Wells Fargo MHA loan modification lies.
Beware of what Wells Fargo calls a loan modification!
I lost a fairly well paying job in December (that had nothing to do with banking) and have not been able to find a comparable replacement. We have always been conservative and have savings to cover payments for some time and have stayed current on our mortgage. Our mortgage is at 30 year 5.5% and the house is worth well more then the remaining balance. Still despite cutting our expenses they were exceeding our income, so I contacted Wells Fargo in March when MHA program became available.
They first offered to refinancing at 5.15% at no cost and restart clock on our loan to 30 years which together would lower my payment by a few hundred dollars. We agreed, collected all required documents and send them over. After about 3 weeks Wells Fargo came back to us saying that we do not qualify due to our lower income which makes no sense. The bank was not taking on any more risk we would have owed them exactly the same amount we owe to them now.
Regardless, they offered a modification. Again I filled out a lot of new papers and sent them over. Then called once a week for almost 3 months just to hear that it is being considered. Eventually we received a denial in the mail and offer to start short sale. I called back explained that my house is worth more than the mortgage. Eventually it turned out they had incorrect information who knows why. I had them correct it and had to start process all over again since I was told there is no way to do it any other way.in the mean time offers for short sale kept coming for a few more weeks. I had to call back countless times and talk to endless number of clueless reps.
3 more months went by. A few days ago we finally received a modification agreement.
They call it Moratorium. Pay portion of your payment for 5 months than pay everything on the sixth month (Over $9,600.00 in our case). This is after 6 months of jerking us around! In the mean time you have to sign that you are in default (which we are not because we have kept up with the payments) and get dinged on your credit because it will say that loan is forbearance. I believe that in reality its a TRAP for those of us who are NOT upside down in the mortgage. They are betting that you will not be able to come up with the balloon payment in 6 months and they will make their money on the foreclosure or a myriad of late fees they will slap on you if you can not pay balloon payment on time. It is still more profitable to them then getting money from government for a real modification.
I told them to go to hell!!! Thankfully, I can still afford to do that. Most people cant.
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