Frustrations Rises over Mortgage Relief Program!!

After months of dead ends, rejections and runarounds from bank representatives, Dan Binder is still in loan modification limbo.

When Binder lost his job as a media researcher, he and his wife left their southern California home in July 2008 and relocated to North Carolina where he found a new job in the media business.

Since then, he’s never missed a payment on the three-bedroom home in Riverside County, Calif., he said, though it's lost about half its value since he bought it in 2005 for $418,000. When his wife lost her job after the move, he called his lender, Wells Fargo, to see if the bank could rewrite the loan to lower the monthly payments. Short Payoff Refinance

Since then, he said, he’s gotten conflicting responses from multiple bank representatives, one of whom said he was days away from a new loan that was subsequently rejected.

At one point, after assurances that he submitted all the appropriate paperwork, he was told a form was missing. When he provided it, he was told the remaining paperwork was more than 30 days old and he would have to update and resubmit each document. At another point, he said, he was told his file showed a sizable credit card debt he didn’t owe.

After his latest rejection he asked for an explanation.

“They said the notes from the investors (holding the mortgage) said, ‘You spend too much on food,’ ” he said.

If all this sounds familiar, it's because homeowners around the country have been jumping through similar hoops with the same fruitless results.

Nearly two years after the federal government’s first program to slow the relentless rise in the pace of home foreclosures, the latest attempt, known as Making Home Affordable, is turning out to be another painful disappointment for millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes.

Dozens of e-mails from msnbc.com readers report months of futile effort to modify their loans. The list of problems includes misdirected calls, lost paperwork and conflicting advice from multiple representatives for the same lender.

A Wells Fargo spokeswoman said the company can't comment on individual customer's loans due to privacy restrictions. But she said the company is "working with all of its customers who experience hardships and need assistance with their mortgage payments up the point of actual foreclosure sale.” Short Payoff Refinance

“As the government guidelines have changed and as we have gotten more options to help people, there has been some communication confusion that we are working to absolutely get on top of and correct for customers,” she said.

HUD-approved housing counselors — the frontline professionals trying to help borrowers modify mortgages — have expressed frustrations with a variety of roadblocks, bureaucratic snafus and ongoing confusion about the program.

If you need any Advice, Affinity Lending Group is here to help assist you any way we can. Please contact Robert (562)673-1136

Affinity Lending Group is making head way as Citi Boosts Mortgage HELP!

Some 108,000 Citi customers avoid foreclosure in second quarter, up 30% from previous period. But delinquencies are up too.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The good news is that Citigroup helped 108,000 people avoid foreclosure during the second quarter, a nearly 30% increase from the previous period.

The bad news is that the number of its borrowers at least 90 days behind in payments surged to 4.7%, up from 3.9% in the first quarter.

Still, CitiMortgage CEO Sanjiv Das feels the bank's ramped-up foreclosure prevention efforts can help stem the number of its borrowers falling behind.

"You keep plugging away at the early stages of delinquency and that's how you slow down the number of foreclosures," Das said in an interview.

Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) reported Tuesday that for every completed foreclosure, 12 at-risk borrowers get to stay in their homes. Six months ago, the ratio was 1 to 6.

The bank's loss mitigation initiatives include repayment plans, payment extensions, forbearance, and loan modifications.

When borrowers can't afford to stay in their homes, Citi also helps them avoid foreclosure through short sales -- in which a homeowner sells the property for less than what's owed -- and deeds-in-lieu-of-foreclosure, in which a homeowner signs over the house to the bank. The 1 to 12 ratio that it reported Tuesday does not include short sales or deeds-in-lieu.

Total modifications decreased by 5% during the quarter as the bank ramped up its implementation of the Obama administration's loan modification program. The president's program, which gives banks incentive payments to modify loans, requires that borrowers be put into a three-month trial period before the modification is finalized. Citi also has its own modification programs.

Tuesday's report, the 7th issued by Citi, is the first to include the Obama modification program, which began in April.

The bank, one-third of which is owned by U.S. taxpayers, said the redefault rates for modified loans continued to decline. Only 6.54% of loans adjusted in the first quarter were delinquent after 30 days, compared to 7.67% of loans modified in the fourth quarter and 10.86% of those adjusted in the third quarter.

More troubling, however, is the fact that foreclosures and delinquencies continue to rise. The number of foreclosures in process for Citi-serviced loans increased about 10% from the first quarter, though foreclosures initiated dropped by 14%. Completed foreclosures rose by 5%.

The rising unemployment rate is keeping foreclosure and delinquency rates on the upswing, troubling housing counselors and policymakers.

Like other banks, Citi is under pressure to increase aid to its troubled borrowers

To some extent, the bank is under even more scrutiny since it has received more support from the federal government than other financial institutions. Last month, Citi converted $25 billion of preferred shares the government acquired into common shares. The government funneled a total of $45 billion into the bank.

As for putting people into trial modifications under the Obama plan, Citi came in the middle of the pack. It placed 15% of its eligible delinquent loans into trial modifications, according to a Treasury Department report issued earlier this month.

Citi trails competitors such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and GMAC Mortgage, each of which placed 20% of their troubled clients in trial modifications. But it led rivals such as Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), which assisted 6% and 4% of borrowers, respectively.

Das said the bank has picked up the pace of putting borrowers into the Obama plan. The number now exceeds 20%.

Citi uses a wide definition of helping borrowers avoid foreclosure. The bulk of its efforts involve modifications and extensions, which tack on late payments to the end of the mortgage.

Going forward, modifications will make up the bulk of the bank's foreclosure prevention efforts, Das said. Extensions will be offered to those who don't qualify for a modification.


