A quick followup to last months entry about loan modifications.  If you are currently trying to modify your loan and your lender also sends you documentation to fill out for a short sale… Please be aware that by filling out short sale documentation and submitting it to your bank, you may have just killed your loan modification. 

  The bank has two separate departments, one for loan modifications and short sales.  Once the loan mod department is notified that you ahve submitted paperwork to qualify for a short sale, they assume you no longer want your loan modified and close your case file. 

 

Now back to today’s message: I currently have a mortage that was serviced by Taylor Bean & Whitaker (TB&W).  If you recall on August the 4th, federal regulators shut this institution down.  I, of course, pay my mortage between the 5th and 10th of every month trying to squeeze out every penny of interest before I give it to the mortgage company.  Last week when attempting to go online and pay, TB&W could not find my loan and asked me to call them.  I did, but the number was busy. 

 I then did some research thus finding out that Bank of America (BofA) will be my new servicer.  I called BofA to see if they had my loan, and they stated that they had not received all of the loans from TB&W but would have them over the next 2-3 weeks.  I asked her how was I supposed to make my payment… What about the late fees??? 

 She calmly stated that they would all be waived and not to worry and that I would be receiving a letter in 1-2 weeks stating where I could send my payment. 

 This news, of course, gave me no solace because I know that I will not be able to make my payment until sometime early September.  I most likely will have a 30 day late mortgage payment on my credit report.  I should be able to get this fixed, but it may take several months. 

The lesson to be learned here, I guess, if you think your mortgage company is going to be taken down by the feds, make sure you have the ability to pay your mortgage by other means other than electronically. 

Raichart Out….