When the Obama Making Homes Affordable Program was announced, I knew many people, including myself, that were excited and intended to apply for this amazing sounding program. We reviewed the governmental website, http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/modification_eligibility.html and took the eligibility questionnaire that is provided on the site. The site says it can help you determine if you are eligible, but only your loan servicer can tell you if you will qualify for a home loan modification. Per the questionnaire we were eligible but would have to consult with our bank to see if we could be approved.

This started the nightmarish process with Wells Fargo our loan servicer. Our first call to our servicing provider was in April of this year. We started the call by stating we were interested in finding out about a home loan modification. The representative we spoke with that day advised us that because our loan had mortgage insurance on it, we would not be eligible for the program. Figuring that they knew what they were talking about, I ended the call. Later research revealed that the governmental site said nothing about mortgage insurance being a disqualifying factor. So, in May I called our servicer again to inquire about the program. I explained what the previous representative had advised us of. This representative stated that the previous person had been wrong; mortgage insurance did not disqualify you from the program. I was hopeful, as the banks Loss Mitigation person took a ton of information from us. After a ton of time on the phone giving all the requested information, we were advised that we made too much money to qualify for the program.

A few short weeks after the second call, my husband received notice from his employer that his position with them was being eliminated due to the recession. We were fortunate that they gave us 6 weeks advance notice to prepare. After we got over the initial shock, we realized that it was again time to contact our loan servicer, due to the upcoming changes in our financial circumstances.

We explained our previous calls and circumstances to the representative, and inquired if we should try the process now, or wait until my husband’s employment ended to try the process again. The rep stated that we should start immediately, because the process was extremely lengthy to complete. She advised that we needed to send them a hardship letter outlining the changes in our circumstances and the dates that they would be happening; is my husband last day of work was to be July 21st, 2009 and then he would be eligible for unemployment. They also needed a complete list of our expenditures, a copy of the letter from my husband’s employer. She advised us that once that paperwork was submitted it would take anywhere from 45-90 days to get a response. We promptly composed a detailed letter and a list of all expenses, then immediately faxed the requested information to them. The fax was received by them on 6/22/09. Per the advice of this rep we figured it would be quite some time before we would hear anything further.

On July 21st, the last day of my husband’s employment, a package was delivered from our loan servicer. It appeared that they had already done the assessment, but had done it on my husband’s salary from his employer. We promptly called the bank and asked for a supervisor. We were connected with a supervisor who would give no more than his first name was “Willie” and “ID# 6w4.” I advised “Willie” that we had received the package, but suspected it was assessed on the wrong amount of income. The supervisor reviewed everything, and we were right. The assessment was done on my husband’s employment income, not unemployment. I inquired why they had us write the hardship letter if they weren’t going to bother to read it, or pay attention to what it said regarding dates and amounts. Of course, Willie had no answer for me. He advised us that they assessment would have to be redone. Also, they were requiring that paperwork be updated and current every 30 days. We were 1 week short of the 30 days so he requested that we resubmit everything we had already submitted. I got irate and demanded that they do the assessment on the proper amounts, and do it before the 30 days were up; so we would not have to redo the paperwork.

A week later we received a second package from our servicer. This package did not contain a loan modification; it instead contained a letter telling us they were sorry for our hardship. The letter stated, “As discussed we have granted the payment arrangements listed below.” It offered a reduction in our payments for 6 months, but then a ludicrous balloon payment was due for the reductions in 6 months time. First of all we never discussed any payments like this with the bank, second this was not a loan modification. Thirdly, I suspected that they had done this assessment based on no income instead of our expected unemployment.

