Countrywide Loan Modification Procedures and Policies

A lot of homeowners’ mortgages are held by Countrywide, which Bank of America bought in July 2008. In October of the same year Countrywide released a statement announcing a streamlined process for mortgage adjustments to help homeowners get back on top of their payments and to be help them continue to pay. Customers might have heard about this, but don’t know what this means in terms of their mortgages or how they can take advantage of the changes.

There has been a lot of press about Countrywide’s unfair practices recently. In 2008 it was sued for predatory lending practices. If you have not heard about this, just do a google search of Countrywide and you will read many unhappy customer testimonials. The majority of the complaints stem from a lack of internal communication. When a customer talked to a service representative, they would often be told something different from what the last representative said. This resulted in customers feeling misled and clerical errors, which hurt customer accounts.

]]>

After the lawsuit, Countrywide and Bank of America issued a statement announcing their plans to help homeowners unable to pay their mortgages using a streamlined mortgage adjustment plan. If a homeowners monthly payment is unmanageable, Countrywide will aim to reduce it to a 34% debt-to-income ratio. After the loan is modified, the interest will be calculated on a step-rate basis so homeowners are gradually brought up to date. In order to qualify, homeowners must be living in the home they have the mortgage on.

There are a few different options for Countrywide homeowners. HOPE for Homeowners, a FHA loan modification plan, is available for homeowners who did not qualify for refinancing under the old system. HOPE was created in response to the number of homeowners losing so much home equity due to the real estate crash. The only think to think about is that if you do end up selling your home, you have to give FHA a percentage of the equity at that time. If HOPE is not for you, there are other loan modification plans, those that include interest rate reduction and principal forebearance by Countrywide.

If you have a Countrywide loan and you cannot meet your obligations, you should apply for a loan modification. It does seem that Bank of America is helping to repair Countrywide’s reputation, starting with its 2008 statement. This plan to help modify loans is a step in the right direction. Apply to see if you are eligible. Countrywide is also reviewing most of its mortgages and is sending letters to all homeowners who are 60 days behind in their payments or in danger of being declared delinquent.

Do you want to apply for a Countrywide home loan modification? Gather all the information and find out what Countrywide can do for you. For more information check out this website: http://home-loan-modifications.info.

As many as 20000 homeowners flocked to the Los Angeles Convention Center Sept. 25-29, 2009, for free counseling from professionals with the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA). The group’s founder and CEO, Bruce Marks, described how he and NACA members target CEOs of banks and other lending institutions and pay personal visits to their homes — sometimes 400 borrowers strong. NACA will be repeating the events in Phoenix, Oakland and Las Vegas in the next few weeks.