Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center – “It’s a jungle out there, kiddies…” – Jimmy Buffet
Jimmy Buffet wasn’t talking about the home loan modification process, but he could have been. For home owners attempting to pick their way through a loan modification on their own, the experience is not much different than heading into the wild without a guide. Getting lost (waiting weeks for a reply to the simplest questions), taking wrong turns requiring backtracking (multiple submissions of the same paperwork), and surprise attacks from wildlife (rejection of your application for the slightest mis-step) are all part of the territory.
Steven Feldman, of The Feldman Law Center in Mission Viejo, California said recently, “We’ve negotiated loan modifications with just about every lender and servicer in the business. It’s amazing how each one has a slightly different method of measuring qualifying criteria, how much weight certain information carries, and what constitutes a deal breaker.”

The same information submitted to different lenders will often result in completely different outcomes. Amounts in disposable income, in terms of what is too much and what is too little, have different thresholds at different lenders. The same can be said for debt-to-income ratios, current income, expenses, and estimated payment capability. The tiniest of variations in set parameters between lenders can make a huge difference in the number and types of homeowners that qualify for home loan modifications.

The key for homeowners is to align themselves with firms that are familiar with what each lender considers as the key targets for financial information. To that, Mr. Feldman said, “Having executed over six hundred modifications, we feel like we have a pretty good handle on what each lender/servicer is looking for in terms of what financial information qualifies an applicant and what doesn’t.” He added, “Back in the day, mortgages were a pretty straightforward proposition. A fixed interest rate, 360 identical payment coupons, and payoff at maturity in thirty years were the standard. Now, with so many moving parts in a mortgage, you have to stay on top of all them because they all inter-relate and a couple of bucks here or there can make the difference between getting what you want and being turned down.”

The company line for lenders and servicers is that they follow parameters set within the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program, but attorneys with hundreds of executed modifications behind them tend to disagree. Mr. Feldman is one of them. He said, “We know of several instances where homeowners with almost identical incomes, ratios, etc. applied with different lenders. There were approvals by one lender while others were turned down. The key is knowing what the lenders want so the information can be presented in a manner that suits their protocol.”

Getting a guide for a trip in through a jungle is seen as plain common sense. Just like going on safari, the complexities of negotiating a successful home loan modification require guidance with expertise, knowledge, and experience. Get an attorney to guide your home loan modification. It may not save your life but it could save your home.