Again I called the bank, got a regular rep and asked to speak with the supervisor “Willie” again. I was advised they have no way of getting me back through to the same supervisor. So they put me through to a supervisor named, “Karen” who would give no further identifying information. I had to explain the whole stupid situation from the beginning, because she was confused by their records on us. Her records showed that we had accepted the original offer, when we had not. I had the original and inaccurate first offer in my hands; we had never signed or returned it because it was inaccurate. She advised me that our mortgage was showing 2 months late on our mortgage, even though we had not been late on any payment. This call took a substantial amount of time and I was irate when I was done.
I was right; they had done this hardship offer based off of no income for my husband. They would need to resubmit the paperwork for a proper assessment. However, we were now past the 30 day mark, so we would need to resubmit everything previously submitted, as well as a copy of our unemployment papers. I was not happy about the run around we were receiving, but I did what they wanted and resubmitted everything.  I was still upset and confused regarding how they were handling this.

I then tried to call supervisor Karen back to ask further questions, and was again advised the bank could not get me through to the same supervisor. I had enough of dealing with this situation and their call center, so I turned to the internet to find phone number listings for Wells Fargo Ceo’s. I called a number I found and put through to Mr. John Morgan in their executive offices. I figured at least this was an improvement because this man at least had a direct phone number. I had to go through explaining the whole scenario again, and explain how inefficient there system is with not allowing you to speak to the same supervisor. Mr. Morgan seemed very apologetic and I foolishly thought maybe now we would get some resolve. Mr. Morgan advised that their supervisor will, “Did not do what needed to be done.” He also advised that they did not have nearly enough paperwork from us to do a proper assessment. I could not understand how the previous inaccurate offers had arrived if they needed that much more information. Mr. Morgan cited that was why the offers were inaccurate. He then requested that we submit a ton of further information. He advised me that he would email me a list of all the documentation that they needed. When I received the email I was not happy about how much more they wanted. I called Mr. Morgan and we reviewed the list as well as the attached documents they needed filled out. Mr. Morgan assured me he would handle this from here out, but he would also be out of the office for the rest of the week, figures! I requested that he have this processed quickly do to all of their errors.

I advised him that we would promptly send the information; he actually chuckled when I said that I would send everything by fax, before the nights end. They wanted 3 months bank records, a copy of our 401k statement, a financial worksheet, a 4506-t form ( which allows them to get official copies of our taxes) as well as copies of our 2008 state and federal taxes, our W2,  a hardship affidavit, a government monitoring form, a copy of the hardship letter  and financial letter we had already sent to them twice, a copy of our unemployment letter as well as a copy of 2 checks from them, 2 of my check stubs, they wanted printed values on both of our cars, copies of our utility bills, as well as copies of our court documents regarding our children’s adoptions. I was outraged at how much they wanted. Even when we got the original loan it did not require this much. Even though I was ticked off, my husband and I dropped everything that we were doing and gathered all the requested documents. It totaled exactly 100 pages, which we faxed to him August 25 at 8:44 pm.

After several more calls, which I will not bore you with the details of, and several irate messages, Mr. Morgan finally called me back. Supposedly they were working on it, and there was nothing that could be done to expedite this, additionally he had been out of the office for a few more days. So we had no choice but to wait some more. Then the first week of September we received another package from Wells Fargo, this contained another letter, not a Loan Modification offer. This letter again stated they were sorry for our hardship, and offered a $15000 balloon payment in 6 months.

So to recap we had been being yanked around for 6 months trying to accomplish this. This time he claimed we didn’t qualify because we spent too much, and we had more than 2 months mortgage in our savings. We have now gone through enough of our savings so we no longer have more than 2 months mortgage, so we have resubmitted one final time in a vain attempt to get a modification.

I then decided to check with others who have been trying to get a home loan modification. I found one of our readers who had been working with Country Wide for several months trying to get approved for this governmental program. After many months and numerous calls, always getting a different representative on the phone, one particular rep advised our reader, that they were not getting approved because they had not been late on their mortgage. This rep told them if they were just late on one payment they would be able to get their modification through and at a rapid pace. So, the following month our reader followed the bank representative’s advice and they paid their mortgage a few weeks late. Then they called to try to get a modification, and low and behold they were advised that because they were late on their mortgage they would not qualify.

I have spoken with several locals who have explerienced they same type of run around. So, I think we all my have all spent hundreds of hours, phone calls, and paper work chasing a mythical creature or should I say a mythical home loan modification.