The combination of filing for Ch 13 and working with a HUD counselor seems to be getting the best results. We send our clients to Surepath Financial for help dealing with their lender, but provide a list of others in the area as well.
When choosing someone to help with a loan modification it is important to go to a counselor approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for FREE assistance. You should NEVER be asked to pay for counseling or a loan modification.
Here are a number of HUD-Approved counseling services in and around Santa Clara County:
SUREPATH FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS

1190 South Bascom Avenue, Ste 208
San Jose, California 95128

PHONE: 877-615-7873
E-MAIL: clientservices@surepath.org
WEBSITE: www.surepath.org

- Counselors speak English and Spanish

AFFORDABLE HOUSING CENTERS OF AMERICA

395 E. Taylor St. Suite 230
San Jose, California 95112

PHONE: 408-297-3053
E-MAIL: jgaleano@ahcoa.org
WEBSITE: www.ahcoa.org

- Counselors speak English and Spanish

PROJECT SENTINEL

298 S. Sunnyvale Avenue, Suite 209
Sunnyvale, California 94086

PHONE: 408-720-9888 x 16
TOLL FREE: 888-331-3332
E-MAIL: mediate4us@housing.org
WEBSITE: www.housing.org

- Counselors speak English, Spanish, Chinese Mandarin, Hindi

PROJECT SENTINEL

7800 Arroyo Circle, Bldg A
Gilroy, California 95020

PHONE: 408-842-7740
TOLL FREE: 888-331-3332
E-MAIL: gilroy@housing.org
WEBSITE: www.housing.org

- Counselors speak English and Spanish
NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES SILICON VALLEY

1156 North Fourth Street
San Jose, California 95112

PHONE: 408-279-2600
WEBSITE: www.nhssv.org

- Counselors speak English, Spanish, Hmong and Vietnamese

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Keisha Woods, Housing Program Manager
1836 Bay Road, Suite B
East Palo Alto, California 94303

PHONE: 650-328-1890×110
E-MAIL: keisha@norcaludc.org
WEBSITE: www.norcaludc.org

- Counselors speak English and Spanish
AVENIDAS

450 Bryant St
Palo Alto, California 94301

PHONE: 650-289-5433
E-MAIL: hlandsman@avenidas.org
WEBSITE: www.avenidas.org

– English Only

NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN COALITION

1535 Landess Avenue, Suite 146
Milpitas, California 95035

PHONE: 408-343-7701

- English Only

*** If you are outside Santa Clara County, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has a list of approved counseling agencies by State. You can access the list here.
Once you’ve set out on the path of seeking a mortgage modification consider the following tips.
• Do not let anyone pressure you into signing papers right away. Take your time to decide, and get more than one opinion on your situation.
• Do not sign your deed over to anyone if you are applying for a mortgage modification
• NEVER make a mortgage payment to anyone other than your mortgage servicer without its express approval

Have the banks not staffed their modification programs with enough people?  Are they simply using the Obama Administration’s plan as some kind of collection tactic to squeeze homeowners afraid of foreclosure?

While no one knows for sure what is causing the long wait times, experts in the area have come up with logical explanations and the American Bar Association released a free web seminar earlier this month discussing these issues and how the real estate crisis developed.

The 60 minute pod cast features Jamie Lathrop, Marc S. Stern and O. Max Gardner, III who all agree that without a motivating factor banks will continue to drag their feet.  O. Max Gardner, III calls modification in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy the hammer that is missing from the Obama Plan.  Having failed to pass the Senate earlier this year, Max predicts that a bankruptcy modification bill will be before Congress again by September.

The threat of foreclosing and having to write down their balance sheet should motivate banks, but as pointed out in the seminar, servicers have an incentive to allow a troubled property to sit on their balance sheet as it collects penalties and fees.  After all, when the property is foreclosed on, the servicer or a related third party will be paid for liquidating the troubled asset while the investor and the homeowner take the hit.

O. Max Gardner, III compared the securitization of mortgage loans to an expanded mortgage flipping scheme, pointing out that those borrowers with ARM loans are forced, by a scheduled increase in their interest rate, to refinance and again pay fees associated with doing so.

The experts also discussed limitations placed on servicers by the pooling and service agreements they have with investors.  Some of these agreements do not allow for any modifications and others only allow for a handful.

While it may not be entirely clear what is taking so long, it is clear that things are unlikely to change until a new kind of motivation presents itself.