when it comes to First Franklin. But I am one of their customers also and I built my home in 2003 with them and got a fixed / 30 yr loan and triple checked the paperwork for any loop holes over and over. And in my five year run I have only had ONE CALL to my home ( cause my payments were always sent on or around the 1st … and this was on the 6th of the month ) and I told the customer representative exactly what I would not put up with & she better not EVER CALL my house unless it was the 16th !!! From that day on 2006 until this date NO ONE has ever called & I have NEVER had a late fee of any sort. I also have my escrow account with them and NO ISSUES there. You have got to take these issues MORE SERIOUSLY and address ANYTHING that comes along as URGENT …… DON’T WAIT ANOTHER DAY !!! I have all my receipts and keep files….. I really suggest you all do the same. DON’T SLACK WITH ANY MORTGAGE COMPANY …. or you will get shafted !!!
Anybody having problems with First Franklin and their disbursement policy re: insurance money from your escrow account? Since Merrill Lynch bought First Franklin, now Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch, what happens to our mortgages/money, etc. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.
Bill,
A takeover may or may not mean a personnel change at a subsidary company like First Franklin Loan Services. Most likely occurance is nothing will change…only time will tell.
RKB
How will First Franklin be involved with bailout? Will they be negotiating will the govt. to give up “bad” mortgages?
I am not sure who even owns my mortgages any more since I negotiated a “freeze” on reset until Nov. 2009—even though they rolled the difference in to the total of mortgage #1.
Thanks
Diane,
Congrats on negotiating a “freeze”. I wouldn’t count on the Govt buying “whole loans” …the bailout is really about buying CDO’s …not whole loans. Given that you’ll be dealing with First Franklin most likely until the loan is paid in full.
RKB
When I contacted First Franklin they said they no longer can make loan modifications. They told me to go to a separate lender to obtain financing and then to come back to them to see if they’ll accept it. Has anyone else run into this problem? This was before the BofA purchase…I’m now trying to obtain the financing at the current appraised value but don’t know if FF will accept the loan.
Linda,
I know that’s the “first standard line”, but it helps to get a manager on the phone. BofA just announced a wide spread loan modification initiative for former Countrywide payors.
I hope this spreads to all BofA serviced mortgages..including those of First Franklin.
RKB
Hi Linda,
I really don’t know who you called or contacted but First Franklin has been out of business for some time. Home loan services is who you’d want to contact for a loan modification to an existing loan. They are very much in business and do loan modifications as well as all other loss mitigation work out options. 1-800-622-5035
A mortgage broker got me a loan from first franklin in 2005. it was a 80/20 the 80 had a 3 year pre payment penalty and the 20 had a 2 year. when the 2 year penalty was up I refiance with bank of america. I asked first franklin to waive the penalty on the 80 because the home value was dropping. and they refuse. now my home is worth less than I paid. and I cannot get it refinace. In July I applied for a modification because my loan got adjusted in September and due to adjust again in March. First franklin who is now Home loan services held the paper work and now my loan has been transfered to select portfolio sevice without any modification now I have to start the process all over again. Am hoping the distrrict attorney in that state do what florida district attorney to to country wide.
Hi Maria,
I was done the same way by FF. I lost my job and tried to apply for a hardship assistance. FF held my paperwork for 2 months and then transferred my loan over to SPS. When I tried to get the hardship assistance through SPS their comment was “The only way I could get a hardship is if I was sick only”. When I tried to get the hardship assitance through FF, being unemployed was one of their requirements. So, it appears that the day I applied to FF, they immediately gave my loan to SPS. I think this is wrong.
We have a 30 yr fixed mortgage with First Franklin that we found via lending tree. We’ve not had any problems yet even though we are like the earlier reviewer that sends the payment on the 1st. My issue is one of convenience. I’d like to make my payment online but they charge $5/month to use this method. I think that is insane and I refuse to accept it. Clearly they want snail mail and the power to charge late payments etc. I’ve asked our friends and don’t know of anyone else that actually charges to make online payments. I assume this stance is perfectly legal but it certainly is scummy.
Try paying your mortgage through your banks bill pay. Thats the way i pay my first franklin monthly payment……its free
I have a FF loan 80/20 80ARM 20 fixed, due for 1st reset in Feb 09, and given all the recent news and market conditions, coupled with my “average” credit, the value of my home now less than the mortgage amount, and my lack of ability to provide a min 20% down to a loan refi with a new lender, I am pretty worried. How do you initiate negotiations for loan modifications such as fixing the rate or freezing the adjustments.
Kevin,
It’s not easy…but it’s doable. You need to know how bankers think. Talk to the right person, give them the right information…not too much or too little. Those are the folks that are successful in get a loan modification they can live with.
We wrote the process down for you in a downloadable ebook called, Stop Your Foreclosure Now!. Click the link to learn more.
Good Luck,
RKB
Can we bring a class action against FF? Apart from thier shady dealings with me over the past 3 years that I have had my home loan with them, they have just done another mind buggling one. Without any notice, they transferred my loan to select portfolio sevice. I just called tham and was told that I cannot take advantage of the Fed Govt Hope program, because they do not refinance. What are my options???? Please
Stella,
Try contacting NACA for a Hope Now refinance. They seem to have more success than most with that program.
https ://www.naca.com/index_main.jsp
Good Luck!
RKB
I also did an 80/20 loan in 2005 which will reset in 2010 with a 5.0 margin, which means the rate will probably jump from 6% to 10%. Even though I gave full documentation at the time with bank statements, and my credit was over 680, I was stuck with this subprime type loan, which to me is just as criminal as the adjustables or other subprimes countrywide gave out. First Franklin should be forced to modify most of their loans that fit in this subprime category. I submitted my paperwork on June 30 to their modification program phone # 18006225035 and just got my first call on October 22.
I contacted Bank Of America since they bought Merrill Lynch who owns/owned First Franklin & their mortgage rep said that this acquisition will be complete in the 1st quarter of 2009. They will be dealing with it then. I was upset that they were giving modifications or “new” mortgages to Countrywide who they acquired,I think.
I intend to contact them in “the 1st quarter of 2009″. I negotiated a temporary modification with First Franklin last summer–of course they added the difference to my overall balance. It will begin to reset in November 2009. I have no idea what else to do. If no one will even define “predatory” in our govt.& I tried to make them, then what now? I mean,literally, there is no recognition of the word s: predatory mortgage. I contacted obscure govt.bureaus & it was finally admitted that there was no legal definition. The words are flung here & there by every politician…
I do have a question to put out there: Did all of you out there have lawyers at closing who said nothing as you signed your life away? Did they get paid? What is their responsibility in this? Did they do there job? Hardly. I never hear anyone talk about the lawyers culpability in this. Some of them had a severe conflict of interest in this.
Hi Diane,
I just got off the phone with FF. My husband and I bought our house last June and yes, we have one of those ridiculous rates. I was skeptical of this at the time, but we were informed that the loan would be refinanced almost immediately especially since two months after purchasing our house, it appreciated in value by $20K. Well, of course, right after we bought the house was when the mortgage house of cards collapsed and through some research I found out that Merrill Lynch cut the financial umbilical cord. I also found out the what we were offered at the time was an abusive loan. We only have one loan and our mortgage rate is 9.85%. Our salaries were not an issue at all because financially we could afford the payments. But why not just lock us into a normal fixed 30 year rate? Plus, we also found out that almost nothing of our $5,382 payment a month goes to the principal balance of our mortgage. Last time I checked our statement last month, only $352 has been credited to our principal balance whilst were getting fleeced for interest payments.
