What Are The Benefits Of Hiring An Attorney For Loan Modification?
Why Is It Best To Hire A Loan Modification Service And Go At It Alone?
A loan modification is generally just submitting paperwork with the bank and mortgage company and following up on it. There is really no rocket science to it, and as long as you’re diligent about submitting the paperwork and keeping track of when you send it and who you spoke with and following up with any other request that they have, you’re probably got to be as successful as anybody you hire to get you a loan modification.
The real problem with hiring somebody do a loan modification is the overwhelming majority of the people out there who’re trying to charge you for a loan modification and are looking to rip you off. They’ll promise you that they can get your mortgage payment or your interest rate reduced, that they’ve got a 95 percent success rate, whatever it is. They’ll tell you what you want to hear in order to get you to sign up and pay them thousands of dollars. And unfortunately, once you pay them, it’s very hard to get the money back and the reality is they’re not doing anything that you can’t do on your own.
If you don’t think you can do it on your own, there are lots of great, non-profit organizations out there. St. Ambrose Housing is a great organization. They help people through the process for free. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Abaca, a lot of people work with them and have actually been successful and they are not going to charge you. So, if you don’t want to do it on your own, there are a lot of great non-profits that will help you with the process but what you don’t want to do is pay thousands of dollars to some loan modification specialists and end up losing all that money.
These are exactly the questions that people always want to know and that goes back to the same thing. Loan modification is nothing you can force your lender to give you. If you can get one, God bless you, and it’s probably going to. In most cases, it’s a better solution than a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Why Is It Best To Work With An Experienced Attorney In These Loan Modification Situations Versus A Loan Modification Service Or Even Trying To Do It Yourself?
Loan modification is an area that is ripe with rip-offs. There are so many companies out there, and they’ll promises you this and they’ll guarantee that and we’ll get your payments reduced and we’ll get your interest rate down to 2 percent and sign here and they’ll charge you 1,500 upfront or 500 a month for 6 months and then 6 months later, you find out that they haven’t done anything and now your house is up for foreclosure. This happens all the time.
In Maryland, it’s actually illegal to collect money for a loan modification upfront. If they to collect money upfront from you, you should run as far as you can because they’re probably trying to rip you off. It’s a terrible situation but people are so desperate to save their homes that if somebody shows up at the door and says they’ll save your house, just send them some money, unfortunately, a lot of people fall prey to that. That’s why they actually changed the law to make it illegal to charge upfront for loan modification to try to protect people.
So, if you’re going to do a loan modification, and if you don’t have a lot of money to hire somebody who’s experienced, there are a lot of good non-profit organizations out there that will help you for free.
According to Attorney John Logan, loan modification is generally just submitting paperwork and following up on it. It’s not rocket science and it’s something that you should do on your own. It’s a tricky area in Maryland just because you’re not allowed to charge for it until you get some results, and the chances of getting a result are probably less than 10 percent. People who want to do a loan modification come to James Logan, and he tells them, “Look, do it on your own or go to one of these non-profit organizations.” It’s just too many headaches and not enough money in it to make it worthwhile to do.
I can’t compete with the people and promise results. What happens is that I talk to them and I give them the truth and they don’t want to hear the truth, they want to hear somebody else and I’ve had people leave here and go and hire somebody for $3,500; it’s a total scam.
Why Do You Take Clients Who Want To Go For Loan Modification?
In loan modification, the reality is, somebody who calls me up on a loan modification is a great lead for Chapter 13 because I can see exactly where it’s going. What I’d rather have them do is try to do a loan mod on their own and then come see me for the Chapter 13 and hopefully avoid getting ripped off.
I can’t tell you how many people come here with no money left for me because the loan mod scam artist took $5,000 from them and now they have no money for the Chapter 13 and they are 6 years further behind. I don’t mind having the loan mod stuff on there but you can leave off the question about why you should hire an attorney.
The reason why the section of loan modification is added to the website is that it’s good information for people to have because it’s always the same story. “Yes, we promise, we guarantee. Sign here, sign here,” and then the next thing you know your money is gone.
If you have questions regarding Loan Modification, call the law office of Attorney James Logan for a free initial consultation at 443-860-0088 and get the information and legal answers you’re seeking.