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Robert Vaughan
Vice President
(562) 673-1136

Life after the "F" word Foreclosure

After losing their homes, these 4 families thought they'd never recover. They've found it difficult to rent and their credit is wrecked, but life is looking up.

City: Chicago
Price paid: $245,000
Current value: 175,000
Lesson: "My only regret is that ... we signed a contract and then we couldn't fulfill that contract."

Stephanie Thomson's troubles began when her husband Rich, a highly regarded hair designer, became disabled with neuropathy and could no longer work.

The income loss made it impossible for the couple to sustain the payments on their home in a Chicago suburb.

When they bought the house, they took out a hybrid ARM mortgage. The original bill was $1,400 a month. But it went to $1,900 after three years and more than $2,000 after the second reset six months later.

"With my husband unable to work, we could have paid the mortgage without the ARM reset but nothing more," says Stephanie, who tried for months to get help from her lender. (Robert wants to point out tried for months to get help from her lender) If you find yourself in this position please contact Robert Vaughan with Affinity Lending Group at (562) 673-1136

"They told me they would pray for me. That's an exact quote," she says.

The Thomsons decided to stop paying their mortgage last July -- their first time missing a payment. They didn't pay for 10 months, during which time YouWalkAway.com helped guide them through the foreclosure process.

In April, having saved what they would have paid in mortgage, they relocated to Elyria, Ohio, where Stephanie has relatives. Unfortunately, their credit scores had dropped so low that it was difficult to rent -- much less buy -- a new place. So Stephanie's mom bought a house and rents it to them.

"It's less expensive here; we were able to get a larger house in a wonderful neighborhood," she says. "My only regret is that I'm a proud person. We signed a contract and then we couldn't fulfill that contract because of my husband's illness. It was very difficult."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY7MToO1fdM
Lori DiBacco
Lori and Bill DiBacco

• Big cities: Big changes in foreclosure rates
City: Oceanside, Calif.
Price paid: $610,000
Current value: $550,000
Lesson: "It was so horrible, the worst stress we'd ever been under."
Apparel sales rep Lori DiBacco and her musician husband, Bill, were living a dream life in their five-bed, three-bath home with pool in beautiful Oceanside, Calif. They bought the place in 1994, and they lived well, but not wisely.

"We took great vacations, if we saw something we wanted we bought it," says Lori.

The couple was childless by choice, as they both traveled for work. Then, five years ago, their goddaughter came to live with them. That radically altered everything.

Bill stopped working so someone would be home, which halved the couple's income. Then, there were big expenses for taking care of the child.

"She needed a lot of extra care," Lori says. "We put a lot of money into her education, dropping $50,000 the first year into Sylvan Learning Center for remedial work."

The coup-de-grace happened when Lori injured her back and couldn't work.

They burned through their savings and took out a second loan on the house. Their monthly mortgage bill, about $1,400 when they first bought the house, ballooned to $4,400. They started missing payments; they simply didn't have the money. They went nine months without paying.

"Oh my God, it was so horrible, the worst stress we'd ever been under," Lori says. "It sent my husband over the edge to a nervous breakdown."

By the time they were done, they owed $610,000 on a property that was worth just $550,000 when they did a short sale last year. (This would have been a good shortpay refinance if they kept current on the mortgage payments.
http://www.shortpayrefinanceusa.com/loan_modification_OC.html
Things are much better now. Bill runs a business restoring classic Mustangs, and Lori started a pet concierge business, which arranges everything for the pampered pet. She calls working with animals her dream job.

Their finances are still tattered. They were turned down for several places they tried to rent. They're living in a condo owned by Bill's mom, paying a small rent but fixing the place up. Lori loves the new place; it's in a quiet 55-plus community with very nice neighbors, most of whom have pets.

"We almost divorced many times over the stress of the financial burden and all that entailed," Lori says.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY7MToO1fdM

City: Carlsbad, Calif.
Price paid: $840,000
Current value: $600,000
Lesson: "Nothing was lost but a big, freaking headache."
This California resident bought his house nine years ago in a gated community within the posh, seaside city of Carlsbad. He took out an adjustable rate mortgage to keep the initial monthly payments affordable, but by this spring his monthly mortgage bill was $5,600.

At the same time, he found himself severely underwater thanks to falling home prices and several cash-out refinances.

The headhunter and motivational speaker couldn't afford that big a payment and realized he wasn't likely to make back nearly a quarter-million dollars in value. He tried for months to work something out with his lender, but he says, "They made me an offer that was unacceptable."

Instead, Nash, who is married with two kids, decided to go through the foreclosure process. He didn't pay the mortgage for 18 months and finally vacated in June. Not having a housing payment during that time kept him from financial ruin since his headhunting business was in a tailspin.

Nash and his family are now living in a $1,900-a-month rented townhouse in the same great neighborhood just a half mile away from their former home. "I downsized about 1,000 square feet to a 1,500-square-foot home," he says. "Hey! It's a lot easier to clean."

He feels like he landed on his feet in just about every way: His kids were able to stay in the same school; he stayed in the same location, which is like living in a beach resort; and he's spending a lot less on housing. "Nothing was lost but a big, freaking headache," he says.

Still, he counts himself lucky that he was able to find the new place. Most large-scale commercial property complexes wouldn't rent to him because his credit was so tattered, but he found a woman who had just lost her job and needed to leave her townhouse on short notice. He had just received a big check for a head-hunting transaction he had just closed so he got the place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY7MToO1fdM

If you or anyone you know is facing a hardship, Affinity Lending Group has a mortgage solution. We have a the experience with many banks over the years please contact me if your thinking of selling or you want to save your home from foreclosure. Take care and God Bless.

The credit for this stories goes to Les Christie, CNNMoney.com



Robert Vaughan
Affinity Lending Group
(562) 673-1136