A reminder to keep this topic focused on ACTUAL EXPERIENCES when dealing with your lender.

If you are not reporting actual experiences you are having with your lender, it doesnt belong in this thread.

If you want to post questions, or general comments, about mods do it here
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/904770?highlight_key=y&k...

OK, here's my experience with HSBC.
Last month I got laid off, and that day I called HSBC to inquire about a refi or mod under this program. They said they'd call me back, they didn't. I sent a question through the website and got a reply that due to the nature of the question, I had to log in and submit the question. I did so and received a reply saying 'due to the nature of your inquiry, please call in'

So it was obvious at this point they were just giving me the runaround.

I wrote up a snail mail letter documenting that I had recently lost my job and laid out all expenses/income and sent it to HSBC registered mail. I got a reply saying that my partial application had been recieved, and to send in bank account statements for last 2 months, tax returns for last 2 years, and a completed financial form they sent within 10 days.
I did so and now am waiting for their response. What was strange was yesterday (I assume) there was a handwritten note from HSBC on the mailbox (I assume) with an 800# to their loss mitigation department. I say assume because it was raining all day, and this little yellow piece of paper was just glued to the street. It was barely readable and the only reason I picked it up is because I thought it was just a piece of litter that blew by..

I was told that i do not qualify for t he making home affordable refinance, because I don't have enough equity 105% outherwise i needed to come out of pocket with $7,000 to save $180 a month on my mortagage. Then I was told that i also dont qualify for a modification even tho I fit the criteria I have reduced income, fanny mae loan, and it has an adjustable rate. The problem is that they say that the modification is for people who missed a payment or two. Obamas plan sucks Cw/Bofa refuses to work with people every week they tell me to call back in two weeks. i have been doing this since March. the modification On the MHA making home affordable plan says its for people who are current. Bofa tell people very happliy " you dont qualify because you dont have a fannie mae or fredddie mac loan, just to get rid of you and make you think that you would have had a chance, only if you had only had a Freddie or fannie, but even if you do have those it is almost impossible to get a refinace or modification.

Sham . when you brought your property did you get "BOA NO FEE MORTGAGE PLUS "? if yes , that is the problem .

Just closed a MHA refinance with BoA 2 weeks ago... very simple.
Details were almost exactly the same as Blieb's post earlier except with higher points.

Pretty much paid 1.375 points to reduce my rate from 5.75 to 4.625 and save $200 a month.
(waiting two weeks would have been less points but what can you do...)

Also stated income and instant computer appraisal, which came in at 91% LTV.

JaeMarie said:OK, here's my experience with HSBC.
Last month I got laid off, and that day I called HSBC to inquire about a refi or mod under this program. They said they'd call me back, they didn't. I sent a question through the website and got a reply that due to the nature of the question, I had to log in and submit the question. I did so and received a reply saying 'due to the nature of your inquiry, please call in'

So it was obvious at this point they were just giving me the runaround.

I wrote up a snail mail letter documenting that I had recently lost my job and laid out all expenses/income and sent it to HSBC registered mail. I got a reply saying that my partial application had been recieved, and to send in bank account statements for last 2 months, tax returns for last 2 years, and a completed financial form they sent within 10 days.
I did so and now am waiting for their response. What was strange was yesterday (I assume) there was a handwritten note from HSBC on the mailbox (I assume) with an 800# to their loss mitigation department. I say assume because it was raining all day, and this little yellow piece of paper was just glued to the street. It was barely readable and the only reason I picked it up is because I thought it was just a piece of litter that blew by..

Update: The piece of paper was a note saying to call "Your Bank" handwritten, they dropped off another one. Good to see they have their stuff together.
Today I received a call from Lori with HSBC mortgage requesting that I complete a verbal financial interview. (Even though I've mailed in everything they've asked for so far, she said they needed a verbal interview. I called 888-648-3124 and just got off the phone with an agent who reviewed all of our financial information again. After putting me on hold, the (nice indian guy) agent said that there were no modifications or anything that can be done to work out our mortgage.

OK....There are 13 criteria for a mortgage modification under the federal Making Home Affordable program and we meet all of the criteria. The mortgage loan has not been previously modified, the mortgage loan is delinquent, it is our primary residence, it is not vacant or condemned, I have documented a financial hardship (both verbally and in writing) and represented that we do not have sufficient liquid assets to make the monthly mortgage payments. The documentation supporting income is not more than 90 days old. Our monthly mortgage payment ratio of greater than 31 percent. My wife earns $794.65 gross, biweekly. Added to my unemployment income, we have $2653.30 gross coming in a month. $1056.83 (our current payment) is nearly 40% of $2653.30. This is using gross amounts, if you use the actual income we take in after taxes that percentage will be much higher.

