This week we’ve had the opportunity to observe the foreclosure process in action. It is a very stressful and emotional time for the lender, the borrower, and the property owner.
The lending process itself is pretty stressful, but to make matters worse the whole process is handled by a small committee comprised of lawyers, bankers, and mortgage brokers. All of these people have little experience with the legal side of the foreclosure process, and they’re all on their own, so they are really trying to get everything as efficient as possible. But as soon as they start getting into the details of the process, they’re out of the committee’s hands, and they need to start from scratch.
In the end, the only way to get an honest answer from these people is through an attorney. But then lawyers spend a lot of time working on the foreclosure process, and theyre also on their own, so theyre not so great at getting what they need. But even if you don’t have an attorney, you could always try talking to the bank’s mortgage broker. After all, this is their livelihood.
The process of getting a mortgage is nothing like what you’d expect. You don’t get to choose a lender and they don’t even want to tell you what to do with your loans. One of the things they want you to do is fill out a bunch of paperwork about your income and your credit and their policies, then they want you to sign a few documents that you can’t possibly understand.
I am not a fan of filling out paperwork. But I can say that if you dont know what they want from you, the chances are they dont want anything from you. That said, here’s a few things to consider.
First, if you were in debt to a lender, what in the world would you do? If you were in debt to your mortgagee, would you try to renegotiate the terms for your loan (i.e.
go to the bank and sign a new document, then close the existing one with no new documents to make it look like you just had a new loan? Would you sign another document to get a new loan, then try to renegotiate the terms of your loan? I don’t think so. You would just try to renegotiate or ask for a higher payment.
We actually spoke with a lot of people who are in debt to a mortgagee about this very issue. The overwhelming majority would simply try to renegotiate the loan. The rest would ask for a higher payment.
Most of the people in debt have been in debt for at least 15 years, and they all started with a good deal of debt. This was the point where the lenders were in a position to try and help them. They sent us a letter asking us to look into these loans and help them renegotiate. They told us they wanted a lower payment (you would need a lower payment if you were a couple of us) and asked us to do a bit of research.
The bank told us to look into a variety of options, and although a lot of people would be happy to go for a lower payment (and in many cases, a better payment), many wanted to renegotiate. The biggest reason was because they would have to come up with a new payment plan to get the debt off their books. If they renegotiate, a lot of them would be able to go ahead and get rid of their debt.
