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Bank of America...big issues!

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Pat0817

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Alabama

Very long story short: In 2010 Bank of America foreclosed on our home while we were in active review for the Making Home Affordable plan. We fought back and subsequently, as of Tuesday, the property was rescinded. They also finally approved the MHA application. The trial payments are more than the original loan payments and we discovered they were using wrong data for gross monthly income. Also, they were tacking on negative escrow for taxes and insurance they incurred while the home was foreclosed (theirs). I advised them that we were always exempt in our county because I am diasabled and our "taxes" were only $25 annually for garbage/fire dept. and that if they paid more because of the wrongful foreclosure, that was on them. Rep. stated that if we provided proof and obtain our own insurance, the payments would fall to about $775 (the trial payment amount is $1040.16...original loan payment was $979.93 @ 7.875%...the trial payment is supposedly 31% of gross monthly income of $2940 @2.875% on a balance of 123,383.88...my math is no good...is this right?) Taxes supposedly run $148.20 and home owner's insurance $78 monthly. What is the monthly payment on a loan balance of 123,383.88 @2.875% interest if it's supposed to be at or below 31% of $2940? Finally, in the MHA can they just tack on missed payments and negative escrow?
 


OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
The objective of a refinance under HARP is to help homeowners get into more stable or more affordable loans. Refinancing will not reduce the principal amount you owe to the first lien mortgage holder or any other debt you owe.
http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/about-mha/faqs/Pages/default.aspx

Your best answers are on their web site or will come from them. Imagine that!!! :eek:
 

Pat0817

Junior Member
We live in Alabama

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Alabama

Very long story short: In 2010 Bank of America foreclosed on our home while we were in active review for the Making Home Affordable plan. We fought back and subsequently, as of Tuesday, the property was rescinded. They also finally approved the MHA application. The trial payments are more than the original loan payments and we discovered they were using wrong data for gross monthly income. Also, they were tacking on negative escrow for taxes and insurance they incurred while the home was foreclosed (theirs). I advised them that we were always exempt in our county because I am diasabled and our "taxes" were only $25 annually for garbage/fire dept. and that if they paid more because of the wrongful foreclosure, that was on them. Rep. stated that if we provided proof and obtain our own insurance, the payments would fall to about $775 (the trial payment amount is $1040.16...original loan payment was $979.93 @ 7.875%...the trial payment is supposedly 31% of gross monthly income of $2940 @2.875% on a balance of 123,383.88...my math is no good...is this right?) Taxes supposedly run $148.20 and home owner's insurance $78 monthly. What is the monthly payment on a loan balance of 123,383.88 @2.875% interest if it's supposed to be at or below 31% of $2940? Finally, in the MHA can they just tack on missed payments and negative escrow?
 

henryspier

Junior Member
The modification process is a joke in most cases it is better to do Quiet Tile

Banks have a habit of losing your applications, your paperwork and have any number of other excuses to keep you from completing the process in the time allotted. There is s simple reason. They get paid by the government every time they do an application whether it is completed or not or whether it is approved or not. it is in their best interest not to complete the process the first time, but in multiple times. (thank GOD for the bailout, it keeps paying out to the banks, oh wait it does not help us regular Americans). Anyway, they can do anything they want in a modification including adding fees, costs and other things to the loan. Once you sign it, you have agreed to it and it is binding. The other wonderful thing is, that they can put you in the "Trial" period, you can make all of your payments in full and on time and they can still deny you the modification stating that you do not qualify. They just got more money out of you. But wait, they have another program for you to try. The Making your Home Affordable Program. Wait wasn't that what you thought you were doing. The Answer is most likely not. They always try to put you into their in house programs first. They make more money that way. This is the problem for the banks, especially in Florida. Their paperwork for the mortgage and notes are all screwed up and if you actually checked into your mortgage and note, you will probably find that yours is to. By doing these modifications, they get to redo their paperwork. They can correct all the mistakes that they did in the past due to their greed. Be extremely careful of what you sign, be sure that it is in your best interest and that you completely understand all of the terms and ramifications of the modifications I am an attorney down in Florida and I do foreclosure work and quiet title cases, to fight the banks. You have to decide up front wether you want to keep the home or just stay in it long enough to make money off of it. Before you do anything, make that decision. I would also check my chain of title, (the mortgage, assignments, is it securitized or not) If there are assignments. Were they signed by robosigners, etc. Stay away from companies trying to sell you QWR Packages for thousands of dollars, they are scams. An attorney who works in this field can do the same thing for less than a thousand dollars. (why use a non-lawyer for more money? Most of these companies and website are people like you who figured out how to get the forms. Most times they have no formal training or background in the field. They could very well have been a plumber or a real estate broker who found a form is charging outrageous prices for giving you the form.) Remember the modification scams? they are probably the same people and just found a new gimmick. Make sure that any attorney you hire is licensed in the state you live and actually practices in the field and won't just farm it out to some other attorney and take over half of it for themselves and therefore causing you to have to come up with more money to the new attorney to get the work completed. I have been doing quiet title actions in Florida. I have them litigating all over the state. The purpose it to try to sever the mortgage from the property. The attorneys that know how to do these cases, are having a lot of success renegotiating people's mortgages. Think of it like this. What incentive does a bank have to reduce the terms of you mortgage, interest rate or principle? They don't, they have a signed contract. They have all the leverage in a foreclosure action. All a court wants to know is did you pay or not. You need to create leverage on your side before there is any meaningful reductions by the banks. That is what the quiet tile actions are doing. Because it is such a new area of law (the particular use of this type of action) even the banks are unsure the outcome and they don't want to find out. Keeping in mind that banks basically own our legislators, they will get the laws changes to correct all of their fraud, misdeeds and faulty paperwork. You can email me if you would like more info, but keep in mind that I am in Florida and can only give advice in Florida. The modification process is basically the same throughout the country.
 

nanu156

Member
31% of your Gross income means $911/mo should be the new PI (principal and interest) payment + HOI (home owners insurance) + Taxes. The new payment doesn't seem out of the realm for what would be considered reasonable, or what the payment should be. so the proposed PITI payment is 1040/mo, that means that 130/mo is going into escrow for taxes and insurance. Sounds pretty reasonable to me, but i don't know what your HOI is or your taxes are.

In the end if you are unsure you should get a real-estate attorney to review your closing package prior to signing.

I don't really see "big problems" here. What do you think would be a "fair" payment? What would it cost to rent a home like yours? Why not file for BK, walk away and start over???

In the end if you don't understand the payment program, or what they are collecting, take your loan package (3 day docs) to an attorney and have them review and explain them.

As far as how "rich" loan officers get on these loans, I promise they aren't getting rich... I personally don't write them at all, they are a pain in the neck, take forever to get closed and pay like crap when you look at the time vs money aspect or originating mortgages. The bank gets a stop loss type of payment when they close, and they don't own another home that they are responsible to sell. The atty posting is fear mongering....
 

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