When a person is having great difficulty staying current with their mortgage payments, one option that might be able to help them get back to a manageable position regarding their mortgage (and away from a possible foreclosure) is negotiating a loan modification with their lender.
Recent statistics indicate that, while loan modifications are down from the levels they were at a few years ago, there are still plenty of loan modifications reached here in America.
It is estimated that, in 2015, around 420,000 permanent mortgage loan modifications occurred. This constitutes nearly three-tenths of all foreclosure alternatives reached between borrowers and lenders/servicers that year.
One class of mortgage loan modifications are HAMP modifications. These are modifications governed by the special rules of the federal Home Affordable Mortgage Program. Only certain types of mortgage loans qualify for HAMP modifications. According to the above-mentioned statistics, HAMP modifications made up over a fourth of all permanent mortgage loan modifications in 2015.
While loan modification can be a possibility for individuals having mortgage trouble, getting a mortgage lender to agree to a modification can sometimes be difficult. Another thing that can be challenging is getting the right kind of new terms when a lender is open to a modification. A modification’s helpfulness to a homeowner can be significantly blunted without the right new terms. Thus, when seeking to negotiate a mortgage loan modification with a lender, it can be very important for homeowners here in Texas to have a lawyer with experience in loan modification matters help them with negotiations.
Source: HousingWire, “HOPE NOW: 1.45 million homeowners rescued from foreclosure in 2015,” Cynthia Barraza, March 4, 2016