Well Obama has “allowed” homeowners to modify their loans. “Allowed”, but banks have to cooperate. The administration has however forgotten about investors like me. Some say it can be done, while others disagree. When 40% of all properties in the US are owned by investors, if the administration is serious about getting out of this mortgage created financial black hole, then loan mods for investors like me need to be considered.
Anyways, I decided to check out a few firms to modify my loan. Round about December 2008, I saw an ad by a traffic light and called up. There was a woman at the other end. And she said, YES we can modify for anybody. She said all I had to do was to give her 3000 USD. I thought to myself “Wow! if that is all I have to go thru, then this could be it”. So in curiosity I asked her what rate she could bring it down to….and she said “Well there are no guarantees!” What???!!! 3000 USD and no guarantees??!!! Ok smelled fraud and hung up. Well this was an ad on the side of the road; So I said to myself…no more calling up numbers seen around traffic lights:)
But as the months passed I started hearing legitimate(well thru legitimate media) advertisements via the radio…from law offices promising loan mods. I called all that I heard…3 of them. They all took messages and then all called back. All wanted to see me in their offices to give me a quote(yep take a few hours from my busy life and go see them..) In the end(of the 3 I heard over the radio) I selected something called “CPLS or CPLSPA”. They had a downtown office and was in the same building where I used to work once upon a time.
So I go to this “CPLSPA”’s office downtown. Nice office. Then the receptionist asks me to fill a form and I found all kinds of personal info asked therein, which I refused to answer(ssn, license number, dob, employer name etc). Anyways the gal at the counter overlooked that and asked me to wait. After 15 mins I was ushered in to a conference room, where I met this guy(I think he is a lawyer). The guy took data from me about my loan etc…empathized with me and said “of course we can help”. I was thrilled! So in curiosity I asked him how much it would cost me…The lawyer man told me it would be 1200 USD upfront + 250/pm for 3 months. Wow! So this was better than the 3000 deal with those guys I had from the wayside! 
Within 2000 USD my worries would be over . So I queried.. would my loan rate be brought down to ~4.5 -6% fixed? The lawyer man said, “there are no guarantees!” Again!!! I heard the “guarantee” word again!
In short folks, this whole thing about a third party helping to modify your loan looks a bogus deal. Without guarantees(what the end rate will be or by how much percentage your current rate would be brought down to) I think nobody should go into business with any of these law firms. The lawyers are going to milk this wealth creating opportunity to the hilt. It is too early to tell how many people will fall for this C- – - P! But this is going on. The media never seems to see all this until these snowball into another mega controversy. The fourth estate sleeps like they slept during the mortgage boom and poncy schemes :^). The fourth estate is a reactionary organization.
I tried to hire a third party because I have no time to do this on my own. I am now determined to go at it alone! And you should too, if you really want to modify your loan(no guarantees here either, but at least there would be no loss of physical money!) Third parties(as it stands today) are too good to be true. So if it is too good to be true, follow mummy’s advice!
