Reethi Rai asked:




The word bankruptcy gives rise to an image of utter helplessness. This is primarily due to the fact the there are many mis-conceptions associated with it. Often, people resort to it without even understanding its full meaning. The decision to file for bankruptcy must be based in facts. This is possible only when a person seeks expert advice.

People with multiple debt problems juggling with payments often consider bankruptcy. They feel it can offer some respite from the debt problems. If a bad credit score is attached with multiple debts, the situation can get worse. Such borrowers can make use of bankruptcy bad credit mortgage loan.

Accessing these loans is not that difficult. Bankruptcy mortgage loan experts can guide any person to get a suitable loan.

One can use the loan for either buying a new house, refinancing, home improvement purpose, payoff credit cards, etc. There are many lenders in the loan market who offer such loans. One can choose from the most competitive programs. A borrower can easily get rid of credit cards, missed payments and high interest mortgages.

A bankruptcy information lawyer can guide a person considering bankruptcy make a right decision. As is said earlier, the decision to file for bankruptcy must be base on facts, one should consider other alternatives if available on way to bankruptcy.

One can easily resolve debt problems by seeking their service. Following some simple steps will ensure one gets rid of all the debt problems in a short period of time. There are many debt elimination services that one can make use of. One can hop back to normalcy without filing for bankruptcy, IVA or borrowing more money that will have a person drowned in debt.

A bankruptcy lawyer can let you know the pros and cons of filing for bankruptcy. The prime purpose of Bankruptcy Law is to give a person, who is hopelessly burdened with debt, a fresh start by wiping out his or her debts. A person considering filing for bankruptcy can benefit form the service of these lawyers.

What does Chapter 7 Bankruptcy say?

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy wipes out a borrower’s debts usually within four months. The debtor has no assets that he or she would lose as a consequence of filing for bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy gives a person a relatively quick “fresh start”. One can begin life afresh.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy

Chapter 13 bankruptcy, on the other hand is meant for people who want to pay off part of their debts over a period of three to five years. Visit our FAQ’s, which give information on most of your questions. Also visit our Audio Clips, which provide information on many of the most common concerns about debt. If your questions are still not answered we have an “Ask our Bankruptcy Lawyers” feature so you can ask one of our bankruptcy lawyers in your area a question. Filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy can prove to be helpful if a debtor has a regular income, and thus can afford to request for such adjustments or reductions.

Gregory

Tracy Phillips asked:




Have you gotten that dreaded notice in the mail that your adjustable rate mortgage is about to reset? Did you get a subprime loan where your payment ballooned and now you can’t afford the payment?

The federal government is passing some actually somewhat-useful emergency legislation. FHA Secure will allow home owners with sub-prime mortgages and resetting ARM’s a more streamlined way to refinance.

Below are some highlights:

Highlights of the FHASecure Initiative:

1. The mortgage being refinanced must be a non-FHA ARM that has reset.

2. The mortgagor’s payment history on the non-FHA ARM must show that, prior to the reset of the mortgage, the mortgagor was current in making the monthly mortgage payments.

3. If there is sufficient equity in the home, under additional eligibility, FHA will insure mortgages that include missed mortgage payments.

4. Under certain conditions, FHA will insure first mortgages where (1) the existing note holder writes off the amount of indebtedness that cannot be refinanced into the FHA insured mortgage; or (2), the FHA-approved lender making the new mortgage or the existing note holder may take back a second lien that includes closing costs, arrearages or previous secondary financing.

5. Lenders must determine, as part of the underwriting process, that the reset of the non-FHA ARM monthly payments caused the mortgagor’s inability to make the monthly payments and that the mortgagor has sufficient income and resources to make the monthly payments under the new FHA-insured refinancing mortgage.

Leslie

Chris Fuelling asked:




1. What is a Loan Modification?

A Loan Modification is when the bank allows a change in the terms of your existing mortgage. The purpose of a modification is to ultimately and significantly lower your monthly payments, for either a temporary or permanent period of time.

