Negotiating with our mortgage company can be a very scary process when we are facing foreclosure. In many cases, we could be dealing with people who don’t really care about our plight and they only want us to make the payment soon. This can be a rather frustrating situation, especially if they threaten to summon the law enforcement to come to our front door. In this case, we should successfully negotiate with our mortgage company to make sure that we can modify our mortgage. When we first contact the company, the first person who talks to us could be someone from the loss mitigation department. After we explain our plight, they could transfer us to a different department, such as the collection departments. This would be the time when we start to wonder why we are being transferred to collections. Regardless of the department that we will work with, it is a question that we can’t answer properly. Things can be a rather complicated at this stage and someone from the company could tell us that our house is undervalue, which is not a good thing.
When the company says that our house is undervalued, it could mean that refinancing is out of question. After some pause, we could be offered the forbearance agreement, which applies only if we are behind, however there’s no guarantee that we are qualified for it. At this stage, the whole process would look increasingly complicated, with no prospect of conclusion. We could also be offered some government-sponsored programs that could finally give us a solution. During the questioning process, we should look for ways to make ourselves qualified for any of these programs. We should be able to assure our situation without showing that we are in doubt. However, there’s a possibility that we are getting nowhere after the first try. Each person we speak with in each department could show no compassion and they may also have an air of arrogance. Needless to say, we may not feel too empowered about this situation and we may not be able to accomplish anything. However, we should try to break the deadlock once again and see whether we are able to make progress.
We should work with professionals who are familiar with the mortgage modification process. These people should help us navigate through the dark and murky waters of mortgage negotiation process. Without these people, we could be left annoyed and frustrated. In this case, we could still feel no empowerment. It is important to find professional assistance, take good notes and ask a lot of questions. Before we call the mortgage company, we should be aware that each company could have different modification process. When negotiating with the mortgage company, we should write down the name of each person we speak with and record the conversation. We should expect to be put on hold and it may take hours as we talk with these people on the phone. We could prepare some snack and a cup of coffee. It is also important to prepare enough information, such as insurance bills, taxes, mortgage statements and paystubs.
