Finally! some (real) help

The Making Homes Affordable Program that went into affect some time ago is finally starting to make a difference. With the recent press reports about the big banks and mortgage servicers not doing much with all the money they received from TARP to help distressed home owners, they have (finally) started doing actual long term Note modifications.

This program, which started almost a year ago, has now enrolled some one million borrowers into it. I should note that temporary modifications are in this total, but at least now there are some permanent modifications being granted. This number is still only about 30% of the target 4 million borrowers that may be enrolled by the end of 2012.

The idea of the program is to help homeowners in trouble get a loan payment that is about 31% of their true (family) gross income.

One reason they are not doing more is that most lenders say you have to be 60 days behind before they can get help. Not true! You may have to take a temporary modification as first step, but they can do something before you get behind with missed payments.

That said, if you are in need of a home loan modification call your loan servicer (who you make your payment to) and tell them you need help. Be polite but persistent.

You will have to provide detailed income and asset information but in the long run, it can save you thousands in monthly payment late fee’s and bad credit ratings.