2. Who qualifies for a loan modification?

Anyone that is having trouble paying their existing loan. In today’s housing conditions banks are willing to work with mortgage holders that are having trouble paying their mortgage. However, high probability characteristics are homeowners currently in an adjustable rate mortgage, have a high interest rate, are upside down on their home, and/or experiencing any kind of hardship.

3. Why will it work for me?

The government has asked for ALL lending banks to help in the foreclosure epidemic and modify mortgages for all troubled homeowners. Certain websites can automatically produce your Bank Approved Loan Modification Package. Going to your lender with a complete modification package that has been reviewed by modification consultants, will make a scary process seem simple.

4. What if my credit is bad?

A Loan Modification is not based on credit. The banks are trying to make a good loan out of a troubled loan.

5. What if I have no equity or I am upside on my home?

It does not matter! Some banks are doing principal reduction, which means the bank will discount the total loan amount to the current value of your home. This is called a principal reduction and is becoming popular for banks.

6. What if my income is too low?

You will need to show the bank, you or all others in your household can afford the new payment proposed by your bank.

7. What should I expect the terms to be on my new loan?

Banks have rapidly changing guidelines for Loan Modifications. A bank will typically modify your loan into a loan you can afford and continue to pay. This may include a lower interest rate, payment reschedule, principal reduction, longer terms or any other function that will make and keep the loan performing.

8. How much can I really save by doing a loan modification?

Hundreds or Thousands a month. Remember, a Loan is typically for 30 years. So the Loan Modification that saves you $500 a month, really equals $150,000 over the life of the loan.

9. Does every bank do loan modifications?

Yes. We are in a housing crisis and banks are willing to work with clients to help save their homes.

10. How does the bail out bill affect my chances of getting a loan modification?

The government is telling banks they need to do their part to fix the housing crisis. The Bail Out Bill will only help your chances of getting a Loan Modification.

11. What should I do to ensure the best loan modification?

Take Advantage of Attorney services that fully process your modification. Read up on submission steps, and negotiation tips.

12. How long does the process take?

With the right documents you will be able to submit a full package ready to go to the bank. All Banks are different and can take 30-90 days for a decision. It all depends how busy their are with current modification requests and how many loss mitigators they have on staff. It is not uncommon for one loss mitigator to have up to 700 files under their management at a time.

13. What is the difference between doing a loan modification myself or hiring an attorney?

A Loan Modification firm will charge you a high fee ($2000-$5000) to submit the docs that you can submit yourself. Banks are willing to help their clients with a Loan Modification with out an Attorney. What is important, is you have the CORRECT, BANK APPROVED documents ready for submission, so the bank can efficiently and more effectively review your case.

14. Are there any other costs involved? Appraisal, credit report, title, closing costs, broker fees, etc…

There are no costs assigned with a Loan Modification. The banks are modifying loans for no charge.

Pedro

Juhani Tontti asked:




A starting point is, that if a senior is American, at least 62 and owns a home, where he has equity left, i.e. major part of the traditional mortgage is paid away, he will qualify for a senior reverse mortgage loan. Almost all house types are accepted.

1. What Makes This A Senior Product?

The law says so! When the U.S.Government decided about these products, the idea was to help senior Americans, who are cash poor, but equity rich. Maybe there was also such a thinking, that these loans are easy alternatives to the social aids and thus will save the public money.

2. Can My Spouse Come With?

Yes, he or she can. A senior reverse mortgage loan allows altogether three person to be in the title or borrowers. When another one dies or moves away, the remaining borrower will continue with the loan. When the spouse comes with, he or she must fulfil the requirements too.

3. Are The Costs Worth It?

A senior reverse mortgage is more expensive, than a traditional mortgage. You will get the detailed calculations from the federal counselor. This means, that the purpose or need for which you plan to take the loan must be a serious one. Many seniors buy a house to a child or will pay the grown medical bills, for instance.

4. Can I Apply For Medicaid Too?

The reverse mortgage payments may affect your eligibility for U.S. Government benefits, like Medicaid. This is a serious reason, why it is wise to get guidance and to do the financial planning before you take a reverse mortgage loan.

