My name is Lucas McGrew Bayón & I work under Erik Sandstrom – the longtime contributor of this forum. We are doing our best to help homeowners across the nation that are dealing with these crooked 2nd Mortgages that have come back to haunt people. So let’s dive right into it.
A Summarized History: Back in 2004-2007 millions of Americans became proud homeowners. Some of them acquired 2nd Mortgages in order to purchase their homes, while others got their 2nd Mortgages in the form of a HELOC (home equity line of credit) at a later time. Fast forward to 2008 – the housing market crashed. Many homeowners struggled to make their mortgage payments and their 1st Mortgage company created a loan modification to make things more affordable.
The 2nd Mortgage company said they were planning on doing a loan modification under a program created by the US Treasury called the 2MP or the Second Mortgage Modification Program. Many of these 2nd Mortgage companies did not get around to creating this modification plan. In fact, after 120 days of not receiving payments these 2nd Mortgages were deemed as being “Charged Off” which is a fancy way of saying that they were deemed as uncollectible by these entities.
We can only speculate to what happened next. Maybe these 2nd Mortgage companies were paid off by the TARP funds or the debt was written off in their taxes. Maybe these 2nd Mortgages were purchased for pennies on the dollar by investors. Either way – something malicious occurred.
The homeowners that survived the recession now face a new threat. These old 2nd Mortgages that they haven’t dealt with, in many cases over a decade, are now coming back to haunt them. They see that the homeowners have equity and they want “their” money.
2nd Mortgages Options: It is important to note that you will be working with the 2nd Mortgages servicer. A literal debt collecting agency who is working on the behalf of the investor. So what options do these 2nd Mortgage companies give you? These companies tend to give you 3 options. We can get into the intricacies of each at a later time but let’s go over the basics for now:
- Settlement
- Loan Modification
- Foreclosure
Settlement: An amount of money the 2nd Mortgage states that you owe them. This is usually 2-3x the original loan size. Why is this the case? They tack on interest and all kinds of fees. If you are trying to settle with them be aware that if you have less than 80% Loan-To-Value the most they will be willing to budge is 1% of the 2nd Mortgage. In the rare instance that you have more than 80% Loan-To-Value, you will have a better chance disputing the new balance of the 2nd Mortgage and lowering it to 80%.
- The problem: Most people do not have the money to pay these new loan balances off all at once
Loan Modification: This is a modification that the 2nd Mortgage servicer will offer you. It’s usually a lump sum paid up front and then a percentage paid for 6 months after that. In most cases, they will “re-evaluate” the scenario after that the 6 months elapses.
- The problem: This tends to be a short term solution and usually barely puts a dent in the loan balance. Also, there have been cases where these loan mods affect people’s credit because the company reports the old “missed” payments to the credit bureaus.
Foreclosure: Everyone should know what this is. It’s worst case scenario and you might be thinking that it cannot happen to you. Unfortunately, it has happened to hundreds/thousands of Americans who are dealing with these Old Charged Off Second Mortgages. This is what we are trying to prevent.
- In non-judicial states, the second lien holder can foreclose without going to court!
Our Solution: Erik Sandstrom & I are trying our best to proactively reach out to people who are dealing with these Charged Off 2nd’s. Erik has been in the lending industry for 16 years and has been dealing with these for over 6 years. I have been working under him for 7 months and he has taught me how to fight these alongside him. We work for a nationwide lender and national bank. This has given us the ability to help with people across the US.
- Refinance – Most lenders won’t even touch these 2nd Mortgages because they are seen as “defaulted”. We have found a way to navigate through the guidelines of conventional loan programs and we can actually get these through the pipeline and to the finishline. There are no upfront costs. If for whatever reason we can’t do the loan, we will let you know before you spend any money. We are on your team.
As far as your specific scenario goes, this forum is equipped with some of the most knowledgable homeowners in regards to these Old 2nd Mortgages. I will add some helpful links in the thread below- Most of which the homeowners I mentioned above have provided in previous threads. Please DO NOT hesitate to give us a call or use this forum as a resource.