Now before anyone sounds off on us for being stupid to sign on the dotted line, we made sure we could afford the payments. Which we can. But, in a year since, gas prices are up, food prices are up, electricity, water, gas, utilities - all are up. But what went down? The friggin’ value of our house and we can’t even refinance with FF as they don’t do that. So, that being said, now that we know that their practices were abusive and predatory, I feel that we should have our loan modified to reflect the value of our home, I will not accept them tacking on the rest of it to the end of the mortgage and I will be demanding that they lock us in to a 30 year fixed mortgage rate. If I am paying this much money, then it better be going toward my investment, NOT their greedy pockets. I predict that we will be seeing a major shift in their attitudes after the elections. They and Bank of America will have to come up with some compromise that is fair to homeowners who are not looking for a bailout and don’t use their homes as ATMs.
Fraudulent Interest Rate Increase by First Franklin Loan Services
How do I know this?
I receive a letter from First Franklin Loan Services the second week of October stating that my interest rate will be increasing 1% on December 1st.
This reminded me that I still have not receive any loan documents from First Franklin Loan Services which was promised to me by the person who brought the documents to my home for signing. I requested the documents a second time by phone and received them a few weeks later. When I got the letter that said my interest rate was going to increase I pull out the loan documents to check the numbers. To my surprise I didn’t have my full loan documents so I called First Franklin Loan Services again and asked for the full loan documents.
After reviewing the loan documents I found the section that states the change dates, the index used and how the calculation of changes is determined.
What I found was that the interest rate is determined by (this is the important part) adding the LIBOR rate published in the Wall Street Journal on the first business day of the month prior to the increase. Which in my case would be November 3rd because my increase date is December 1st.
I call First Franklin Loan Services again and asked which day was my interest calculated and they said 45 days prior to the change date (December 1st).
Now, this does not comply with my loan contract nor is it a true statement because the date of the letter that has my loan increase, percentage and payment amount was dated October 9. This is 53 days from the change date. That if the LIBOR was taken on this day but, it was more than likely taken the day before at least.
Now, I wonder, how many other people have they done this to and got away with it.
please email any future info regarding this topic First Franklin
Why, Ray. I mean do you think that they will actually read them?
Why doesn’t everyone start forwarding these to Bank of America? They will own Merrill-Lynch & First Franklin in a few months. I don’t think anyone has any authority presently at FF to do anything anymore since they must also be waiting to see what will happen. I think that they probably are in chaos also. It sounds like no one there seems to be in charge or even knows what has been promised or agreed on by another person.
I mean does anyone have any faith in them? You can “google” First Franklin & basically get no information about their future with BOA. It is like they are in limbo–waiting to see what BOA will do with them & the customers they have created predatory mortgages for.
I have no faith that anyone cares to deal realistically with any of us.
I guess they want to be in the real estate business rather than the mortgage business because it seems that they will be ending up with a lot of property on their hands.
I just want to say everyone wants to complain about first franklin. First off, they have no control on what rate you are approved for. Home loan Services is simply that a loan servicing department. First Franklin Financial Corporation is the lender they, meaning Home loan services, services the loan for them. As far as the modification process goes and everyone complaining that the balance was put at the end of their loan, that is how a mod works, basically it is a deferrment. They do offer this to all customers. And as far as someone saying that most of the payment goes to interest versus principal, That is how all loans work, for the first half of the loan more will apply towards principal verses interest and for the second half of your loan it will change more will apply towards principal verses interest. Also as far as the letter goes about arm changes, Steve is correct. The new rate is calculated by adding your margin + the index, which is the 6 month london libor rate. The Margin is what you qualify for the loan at and never changes. By law you have to be notified 30 days prior to your rate change. But first franklin, gives more time than that, simply because they want to give you time to see if you can afford the payment or for them to work with you on the rate change, which they are more than willing to assist with.
Hi everyone I am having the same problem with first franklin I started a home loan modification on july 13 2008 in the mean time I made a house payment 2 of them as a matter of fact since then they finally approved my loan modification on october 17th after i made a payment on september 30th the rep. contacted me and told me I had to pay 823.52 by october 31 first for my new loan to start I ask if I could wait till the nov.7th and she siad it would be alright well I tried to contact her on27th and got her voice mail she was out for the week they finally called me back and the supervisor said that they could not wait till the 7th of nov. they want it now on the 4th of nov you mean to tell me they cannot wait three days I have been fighting with them for monyhs and I am so stressed out I am about ready to tell to come and get they are ridiculous 3days I will lose my home because they cannot wait 3 days they are a joke. Is there anything I can do to stop this from forecloser.Thank you Tim
Like most on this page, I too have had issues with FF. First off, I lost my job last year in management due to downsizeing. Then, I had to take a job with WalMart because that paid me more than unemployment. To make a long story short, I got behind two months on my home loan, all of which I called FF to inform. They told me to do what I can and worry about the late payment later.
Then I get this letter in the mail telling me that if I do not have $400.00 to them by April 1,2008 I would lose my home. I borrowed the money, sent them it and then was told that I could pay $786.00 a month till Oct 2008 to get caught up on the two months. Ok, no problem because now I have a good job. Well, it is now Nov, I am told that i will need to continue to make this payment until March 2009.
Before I had gotten behind I had asked numrous times could I please refinance my home, which I was told that I needed to wait 5 years or else pay a huge fine. Now they tell me that they can lower my interest rate. I went from making 30,000 a year to making maybe 20,000 because in July I lost another good job. This company will not work with it’s homeowners for nothing. I got lucky that I got a fixed rate at 9%.
I do have a question, once Bank of America takes over, I heard that the Fed want to give homeowners 0% interest rate. Is this correct? And to be honest, I would be very happy if Bank of America has my loan, maybe they will help better thank FF.
I’m having major problems with First Franklin(home loan services). I have an 80/20 with them! Due to the new baby and other expenses; we got behind in our mortgage. I called them several times to let them know! I also tried the loan modification dept. Sent all my paperwork in and they STILL did not have my paperwork updated! This is an outrage! I just want some kind of break! I DO NOT want to loose my home. Can anyone tell me if we (home loan owners) will get ANY break??? I’ve been waiting since september to find out what is going on with my loan!
Hello,
My family too has been given lies and false hope from FF. Two years ago when my loan adjusted the loan officer talked me into a loan I was scared to death I would never be able to afford. He assured me it would only be for six months and since my loan was under the amount FF sold off he could refi it into a safe loan we could afford. We went from owing 340k to 378k and took under 20k out to pay off medical bills to bring our credit score up to get that safe secure loan. My fault for not reading the fine print and trusting this man with our home, but when I called six months later I was told sorry Merrel Lynch bought us out and they are not honoring that. I then begged to wave the prepayment penalties to find a save loan since the market was starting to crash. No again. My husband lost his job eight months ago, however I have worked with no time off to keep our house current while coming to realize when my loan adjusts this month Nov. there was no way I we could afford it. I was told to fill out hardship paperwork then told no can help until after the hardship was over. Now I am upside down looking into FHA loans. I then got told if we got approved for an FHA loan they would write off the difference. So a new lender and I spent what felt like ever waiting for the approval. Lost paperwork refax documents they already had. Wasting time. Called to check the status to hear hold on another week for this to happen and don’t worry about November payment they will have this done anyday to a rude man telling me either accept a loan modification we can’t afford or we foreclose. There were so many lies and twisting of words the end result is they will get my house back because truth and honesty is NOT how they do business. Spending two years of my life fighting for a first time home buyer was a waste of time. They win. Thank you for your time, Catherine
Catherine,
We are currently short selling our home with two FF mortgages. My husband has a good job and I have two part time jobs (with three small children). We are behind because five years ago, he changed careers and went from six figures to straight commission, which is why I am working. We refinanced b/c of all the debt we incurred until his business started making money. We have still not caught up due to the payment amounts, some high medical bills and increased interest rates.
