Caraballo & Associates

This will be a series of posts where I share with you a step-by-step account of what I am seeing, hearing and doing while I attempt my loan modification. Well, this is not actually MY loan modification but it is a modification I am helping a loved one with.

I would like to state that I am attempting this modification on my own and not going through a modification company or attorney. Although, I am asking around for advice from people that have done it, people I know in the industry and whatever research I can gather from the internet.

Because of my background in mortgages and finance, I know some of the question to ask. So as we go along I am going to add areas of concern or advice on what I think should be done at certain points.

I hope you can learn from it or maybe send it to someone that can benefit. Either way here goes.

I made my initial phone call and spoke to someone that gave me a brief rundown of what documents I needed to gather in order to send in and begin the process. After a few days the bank sent us an initial package (which was really just a couple of letters).

One letter mentioned which documents to put together and the other one was in case we were going to give permission for someone else to speak on our behalf.

Both letters had fax numbers provided:

• • One fax number was for sending over our income docs, hardship letter and financial worksheet. (which they provided)
  • The other number was for sending over the permission for a third party to speak on our behalf.

I called in after a few weeks and I was told that neither of the faxes had gone through.

I had the confirmation in my hand at the time. My initial reaction was that this was a stalling tactic on their part but it seems that they are getting so many faxes from so many people that it is easy to get lost in the shuffle. I guess I will never know the truth. (Like the X-Files)  I would advise you do not wait that long after sending in a document before calling and verifying they received it. I would only wait 3-5 days.

So I sent the documents over again. Same numbers, same documents.

I ran into a personal issue that did not allow me to call until about 3 weeks later to verify that they received the documents.

Again, I would advise only waiting 3-5 days before calling to verify. Some individuals would tell you to call everyday but I think this may be a little much. The banks are not moving very fast on these issues so usually one day is not going to be enough time for them to get all their duck in a row.

This may be the number one reason why you might want to hire someone professional and trustworthy to do all of this for you. If you hire someone, ideally they have a system and people to do the follow-ups on a controlled, scheduled basis.

Unfortunately, many of us that attempt to do it ourselves, run into our daily issues and problems and tend to not have the time or energy sometimes, to “be on the ball” as they say. Consistency is very important when it comes to your modification!

When I did speak to someone, I was told that they STILL had not received my paperwork. I asked the person on the other end of the line in a very nice tone, “Is this the banks’ way of stalling the situation?” The clerk went on t tell me that they are very busy with modification requests and that it is easy to get lost in the shuffle. The clerk then went on to ask me where I was sending the documentation and permission letter. I told her where I was faxing it and she mentioned that those fax numbers were no good.

Now hold on a second, do you mean to tell me that the numbers that were provided to me by the bank, in a letter, for me to fax over my documentation are not correct?  I had confirmation and everything! (seems to me like another X-Files moment)

I proceeded to ask the clerk why they would send me fax numbers that were not functional (supposedly). The clerk did not have an answer. I asked the clerk if this was another stalling tactic. Change the fax numbers periodically in case the public continues to send to the wrong numbers and we don’t have to do any work on these files.  She apologized for the inconvenience and provided me with the “correct” fax numbers.

So up to this point we have these rules to follow:

1. 1. 1. Do not wait more that 3-5 days to follow up on the documents being sent.
   2. 2. Verify if you are sending your documents to the “correct” destination
   3. 3. Get on a regular schedule with your calls and follow ups, if you can’t keep up the pace or don’t have the time, hire someone trusted and honest.
   4. 4. Ask if there is a place to mail the documents instead of faxing and mail them certified (this might be a little more expensive but may eliminate fax number trickery

Stay connected to read more about my experiences with my loan modification. Feel free to share your opinions of this post or your personal experiences by leaving a comment. If you would like to automatically receive these posts by email all you need to do is register to my site. As this is being done to shed some light on the subject of loan modifications, feel free to forward this to anyone you think may benefit from it.

To Your Success!

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