Who Owns Your Mortgage
I have received several email from visitors who have been asking how to research which company owns their mortgage. Don’t borrowers have the right to know who owns their mortgage? I need to work out a loan modification or refinance but can’t find out who to contact and the servicing company will not assist me.
Of the nightmares facing homeowners caught up in the mortgage net, this one issue is perhaps the most frustrating. From individual lenders to the government-sponsored Hope Now Alliance devoted to untangling this type of mess, the standardized advice to borrowers is the same: as soon as you think you’re headed for trouble, contact your mortgage lenders to see about working out an alternate payment plan or even request that your lender to help you by moving your loan to a lower rate on a fixed note.
It’s good advice. The sooner you act, the better your chances of not falling so far behind the situation becomes irreversible. For their part, lenders don’t want you to lose your home or generated income either. The last thing they need is another property to add to the long list of unsold properties on their books, and subsequently more lost earnings.
In order to contact your mortgage lender means you must first figure out who owns your loan. In the fallout of the housing boom, some lenders simply went out of business or were divested or acquired by bigger lenders — and these defaulted loans hence changed hands.
As the mortgage market rains have dried up, lenders have had to lay off workers who, just a few years ago, had a hard time keeping up with the flood of new mortgages. Now, with foreclosures rising, there are fewer employees on the other end of the phone to help homeowners in trouble. Experienced real estate attorneys and professional housing counselors report that they’re also not having much luck navigating the maze of voicemail.
Even worse, there may be no particular one owner of your loan if the original mortgage was bundled with hundreds of others and placed in a trust which was then sold off in fragmented interests to hundreds of mortgage investors. The servicer — the company hired to make sure the monthly payments got to the right investors and never expected so many home loans go so badly. So they weren’t really set up to re-negotiate payment terms with literally thousands of borrowers.
Still, many of these type servicers do have the legal authority to work with you on a payment option that you can handle. It’s their job to maximize investors’ returns, and having you default isn’t going to help anyone. If you can get through to the servicer’s mitigation honchos, you might be able to get the conversation going.
A better option might be to get some help from a HUD-approved housing counselor or a lawyer who specializes in working with lenders and may be able to help you cut through the sea of red tape. As recommended by Texas Mortgage Loans, Check out Web site of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling to locate an office near where you live. If you can’t afford legal support, look for a non-profit services office and most of them spend a lot more time on mortgage and housing issues.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
There are actually investment companies that buy up defaulted mortgages? I didn’t follow you on how this interest is so difficult to research and why full disclosure to the borrowers wouldn’t be provided. My mortgage has been sold at least twice that I am aware but like most, I can discern the owner by looking at the name on my monthly mortgage statement.
July 10th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Going with what has been mentioned in the article,HUD-approved housing counselor is a better option to go with.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I am very impressed with your article. I found alot of useful information within.
Thank you.
Ryan
July 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Investors and home owners had a tough year.
It started with the real estate market crash, than the mortgage crisis and now foreclosures.
Everybody is looking for help with their investments, from the homeowner down the street to the big investor up on the billboards.
In the past year 267 banks closed their doors and more banks are on the verge of closing.
Seriously let’s face it “the world is in a serious trouble and no body can do anything to change it”.
How did we let this great economy we had to collapse like this?
Who can we blame except our selves?
I don’t think we need to look for the blame but we definitely need to fix it somehow and we can do it, home owners and investors.
Let’s talk to you homeowner:
There are many options to save your home and get a mortgage.
1. Fha loans
2. Conventional loans with lower loan to value
3. Hard money loans or private money mortgage loans(which is the same thing).
Most of you homeowners are not knowledgeable enough to know how to save your homes your selves, many of you that have lost their homes already could possibly save it if you would gain some knowledge.
But no one is perfect and I’m not expecting you to go to school and study what to do with your home while you’re trying to save it, but you can hire a professional to help you.
I’m a mortgage broker from los angeles california and I’ve seen so many people that could save their homes, but because they didn’t have the knowledge they’ve lost it instead.
Lets help each other and ourselves to bring this great world back to what it was 3 years ago!
Know your options and hire a professional mortgage or real estate broker to help you, brokers are the one that knows better than anybody else.
Why not to go to the bank next door?
Normally banks are narrow minded and they don’t know how to be creative, because they know only one thing- what their bank has to offer.
You want someone that knows how to get things done, if it’s with conventional lending(which is the banks), fha mortgages(which is government loans) and the private money lending(which is private investors that are acting as the bank in some cases).
So many people don’t even know that private money lending or hard money loans are an option, so homeowners loose homes with lots of equity in them.
I think that private money lending is the next thing for investors and home owners, since banks can’t qualify anyone anymore.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I think banks right now are an option. Credit unions as well. I am also checking places online and educating myself in the world of mortgages. eloans and other financing options are something to look into.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:45 am
Why go with Hard Money or Private Money Lenders?
Many Homeowners and Investors ask them selves this question, but sometimes you need to read more to get some knowledge and than you will understand if Hard Money can really help you.
First of all we understand that Hard Money Lenders are privately owned by a person or a small entity, basically it can be someone that have some money in the bank and he understands that to loan his money will be a much faster way to make more of it.
Example: You have $100,000 in your bank
Option 1- you will put the money in a CD account and make 4.75% APR.
Option 2- You will loan your money and make 12% APR and charge 5- 10 points on the loan.
So that’s what private Money Lenders do, they go with the second option- Smart.
So why go with a Hard Money Lender?
1. Faster funding time, 5-7 days
2. Less documentation to show.
3. No credit is OK.
4. Large Loan amounts are OK too, up to $500,000,000
5. Some Hard Money Lenders will fund deals out of the country as well.
As you can tell today it is a much better, faster and easier way to go.
You’re probably asking your selves about the costs for this loan?
The Interest rates are not more than 12%, while with a Bank it will be probably 8.5% if they can do the Loan at all.
The points will be not than 10 while Banks will charge up to 3.
Now that you understand the difference you can make a decision, to approach a Hard money Lender or just go with your Bank.