We have had two offers on our house that has been on the market in TN for six months. The first was $100,000 under our asking price. Of course, the realtor had to take the offer to the bank. The problem wasn’t that the bank refused the offer, the problem is that they took two weeks to get us an answer! They said the fax was back logged, they gave different contact numbers and kept us hopping with paperwork the whole time.
Now we have another potential offer but the buyers want to close quickly. They are now not sure they want to make an offer on our house b/c of the time it will take to see if their decent offer will be accepted. When our realtor called our “designated case manager” he was told she is on vacation. How are we supposed to sell our house?!
All the above stories about scamming mortgage brokers and the run around with FF has been true for us too. I knew at the time that the refinancing was a bad idea but I didn’t know enough to say why. I wish I had learned all I could have learned but really I don’t know if we could have done anything differently.
Just know if you do short sell, the process is so lengthy and painful. There are so many houses for sell and the buyers are in control so if you cause any bumps they tend to be turned off.
Good luck.
Dear Meridith,
I am so very sorry for what you are facing with small children. I know all about the roller coaster of emotions that your dealing with too. The guy I spoke to yesterday at FF said I needed to contact a local real estate agent then have them contact him to get this ball rolling for a short sale. He seemed very confident my house would sell. He also said they would not go after me for the difference except to 1099 us, but of course nothing in writing. Talk about scared. I almost feel frozen to move forward for fear of making yet another mistake by which this company will make us pay for in ways I don’t have a clue. I asked to make sure if there was any option to keep our home. I make a good income. They have nothing except short sale or foreclosure. I have a call into Hope for homeowners. One company wants a couple grand claiming they can get my loan modified. Pretty sure I would be throwing away my money. Has much as HLS say they don’t want your house their actions speak louder than their words. I wanted to thank you so much for sharing with me what you did. Please keep in touch if they following through on their word………….this time. My e-mail is catherine037@aol.com. Take care, Catherine
My loan is an ARM and the next change rate will be on Jan 09. I have tried to find who the holder of my note is but of course no luck. I have read all the comments and I am confuse now. I pay my mortgage to First Franklin Loan Services and I want to change to a fix rate and my question is, is FF Loan Services on business? or who is not on business any longer. From what I read I can assume that my loan is in the hands of Bank of America? or who.
I appreciate you help. Thanks Rose
You need to contact Home Loan Servies…your lender is FF loan service, HLS services the mortgage. Their #, to see about a mod to keep your int rate where it is, is 800-622-5035.
I too have a First Franklin/Home Loan Services loan and have many problems with them including a modification or better know as a forebarance agreement. My mortg pymnt went up from $678 to $870, now I know most of you will say “honey please, I wish I had your mortg pymnt” but my financial situation is such that this is all the house I could afford. I have small beautiful brick 1111 sq home with two full baths, two car garage, rap around woodburning fireplace and a corner lot, so all considering I really got a good deal on my property value wise. On the other hand dealing with First Franklin when I lost my job and eventually went on disability is a whole different ball game. Now that I am on full disability through Social Security they say I can not afford my home, but I really can! If they modify my loan back to the payment I can afford, I have 30yr fix rate of 8.5% and I know with all the previous entries I have read with the Arms and 9% and above rates I shouldn’t complain but I need something that will work for me and my financial situation. I am 45 yr old grandmother raising three grandchildren 8, 6 and 1yr old who my daughter decided not to raise after getting herself hooked on drugs and this all came about with the last year, so when I bought my home I was a single divorced person now I am a family of four. If anyone has any information that will help please respond. (Didn’t mean to spill all of my personal beans on ya but just wanted to give everyone a realistic view on my situation.) Thank You
I’m told First Franklin went out of business or was bought out by someone else, now wether that is Bank of America or who, I don’t know. But Home Loan Services is the DBA name that they use. I’m in the same boat, I tried to find out who owned my loan and FF act as if they didn’t know, I hate that I ever had to deal with a company such as this one but it is what it is now, so needless to say I will continue to do as much research as I can to find out more information!
Even though FF has been bought by BofA, FF is still your servicer for the loan. Nothing as far as your loan note should change
Well I to have a FF loan and Im a realtor that has been affected by this big housing crunch, i have lost about 30% of my income this year and back in August of 08 i applied for a modification well after calling regularly and them lossing my paperwork and making up stupid excuses i got somewhere . They offered me the bob sled to forclosure. we hve not missed a payment yet but we have a mound of late fees piling up and have jeperdized our other bills to pay the mortgage. They offered a temporary fix a 2 year mod with a rate reduction and the right back to our old loan, they do not restucture there loans. this was nnot a help because my payment was going to go up not down due to us not escrowing our taxes in to our payment. Thanks to the wonderful mortgage rep we had. We opted not to take the deal as it would worsen the situation and it was like having them write another crappy loan. We found out we have a baloon payment due not in 3 years but at the end of our loan for 237,752 this would mean we hardly would ever in 30 years pay our house off. what kind loan is that? we are repoting this to BBB and repoting the mortgage firm that put us into this loan. all we wanted was a restucture because we cant refinance to to our incomreduction and now we have collections on our credit. I pesonally free lance for a company that does looss mitigation for other banks and this is the only one that isnt helping the customer, everyobne else is finding a workable solution. we have to stop the bleed somwhere, non one wants to loose their home just have a mortgage with good terms and a decent rate. You would think they would be smarter then they are but they dont live our lives they have a hear6ty pay check off the interest they take from us and have their mortgages with other conpanies. SO HERE WE ARE. i HOPE SOMEONE CAN GET A CLASS ACTION SUIT STARTED ON THIS. i WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPate in any way i can and help familires in my area in the same siuation. Email me if I can help!!!
Hi Kristen,
WOW, your story sounds so much like ours. There has got to be a bigger picture going on than what we are being told or see. Here is one part I have yet to understand. After being put into a loan we couldn’t afford I was told I had to have a hardship to qualify for a modification. My husband has been out of work for a couple months does that qualify? Yes, it does. Great what do I do? So months ago I sent in the hardship package. Do you know how they replied? Can’t help you until the hardship is over. Where is the common sense in that? I have gotten behind on everything but my home loan………….until this month due to the adjustment. I’m done with sleepless nights, tears, on my knees begging to get another lie. I have to tell you I actually feel better. Mind you the heart and soul I put into my home I’m sure when it’s time to remove it will be another story, but getting to the place I refuse to hear anymore lies is much better than trying to keep my home. I do, however hope the person you deal with does for you what they didn’t for my family. Wishing the best of results, Catherine
I cannot believe all the complaints I have just read about FF. We are screwed so to speak. Just when you think yo u might get ahead you sink even worse. We too are trying to get some kind of modification. ANd we are getting the run around. In december are pymt goes up another $500 there is no way that we can afford this. If they cannot modify our loan then they will have another home to sell. We will lose everything. I only hope that we will be able to rent a home somewhere are credit will suck even worse now. Pease let start a class action suit against them.
