And The World’s Longest Trial Mod Is…
Earlier this month, we asked our readers to tell us if they’d been stuck in a trial modification in the government’s foreclosure prevention program for half a year or longer. Trial periods are designed to last only three months, after which mortgage servicers are supposed to either give homeowners a permanent mod or drop them from the program.
While homeowners in trial modifications have had the benefit of seeing their monthly payments drop (by an average of $522), there are adverse consequences when a trial drags on, not the least of which is the stress and fear of homeowners not knowing whether they’ll be able to keep their homes.
Hundreds of readers wrote in. And the longest mod turned out to be just about the longest possible: Marlene Colon of Tinton Falls, N.J., and Deb Franklin of Airville, Pa., both first received trial mods starting in May, in the first few weeks of the program. That means they’ve been waiting nearly 10 months to find out whether they will be getting permanent modifications.
As we reported earlier this week, about 97,000 homeowners have been stuck in trial mods since last summer. And nearly two-thirds of all those in limbo, about 60,000, have mortgages with JPMorgan Chase. As we noted, the Treasury Department recently warned that servicers with backlogs of trial mods will incur unspecified "financial penalties."
We want to thank everyone who took the time to detail their loan mod troubles. We heard from homeowners who said they first contacted their servicers for help way back in 2008 and still have not reached a solution. We heard from many who have been waiting for months to be approved or denied for a trial (a problem we’ve focused on before). And, as we do every day, we heard many borrowers vent their frustrations about the seeming incompetence of their servicers – lost documents, uninformed (or worse, misinformed) customer service representatives, and getting "the runaround" (a word we hear a lot).
So thanks – and keep those stories coming.
Have you applied for a loan modification under the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable program? Are you thinking about it? If so, we at ProPublica want to hear your story.
Foreclosure Crisis: Banks and Government Fail Homeowners
Banks and the government have fallen short in helping homeowners in danger of foreclosure.
The Story So Far
Systemic failures at the country’s banks and mortgage servicers have exacerbated the most severe foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression, and government efforts to limit the damage have fallen short. ProPublica created an unrivaled database of homeowners who have faced foreclosure, opened a Facebook page to encourage homeowners to share their stories, wrote profiles of some of them, and incorporated their experiences into our reporting. We also provided a comprehensive rundown of the numbers behind the crisis.
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1 comments
MIK MIKULAK
Feb. 25, 2010, 1:16 p.m.
MABB Mortgagees Against Bum Bankers…Not a bad idea. I have consistantly responded on a timely and thorough basis to all requests from my Mortgage Company First Horizon. I have been told 3 times (never in writing) that I did not qualify for A loan modification. Enterered into a forbearance agreement, met the terms of the agreement and have been told (never in writing) 3 times that the loan was being modified and paperwork would be forthcoming. Haven’t seen it yet. This all started last Feb 2009. They have breached their forebearance agreement by not meeting the deadline they set and we agreed upon. I am escrowing their payments and sending them a photo copy for their records until they respond to their own forbearance agreement…no money honey! I have requested that I be given a copy of the HAMP policy 7 times and never received a thing. They have advised me that they have never heard of the person handling my account for them on 3 occasions over the phone. They have lost all of my financial documentation completely 3 times. I have the name and the “secret alpha code” of the last two folks I talked to that informed me of my approval and the paperwork was “on the way”. On my last conversation with them they advised me that they had sent a request for financial information on the 8th of Feb. I asked them what year? The request has never been received. I requested that they put me together with ONE person who could consistantly handle my account. They said they were a call center and that couldn’t be done. I am commencing operation “BITE ME” Bankers In Trouble Eliminate -Modification Excuses!!!! I will send them the same information they request everyday registered mail until they respond in writing back to me for a 30 day period. I will then wait two weeks and repeat the process. I figure perhaps one of the “secret alpha code” employees may stumble across the information and match it up with the request..I’m just asking for one out of thirty! But of course I’m still waiting for that request! Just a little KICK FROM “MIK”
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