So what's next? I already sent another letter to HSBC (certified of course) - with almost 40% mortgage ratio, aren't they legally obligated to reduce it to at least the 31%? Our interest rate is almost 7%, there HAS to be something they can do.

At what point do I start talking to a lawyer? We'd like to stay here, if at all possible. We don't have enough $$ in the bank for even half of the amount that HSBC wants though, with all the fees and whatnot.

Just had a Making Home Affordable refinance fall through, thought I'd share my experience.

House is a single family in southern NH. Bought in July 07 for 260k, which I thought at the time was a little high for the place, but it was very well suited for my needs. Bought it by myself, 800 FICO and more than enough income to support payments. 5% down, 2 loans, 80/15. 1st was a 30 year fixed 6.875% serviced by Countrywide, 2nd 30 year fixed rate with 15 year balloon, 8.55% serviced by Chase. Turns out the first was owned by Fannie Mae.

Kept my eye on rates, and realized that neither Countrywide nor Chase had competitive rates. Decided to go with MMNH from the "Best fixed rates" stickied thread. My best guess was that I was at 100-110 CLTV. MMNJ steered me towards an FHA refi of both loans initially, but the huge upfront fees for PMI and the fact that I'd have to buy down to 97.75% made me choose to stick with an MHA refi of the 1st loan only. The appraisal came back at 233k, putting my 1st at 87% LTV and CLTV at 104.2%.

Chase was exactly as expensive and slow as they said they'd be. The subordination request cost $250 and took, as they claimed when I submitted, 4 weeks to process. They absolutely refused to go over 100% CLTV but gave the subordination contingent on my buying down to that amount. It would have taken all my emergency savings and increased the break-even point on the refi to 63 months, so I'm abandoning the loan. My lock will expire Monday.

Something kind of strange happened with the lock. MMNJ said I'd locked in at 5.0% with 1 point. 4 weeks later after the subordination came back, he said he'd goofed on the pricing and the actual rate was going to be 5.5% with 1 point or 5.0% with 3 points. Kind of sketchy, but he blamed it on the newness of the product and confusion in the paperwork based on my starting off as FHA and later switching to MHA. Fannie Mae has a 1.5% penalty for being >95% CLTV with 2 mortgages, and some lenders price in extra, either for >95% or just for MHA in general. MMNJ's GFE had very few fees on it, a (I think - don't have it in front of me) $695 origination fee was the only fee going to him. I'm out the $400 appraisal fee and the $250 subordination fee, but MMNJ never asked for any money from me. I shopped around and couldn't beat TitleServ's closing and title costs, even with the attorney that closed my original loan. After I said that buying down wasn't an option, he offered to do the loan at no profit and cut the money I'd have to come up with by $1k, which was a really generous offer based on the amount of work he and his staff did on my loan.

I wasn't comfortable having a single income, working in the tech field, and draining my savings completely right now. The appraisal is good for 120 days, I'm not sure of the subordination. If rates dip again by August and I can bulk up my savings I may yet be able to refi. If not, my rates are fixed and affordable and I'll be able to get rid of the 2nd within 3-5 years. If the worst happens and I'm laid off, I'll still have almost 2 year's expenses in the bank.

Interesting thread. Could I suggest a shorthand of MHA-R and MHA-M to help distinguish between Making Home Affordable refinance loans and Making Home Affordable modifications?

The programs are quite different. But if my experience getting an MHA-R refi closed earlier this month is normal, even professionals who should know better are mixing up the programs. (We started by talking to our previous servicer, Chase. For over a month after the programs went live, every call I made was eventually transferred to someone who wanted to know about my financial hardship.)

I GOT THE SAME RESPONSE. CALLED LAST WEEK AND WAS TOLD THAT "PHASE II" WHATEVER THAT IS, HAS BEEN PUT OFF UNTIL JULY. FIRST I WAS TOLD TO HOLD ON TO ALL MY PAPERWORK AND I WAS "LOCKED INTO A 5.2 RATE" NOW IT HAS ALL BEEN THROWN OUT. I EVEN HAD TO PAY 350.00 FOR AN APPRASAL ON MY HOUSE. BS - TIRED OF CALLING BANK OF AMERICA IN FLORIDA.

My wife and I just closed on our MHA Refinance last Tuesday evening. The process in total took a bit longer than I thought it would but Wells Fargo says they are completely swamped with these requests as well as modifications. We applied on May 7th and locked in at 5% with 0.125% origination fee. The process was very painless in regards to what we had to provide. It was completely stated income/stated assets. The only thing Wells Fargo did was verify we were employed and ran our credit. They never requested any other documents from us. All in all it was a pretty easy experience and I'm happy with knocking our rate down 1.125%.