So someone get us a law firm!!
Do you think any politicians know that even the modifications are temporary & they just roll all the interest into the mortgage when the temp mod.is over? So the house/condo/mortgage is becoming higher & higher reaching amts. that the condo/house will NEVER be worth? EVER? So a 228,000 condo now has a mortgage of 234,000–for example. If you get another mod. they just keep rolling it all in so it will never be paid off. It is like renting from your mortgage company except you’re responsible for all repairs, water tanks,roof etc.
Has any ever contacted the lawyer they had at closing–who was there to protect you from fraud ect.—and say, “Why did you let me sign those documents?” or ” You were the expert so why did you let me sign?”.
Hey, Alan Greenspan couldn’t figure this all at. He said so.
Why doesn’t the govt. come up with an agency that would go thru these mortgages & decide which ones were/predatory? I would appreciate that some of my $7 billion dollars would go after these people. Yeah,think?
Venting—your stories are scaring me. And rightly so. I would like to contact my broker–what is his culpability in this? I am sick & tired of hearing that all of us have destroyed the economy because of greed becaues we have subprime mortgages. The banks etc. were & still are greedy. They are looking for a huge handout “to save us all”. The bonuses brokers were given to talk people (& lawyers) into these mortages. Americans aren’t basically stupid—there was deception, lies & predatory tactics.
I’m done.
Dear Diane,
Thank you for your posts. Like you I have so many questions with no answers. There was no lawyer involved when we signed the loan docs. A mobile noteriory showed up at our house. I have been reading up on foreclosure laws in California. IF what I read is true these guys have a few hoops to jump through before they take my home back. I am still not clear whether we will owe the difference?? I stopped off at B of A yesterday. The very nice man said he wasn’t sure how involved they will be when it comes to FF dealings, but the only way to make them step up is to not make your payment. In my world the only person I had come to trust was Marie at Affinity Financial. She spent quite a lot of time trying to get us into an FHA safe loan. She was blown away these guys had us go through what we did for a zero result. This very kind woman ended up the same lies I got. Marie for her hard work does have success stories too. I have on the other hand lost all trust, faith, getting honesty and for me the hardest one was HOPE I could keep my house for ALL my dealings with FF. I wish too there was a program out there that forced these guys to do right by people. I have to live with the fact I trusted this company and for that my family will be out on the streets soon. Bottom line I am at the point I don’t feel there is any direction to go except to tell FF’s collection department to either follow through with their first broken promise of a fixed 30 loan at two grand a month including taxes and insurance or take my home minus the heart and soul I put into it and when they get a lot less that will be on them for being stupid this time not me. At this point there is not one thing they could say to me that would make me try to work with them ever again. Once the merger takes place with B of A does anyone know if that class action lawsuit will help us? With prayers hoping the rest of you better results, Catherine
I do understand the entire nation in general is going through a very trying time right now. But what I don’t understand (in some cases, not all) is how the mortgage companies are to blame, or should be responsible for an arm increase, etc, pymt change? When everyone signed their loan docs, with their broker and FF present, we had the opportunity to READ what those documents stated, whether the broker stated you had x interest rate fixed for x # of years, etc…, you should’ve taken the time to go through those docs and not just sign…but I have come to realize, working at a mortgage company, most people don’t read those docs, they just sign because it’s their dream house and they want the loan…then when their arm goes up, the blame is automatically placed on the lender/mortgage company. Of course, people do have legitimate hardships, but it si ultimately not the lenders fault that a borrower is unable to make their pymts. FHA, the governement aided program, has refi/short refi programs avail, 800-call-fha, or fha.gov…I’m sure you’re aware of HOPE NOW, HUD, etc also. Modifications do take up to 45 days for approval, if you qualify.
You are absolutely in denial if you do not believe or understand the deceptions & lies (ie you can refinance before it resets –lie, the ARM rate probably will go down–lie) —why are you defending such policies? It’s all true –many of these mortgages were targeted at certain people only. I guess the guilt of your industry is so intense that there is no where else to go except to blame the victims. It must be really hard to confront your complicity in all of this if you are employed in the banking/mortgage industry that created this mess under the umbrella of the opportunity to own a home. Lives are being ruined over money–the root of all evil. It is amazing to me what other people will do to other people over money.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how HOPE Now specifically work or any of those programs, as I don’t work for them. And I’m sorry if those organizations are not able to help any of you. In most cases, unfortunately, the brokers who set up these loans straight out lie to you,and as you stated, you trusted them and thought they were doing what was in your best interest. Believe me, I understand you’re upset, and I’m not defending these policies your broker told you (you can refi after 6 months, etc)..but just on that part…FF is not at fault for that part of it, your broker is. They just want that commission. Have you considered taking legal action against the broker you got the loan through? I’ve seen more and more people doing that…it may help. I honestly do feel bad, and no., it doesnt make me sleep better at night because people are in danger of losing their homes. I don’t get enjoyment out of that. That’s just cruel. No one should lose their homes. What I really believe, is that with the way the industry is, since mostly everyones home value dropped…that the gov’t should rewrite peoples mortgages based off of what the current value is so people can keep their homes.
It is good that you do not feel comfort in people losing their homes. As for the fairness of the loans given with two year pre-payment penalties and ranked against standards like the 6-month WSJ LIBOR plus a margin of 5 points, the terms of the mortgage should have been known that they were irrational to offer to consumers.
I have an FF (Home Loan Services) originated loan which is LIBOR plus 5%. The payments change $120 a month for every point change. The initial change was 3% which was the cap for the change. The second rate change was limited to a 1% change up or down. So the loan went from the first 2-year fixed rate of 6.875% followed by the first raise of 3%, then a 1% reduction on the second adjustment followed by a modest partial percentage rise on the first adjustment.
If the economy did not face trouble largely due to these poorly thought out loans wreaking havoc on the financial system, my loan would have failed due to substantial index increases. It would most likely be at its high end cap of 12.875%, effectively bringing the payment up 6 times 120 dollars or $720 increase from its original payment amount, effectively an 87% increase in payments.
Now an average worker gets pay increases in the order of 2% to 6% annually. It is obvious that with these conditions that the underwriting of the loans was very poor and unrealistic.
Home-owners are getting a positive effect from the damage caused by these loans in that the indexes are being set lower to prevent a total blow-ups. The WSJ LIBOR is headed downward and moved to 1.75% for the start of January 2007. The rates will go down by the allowed rate changes, mine 1% if the rate is still lower than 3% in April 2009.
Who can rely on this index going downward? The rates in October 2007 were 5.1325% so the rate could have increased to 10.1325% but was limited to a 3% rate change. The next reset was in April 2008 where the rate went down a point because the index was 2.6144% but could only fluctuate by 1%.
for people getting ready for a reset, they would not be so disadvantaged. But with fluctuations so often and so great, people are going to face hardships.
