Adventures in Foreclosure- Part 2

When the economy was at its lowest point and my brother was entirely without work, he started using his savings to pay his mortgage, gas, food, utilities. He used the rest of his savings to pay for an unexpected car repair and for his wife’s emergency dental care.

Then it was gone and he started falling behind on his mortgage payments. By the time work picked up, he was several months behind and there was not enough available work to make up the difference.

When he fell behind, his bank sent him a loan modification workout package to fill out and said he might qualify for a loan modification under HAMP. In a story that will be familiar to far too many homeowners, my brother filled out the workout application, drafted a hardship statement, sent the bank all of the documents it asked for and then waited.

…

Then he called the bank’s loss mitigation hotlineand found out that the bank had lost his paperwork. So he sent it in again.

….

Then he called the bank’s loss mitigation hotline and found out that the bank needed more documents. So he sent those in.

….

Then he called the bank’s loss mitigation hotline and found out that the original loan modification processor who had been assigned to his account had resigned and all of the voicemail messages he had been leaving during the prior months hadn’t been picked up. The bank told him he needed to start over. So he filled out the workout application, drafted a hardship statement, sent the bank all of the documents it asked for and then waited.

By this time, he was back on top of his mortgage payments but he was still struggling.

….

Then he called the bank’s loss mitigation hotline and was told that he needed to be at least three months behind on his mortgage before the bank would help him. That, of course, is a lie. But he didn’t know that. He thought if he was a few months behind, then he would qualify for HAMP, and everything would be ok.

Is this starting to sound familiar?

After my brother was several months behind in his payments, the bank advised him that it was rejecting his HAMP application. Its explanation? “Negative cash flow. Ineligible for HAMP.”

So now we’re full circle. A little over a year ago, my brother finally told me what was happening and asked me to help him. And at that point, it was almost too late.