Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 5,000 homeowners, here is one of their stories.
When this Illinois homeowner retained us in June 2013, he was over 2 years behind on his $1,100 monthly mortgage payment to Ocwen. The interest rate on that loan was an astronomical 11.60%. He had just been served foreclosure in April, and did the right thing by responding within the 30 day response period. This way, his house would not be fast-tracked toward a foreclosure sale date.
As soon as our legal department was able to review the homeowners' file, they took the necessary steps to stall the foreclosure and attempt to have a conciliation conference with the homeowner. Simultaneously, our home retention department began working with the homeowner to assemble a loan modification package.
It took a couple of months for the homeowner and his wife to gather and create all the documents necessary for a loan modification package. Finally, we received all the documents and submitted the package in October 2013. After review, Ocwen offered the homeowner a permanent loan modification right off the bat (as opposed to offering a trial loan modification first).
Under the terms of the modification, the homeowner would begin paying a mortgage payment of $643.53 starting in January 2014. The intereat rate would be lowered drastically to 2% until 2019, it would then remain at 4.25% for the remainder of the loan. One notable feature of this loan modification is that it took only a few months from start to finish- homeowners have been known to deal with their banks for years before receiving a loan modification.
This Illinois homeowner benefited from understanding the Illinois foreclosure process; especially the fact in Illinois, you must respond to the foreclosure complaint within 30 days. If you live in Illinois, be sure to download the Illinois foreclosre timeline to understand the chronology of foreclosure in Illinois.
Jake Sterling is Amerihope Alliance Legal Services' Homeowner Liaison. He helps to bring awareness and teach homeowners about foreclosure defense and options to save their homes.
