There are not enough homeowners who start loan modification programs and go on to get the permanent loan modification. Homeowners keep coming in to the NCCU legal clinic and telling us how they made all of the payments during the trial modification and now they are facing foreclosure again. The lender has denied them the permanent modification they needed in order to keep their home. Why?
The lenders' excuses have ranged from the homeowners' failure to return a call to the homeowners' income being too low. Homeowners were never aware that they were supposed to make any phone call, and their income is the same today as it was when they first applied for the trial modification.
Unfortunately, without better regulation, lenders are free to use the noble government programs as a way to squeeze three to six more mortgage payments out of the homeowners before the lender forecloses. The homeowners are hurting, and there is little to no recourse.
