loss mitigation from AE perspective

[JoDee]

ok-
was talking to a friend of mine who is a Countrywide AE, and he states that Countrywide won't even talk to you - that you have to always talk to their attorneys. is this true? so then the chances of working out a "deal" won't be workable. But he does tell me that he has a ton of friends - former AEs with Countrywide that are in this business and almost have too much to handle...
also everyone on brokeroutpost is stating that you need to do this as a non profit, and hire an attorney for counsel. what? there are some attorneys that have no idea what is going on in loss mit... what is wrong with opening a business. I mean. if you are legit, and honest in what you are trying to accomplish, and doing a service - why can't you have a business doing this for profit? business is business - some are better than others - unfortunately - this doesn't have to be one of those that we have to donate our time. we have to save our own homes as well. I'm not going to be out there to "rape" anyone, but this is a business / service that seems to be needed and I plan on doing a good job

[lauraj]

I have completed Workout/loan mods with Countrywide (and we have spent 8+ months on one to have it go no where). There are two keys....the loss mit. rep and how financially responsible and responsive the borrower is. If C'wide asks for info and they don't get it immediately, they will close the file and you have to start over. This can be an advantage if you get a rep that is not 'cooperating'. just let the file close and start over in a couple days with a different rep. If your client/borrower hasn't shown that they have done everything they can to reduce expenses they get very resistent....ie..rep was questioning why they had cable TV, two cell phone accounts and checks made out to restaurants. Her reason for denying request? "obviously they are not taking this matter seriously enough"... I let her close the file and got a different rep.

I also learned something very interesting from the last rep (5th?) on the one that recently failed. When I asked why a previous modification had gone so well and this one wasn't, she replied "this investor will not consider that option". AH HA!..Different mortgages are 'held' by different investors that each have different criteria in negotiating the workout or loan mod. Maybe my first question should have been..."does the investor holding this note allow loan modifications?" would have saved me many hours of frustration.

[lauraj]

As to your question about being in the 'business' of helping people do this. There may be differences within states or specific restrictions. You may want to check. In NY we have been charging people on a sliding scale for helping them communicate with the bank and make sure of timely responses and paperwork getting processed correctly. Any agreements are between them and the bank. We are just a go between. We don't make any promises that our efforts will be successful and rebate a portion of the fee if we fail. Frequently, what starts as a workout becomes a Short Sale when the borrower realizes that they are not in a position to afford the home, but that is not our first goal.
If they ask any legal questions we remind them that we are not attorneys and they should find one that can answer those questions....we don't.

[Mike Dolan]

The facts are that most all loans are "serviced" by servicers who in turn are controlled by "investors" they call the shot on most all these loans. Loans that are portfolio loans of the lender are held and controlled by the lender.

Jodee, you can do whatever you like.

You need to look at the laws of your state and what you can legally do. As far as an attorney being involved, that can only help if they know what they are doing. This is a legal action, the NOD and NOT. Many may be victims of predatory lending and will need an attorney. Are you going to handle that? Why offer a loan workout when a homeowner needs an attorney?

We are going to cover this from A-Z in our training manual.