Citimortgage is very poorly run and they may be facing bankruptcy or government takeover soon, however, they do handle loan modifications pretty well.
- Citimortgage sets up special phone numbers and e-mail addresses for people facing loan modifications exclusively! That shows you that Citimortgage gives their customers great service, that they are serious about loan modifications, and that they want to get a deal done quickly that will benefit both sides.
- Citimortgage is open to both reducing the principal of a mortgage that it owns for an extended period of time, or reducing the interest rate on the mortgage! These types of options really make the whole loan modification practice in general much easier for the homeowner.
In the end, all you really want out of a bank during a loan modification is great customer service and an honest and responsible team of employees, Citimortgage certainly provides all of the above and more!
California loan modifications tend to go a little differently than loan modifications in other states in the US for a couple of reasons:
- California inhabits the most people out of all of the states. This means that loan modifications are a pretty big business. Tens of thousands of loan modifications occur each year in Californa, so it should not be hard to find people to work with to help you that know what they are doing.
- California is probably tied with Florida as having the worst real estate market all together over the past two years or so. When house prices plummet, jobs get lost, the economy goes in the toilet… House payments start to become more and more expensive with each passing month. This leads to a sharp increase in foreclosures and loan modifications.
There is good news though. If you are in Californa, it will be very easy to find a loan modification attorney or company that knows what they are doing and has a long track record.
It is hard to judge a banks loan modification practices by its cover, because a bank as big as bank of America has thousands of different branches. Obviosly there will be a huge varience in the service you get and your overall outcome of your modification depending on where you are located.
However, most branches usually have similar morales, backgrounds, beliefs, and objectives. For example, a bank like Bank of America will treat a loan modificaton differently than a bank like JP Morgan. JP Morgan acted responsibly for the most part over the past 5 years and avoided much of the trouble that other banks, including bank of America has gotten into.
A bank like bank of America might take a loan modification more seriously because every penny counts to them. They might raise the fees that go along with loan modifications, or they could just be a little bit harder to deal with when it comes to negotiating the modification.
The one thing that may decide the fate of your entire loan modification is who you choose to deal with. If you work with a loan modification attorney that is honest and is looking out for your best interests, the odds are definitely on your side. However on the flip side, if you are working with a “snake” of an attorney that is just in it for the money and could not care less about you, good luck with your modification.
The best way to pick a qualified loan modification is to do your research. Look the attorney’s name up in google, ask around and see if anyone you know has dealt with him, notice the “vibes” that you get from him or her. Go with your gut instinct in the end and you should be good to go.
Homeowners in a loan modification are just a few steps away from foreclosure or possibly bankruptcy, losing everything and having to start over, this is a very serious part of your life, you cannot “skimp” on any of the work that is involved in a loan modification.
Washington mutual, or wamu for short, does not have the best reputation as a bank, especially because of the way they handle loan modifications.
Wamu is notorius for being hard to deal with in a loan modification. Of course it will depend on which particular bank you are working with, there are hundreds, make that thousands of different branches so you would likely get a different outcome from every bank.
The best way to deal with Washington Mutual through a loan modification is to just grin and bear it. You might not get the bestr support or customer service, but in the end it will be worth it if you get to keep your home. Remember, Washington mutual does not want to have to foreclose on your home, especially in this market where they would have to sell the home for pennies on the dollar.
Be honest, upfront, and hard working during the loan modification process and it will work out, even if you are working with Washington Mutual.