Home Loan Modification

 I woke up this morning and once again the first thing that popped in my head is "will I lose the house, how would I ever tell the kids?"

The bank sent me two letters yesterday. The first letter I opened tells me that they have found that my home mortgage is in default. I have until October 14, 2009 to come up with $8000 or they will begin accelerating the note. The second letter from the bank tells me that I may qualify for several different options to help me save the house.

I have heard people say that the good Lord only puts on your shoulders the weight that you can carry. Well over the last 6 years I have dealt with the sudden and tragic death of my brother, an unwanted divorce and now the possibility of losing the home that my sons have lived in for most of their lives. I think I have about enough weight of burden on my shoulders Lord.

Having gone through divorce over the last 2 years I have been wiped out financially. The divorce lawyer got a good chunk of what I had saved for retirement. I paid off accumulated debt from a failed marriage. I have been laid off twice since July of 2008. Now I am in the fight to keep my home.

Before the divorce was even final my wife moved out. When she did it put me in immediate financial hardship. I was now a single income home owner. Still I scraped and sacrificed and got the payments in. Sometimes they would be late but I never missed a mortgage payment. That was until this past February when the company that I worked for started missing payroll. To this day I am owed 8 weeks salary from that firm. I doubt I will ever get the money I am owed. Around March I got a letter from my mortgage company saying my mortgage was in default and that the foreclosure process was about to start. I called them in desparation. I had been following the news stories of loan modifications that were now being offered. I asked the mortgage company do I qualify? Their response was "maybe". I was then sent a package. I had until May to get the paper work filled out and sent back to the mortgage company. Along with the paperwork I was to enclose a check for $2000. I was able to get the fee and returned the paperwork. I was told it would take any where from 30 to 90 days to find out if I qualified. I was also told that the fee was non-refundable. Less than 20 days later I was told "Congratulations". I had been approved for a loan modification. The terms of the loan modification were: 10 years added to the length of the loan. 2% interest rate for the first five years. 3% for the sixth year and 4.75% for the remainder of the loan. My payment dropped $700 a month. I was ecstatic. I had saved my home. Something that I had been worrying about for the 2 year divorce process. No longer did I wake up with the initial thought in my head....will I lose the house?

The approval was pending that I paid on time the first three reduced mortgage payments. I knew that was going to be difficult. I still worked for a company that was missing payrolls. I was also required to pay child support to my ex. Like I said I knew divorce meant financial ruin right from the beginning. All I focused on was saving the house. I actually borrowed the money to make the first reduced payment on time. After getting the payment to them 2 days early I waited. I watched my bank account. They didnt cash the check after a week. I called and asked why have you not cashed the check? Their response was that it was probably a hold up on their end. I waited another week. Still they didn't cash the check. I called again. This time when I called I was transferred to the bankrupcy department. I wondered why was I being transferred to bankruptcy? After half an hour on the phone the woman asked "when did you file for bankruptcy?" I hadn't filed for bankruptcy I told her. Then she asked "who's Mary?" Mary was my ex wife. Now I understood. She had filed for bankruptcy. The mortgage company told me that my loan modification was now back in the review process. Talk about depression. I had thougth I saved my home. It was like hitting the lottery and then being told sorry your ticket is scratched where it says "void if removed".

I continued to fight to keep the home. I was told to write another letter of hardship. I did this. I included pictures of my sons. I told them how I had my sister living with me now and she has 2 young girls. We are a family and we want to stay in our home.

I continued to sacrifice and pay the mortgage payments over the next 2 months. Each check I would send would go to my ex wife's bankruptcy attorney. Finally I was told..."Congratulations". Again I had been approved. This was about the beginning of August. I was still missing payroll checks but had gotten the payments in on time. I was told that a package would be sent to me with the new loan arrangement. I waited. The September mortgage payment was paid by me. For the first time in two years I didn't wake up with the initial thought of "will I lose the house, how do I tell the kids?" I slept well.

Since divorce I have not been opening the mailbox on the weekends. There was never anything good in the mail anymore. I would wait till Monday. Yesterday being a Saturday I thought to myself "maybe you shouldn't look in the mailbox". Against my better judgement I did. I saw the letter from the mortgage company. "Your loan is in default". Not again. Today I woke up at 6 am. "Will I lose the house? How do I tell the boys". I will call again Monday. I have contacted a bankruptcy lawyer in the final effort to save the house. I will fight the good fight. I have for two years now.