We need an across the board modification of all of these poorly underwritten loans. FF was praised on their ability to turn over REOs but we do not need REOs going on the market. We need loans with terms better underwritten and not designed to fail.
Congress should pass some laws early in 2009 to remove the anti-modification provision from title 11. It has a lot of support from the President as he co-sponsored s.2139 so it should not be threatened by a veto as it would be in the failed outgoing administration and a lot of Congress.
Home-owners will then have leverage in dealing with companies such as HLS and other non-prime lenders. To all a prosperous but fair deal 2009.
Title 11 section 1322(b)(2) will be stricken because of servicers such as HLS.
They are not the leader of the pack of rats, but giving people crippling advice is a strong suit of theirs.
mia,
Diane is right. Hope Now Alliance is a joke…
They over-inflate the number of folks they have helped keep their homes. This a volunteer “alliance” of mortgage servicers, wholesale lenders, and government paid “counselors” who are under no mandate to offer the borrower any workout at all….much less one that will be a permanent affordable solution.
Bush Administration “window-dressing” is the term that comes to mind…
The Feds don’t want to help folks keep their home…they want to keep the big boys in business. If they really wanted to help the home owner they would…and not with some stupid strictly “volunteer” program.
Read these posts…
Hope Now Alliance - Mortgage Industry Spin Machine
Bush Caught Lying About Rate Freeze
RKB
Dear Rob,
I have one last question. In reading these posts it really is going to come down to pay the adjusted payment on a loan I never should have been put in for having blind stupid trust on my end or they take my home……………..end of story? Home Loan Services can treat me anyway they want because bottom line I ended up at their mercy no matter how hard I tried to keep from coming to this place. A reality check time. For all of us at this place what do you suggest we do? I think most like my family want to keep the dream, but get **** tired of homeownership becoming such a nightmare we wake up screaming from more often than not.
Catherine,
If you can’t refi away from these bad servicers….or sell the house….I’m afraid so.
They have no “real” interest in doing a loan mod to keep you in the home…not all servicers are like that…but certainly all subprime servicers are…like FF.
Sorry….
RKB
Rob I just wanted to thank you for your straight answer. I tried to refi out, too upside down to sell now. The sad part is I feel they made sure we were set up to fail, kept us there as long has we allowed it then left us with no options no matter what BS they say. Again THANK YOU for your time, Catherine
Catherine,
No problem! Hang in there….make the fixed rate payment …and then the adjusted payment once the rate changes for as long as you can…
We have a new President…a new administration…it is conceivable however unlikely a “foreclosure ban” could be put in place or some other political lifeboat sent your way.
It’s not over ’til it’s over….drag it out as long as possible…buy some time….miracles do happen.
Good luck,
RKB
Thank you so very much Rob for being there with your kind words and advice. My loan adjusted this month. The hope for a miracle (I can’t make that payment) is all we have left and this great website to keep informed if there is a chance this can change.
Have a great weekend,
Catherine
Dear Mia,
For one I didn’t have a broker, a lawyer or anyone from FF there when we signed the loan docs. I guess you could call it more a drive by signing. The smooth talking man from National City assured me over and over again this was short term 6 months max. I was on the phone for hours making sure we were not making a mistake. Every question I had was answered if I followed his advice for a safe loan. That was two years ago. I honored my word on my loan all for my family by making my payments on time. That is until now. I make good income, but not enough to afford the adjustment. Your right the fault is mine. Why? For having trust another human being’s word meant something. Simple minded has this all sounds from a hard working family I have to wonder what you guys would be saying now had I gotten even one of those lies in writing. Call it what you want Mia. I was honest from the word go. I hope in your dealings you will be able to say the same. We NEVER went into buying our first home thinking we would end up here. Twist this all you want to point the finger at me if that makes you feel better and can sleep nights, but a lie is still a lie. With tears in my eyes when I look in the mirror I made the biggest mistake of our lives. It’s on me now for what is going to happen to my family. It won’t change my opinion that I tried my best. I did get smart enough to realize after two years of trying how many times I was met just once in all the requests made of me …………….ZERO!! Help? Programs? Give me a break. These comments would not be left for others to read if there are any REAL solutions out there to keep us in our homes for the loans I feel we were given set up to fail. We both have to live with that fact.
Mia,
I still can’t believe what you write. Documents were changed by brokers & others. Lies were told. Certain at risk groups were specifically targeted. Deception was rife–this is not just one area of the country. Everyone was not stupid. Greed–not by the consumer–but by the financial world fueled this. The financial world was literally out of control and unregulated by the Republicans. There is a reason Republicans want “small govt.”So they can scam as many people as possible with no one checking their behavior. The documents signed were witnessed by real estate lawyers.
You really don’t get it. The mortgage companies & corporate owners of the mortgage companies sold off these mortgages as fast as they were signed—to keep them unable to be found. Some sold to foreign companies that are not under the regulation of the US. It is outrageous that you are still in total denial as to the immoral conduct of your industry. People wanting homes is not immoral, not greedy–they are homes not property. Do you even see the difference?
The most disturbing part of this tragic situation is the money angle. The greed, the deceptions, the manipulation,the out and out lies. It is sick that greedy conduct is making this country sick. I hope newly elected President Obama can do something to bring some character back to this country. The mortgage industry is nothing but Robber Barons. They were out for whatever they could get,whatever way they could get it and if they destroyed lives in the process then so what? I guess it is survival of the most deceptive. I really don’t believe that that is the American Way.
Like Catherine, I had to much trust in financial institutes being fair and offering products that were serviceable. Like Dianne, I agree that legislation was intentionally made weak so the poor financial underwriting could flourish. Also I agree with Dianne. (sorry for spelling?) People sought out with the intent for homes to raise their families and like Catherine they trusted the loan originators to be financially wise with terms that could be practically repaid.
F**k First Franklin!!!!
Hang in there. I applied for a loan modification on 05/01/2008 and a loan modification assistant did not contact me until 11/07/08…My interest rate was dropped to 5.25%, and my monthly payments dropped py $600.00. I will need to pay a reduced payment every month for 3 months then my loan will be modified permanently. I think there waiting on info from BofA.
I’m waiting on a loan modification also. I was ALSO told that they (home loan services) are participating with Hope for Homeowners. BUT…..the do not refi!! I have a fixed loan and we were on time with our payments, we fell on hard times and got behind 2 months. So, if they’re participating why can they not help me with a refi???
Have you looked at other mortgage companies to REFI????? Whats yor situation???
Dear Mia,
Sorry for my intensity towards some of your comments. At times it seemed that you did not understand what deceptions & lies were actually told by brokers who actually work hand in hand with FF. I thought you really believed that none of us were actually taking responsibility for our actions ie signing documents out of greed & then trying to shirk. I personally love my home & want to stay but like others if it effects my health & well-being I will let it be foreclosed on. I can make a “home” anywhere & a house is very different from a home.
There are many bailouts going on for others (corporate America) who also made huge “mistakes”. People in our situation are asking for the same consideration—not a bailout actually just acknowledge that our mortgages were predatory & need to be rewritten. FF should go after brokers since they are the ones who got many people & FF into much difficulty. The brokers actually were the intermediaries but the commissions & bonuses were given by FF for getting people into these bad mortgages. That is well-known. And not just FF.
