Sometimes waiting in line is smart. Like, for instance in the security line at the airport. However, if you are waiting in line for a loan modification, you’re nuts. In the line ahead of you are hundreds of thousands of frustrated homeowners just like you. Instead, you’ve got to get “Out-of-Line” and up to the front of the line. That’s right. Take cuts!
The line for Loan Modifications wraps around the block!It makes the line for Laker’s tickets seem short. Hundreds of thousands are in the queue ahead of you with more than 50,000 added per week. Banks can’t staff and train nearly fast enough and the systems and procedures are insufficient as well. Add to that the fact that the banks are only begrudgingly modifying to begin with – and you have a formula for homeowner frustration and failure. Though it seems rude, you have to “take cuts” to get to the front of the line.
The answer is to copy the winners, that 4% of applicants who get the good modifications. How do they do it? They step out-of-line and do extraordinary things. In previous articles I’ve described the way winners craft their applications and follow-up on their files to use what I call File Inertia. Now I will describe the way they escalate problems.
Problems always arise in such a strained process. Dealing effectively with the problems is essential if you are to persevere to the end and get that mod. My advice is to Ask 5 Times, Escalate Well and Escalate Well Beyond.
Ask 5 Times – Handling common problems is easy. If they misplaced your 4506-T Form, send them another one. If they want 3 months of bank statements instead of the 2 their forms statesend it in. What I mean by Ask 5 Times is, when you get information from the agent that is just wrong, and you can’t seem to get them to perceive itI call back and try another agent, 5 times. That’s right, it’s not worth it to try to prove your point and sometimes the agent is just not savvy enough or trained well enough to understand your question or concern. If I can’t get 5 agents to give me the “right” answer, then I ESCALATE.
Escalation means going up the chain of command. It means requesting that a manager or supervisor review the situation with you. Be sure to do this politely to minimize the snub to the agent but be firm. Simply say (to the 5th agent) “Please connect me to your supervisor, will you? This matter is ust too important to me to let this go. I want to hear it from a supervisor”. Sometimes the agent will obligeand other times the agent will argue with you. I believe that sometimes too, agents will ask their co-worker to pose as a manager for the call. It may happen that the manager will have to call you back. Don’t hold your breath. Occassionally you will get lucky and a well trained and well informed manager will get on the line and provide some real vaue.
Escalate Well Beyond the Loss Mitigation Department. Perhaps departmental rules or guidelines have to be altered in your case. Often the individual departments do not have the authority to make exceptions. You should seek assistance and support from other departments, or from bank executives, regulatory agencies, politicians, trade associations or, maybe even the press. Don’t think that your problem is too small for any of them to care about. The secret to winning their support is to ask for it in a way that indicates you 1) have used all the correct channels already, 2) understand their role and have appropriate expectations for what they can do to help, 3) know specifically what you want them to do and 4) that you are the type of person who will not stop escalating if they fail to respond.
These Escalations Well Beyond are incredibly effective. Recently one client was assisted by the CEO of Aurora Loan Servicing, another by a local Congressman’s plea to the OTS and a third by a U.S. Senator! Who’d a thunk it?
We’re all in this together (well, many of us are at least). And getting help is often just a case of knowing who to ask and what to ask for. Most people are genuinely sympathetic to those of us caught in the housing crisis. After all, it’s nearly most of us.
Rockwood is an author and foreclosure expert. He has written extensively on loan modifications.? Visit Rockwood’s site about DIY Loan Modification at Home Loan Modification Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.
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