Who Will Lose?

We, among many thousands of people applied for a loan modification on our home. Circusmstances have changed a lot since we bought it and the result has been that we have had to cash in retirement monies and sell collections to keep up with the payments. Because of lingering and worsening physical conditions as well, we cannot do a buch of little extra jobs to make up the difference.

The difference has come about in two ways...number one, I quit a good job to homeschool my grandson and care for his siblings. I based this first of all, on his need. Secondly, my husband, who is a salesman of advertising specialties, was doing well. His income was increassing on a steady and reliable basis over the last five years. So, it was our desire that I could retire from that job anyway. What better excuse than a grandchild needing you?

But alas! The increasing of my husband's income not only came to a screeching halt, but overall, he is down in sales over last year. It is the economy. Many of his customers are struggling or going out of business. They cannot justify buying gadgets for advertising when they can't even pay their rent. It is not just his delemna...many in his company are down in overall sales this year.

A side business we had hope in, has also fallen prey to the economy. Even though it deals with health issue solutions, many people are struggling so much that they have to even toss those thoughts by the wayside.

So, you turn to your lender for help, right? Keep in mind, that I was with a mortgage company that got bought out and therefore inheirited my current lender. THEY decided not to sell my loan to a government program...what choice did I have? What a nightmare! First, we went to them BEFORE we were seriously late in payments. Trying to work out something that would keep evereyone happy. The thought was, that since we had even tried to find part-time supplemental work, things had not produced that way. This house is older...over forty years...and while in an establish and stable neighborhood, still is not considered prime property. I find it ludicruous that I was not part of choosing my new lender, and they inherited this old house, yet...don't want to work with us.

Oh, they gave us a "loan mod"...one of those that raises your payment and adjusts NOTHING!!!! This house is upside down in value...by a HUGE amount....again, I (we) had nothing to do with that either! This house will NOT bring anywhere CLOSE to the loan value should they sell it at auction. I compared comps in the area and they are down well over $100,000. A short sale would not do much better. so, why is the bank being so stubborn? According to them "we are in this business to make money. If we rewrite loans unnecessarily, it will cost us millions!" Duh! Do they think short sales and auctions will make them more than working with people who want to keep their upside-down loan homes? We did not ask for a reduction in the prinicpal of the loan...just the interest so we can afford it. Apparently, they think we WILL somehow magically be able to continue these now even higher payments...MAKES NO SENSE!

Well, at our ages, we cannot work extra jobs much anyway. We both have physical limitations and challenges. While we continue to work on those, and try hard not to let them get us down too far, we must be realistic enought to admit they exist. But the bank does not seem to care about that either. I will never be able to understand how they figure forcing people to walk away from their homes that they had hoped to make permanent residences, and trying to collect balances due after foreclosures, etc. could possibly make them more money than allowing the person to reduce their payment, but continue to pay the duration of the loan. This would recoup the principal and still make money on the reduced interest. Doesn't that make MUCH more sense???

Do these people even have college educations that are making these decisions? Oh excuse me, even an elementary student could figure that equation!!!!