I have had a mortgage with Bank of America (13 years now) and recently had to get a loan modification through their "Making Homes Affordable/Home Retention Program". This was supposed to lower the payment to make it more affordable. A loan calculator estimated my new payment to be between $340 and $400 a month. I have not worked in 2 years and my daughter is supporting our home on a housekeepers salary. I sent them pay stubs for months and they took the largest $ ones from way back in June, July and August (which is a hospitality housekeepers high season) instead of the most recent ones from August 15th to current which are considerably lower. This "modification" was done 2 weeks ago but they didn't use our current financial situation. They also included an outrageous amount of food stamps as monthly income.
We started out on a 3 month "Trial Period" (08) with payments of $557.03 (slightley higher than our regular payment was) and finished them successfully. I called them at least once a week when the process started back in June and faxed them every 2 weeks with pay stubs (that were getting smaller and smaller) and documentation to prove we were not getting $447 in food stamps every month. I also asked several times if food stamps would be counted as income, if so we would drop them. I can go to a food bank to get food, but can't go anywhere and get a roof over our heads. They never answered the question even though I asked repeatedly.
So instead of lowering the payment to "Make Homes Affordable" as they say in writing that they will do, they raised the payment (now $557.72) and I was told to take it or leave it. They only lowered my interest rate by 1.25%, from 7.75% to 6.50%. Then they told me there was NO ONE in the entire company between my account manager and the underwriters that could answer any of my questions or help me. They called me continuously until I finally signed the papers, I felt I didn't have a choice. After I signed them, the BAC (Bank of America/Country Wide) "HOPE" department called me and said I should have been offered a negotiator, but now it was too late. I called my "account manager" today 11/28, and he told me the underwriters were the negotiators but they don't talk to clients. So who was supposed to talk for me? The case manager who told me to "take it or leave it"?
There has got to be something we can do. And guess who underwrote the loans! Fannie mae and freddie mac!!!
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