Diane-
Believe me I am fully aware of how brokers lie to unsuspecting and good people. It’s quite disgusting actually, to think brokers everywhere are doing this…to them it’s all about the money and they don’t care if you or Catherine or Tim or whoever signed for something they may have forged or lied about…they got their commission when the ink from your signature dried and that’s all they cared about. However, we are seeing more and more brokers getting caught and being arrested, etc…let that happen more often so they can pay for their lies. As far as getting help, it’s sad how often paperwork for a mod is lost and you’re asked to continually refax/send it for the millionth time. It’s very disheartening that the customer is doing everything they’re asked and can’t get help faster, or at all. I would never imply that people get loans just to live in the houses and not pay..well not any of you on here anyhow. That bailout thing going on…it seems to me like it’s designed to bail out the big wigs on wall street…but who knows, I haven’t looked into it enough yet.
Dear Mia,
Please forgive me for going off. I know not every person or business in this industry conducts themselves like FF has to my family. Nor do I think every person there is unfair, cruel or prefers to lie first. I wish I could meet someone there like that. That was unfair on my part to assume or take out on you what has been done in my circumstances. I’m very sorry. When I called FF’s number I was connected with National City to do my refi. I was under the impression they were one in the same?? The broker that lied to me when he dangled the carrot of a safe affordable loan is the reason I am here now waiting for the foreclosure paperwork to show up. I admit I am angry, but more than that a deep hurt for trying so hard to change this to facing the fact I need to give it up or lose it completely. I worked six days a week to keep up when my husband got laid off. I realize that was not my lenders fault, however had the broker followed through on his word of a FIXED loan for two grand a month including taxes and insurance I could have sat back not caring what the market did happy to keep doing projects to fix this place up and make it a home we could be proud of. I have to say five years ago when we bought our home the amount we qualified for was plain dumb to think we could or would afford that. The number’s FF runs to tell me what we can afford now is unrealistic. Now my payment is up to three grand a month not including taxes or insurance and going up more in another six months. Because I have lost all faith and hope from dealing with FF I don’t see anyway we will able to keep our home. I am past done hearing another lie and for that I refuse to let them waste anymore of my time. I contacted FF months ago. I was told I could get a short refi. A fixed 30 year loan. I didn’t care about a silent second or anything just get me into a secure loan we could afford. They knew the adjustment was coming. Had they REALLY wanted to try to keep us in the house the least they could have done was froze the rate knowing full well we didn’t make enough income to provide for the adjustment I honestly never thought I would still be here to face. Like I said for all the requests made of me they gave back ZERO! It was wrong my part to unload some of this directed towards you. Diane is right. While I walked around here this weekend I looked at this house with sad, but very different eyes. It is a house. With my heart I made it a home. They will get back a house. I can and will make a home again for my Granddaughter to come play. I don’t have the words to express how deeply I wish my story and so many other family’s out there were able to have gotten a happy ending and like so many we worked hard to fork over a huge interest only payment and for what? To become homeless? I don’t think anyone out there signed up for that, Catherine
FF used to be a subsidiary of National City, then national City sold FF and NationPoint, the whole portfolio, to Merrill Lynch. So FF is actually no longer affiliated with Nat City, I think it’s been about 2 years now…so that is why people are referred to Nat City as far as a refi. With Nat City being bought by PNC, not quite sure how that would work now. I hope sometime very soon you will be able to get out of the situation you are in and be happy in a home, not a house, that you can raise your granddaughter in. I know this sounds so cliche, and generic…but I do believe strongly thta there is a reason for everything that happens, as $hitty as it may be. Sometimes when you just you just can’t take anymore, more gets dumped on your plate. Then somohow, we do get past it and move on.
Also, if it’s at the point of letting it go to fc, I know there is something out there called “cash for keys.” Not sure if anyone at FF ever advised you of that. Or in regards to selling, since the home value is less, you could try to do a short sale to keep from foreclosure. The only thing with that is you would have to do a new note to settle and pay for the difference of the sale. Just trying to thing of anything possible to keep from going all the way thru the fc process. It does vary from state to state how long the timeframe is from the time fc starts and the time the house goes up for auction…some states it’s only 60, like GA, others, like CA is about 120days and some, like Pa are over 300 days…
Oh Mia I can see from what you wrote your a very nice person. I very much thank you for the advice and trying to help. It has been made clear to me Home Loan Services doesn’t care how any of us got screwed into a bad loan. They are just more direct on how they will screw us out of our loan and take our homes in the process. For all I did to keep from coming here I feel I may have a huge mistake by telling them I was done kissing butt for lies they can now kiss mine! Oh I am not raising my Granddaughter. She comes here every other weekend to be spoiled. I will say this too and sorry but it makes me laugh. The collection department who calls me every three days are the nicest people I have dealt with. Go figure. The guy yesterday ran through a list of things I could do to save my house. Did every single one he mentioned. He didn’t have an answer for that. I faced the fact with the FHA loan we were approved for can’t happen when we get our first 30 day late this month. They knew that telling me I would be approved. My plate isn’t full anymore. I guess you could say I puked up what I was told. Sorry, but true story. My plan now is to catch up bills, keep a small part of my heart here in the hope for a way to keep my home, but make plans to have a life again somewhere else. I read this web page everyday looking for just that. Thank you again for your understanding, Catherine
ok so the lastes foe is is since we opted out of the loan mod option , i received in the mail my new payment which is 2972.00 which is 768.48 more then my payment now, they had gone ahead and set up our escrow account with out us knowing it and now have raised our payment to reflect that, they have litterally forced us to loose here. This compay has to see we are all only looking for a good fixed rate mortgage that we can pay for and maintained our homes as we go along. why cant they just here what we are saying. They would end up with alot less forclosures this way.
Dont try for a modification if your taxes are not already included in your loan the secound they look at the file they’ll escow it in and your screwed.
Kristen-
have you signed those mod documents yet? If not, you can refuse the mod, call them and tell them you do not want to mod. That is possible as long as you didn’t sign them or start making your new pymt yet. A lot of people are not aware when you do a mod the taxes have to be included in the pymt. FHA is supposed to be a govt program for borrowers with ARM loans, but it doesn’t seem to be helping very many people.
no we never even received any papers, we wern’t even approved for the mod. Escrow just went ahead and set up the acct and paid out the taxes without us even knowing about it. We found out when we recevied our new statement with our new payment. Now they say its iriversible and they cant change it unless we pay back the 4670.00 they paid out in taxes. we had a payment arrangement already in place to do just that in cast the mod didn’t work out and now his.
Ok, I see, they escrowed your acct due to deliq taxes?? Is that correct? How that works is if a mort company receives a notice and/or redemption statement from your tax office, they are telling the mort company they need to pay the taxes. Once that redemption notice is sent, the mort company is required to pay those taxes and set up and escrow. You may however, be able to get your escrow shortage spread out over 24-36 months, as in most cases, the escrow shortage is only done for 12 months/1 yr. That may help to reduce your pymt by at least a few hundred dollars. Check into it. Hope that helps.
