After months of working with an outside home loan modification company (big mistake... Live and learn), I decided to take my lenders advice and work directly with them. I INTENTIONALLY skipped two house payments to get the ball rolling a loan modification. Let's be honest here: if they're getting their money, why should they help you? If you're buying your groceries on your credit card just to eat, well that's your problem, right? Just to crunch numbers here... Without working any overtime, I take home about $1350 every two weeks. $904 of that goes to Fannie Mae, $820 of that goes to child support. That leaves me about $976 a month to cover ALL other monthly expenses. You know: daycare, groceries, braces for the kids, heat, water, sewer, trash, a modest car payment, gasoline (usually MORE than the car payment), phone, etc. But... Since the house payment doesn't exceed 31% of my gross income, I don't qualify for a loan modification. Some things in life are optional. I can LIVE without TV, internet or a cellphone. But, child support is NOT optional. And if all Fannie Mae looks at for modification review is your GROSS annual income, WHY do you have to list all your monthly debts? It's a 3-5 page packet you fill out, and then all they do is base it on your annual gross income? What a waste of almost 9 months! And now that I missed two house payments, I have to get current on the loan and have no late payments for one year before I can even get a HARP refinance. So basically if they're getting their money, they'll help you, but if you are behind and struggling, you're screwed.
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