805 Local

 A loan makeover, that is……You probably have seen the headlines about the latest public and private efforts to help financially distressed homeowners ease the pinch of their mortgage payments. 

An ambitious mass-market loan modification programs was outlined on November 11 by the Federal Housing Finance Agency along with the 33 banks and mortgage servicers that make up the private-sector Hope Now Alliance. 

The program is scheduled to start nationwide December 15 and is aimed at thousands of subprime mortgage holders and other borrowers who are three months or more behind on their payments.  To be eligible, homeowners need to document that they can handle mortgage payments of as much as 38% of their monthly gross income.

In additional borrowers need to demonstrate that they have experienced some form of financial reversal that made them delinquent on their payments and prove that they did not intentionally go into default just to get better terms. 

All of this sounds good but how does a homeowner – say in Camarillo or Thousand Oaks - get started lowering their mortgage payments???  Here are four ways to get started:

1. Contact your lender directly. 
2. Work through Hope Now Alliance (www.hopenow.com)
3. U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (www.hud.gov/foreclosure)
4. Paul Stansen (www.stansen) will review and prepare a written summary of findings confirming whether a loan modification is possible.  He can also give advice regarding short sales. 

Bottom Line– if you need help, ask for it.  But be careful that the new loan modification program does not just put a band aid on the problem rather than solving it.