B of A Doing Principal Reductions For Many Homeowners

Bank of America Principal Reduction 

     Due to the recent settlement with the federal government over the robo signings. Many of the banks are having to revisit some of their policies on foreclosures. One such bank is Bank of America. They are taking the unprecedented step of providing principal reduction to their customers. So if you have a Bank of America loan product then you may benefit from this principal reduction on your mortgage. 

What is The Bank of America Principal Reduction?

     Bank of America is simply reducing the amount of outstanding principal that the homeowner owes the bank from current amount owed to one hundred percent of today's value. Bank of America is saying that the average will be about $100,000.00 for the average homeowner. Wow, that's a lot of money that will not longer be owed by the average homeowner. Think what that will do for your net worth. Retirement might actually start to look affordable again if you actually meet the criteria for this principal reduction.

What are the Criteria For Bank of America Principal Reduction?

     The criteria for Bank of America principal reduction are pretty simple. Let's see if you qualify.

• This must be a primary residence. So, no investors here. This is for homeowners that actually live in their homes.
• Your loan must be serviced by Bank of America. That doesn't mean that you originally got your mortgage from them but if through all the bank restructuring and buying and selling of loans your loan ended up being serviced by Bank of America then you may qualify.
• This is the big one you must be at least 60 days delinquent on your mortgage as of January 31st.

     So, those are the rules if you qualify for this program you should take advantage of it. To see if you qualify call Band of America at 877-488-7814.

Principal Reduction Controversy 

     There is a lot of controversy surrounding the whole principal reduction program or even the idea of principal reduction. A lot of people are asking, hey they have all these programs for people who didn't pay their bills what about the people who are current on their mortgages. I agree with those sentiments but I also agree with holding these banks accountable for some of the things they did wrong during this whole financial crisis. Another part of the controversy is what is this going to do to home values? Is it going to lower home prices by a huge amount because basically not much will be owed on them anymore? I say no because home prices are all ready low and a lot is owed on them. I believe that it could actually raise home prices by giving people money to actually go out and buy a house instead of paying their very high rent compared to the lower mortgage payments on homes. So, e will see what it does with home prices but I believe it could stimulate some buying in the market. So that's the controversy surrounding these plans but the reason B of A and other banks are having to do this, because let's face it they are not doing because they want to is because of the whole robo signing deal. Where they were taking advantage of people. So, if you qualify for this program take advantage of it.

Bird Houses / 20071230.10D.46705 / SML, a photo by See-ming Lee 李思明 SML on Flickr.

Wells Fargo Loan Modifications and Refinancing

Wells Fargo Loan Modifications and Refinancing

     It seems that Wells Fargo Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage are finally stepping up to the plate to help some of their customers through this housing crisis. They seem to have some new programs to help out some homeowners that need the help. Either by refinancing you to today's lower rates or getting you into the new HARP program and doing a modification on your loan. Now no matter how you feel about it and let me tell you I definitely have some strong feelings about this whole ordeal. I have strong feelings about the banks being bailed out and then their top executives getting huge raises while their company stock values plummeted. At least it seems like Wells Fargo is starting to do some loan modifications and refinancing.

Wells Fargo Mortgage 

Wells Fargo Mortgage has been making calls over the last two weeks to their mortgage holders that have underwater mortgages. Then they try to get them to refinance at the current market rate. For no cost out of pocket. No closing costs, no points, Nada. The only cost is a ten dollar notary fee. That has got to be the cheapest refinance you have ever done. This is a really great deal. It's basically if you have an underwater mortgage and you are current on your payments for the last twelve months which is pretty cool since this is the first deal that I have seen for people who are current on their mortgage. Usually you have to be behind on your mortgage at least three months before they will talk to you. For me this deal will not work out since my mortgage is on a rental property but if your mortgage is held by Wells Fargo Mortgage and it's owner occupied and you are current on your payments for the last twelve months you should be good to go on this deal.  

Wells Fargo Mortgage Assistance

     Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is starting to hold two day workshops. Starting in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are called Home Preservation Workshops. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage specialists will try to help people hold onto their homes. These specialist expect to try to help approximately 11,000 people with their mortgage problems. Last time they did one of these workshops about two out of three people who showed up for the workshops were able to have some type of fix for their mortgage. They will accomplish this either through the type of program above where they refinance the home for today's rates at no cost or the HARP programs which offers mortgage payment of twenty one percent of their monthly income. Also in some cases they are offering some customer new 40 year mortgages. In some cases these new loans or longer mortgages will not be able to help the customer out. However this is a sign that the big banks are trying to do more than just take your house and sell it for whatever they can get for it. Which is a really good sign.


  Building castles in Spain, a photo by Esther Gibbons on Flickr.