James had been out of work for 1 1/2 years – since 2016 – and was having trouble making his mortgage payments. He requested a loan modification so he wouldn’t lose his house, so his credit union gave him a 40-year instead of a 30-year loan and put all the past due payments on the end so he could get caught up.
Unfortunately, the credit union left the interest rate at 6.8%! Because of that, in 2017 he found out that they had reported to the credit agencies that he was constantly 30 days late (not pretty on a credit report). This bummed him out as he was hearing of people refinancing at a 3.5% with a 30-year fixed and he was stuck with 6.8%. He thought he would never be able to refinance.
But instead of giving up, he decided to call his credit union. He felt since he was back on his feet paying on time and had developed a relationship with them that they may be forgiving. But they turned him down.
Thankfully, his original realtor who sold him his house suggested he call me.
We found a solution (of course!), despite all of the late mortgage reports, that would give him a 30-year fixed 3.875% loan and save him $550 per month.
I am so excited to be able to lower his payment by $550 for an investment (closing costs) of $3000 which is financed (no money out of pocket) and get him back on track to pay off his home before retirement.
The lesson? Never never never give up; just call the right person.