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Last Call For Loan Modifications Under HAMP

By Cathy Moran

house at risk

If your house is teetering on the edge of foreclosure, the time to act has a deadline.

HAMP, the government program incentivizing home loan modifications, ends in 2016.

To qualify for HAMP, you must submit a complete Initial Application Package by December 30, 2016.

That package must include:

  •  A  RMA form which includes a required hardship affidavit and Dodd-Frank certification
  •  Either IRS Form 4506-T or 4506T-EZ, or in the alternative, a signed copy of the most recent year’s tax return with all applicable schedules and forms,
  •  The Dodd-Frank certification, either as part of the RMA form or as a stand-alone form, and
  •  Evidence of the borrower’s income.

Get the HAMP forms and  supporting information 

Start now

My advice is start now.  Don’t wait for the last minute.  Who wants to be filling out forms over the holidays?

Expect the servicer to screw up, lose things, delay.  Make a record of what you’ve sent.

Be persistent.  Many of my clients have gotten loan modifications after months and months of submitting and resubmitting forms.

Get free help

HUD certifies housing counselors to help with this process.  Counselors are FREE.

There is no excuse not to get help from non-lender experts:   this is not their first rodeo.

Find a free housing counselor.

For Bay Area readers, I’ve created a list of housing counselors.

Alternatives to HAMP

Nothing keeps loan servicers from offering proprietary loan modification programs after HAMP sunsets.

But I have no confidence that they will play fair, or even put out a good effort to get troubled loans back on track.

So while you still have some federal laws and regulations as partners in the effort, get your HAMP application on file before Decemeber 30.

More

What if an accepted loan modification vanishes

Image:  USGS via Flickr

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Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2016

About Cathy Moran

I'm a veteran bankruptcy lawyer and consumer advocate in California's Silicon Valley. I write, teach, and speak in the hopes of expanding understanding of how bankruptcy can make life better in a family's future.

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You’ve arrived at the Bankruptcy Soapbox, a resource of bankruptcy information and consumer law.

Soapbox is a companion site to Bankruptcy in Brief, where I try to be largely explanatory and even handed (Note I said “try”).

Here, I allow myself to tell stories and express strong opinions. We dig deeper into how to consider bankruptcy and navigate a bankruptcy case.

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Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

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