A day doesn’t go by that I don’t  come across a commercial from some person, company or even law firm who says in the most compelling words possible how you need to hire them if you want a loan modification.  Well, you do not.  A lot of them even guarantee, or HINT that they guarantee- that they will get your loan modified.  Not so. If anyone’s selling that, don’t buy it.

A woman called me yesterday asking if I could help get her loan modified. I asked if she’d called her lender. She said yes.  She’d been told her modification was awaiting approval, and it had been in the approval department since January (I won’t say who the lender is, but it’s one who went tap city and had to be taken over).

This was a frustrating situation for her, sitting there since January and continuing to get blown off by some staff person while her high payments mounted up.  Sorry folks, but that’s the way it is sometimes with some lenders. They just don’t have the infrastructure in place to get the job done in a lot of cases. Know what? The best I could have done for her would be to call her lender and lean on them. Would that help? Maybe, maybe not. I’d feel weird charging for that.

If you want to try for a loan modification, call up your lender’s loss mitigation department. Be prepared to fill out a lot of forms on your financial situation. The lender will look at your paperwork and make you an offer.  That’s all it is, and you don’t have to pay some smooth-talking, pay upfront schmo to do it for you.

Some people may have a reason for asking for help. Maybe they don’t have time. Maybe they don’t understand the terminology (don’t be embarrassed about that–a lot of highly educaton professional people don’t, either).  It shouldn’t take me more than an hour or two.

If you do contact me, I’m going to do what I’ve been doing. I’m going to tell you everything you need to know to do it yourself and not have to pay somebody. I’ve got a lot of the loss mitigation phone numbers, and I’ll even give those to you.