Well, I've finally decided to go through the modification process. The first place wanted me to skip a couple payments, but that was not something I wanted to do so I gave up on the idea.
The worst part is my mortgage company was one of the top three in the country and for months didn't return my calls, like when the rates were 4.5%, and when I finally had enough and started pushing buttons (both on the phone and with their office staff) I got through to someone. About 8 people/phone numbers later they finally tell me that I qualify for the "Homeowners Affordability and Stability Program" which would put me at a fixed rate that is higher than what I'm at now, and will increase my payment about $300+ per month!! Yeah, that's the "affordability and stability" program??
Then I met with an attorney who told me that he felt I had a strong case even being in good standing with a great credit score. When all the totals were tallied up, I'm at about 85-90% Debt-to-Income Ratio (the banks like you to be less than 65% or thereabouts). He told me he has no idea how I've done this for the past 5 years, but I have. When I told him my mortgage company, he told me they were going our of business in the mortgage loan industry because of fraud. I was sure I'm going to do something because it pisses me off that I could have had a fixed 4.5% if they had just returned my call! But I was current and not a threat of loss, so they didn't care.
Now I'm with a new company, who sent me a late notice for my August mortgage which I sent the first of August to my (then) mortgage company. On Aug 18 the new company drafted a letter that I received Aug 24th stating that the old company stopped accepting payments on Aug 11th...a week prior to the drafting of the letter! But my payment was a whole ten days prior to that, and now they want a $56 late fee??? Screw that. So I sent an email and got an automatic reply stating that they aren't going to charge late fees for the first couple months while the transition occurs. what the hell? Now I'm trying to make my Sept payment and haven't recieved anything from them, and seeing as how I pay towards the principle every month I have no idea what my current payment is, plus the impounds. So I'm not going to pay mortgage for another month until someone gets their act together. They claimed that my check would be sent to them from the first company, so I'm not going to pay it again and risk having a mortgage check bounce.
What a freaking mess. I hope something good comes of this. But right now I'm pretty stressed about all of this crap.