FF also has been scamming us…I got into my loan in May of 2005 and unfortunately had a ARM. I could afford the payments until the ARM went up two years later. From 7% to 11% !!!!! So I got behind and hired a Escrow Service to handle my case. I had gotten a loan through someone else and just wanted to do a short sale and buy them out. So I sent all of the necessary paperwork and waited. I called and they said I needed other paperwork that was missing. So my escrow agent sent all missing info in and we waited some more.We talked to them and they told us that we were denied b/c it wasn’t close to fair market value. Now needless to say we talked to a hundred different people and got names badge #’s and time and date of call,etc. We called back to find out what was going on and the supervisor told us that the worker didn’t know what they were talking about…WTF !!!! Seriously people get your s%%^& together!!! So now they tell me that they show no paperwork in the system and I would have to resend everything !!! So I did and I called a week later and they said they were missing info !!! So I called my escrow agent and they said they would call and call me back. So she calls back and says they said they have everything and now they are reviewing it. I’ll hold my breath. I guarantee that if I called again they would say something different. I am offering them $70,000 more than the payoff and they act as though they are not interested. I put down $73,000 down and got a loan for $168,000 ..Five years later I owe $172,000. Unbelievable!!! So now we wait b/c they are reviewing it,and we are a week and a half away from them selling our house.
What a hoot that these people call themselves professionals!!!!
They don’t care about us,they just want to fill our pockets, and I’m sure as hell not going to wait to see if Obama is gonna help me!!!
If I didn’t have my own company there is no way a boss would have let me take that much time off for faxing calls and emails and mailing…Too bad my company is now going in the hole b/c of this crappy economy..Good luck Obama,your gonna need it!!!
Mia,
Your inside info has been very helpful in understanding the process. From what I have read over the last few days, I am starting to feel that I will have no hope when my mod. resets in Nov. 2009 after a 2 year hiatus. Unless BOA intervenes or the govt. comes up with viable programs not just token programs ie HOPE I am starting to get my brain ready to leave my home in 1 year. I cannot begin the process of dealing with FF now because I will be retiring in April & do not have any documentation of lowered income until then. And from the stories I have read they will probably lose the documentation at least once. When I originally negotiated the temporary mod. I told them that by that time I would probably have less income–their response was to go for another hardship. Not really a great answer from them. I am not young & really believed the broker when I was told that a refi to a fixed rate would be feasible before the ARM reset. That was the hook that got me into this mess. When I actually called a few months before the reset, I was basically laughed at. Why would I have taken on this mortgage as an older person if I didn’t believe them? I am starting to disconnect emotionally from my home anticipating losing it. I will go thru the motions of pursuing every avenue to keep my home but will be prepared to leave rather than have a stroke trying to keep it.
Diane,
If if were any other servicer, I’d say you have an outside chance for a loan modification before November…but not with these guys.
I know they are in turmoil after the BofA takeover, but they never wanted to get folks into affordable payments anyway…
I think you have the “right” attitude….hope for the best but plan for the worst…
Good Luck!
RKB
I really do wish all of you the best…it really makes me feel bad when people have nowhere to turn and basically have no hope and have to give up. I’m giving as much info as I can, but I see that those govt programs, ie HOPE, HUD, really haven’t helped anyone and they’re just BS. If there’s any other questions I could try to answer for anybody, please let me know.
Hello, I am an employee at Home Loan Services in the Loss Mitigation Dept. I have read almost all the comments on this website and it made me want to leave a comment too. I just want to give you an idea of what we are working with here.
In the last 2 months we have received 5500 applications for a modification. We get thousands a month, not to mention the requests that come in 2 days before the foreclosure sale that need to be review immediately. We currently have about 60-65 people working on the modification requests.
Modifications aren’t something that we can snap our fingers and make it happen. They take time and there are certain guidelines that must be followed. You also must qualify financially-WE AREN’T GOING TO SET YOU UP TO FAIL.
So if you don’t qualify, it does NOT mean we want to take your house. We don’t want to take anyone’s house. If you don’t qualify for a Mod then you have other options.
Everyone complaining about us needs to take a step back and realize that we can only do so much with the means that we have and that YOUR loan is not are our only loan. We can’t hire anymore people because of the Bank of America takeover so, there is nothing we can do to process your modification requests faster.
Anything that your mortgage broker did, is in the past. We are no longer First Franklin…we don’t originate loans and none of us in the Modification Dept. had anything to do with your origination…so don’t take it out on us.
Please bare with us and make sure that you know all of our options before you tell us we want to take your house!
Thank you!!
Home Loan Services Loss Mit Employee,
What are the “other options” if they don’t qualify for a loan mod?
Just out of curiosity…
RKB
If customers don’t qualify for a mod, there are a few other options they have. If they qualify financially for the modification but, are deep in foreclosure and don’t have good pay history there is the option of a pre-mod repay plan. The payment would be about what their modified payment would be. As long as they follow that repay plan for a certain amount of months (not usually lasting longer than 4 months) then they automatically qualify for the Mod. They can also try to obtain financing through another lender based on the value of the property now. We do consider short re-finances all time. As long as the new loan amount is in line with the appraised value we do approve them. These would be the 2 other options for keeping the house. If these don’t work then the next step would be to try to sell the property for what it’s worth. I realize that no one wants to sell their house, but sometimes you got to do what need to do. We do consider and accept short sales all the time. As long as the offer is in line with the value we are willing to take the short. The other option to avoiding foreclosure is a Deed in Lieu of foreclosure. If the property has been on the market for 90 days at fair market value and there is only one lien on the property, we will consider taking the deed prior to foreclosure. This would the last resort. If all these options don’t work, then yes foreclosure will probably happen. Foreclosure is something that happens. We don’t want it to happen, but it does. I don’t think people realize that it takes so much time and money to foreclose on someone, that we would rather resolve it a different way. All I can to someone that is trying to work with one or more of these options is to KEEP CALLING. Yes, the resolution department is frustrating because you talk to a different person every time, and they lose your paperwork, but just be presistent….DO NOT STOP CALLING. Once your paperwork reaches a negotiator, then you only have to deal with one person and things shouldn’t take much longer from there.
Let me see if I get this straight. First I do thank you very much for the advice. Are you telling me I should call again and ask them to reconsider the short refi offer and if the person doesn’t feel it’s enough to accept for current market value maybe ask them to counteroffer? All I ever wanted was a loan we could afford and have a life. If the numbers were ran for a silent second so my payment was affordable we could get on with our lives minus this stress we are all living under. So sure any help or advice from someone that will listen and can do this please let me know. Thank you, Catherine
I am not sure why they denied your short re-fi so I can’t say to keep calling. Have you tried for a modification? Why were you denied for the short re-fi? Please let me know, I’ll try to help any way I can. Thanks!
Here is my question…I have 2 loans and one is a baloon payment in 13 years..I have never been late on a payment and was wondering how hard or if I will be able to get refinanced for just 1 loan….
Clyde,
I have no idea…the fact there are 2 loans only slightly complicates matters. If you are refinancing the first, you’ll need to get the second mortgage company to resubordinate their position to facilitate the refinance. Not always a slam dunk in bad markets, like today, but a common occurance nevertheless.
If you are concerned about the balloon mortgage due in 13 years…that’s the loan you think “needs” refinancing…just calculate extra principal payments and pay it off before the balloon comes due, so a refinance is moot…problem solved.
