A Non-Profit Should do your Loan Modification!

Today’s economic climate is fraught with uncertainty.  Nobody seems to know where we’re headed.  Every few months we hear that “hopefully the worst is over” or “maybe the housing market has reached its bottom.”  Unfortunately that hasn’t happened, and economists agree on little except that the worst isn’t over, and we very well may be looking at another couple years of this.

Government has done little to help the ‘little guy.’  Corporate giants such as banks, insurance companies, and auto makers have all received their bailouts.  In some cases more than once.  A token tax break does little to help the guy struggling to pay his mortgage, car payment, credit cards, utilities, and then put food on the table for his family. 

Federal, state, and local government has put a good face on it by sponsoring loan modification initiatives.  Unfortunately these programs are inundated with applications.  They’re ill-equipped to deal with demand,.  At best they can provide a service that will gather the necessary financial information to begin the process for a loan modification, and then simply and then the file stalls out as the lender has just too many files to process before the documentation submitted becomes outdated.  The process and assistance individuals receive from government sponsored Non-Profit Organizations is at best, very passive in nature, and passive doesn’t work when dealing with a bank.  It’s shockingly ineffective.  A simple web search will reveal how appallingly bad these programs have been in providing relief for homeowners. 

Another alternative presented to a distressed homeowner was to pay a third party “for-profit” company (many of which were law firms or companies that adopted names to make themselves sound like they were part of the Federal government)  to help them approach their mortgage company to complete a loan mod.  This appeared to be a better option until it was evident that many of these “for-profit” companies were formed to do nothing more than charge people up to $5000.00 for empty promises that delivered nothing but more stress and heartache.  Both state and federal governments have since pasted regulations and laws which has effectively put these con-artists out of business.

So where does that leave the borrower?   They still need the help, the banks and mortgage service companies are still swamped with files, frustration remains as high as it has ever been and people are still continuing to lose their homes and suffer financially.

Mortgage companies continue to urge their borrowers just be patient and simply allow them to do the loan modification.  This is the same company that put their borrower in an untenable loan to begin with, and now that the borrower has fallen behind—and now that the mortgage company is trying to collect on a debt—would have the borrower believe that they will make everything alright because they have their borrower’s best interest at heart.   

Fortunately there is a better option.  There are organizations out there such as The ASCENT Network (a non-profit organization) that will provide the advocacy that the borrower so desperately needs.  ASCENT receives no federal tax payer funding and their fees for services are structured to be affordable to as many homeowners as possible.  ASCENT’s approach is a total one.  They’ll not only complete a loan mod, but also work with their members to re-establish their credit afterwards.  It’s refreshing to find an organization that will truly do more for less.