Tag Archives: lending
Do you Qualify for Home Loan Modification?
If you’re one of the many homeowners hit by the economic crash, chances are you’ve looked into refinancing, short sales, and other ways to help you get back on track. But if you’re in serious default or are at risk of losing your home, your best bet may be a home loan modification. Also called a mortgage modification, this process involves negotiating with your lender for more comfortable mortgage terms. The government has launched a home loan modification plan, known as Home Affordable Modification Program, designed to help troubled homeowners get better terms.
Each lender has a different standard for granting loan modifications, but the general requirements are pretty much the same. Below are some common cases that may make you eligible for a home loan modification.
Financial hardship Maybe you lost your job, got divorced, or had to pay emergency medical bills. These are all valid reasons (especially in this economy) for falling behind on your mortgage. Note that to qualify for a loan modification, the hardship has to be temporary and you have to have sufficient income. Provide bank statements or financial documents to show that youll be able to keep up with the modified loan.
Adjustable-rate mortgages A lot of today’s home defaults can be attributed to adjustable-rate mortgages, most of which were issued during the sub-prime boom between 2004 and 2007. Once the teaser period ended and the rates reverted to normal, many homeowners found themselves unable to keep up. The government’s home loan modification program allows these homeowners to return to comfortable mortgage terms, so they can avoid foreclosure and save their credit.
Falling home values Many people have found themselves unable to refinance because their home values have fallen, sometimes to a point where they owe more on the home than it’s currently worth. However, decreased home value alone won’t qualify you for a home loan modification, as home values are expected to rise and fall during the life of the loan. But combined with other factors, a decreased value can certainly increase your chances.
Lending violations Sub-prime lenders have been found to violate a number of laws on fair lending, and you can use this to your advantage when applying for a Home Loan Modification. Have a qualified loan modification attorney review your case and see if there are any violations you can use for leverage. With an experienced lawyer, you can negotiate more strongly with your lender and come out with a much more agreeable deal.
Is Private Lending for You?
If you do not have outrageously generous, rich relatives, you might think that, when it comes time to get a loan to buy or renovate a home, that your bank and credit union are your sole sources of major capital. However, the Internet has revolutionized the way we do business and, now, how we can get loans. While it has been accused of separating people from person-to-person interaction, the Internet has actually started to bring people back together in business.
Prosper.com is currently the United States’ largest person-to-person (P2P) lending company on the Internet. It functions as sort of a loan E-bay, allowing people to bid on loans they wish to invest in, and buyers to get whatever amount of money they want, for the price they are willing to pay. Prosper allows people to invest as little as $50 per loan they wish to finance. This enables people to spread their money around a wide area, providing for a wider variety of investment.
One of the most unique and compelling aspects of the private lending scene is the ability for borrowers to tell their story. The lending company has no way of knowing whether someone’s request for $10,000 to pay off their sick kid’s medical bills is true. You might be helping sent Little Johnny off to college or remodel the bathroom; then again, you may just be funding someone’s drug habit.
Private lending companies have tried to make fraud a minimal part of the private lending experience. All borrowers and lenders go through a full credit check and the lending company will send the account to collections for borrowers who default. This may not mean that you will get a return on your investment; some people will sail off with money, never to be seen again, only to return to lending companies with another sob story.
If a P2P lending company collects the funds that you invested, you still may not see a return. The costs of collection agencies can easily take 50% of the debt that the borrower owes you, even if they manage to collect. This issue is starting to be addressed with lending companies, like Zopa.com, are offering investor insurance. They will cover up to $100,000 in investor funds.
For borrowers, private lending can be an excellent way of gaining funds for projects, school, or expenses. In return for lower rates than most credit cards, people can gain thousands of dollars for whatever purpose they want it for. Most P2P sites don’t encourage people with a bad FICO score to apply for a loan until they’ve improved their score.
Many people with less-than-stellar credit can take advantage of the opportunities of P2P lending with less problems than many have at conventional institutions. One thing that helps is the ability to tell a story – whether it’s to explain that you need to build an extra bedroom for your ailing mother or to pay debts left over from a hospital stay.
P2P lending is a newcomer on the scene, owing its inception to the Internet. It has brought back lending as a personal experience, as lenders can choose borrowers based on their credit score… or based on their stories. If you are a borrower, looking for a way to escape outrageously high credit card interest, you might try looking at one of these companies.