Success Stories

Peter and Lucy came to see us in July of 2014.  At that time they were more than 5 years behind in the mortgage and $172, 000 behind.  Their mortgage balance was $483,369 at 6.75% interest only.  They reason for the delinquency was from his business that had lost income when the economy was down.  They were also taking care of Lucy’s parents.  They had tried using a modification company out of Florida that could not get them a modification due to insufficient income.  The business was starting to pick back up and the income was also on the rise.

Over the next 4 months we worked with them and their lender RCS to try and get to a workout option.  In October 2014 they were approved for a 3 month trial modification.  Their trial payment was $3,081.39 including escrow.  After the 3^rd payment was made in December of 2014 RCS started working on permanent modification documents.  The final modification documents were sent to Peter and Lucy in January 2015 they received the permanent modification documents.

They were given a HAMP modification 2% for the first 5 years going up to 3.875 in the 7^th year. With a maturity date of March 1, 2036. They were also given a $186,000 deferred principal reduction, with a borrower incentive of $83.33 per month for the first five year that will be reduced from the deferred principal balance.

David came to see us in August of 2015.  They were 48 months behind in the mortgage.  Their loan was an FHA loan at 5.25% with Bayview as their servicer.  The reason they fell behind in their mortgage was due to loss of income from his business.

We submitted a workout package to Bayview in Sept of 2015. After sending over some additional paperwork in September and October they were approved for a trial modification in November of 2015.  Their trial payment was $1,441.90 for December 2015, and January, February 2016.  After the trial period was over they would get a principal reduction of $107,013 and their interest rate would drop down to 2.125% for the first 5 years and would cap off at 3.875 for the remaining term of the loan which FHA left at 264 months.

George and Dorothy came to see us in May of 2015.  George is 82 and Dorothy is 67.  Dorothy has had ongoing medical issues which has reduced their income. The medical bill plus the loss of income starting in 2013 when both borrowers were unemployed.  Dorothy is not able to work due to these health reasons.  They are both on Social Security and George also works a part-time job 25-35 hrs. a week.  Their income is $4,700/month with a mortgage payment of $1,230/month.

When they came in for their initial appointment they were over a year behind in the mortgage.  They had done a modification previously in 2011.  The house was also being put up for sheriff’s sale at the end of June 2015.  When I originally met with them I let them know the urgency of getting the RMA back to us ASAP so that we could get the sale postponed while the servicer was looking over their RMA to see if they qualified for any other workout options.

We submitted the original RMA by the next week and were able to get Chase to postpone the sale while they were looking over the workout package.  In July of 2015 they were approved for a 3 month trial modification at $805.66/month including escrows.  In November 2015 they received the permanent modification documents.  The modification is a HAMP, which includes a principal reduction of $100,193.46 over the next 3 years as long as payments are made on time each month.  The loan starts at 2% for the first 5 years, going up to 3% in year 6, and goes up to 3.75% for years 7-25.

Amy started working with our agency beginning in 2013.  Her original hardship was a loss of income due to unemployment.  In 2013 we helped her get the Illinois Hardest Hit mortgage assistance through the Illinois Housing Development Authority.  She was able to receive the full assistance of 18 months starting in August of 2013.

In May of 2015 Amy again reached out to our agency for assistance as she was still struggling with the mortgage payments and was severely underemployed still.  Her Payment at that time was $1,102.96/month including escrows.  We then had her fill out and complete a new RMA for SPS.  After providing some additional documents as requested from the servicer Amy received a 3 month trial modification.  In December 2015 she received the final modification documents.  Her Interest rate of 4% for 20 years with a deferred principal balance of $92,000.  Her payment is now $856.56/including escrows.

George and Gloria came to our agency in March of 2015.  Their loan is an FHA loan at 5% with US Bank.  They were one month behind in the mortgage at that time.  They were both unemployed at the same time in 2014 and were not able to keep paying their mortgage with the income they are making now.

We submitted the workout package to US Bank in June 2015.  In July of 2015 they were approved for a 4 month trial HAMP modification.  Once the 3^rd payment was made we talked to the bank about the permanent modification.  In December 2015 they received the permanent modification documents.  The modification was a HAMP modification at a fixed rate of 4.25% for 30 years.  They also received a partial claim on the property of $44,637.86.  Their new modified payment is $1,445.91 down from their old payment of $1,904.47.

Juan came to see us on August 1, 2013.  They had a sale date for August 8, 2013.  They were 2 years behind on the mortgage.  The delinquency started when Juan lost his job in 2009 and did not become re-employed until 2011.  During this time however the taxes, which were always escrowed,  were not paid by Chase Bank, and the property was sold at a tax sale.

So while Juan was on unemployment during this time they also had to hire a lawyer to keep them from being evicted.  They had been paying on the mortgage during this time because of Juan’s wife, Reyna, who is not on the mortgage, but does contribute 100% of her self-employment income towards all household bills.  On July 2, 2013 we had called and talked to the servicer and they had told us they would not be able to stop the sale at this point in time, because of how close to the sale date we were already.

