What You Need to Know about Loan Modification Packages

Loan Modification and the Homeowner: What You Need to Know About Loan Modification Packages

If you have received a a foreclosure notice or missed a few mortgage payments, know that you are not alone. In 2012, an estimated 2.1 million foreclosure filings were made in the United States. More than ever, Americans are finding themselves facing the repossession of their homes due to any number of reasons, including a sudden fall in property value paired with increased interest rates and unanticipated hardships including a loss or decrease in wages, debilitating illnesses, death in the family, or adjustable rate increases. If you have received a home foreclosure notice, or are about to miss a mortgage payment, don’t panic just yet. Contacting your mortgage lender and seeking professional counsel regarding a loan modification package can significantly improve your chances of escaping foreclosure and creating a sustainable payment plan.

What is Loan Modification?

Loan modification can either be sought out by the homeowner or offered by the homeowner’s bank. The purpose of loan modification is to make monthly payments more affordable, allowing the struggling mortgage holder to catch up on missed payments. This modification can benefit the homeowner by either reducing the interest rate, changing it from either an adjustable rate to a fixed rate or changing how the adjustable rate gets computed, a reduction in the principal, reduction in late fees, a lengthening of the loan term, capping the monthly payment to a percentage of the total household income, or a mortgage forbearance program.

What Is a Loan Modification Package?

A loan modification package is the documents necessary to apply for a loan modification. There are two main ways a loan modification package might be obtained. Either this might be the package of documents requested by your lender after the homeowner seeks a loan modification, or it is a pre-prepared document package prepared and sent out by the mortgage-holder’s bank. Bank-prepared loan modification programs may offer either a trial modification or a permanent modification. Paperwork often necessary in a loan modification package includes a hardship letter, current financial statement, projected financial statement, home valuation, federal tax returns, W-2s, pay stubs, and bank statements covering the previous year. 

In general, the bank or mortgage lender is often motivated to make terms agreeable to the borrower, as it is in the lender’s interest to make it possible for the borrower to afford the loan at available terms, because a paid loan over time is more valuable than what proceeds may be obtainable from a foreclosure sale. This is especially true with the current downturn it the housing market. However, to get the best terms possible, it is highly advisable for the homeowner to seek professional counsel from experts in the foreclosure and loan modification areas. Legal counsels can help the mortgage holder in filling out the documents necessary for the loan modification package and can intervene on behalf of the homeowner with the bank or other mortgage service lender.

Being late and missing a mortgage payment or being issued a foreclosure notice is nothing for the homeowner to be ashamed about. It is an unfortunate but common reality that more Americans than ever are finding themselves needing financial counsel when it comes to the terms of their home mortgage. Don’t risk losing your home, consult a professional today regarding either filing a loan modification package for submission or filling out a bank or lender-prepared loan modification package today.