The reverse mortgage payments can influence your eligibility for the Government benefits, like Medicaid. A general rule is, that the income from the reverse program is not counted as income, if the money will be spent during the same month as it has been received.

5. Is There Alternatives?

Everything depends on your needs. If you need a home repair loan and are able to pay it back monthly, then a normal loan against your house is better. If you are willing to sell the home and to move to a cheaper home, then you can use the difference for your needs.

The reverse loan is always a long term investment. It is not a solution, if you will move away after a couple of years and pay it back. Because there are so many things to know and to go through, before you can make a decision, it is wise to go and to meet a federal counselor, who is an expert to give personal guidance. And he is not in the payroll of any lender.

Michael

Barry Dawn asked:




You are not alone. No, this does not refer to the Michael Jackson song, but to the fact that when speaking about mortgage – Thornhill or anywhere else in Canada – many people are availing of this option. Millions of people from around the world are getting a mortgage because that is perhaps the easiest way to purchase a home. Not everyone has access to hundreds of thousands of dollars at any given time that they can immediately buy a house whenever they feel like it. Thus, people resort to getting a mortgage.

The sad part is, you frequently read about people unable to make their monthly payments and suffering from enormous financial trouble. There are pieces of news talking about people losing their homes because they were not able to properly handle their mortgage payments. Exposure to these stimuli would not help you – especially if you have a current mortgage – Toronto or elsewhere.

The good news is, you have all the power in the world to prevent having to face mortgage management problems. You have the power within yourself to ensure that you don’t ever have to stress yourself about losing your home to your creditor. Here are some tips:

1. Keep all your records.

There are bills that you can throw away after a year or so. Among these are your electric bills, phone bills and even your credit card bills. But when it comes to your mortgage bills, don’t ever feed them to your trash bin. A mortgage is a long-term engagement, usually ranging between 20 and 30 years, and is something that involves a very large amount. Therefore, make it a point to keep all documents and records pertaining this. When refinancing options are calling on you, you would need all your mortgage records. This takes away the inconvenience of asking for copies of your bills from your lender – a task that’s either stressful or uncomfortable.

2. Take advantage of refinancing.

Over the course of your mortgage, there will come a time when interest rates will be at their all-time lows. When this is the case, take advantage of it. Make sure that you are aware of the movement of the current market rates so you know when to move from one mortgage to another. By refinancing, you get to enjoy lower rates. Some people are not able to take advantage of this option out of either ignorance or sheer inertia – they don’t know that such an option is available and they simply don’t want to “work.”

But not all circumstances are perfect for refinancing. To make sure that your unique mortgage situation is ideal for refinancing, consult a financial expert.

3. Keep a healthy reserve of funds.

Especially when you are paying a mortgage, the need for you to have a healthy reserve of funds is more pronounced. This watches your back when you have a sudden loss of income or in case you will be faced with unexpected fees related to your mortgage. By having a healthy savings account, you are protecting yourself from having nothing to rely on when emergency mortgage funds are needed.

Kathleen

Leslie Collins asked:




If you fall into one of these categories you should definitely consider an FHA loan.

- Considering a home purchase with less than perfect credit
- Considering a home refinance with less than perfect credit
- Considering buying a home but have not established traditional credit.
- Currently in an ARM loan that is due to reset – and have less than perfect credit

If you have less than perfect credit or no traditional credit you may be in luck due to easy FHA loan qualifications.

Why?

FHA loan qualification guidelines are perhaps the most lenient in the mortgage world because they do not use FICO scores exclusively to assess your risk as a borrower.

Many With Low FICO Scores Qualify for FHA Loans

FHA makes it’s decision on whether or not to grant you a loan based on your total credit profile. For example, your credit score may have taken a dip because of some isolated events in the past, job lay-off, illness, divorce etc…Fortunately FHA lenders look at your bill paying history over the last 2 years to determine if you qualify or not, your low FICO score will not disqualify you from receiving an FHA loan.