Over that weekend Juan and his daughter went into the local branch and talked to Neeshond who got Chase to push back the sale date 30 days and review them again for modification.  We then talked to the single point of contact who was requesting several additional documents.   We submitted the new modification through Hope Loan Port in September of 2013.   The file was then submitted to underwriting in October 2013.  The sale date was pushed back to November 2013.

While the File was under review the sale date was changed several more times and additional documents were requested and additional questions were asked over the next several months. Reyna talked with Judith, the new single point of contact, that they were denied modification again because there was not enough income.  This however was not the case since they could show that they could support the current payment and even a possible increase in payment of a modification.  They were told that their only option at this point would be some type of repayment plan with a large down payment of between $15,000-$17,000.

In May 2014 Chase was saying that they were denied due to not enough income, we escalated the case to HUD-NCS. We also at this point had to submit a new RMA to Chase since they were denying them based on not enough income. By June of 2014 the file was back into underwriting and should have a decision in 30 days.   The sale of the property was also suspended for the 5^th time by this point.  Also in June of 2014 the foreclosure activity on the property was suspended while they were reviewing the file.

In Sept. 2014 and October 2014 additional income documents were requested, there was some confusion about Juan’s employment status.  In November of 2014 we were informed that Chase had made a decision on the most recent request for modification.  After almost 2 more months of Chase not needing any documents and not giving us any updates, Juan was approved for a HAMP trial modification in January of 2015.

In May 2015 they received permanent modification documents.  The new interest rate is 3.5%for 30 years and their new payment is $1,129.52.

When we start working with them in 2011, they have trouble making the payments because Joel is the only person working at home and the company he work for reduced his hours. They had a 1^st and 2^nd mortgage, both with Bank of America.  They came to us because they had originally gotten a modification through Bank of America, but they came back to them after several payments were made and said that they should have never received the modification.  After having to talk to the Office of the President at Bank of America, they were finally able to review them for modification.

We helped them to apply for a loan modification and were also helping them apply for the Illinois Hardest Hit Fund program.   At that time they didn’t qualify for assistance from HHF because they could not show an income reduction of 25% or more.

On October 2012. They have a loan modification offered under the U.S. Department of Justice and State Attorneys General Global Settlement. They had FORGIVEN $ 143,603.57 of the outstanding principal on the loan, they also had $26,391.18 deferred to the end of the loan and a HAMP Step rate modification   starting at 2% for the first 5 years, going up to 3% in year 6 and 3.375% in years 7-25.  This helped  reduce their payment from $1,230.88 to $736.11.

In January of 2013 the home owner lost his job after receiving the modification. We helped them to reapply for HHF assistance.  In March of 2013 they were approved for the HHF assistance.

November 2014, Marilu called us again because they needed help with the second mortgage, Which had been sold to SPS. We helped them to apply for the Modification to their second Mortgage. After over 6 months of trying communicating with the bank and sending documents to them.

Finally on June 2015, they received the notice from their Mortgage Company. They qualified for a trial modification payments for 3 months they reduced their payment from $155.21 to $81.47.

August 2015 they received the documents for the permanent modification on the second mortgage.  $81.47 at 2% for the life of the loan.

When Rodrigo called our office for the first time in April of 2015, he told me that he needed our help to apply for loan modification and he said that a person who had received assistance from our office before had referred them to call us.

He explained that since November of 2014 he was trying to apply for a loan modification. Rodrigo had tried several times to request a modification of his mortgage and they had always denied the Loan Modification. Rodrigo says the bank denied the modification because were missing documents and sometimes he did not understand what they were asking him for because his first language is Spanish.

He came to our office to see if he had any chance to receive a modification to his mortgage.

We sent in the documents for review in June 2015 and after 2 months of filling out forms and sending documents to the bank, they were approved for FHA trial period plan agreement for 3 months.

On January 2016 they received the permanent modification to their loan, the bank lowered the interest from 5.5% to 4.375%  for 30 years.  Their mortgage payments were reduced from $1,704.99 to $1,153.96.

On August 2012, they called us because they needed help trying to get their mortgage modification. They were put into unemployment plan. About a month later Claro received a call from their mortgage company asking for full payments or they will put the house for sale. After trying to talk to the Mortgage Company and talking to the supervisors from the bank, they were given the opportunity to continue making mortgage payments.

The end of 2012, Guadalupe and Claro told us that they had filled out the application for HHF program at another agency, but that agency did not have anyone who spoke Spanish and they wanted to know if they could change the application to our office. In January 2013, they received the approval from the HHF program.

July 2014, Guadalupe called our office looking for assistance trying to get a Modification to her Mortgage.  After we applied for the Modification, they received a letter from the Mortgage Company after almost 3 months of trying to get the modification. Midland Mortgage didn’t approved the Modification because they did not have any evidence that showed the reduction of their salaries.

At the beginning of January 2015 I called Guadalupe to ask how everything was going and she said she want to know if we can help her to try again and see if they would approve a loan modification to their Mortgage. They had not missed mortgage payments but they had reduced income.

Guadalupe & Claro came to the office for counseling and after we send the application with the supporting documents to the Mortgage Company they received the approval from Midland Mortgage on March 2015, they received a FHA HAMP trial modification payments for 3 months at $937.27.

By the end of July 2015 they received the Permanent Modification packet which made a change in the payment of $644.22 from their original payment of $1,556.97.