Well, I guess all these people myself included have nothing to complain about in regard to our treatment by your department? Months of our time, energy and tears also went into trying to keep our homes from foreclosure while you claim that is not what Home Loan Services want. I followed everything asked of me while being lead to believe a short refi was going to happen before the adjustment. Whether you said it or not I was lied to and given false hope by someone in your department. Only to be told I am
49.00 a month short to meet my bills. I made it clear my husband is in the Union so whether he is on unemployment or working out of town the income is pretty much the same. We can count on mine. I don’t know what world your numbers come from, but issues come up every month. The water main broke. The dryer quit. Tags are due on our cars. We bought a fixer upper. There are always other monthly expenses. When my daughter called me crying in pain for needing a root canal with no insurance WHAT? Should I have hung up on her? This is real life with honest people trying to do the best they can. Had we gotten the broken promise of a fixed loan for two grand a month including taxes and insurance my finances would have been fine. Oh and maybe a little put into savings instead of flat broke every pay check until my husband goes back to work. I admit it is tight, but I made it work the best I could until now. Forgive me for calling so much begging on my knees for that broken promise that put us here. Then the collection guy tells me my total utility bills was noted in the amount of 400.00. That is my electric bill only. I gave all the expences. Someone must have lost them. I couldn’t afford to pay the taxes for my payment being too high in this current loan that you take no fault for or feel you need to hear people for why they got here. Now that the adjusted happened there is no way we can make it here. I got told by one person with a loan mod (actually the supervisor) I can’t afford my house then some twisting of words I feel to drag this out further to a letter from another guy stating they won’t change a thing because I can afford this payment. It was at that point I gave up. My husband on the other hand has contacted an attorney. That short refi was my only option to get away from your company into a safe FHA we could afford. I don’t get it. Getting my numbers ran in any way they could be would have kept us here for the long haul. The end result will be getting a lot less for my house when this goes into forclosure because I am telling you this loan should have never been made unless the offer of six months later took place. That is my bottom line on this whole thing. It’s been made clear the request I could live with of a fixed two grand a month including taxes and insurance will never happen. So please believe me when I say this hurts and your department got the fallout. The offer was for more than fair market value. It has dropped even more since that was made. Wouldn’t accepting my offer be better than getting my house back? I am really sorry for sounding like such an awful angry person. Feeling this way is the last place I want to be or take it out on you. I get the part your hands are tied. I will say this if you don’t really want my house back pull my file and PROVE IT…………….before it’s yours. Catherine
If you work there you must be one of the morons I talked to!!!!
Don’t try and defend a company that pays you …If you were in this situation you would hate them too….
Thanks for you input–Loan Service Mitigation person. I personally feel that you are only doing your job–like most of us do. Even though FF is gone or whatever & that is in the past, you at Loan Services are not responsible for FF but we are still responsible for what they did to us. Loan Services seems to have a clean slate with the sale of FF but we still have to live with what they did in collusion with the brokers. Do you see the double standard?
I wish I knew who set the policies at Loan Services? Is it Merrill Lynch, is it BOA, is it some totally obscure entity that is hidden in some other confusing corporate group? Who? BOA seems to be helping Countrywide people—in other words, who actually owns you? Are you or your corporate owner/s involved in the bailout? Loan Services is veiled in such mystery with these policies that come from whom?
I appreciate the comment, but realize that calling me a moran doesn’t save your house or make your situation any better.
Dear Loss Mit Person,
I called today to ask if there was any way to run the numbers for the two grand a month even if there was a silent second to get to that number with FHA. I was denied and told I needed to face the fact I can’t afford my home even with a loan mod. I admit it’s been tight, but when my husband goes back to work it would have worked. The reason the short refi was denied was the investors would never take that kind of loss. I asked but won’t they be taking one with a foreclosure? The answer was the investors would rather take thier chances with that than accept a short refi. I called back and asked who these investors are and was told it’s a joint venture between me and Home Loan Services. I have to admit this in your offer to help. When the short refi was denied after I was lead to believe it was a done deal all the emotions from the last two years poured out me and not in a nice way to the supervisor of your department. I highly doubt anyone there will help now. The foreclosure option is the only option. I’m sorry, I couldn’t handle a short sale without losing it for all I put into trying keep my home. The person I spoke to today wanted me to understand it’s time to downsize and in my best interest to accept the fact I can’t afford my home that I was never late on until this month. My house is an old ranch style 3/2. There are five of us. I do however thank you very, very much for your offer and wish and pray you know a way to change this outcome. Take care, Catherine
Would someome PLEASE explain all this to me so I can truly understand the bigger picture? Why would I have gotten a letter saying the reason they won’t change a thing is because I can afford my home to being told to face the fact I can’t? With my husband out of work for the last eight months it has been tight, but when he goes back that will change. I based buying this home knowing for all his years in the Union we have been here before. It’s been a very long time since it’s gone on this long, but it always turns around. The fact I have made all my payments until the adjustment should have said something. Am I in the wrong for getting us approved into a fixed FHA loan to get out of this they told me to get? Is there anywhere to go from here to save my house? HOPE is a hard thing to let go of when it keeps coming back to haunt you. Thank you, Catherine
One last comment. Had the short refi been approved I would have been given one month of no payments to catch up while my husband is now days away from getting a call out. Had I gotten into the short refi we could and would have made it work. Then all those lies would have been a lesson to learn, but something I could live with since we got to keep our home. No matter what we did they started it and will finish it with my family on the streets. So please I beg you don’t tell me they would not set me up to fail or not want my house back because let’s face it here we are.
So what is the best advice for someone like me who just cannot afford the payment but we would like to keep our home. We are afraid if we go down the FF route we will come up losers. They said they would not even work with us until we are late. Well, now we have a ton of credit card debt because we pay their loan first and our credit card companies keep adding finance charges and late fees. We are just getting more and more behind. If we could lower our payments and get rid of the second we would probably be okay. So, do we get behind three months like they say? It is so confusing. We have four children and do not want to end up on the streets. We cannot find lenders that even know how to do a short re-fi. Do you know who does them in southern calif?
Dear Christine,
When FF told me to get approved for an FHA loan I went through Affinity Financial in San Diego. Although FF didn’t approve me only God knows why. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Affinity and highly recommend them for someone you can come to trust. Best of results, Catherine
Christine,
There is no reason at all you shouldn’t be able to talk to someone in loss mitigation and work out something to keep your home UNLESS there is no income. If you can pay then thats what everyone wants. Next time you call, escalate the call to a supervisor in the loss mitigation department…insist you get a negotiator or supervisor. Resolutions is nothing more than a collection department and can’t help
I’m wondering, what options are there with FannieMae and the “Keys to Recovery” program for underwater refinancing?
I got an 80/20 ARM with FF in 2003, for a condo… and got a new job 40 miles away in 2005. I tried to refi 2 years ago, when my ARM adjusted up quite alot, but could not afford the up-front fees (downpayment, points, etc) of over $4000. So I decided to try to sell, given that I’m commuting over an hour each way to work, and desperately need to move closer before I fall asleep at the wheel some morning… Plus the maintenance here is nonexistent even though we pay an outrageous fee and keep getting hit with special assessment fees of several hundred to a few thousand every year (which only drives more people out, and then makes the board raise our monthly fees and assessments even more, to make up the losses)… this place is turning into a slum, with frequent break-ins and vandalism.
I had the place on the market for 6 months, with no offers. We dropped the price down to what I paid for the place (76K), and still no offers. I took it off the market for the winter (last year) to try again come spring, but the situation only deteriorated even more by then. Only a handful of units here have sol