What is a Mortgage Restructure?
A mortgage restructure also known as a loan adjustment or modification is a change to your current mortgage loan terms. It is similar to a refinance however you are not paying off your current loan and taking out a new one, and since you are simply “modifying” your current loan, it is not based on your credit score or credit and payment history.
Due to the recent economic changes, New Programs have been released to help reduce mortgage payments by up to 25% or more. You can read more on these new programs here: www.TheMortgageReports.com
Also BEFORE the new COVID-19 and Biden Mortgage programs happened a new modification program was released by the name of the “Flex Modification” and this program which is still in place; gives homeowners who may have had trouble with refinancing a potential way out. The program is exclusive to those with mortgages owned/insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, however many different lenders follow similar program guidelines. Aside from the “Flex”, there are also other other programs still available such as “FHA-HAMP”, “streamlined modification”, “in-house modification” and many more.
Successor to the Home Affordable Modification Program; with Flex; you do not have to be behind on mortgage payments. You can be current and on time with your payments and unlike a refinance, it doesn’t matter if your credit is poor, have had late mortgage payments, are in bankruptcy, upside down or currently in foreclosure.
Typical changes through a restructure include one or more of the following:
- Lowering of the Interest Rate
- Capitalization/deferment of any missed/skipped payments
- Term reammortization (some investors leave the maturity date the same)
- Partial Claim or Principal Reduction (possible but rare in today’s real estate market)
Mortgage Payment Pause or Forbearance
A Mortgage Payment Pause also known as a forbearance is where you may be able to skip your next upcoming mortgage payments due. Servicers may approve a forbearance for a certain time period (3 month, 6 month, 9 month 12 month and most recently up to 22 months or more). This doesn’t mean the payments disappear for good and you will never owe it, they just become due and payable at the end of the forbearance. In fact at the end of forbearance you may have to pay back the entire deferred/skipped payments in a lump sum or the lender may agree to capitalize into a new modified/restructured mortgage. Forbearances have gained popularity after COVID and coming out of a forbearance there are a lot of options available.
How to apply for a Mortgage Assistance
If you want to be considered for a mortgage assistance, you have several options. You can call your lender/servicer directly, contact a local HUD approved counseling agency by going to hud.gov or hire a professional third party. If you’re going to choose to hire a professional third party, never pay anything upfront until the third party helps secures an offer from your lender/servicer that you choose to accept. Hiring a third party representative to help you get a offer is similar to hiring a CPA to do your tax returns, or going to a doctor for a broken bone. There is no law that says you must hire a CPA, and you can treat your own broken bone if you choose. It’s a similar consideration with mortgage assistance offers. Just like the doctor doesn’t technically ‘heal’ your broken bone, the third party doesn’t ‘give’ you the final offer.
You’re not hiring and paying for the offer itself, but the work that goes into the strategic planning involved with putting together the best possible package and proposal for the servicer’s review and consideration. Most people don’t have the time, experience, knowledge or resources to want to handle this by themselves. You may want someone to advocate for you and help you get the lender’s bottom line offer. Keep in mind that no matter what anyone says or does, a lender may not agree to your proposal or be able to approve a mortgage restructure/modification. It’s at the lender’s discretion to give you one; however if presented and packaged strategically and correctly, a lender may be convinced a restructure is a win-win for them – as well as you as it is a good way for them to avoid litigation or foreclosures from happening.
Our team is one of the only companies in the world who works with $0 upfront fees and operates on a 100% contingency basis where a success fee is only due AFTER acceptance of an offer. If no offer is accepted no fee shall be due.
If you would like to see if we can help then click here to apply now.