FHA Looks at Overall Credit Profile

FHA’s philosophy is that the majority of borrowers overcome these financial setbacks. You are truly NOT the high risk your FICO score indicates; even though your credit score may indicate sub-prime status.

FHA will assess your income, recent payback status with current lenders as well your current debt-to-income ratio giving borrowers a chance to purchase or refinance a home.

Non Traditional Credit Qualifies

What if you have no established credit? You may have never used credit cards, had a car loan, student loan, or mortgage. These are considered traditional means of credit which are recorded with the 3 major credit bureaus.

FHA qualifications consider non traditional credit references as proof of responsible money management. Payments like rent, utility bills, cell phone, personal loans, and even regular deposits into a savings account as proof of “credit worthiness”

So if you thought that your bad credit or non credit disqualified you from purchasing a home – think again – an FHA loan may be the answer.

Dan

Jayson Gibson asked:




Last week President Obama’s administration began implementing a $75 billion loan modification program and homeowner refinance program to help as many as 9 million homeowners avoid foreclosure. The plan uses money from the $700 billion approved last year as part of the TARP I funds that were originally used to bailout banks and get credit flowing.

This new plan, dubbed Making Home Affordable, uses incentives to encourage lenders and loan servicers to modify loans. The lenders and servicers can do this either by lowering interest rates or by dropping the principal amount of the loan. J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon said that the bank would not reduce principal payments; they would only lower interest rates for 5-years and after 5-years, the loans interest rates would reset to current levels (around 5%).

The Making Home Affordable plan has two main components. The Home Affordable Refinance portion of the plan offers current homeowners that are not behind on their mortgage payment breathing room by allowing the homeowners to refinance their home into lower interest rate loans, this is done by allowing them to refinance to as much as 105% of the home’s current value.

The Home Affordable Modification portion of the plan offers assistance to struggling homeowners that are behind on payments and in danger of losing their home to foreclosure. This portion of the plan modifies a current mortgage so that a homeowner’s monthly payment is no more than 31% of their monthly gross income.

If you’re a homeowner that would be interested in refinancing their home into lower interest rates, or a homeowner that is struggling to meet financial commitments and needs a loan modification, visit the new government website Financialstability.gov.

This plan is a portion of the larger TARP II plan that may include a “bad bank” that will buy up troubled assets from banks; it’s a plan that could cost as much as $2 trillion, but at the same time, TARP II may stabilize our financial and housing markets. Do you think the plan will help curb foreclosures and get our economy back on its feet?

Ben

Bryan Dornan asked:




Financing a new home or refinancing your current mortgage can be a daunting task. With subprime loans nearly become extinct, FHA has inspired a new group of homebuyers who look to seize the opportunity of declining home prices combined with affordable interest rates. Finding a lender who provides good advice and competitive interest rates for mortgage loans that meet your needs can be a difficult experience. Sure getting a quick rate quote online can be fast and convenient, but contracting the service of a good FHA mortgage lender may take some proper planning and preparation.

Shopping for a home loan online can be done at work or in the convenience of your own house, but you have to ask yourself… “How do I know this lender is legit?” Evaluating loan quotes from most FHA lenders should provide you with some peace of mind because HUD requires that each FHA lender have a commercial location and the requirements for bonding is more significant than it has been for mortgage brokers in the last few years.

Remember the following mortgage basics when considering home refinancing or financing with a government loan. FHA requires mortgage insurance of 1.5% of the loan amount, but its tax deductible and you only need to come up with 3% down for purchasing. FHA allows a wide range of credit so if you had a past bankruptcy or late payments years ago, you’ll likely still qualify. FHA mortgage rates are very low in 2008 and they promote responsible lending with fixed rate loans. FHA does not allow pre-payment charges, so you will not be charged high cost penalties if you want to refinance or decide to move. Last but not least always review the loan disclosures and negotiate with the “Good Faith Estimate.”

Sandra

Julie Viola asked:




People shopping for a home or in the market for a house always ask themselves; how much can I borrow affordability. It is always the question of how much you can borrow and the affordability of taking out a mortgage. There are many mortgage calculators, income multipliers and affordability calculators that you can access online. Online mortgage calculators can provide the much needed estimations required for your home loan search.

