The Constant Transfer of Mortgages Weighs on Homeowners

Has your mortgage informed you that a new company is in charge of your mortgage? You are not alone. The loans are changing hands like hot potatoes!

In a recent article on New York Times website, a Maryland homeowner,Wanda Darden of Riverdale, Md., talks about being bounced to three separate servicers in the span of a two years. As these servicers have sprouted, there was hope that they would offer better services to homeowners but problems have persisted if not multiplied. First, as you can imagine, moving from one company to another means the headache of stopping loan modification efforts midstream and starting over with another company. It is bad enough that most lenders and servicers seem to lose documents and files all the time let alone having to start over just when you thought your file was finally ready for a modification review.

Secondly, some homeowners have alleged that modifications that were granted previously were later yanked for no apparent reason when the loan was transferred. Imagine finding out the loan modification that took you two years to get vanishes into thin air. The new servicer is clueless and you are stuck trying to explain over and over again that you were already approved. You think this is far fetched just look at the New York Times article profiling a Montana homeowner whose loan modification with Bank of America vanished after the loan was transferred to another lender.The loan modification process continues to be a real sore spot for homeowners desperately trying to save their homes. Unfortunately, it seems that our governments and leaders do not have the energy or power to do more to help homeowners. I think it is utterly ludicrous homeowners who are able and willing to save their homes have to wait six months to three years for a decision on a loan modification. You may say, well they should be happy to stay in the home mortgage payment free for that time, but the lack of resolution that hangs over their heads can be devastating. The not-knowing means that lives are put on hold until an answer is granted. For homeowners trying to save their dream homes this becomes all consuming task. In turn this has direct impact on our economy as economic decisions hinge on whether a loan modification will be forthcoming or not. The longer these people are on the hook the more it takes out of the general economy.Sooner or later, both State and Federal governments, will have to revisit this issue especially as interest rates reset on modified loans. The potential drag on the economy and the impact on families is too great to ignore.Joseph K. Githuku410-849-9529