Sometimes your search can take you to too many different websites in order to complete several estimations and calculations you need. But some lending agencies and financial institutions can provide a whole array of tools for you to utilize. This way you may not have to jump from website to website. But there is a drawback to this. And that is you may not be able to search several lending agencies which may offer lower rates.

The main reason you will be looking for answers to your queries on affordability of a house property or how much can I borrow affordability, is to get the lowest and best rate possible. And if you do not search different online sites you miss out on some of the little known mortgage companies that may offer you a better deal.

Using a home loan affordability calculator can tremendously help you in your home loan search. It can calculate and then you can compare how much you can borrow with the estimated interest rate and loan term. Affordability is an essential factor to be considered when you are in the market for a house property. You have to have a complete analysis of the rates, affordability and how much you can borrow.

An online home loan or mortgage calculator can provide you an estimate of the maximum amount that you can borrow in relation to your expenses and income. You can always try different numbers of years and the amount of expenditure and income into the calculations. These will give a better look at different scenarios that may be applicable to you. Knowing what you can afford can provide you the sense of ease going with your home search.

The advancement of the internet has brought speed and ease in almost anything we want to do now. In cannot be further from the truth when you can easily get a mortgage quotes online. Home mortgage calculators give you the quotes and mortgage interest rates you are looking for.

And by using these home mortgage calculators, you can have the answer to your question of; mortgage how much can I borrow affordability. Thus with online mortgage calculator and mortgage rates predictions, you can have the sense of ease and comfort in knowing what lies ahead with your home loan search.

Daniel

Gavin P asked:




A financial hardship letter explains to your creditor why you are in financial trouble and requests a specific remedy to help you through the crisis. There are different reasons for writing a hardship letter, but the most common these days are:
Requesting a loan modification or restructuring Requesting a short sale to avoid foreclosure
The hardship letter is a primary requirement in the loan application process. Your loan modification attorney will ask you to submit it along with your other financial documents, so that they can evaluate your situation and present a strong case to your lender.

When writing a hardship letter for a loan modification, keep in mind that the lenders really want to see why you have fallen behind with your mortgage payments. It should be clear, honest, and contain just the right amount of detail. The way you write it can literally spell the difference between keeping and losing your home. Here’s how you can write a hardship letter that puts your point across and gets you the best loan modification deal.

Keep it concise. A typical lender can only spend five minutes reading your letter. Try to keep it to a single page; any longer and they might not have time to really read it through. Lose all unnecessary details and keep only those that are relevant to your case.

Get straight to the point. Start by stating the purpose of your letter (whether it’s a loan modification or a short sale), so that the reader knows outright what to expect. Basically, it should say “I need you to buy my home/restructure my mortgage/give me a lower interest rate,” in a way that compels them to find out why. You can use the succeeding paragraphs to explain it in more detail.

Explain your hardship. First, make sure your problem actually qualifies as a financial hardship. Your goal is to convince your bank that you have no other means of mortgage assistance, and that you can get back on track if they do grant your request. Examples of valid hardships include:
Loss or reduction of income (loss of employment, demotion, etc.) Natural disasters Illness and medical expenses Death of a family member or co-borrower Divorce, separation, or other legal expenses Military service
It doesn’t have to be one of these things, of course. Each lender has its own standards, and the letter’s purpose is to give them a more personal look into your situation. Once you’ve established your hardship, provide details that will help strengthen your case. Make sure to tell them how you got into the situation and why it’s out of your control.

Restate your request. End your letter by reiterating your purpose, in slightly different words. Ideally, your previous paragraphs should explain that it’s the only way to stop foreclosure. Make it clear that you intend to get back to your regular payments once the loan has been modified.

Be humble. One thing you should never do is imply that your situation is your lender’s fault. Instead of pinning the blame on anyone, simply tell things as they are and leave the judgment to your reader. Finally, thank them in advance and mention that you’re looking forward to continuing business with them.

Karen