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Calculated Shill!
Tanta, once again, you are hysterical.
The internet's one biggest flaw is the lack of the universal "unsend" button. It is a definite setback to civilization. And a boon to the antacid industry.
Anyone else get the feeling that this post is going to be the new form letter servicers will be seeing?
-Jaso
So, if your letter is whiny or otherwise poorly written or directed, the loan service rep will let themselves and you die.
Someone had better wise-up to the reality that two losses don't make a win.
You can walk away without suffering as much abuse.
P.S: If anyone knows disgusting when they see it, it's Mozilo.
I should also mention I thought your practical ideas were great too, not just your humor. As you have noted before, people in these situations are not in their most coherent frames of mind by this stage, so to be guided in exactly what to say to their servicers, and whom to say it to, would be really helpful.
Career idea: Housing Crisis Life Coach
Yes, his letter was muddled but how many people think and write logically? You are describing a process which describes assumes a person can distance herself from a problem and objectively analyze it. This is not most people.
There will be very little help for these people because the software, people, and institutional knowledge required does not exist and will not in the next couple years, if then.
This is a Katrina event. By that I mean there is no leadership, structure, or really any great desire to actually fix the problem. We continue to see platitudes, smiling faces that assure us "all is well" until... well Hell freezes over.
morning reading to help you feel warm & fuzzy about the do-good altruistic patriots on wall st.
Citigroup's `Last Roman' CDO Shows Enron Accounting (Update3) - Bloomberg.com
So, if your letter is whiny or otherwise poorly written or directed, the loan service rep will let themselves and you die.
No. That is not, in fact, what I am saying, and it is not, in my experience, true.
The vast majority of letters troubled borrowers write to Loss Mit people are whiny and poorly-written. The Loss Mit people are rather used to that. So are the Collections people. The ones that manage to squeeze in some useful relevant facts in there that build a case for a modification get worked on, even if they're whiny and badly-written.
In the same vein, no one gets a mod because the letter was such a stunning example of poised exposition that it deserves publication in a college composition textbook.
A bad Loss Mit department, if you're dealing with one, will blow you off if it wants to blow you off. I won't defend that. But today's subject is how to write a letter that stands a chance of getting you what you want. If you let your self-pity and umbrage get in the way of writing what is, after all, a business letter--a business proposition--then you aren't helping yourself any. I fail to see why I shouldn't point that out.
Yes, his letter was muddled but how many people think and write logically? You are describing a process which describes assumes a person can distance herself from a problem and objectively analyze it. This is not most people.
Of course. But Mr. Bailey did not come up with this letter all by his own muddled self. He found this form letter on Moe Bedard's site, and spammed CFC's management with it on Moe's advice.
Normally I do not get into the business of telling people how to write these letters. But this guy was basically encouraged by someone who sets himself up as a consumer advocate to handle the situation this way.
You're absolutely correct that no one in this situation (on either side, mind you) is at his or her best. I am trying to suggest dealing with that, not making it worse by letting Angelo's great fuck-up obscure what is seriously wrong with this letter.
You have brought balance to the snark.
Haloscan is flaking again I see...
Realistically, how many letters from borrowers actually get read all the way through, do you think? For the past 10 years or so any business letter I've sent as an individual has been pretty much routinely ignored and/or disbelieved by its recipients. And this is with years of experience in writing a clean, coherent business letter.
Tanta, I guess if the loss mit people are used to this kind of stuff then indeed the borrower is wasting his time. However, in most industries, a whiny letter to the CEO will catch the right people's attention and get the whiner what they want, simply because of the company's fear that this whiner might throw a curve ball at them if unsatisfied.
mozilo is the new CEO at the new company(IPO) intrepid fertilizer
ticker IPI.
Moe Bedard is a grandstanding douchebag.
His "advice" is laughable.
suecris, I dunno. I have had a rather good experience with my letters... just self-centered comparisons, I know...but I think they work.
So you are saying, "Be specific and concise, and avoid rhetorical flourish"?
That is really quite excellent advice...
I'm surprised at the number of people who felt Tanta was too hard on the letter writer.
The advice provided is how you would go about increasing your chance of having anyone do something you want.
No rocket science here. Simply effective communication.
Tanta:
My comment was not directed at your post, but at the entire fiasco and the idea that all parties, at this point, aren't fully aware of the problems of the majority of people and parties that colluded in the inflation of the bubble. Countrywide and its ilk will rue the day they stop getting letters seeking to work out the core problem of overvalued assets, adjustable rates, and mutual insolvency.
Maybe the government will fix the problem.
Moe Bedard's righteous indignation at the evil banks taking advantage of the little guy is laughable. No one hated the banks when they were getting zero-down IO loans, did they?
Tanta,
You're advice is good. Basically what you're saying is it's a business decision, not a personal decision so don't waste everyone's time with the personal stuff.
I always suspected the tan man had disdain for commoners. Now this confims it.
Realistically, how many letters from borrowers actually get read all the way through, do you think?
It depends on why you're sending the letter and what it's about. If it's a complaint letter about how the servicer mucked up your last escrow analysis? Quite possibly that won't get a careful reading regardless of how it's written. Possibly it will. You never know.
But a request for a loan modification will get read. Look, these letters don't come out of the blue. The first thing I'd have done if I'd gotten this letter would be to type the loan account number into my computer and see what the current situation is. If I saw that the thing was about to be referred to the foreclosure attorneys, I'd certainly read the letter to see if there's anything in it that would justify my putting a hold on that until we looked into the modification.
We're forgetting that in these cases the servicer already knows that there is a real problem with the loan. Mr. Bailey, unfortunately, is writing for the press (at Moe's instigation), not writing for the person in Loss Mit.
suecris,
I am pretty sure every letter gets read if for no other reason than to see if it qualifies for posting on the break room bulletin board.
Having read a fair number of these and "credit explanation letters", I can say that if Tanta was writing them for all borrowers, there would be a lot more mods approved. And decisions would be made much more quickly.
Future michael morse documentary material.
Roger and mos
Mozilo is only projecting his own self-disgust.
I pity him. Spend it fast Mozilo! Spend it fast.
Moe Bedard's righteous indignation at the evil banks taking advantage of the little guy is laughable. No one hated the banks when they were getting zero-down IO loans, did they?>/i>
I don't think it should be viewed this way. He is not a Paulson. I mean...come on... what do the average Americans understand about underwriting standards and default characteristics? Even engineers and doctors and lawyers are ignorant about these things. People are not to blame for "not hating a bank that offers zero-down negam". IF you were to insert the term "stated income" then maybe we're talking. The average American should understand, at least a bit, what it means to lie about income.
A hardship letter doesn't make or break a customer workout. It is the least important item in any workout package. All we want to know is what are the customer's intentions (Do they want to keep the house or not) and what are their abilities (Can they afford it)
Desperate times=desperate letters
Tanta, your guide was so clear and simple it made me wonder why lenders don't have a better form letter to steer their desperate/emotional clients through such a request process. Perhaps one that asks for specific short-form information that lays out the financial information the lender requires. Apparently not having such a guide from Countrywide, Mr. Baily followed the advice on how to craft a form letter from this Moe guy's website (similar advice is offered on countless other websites).
Perhaps there is also a problem with the industry labeling it a "hardship letter" -- a title that would seem to be a clear request for the client to describe in vivid terms his or her.. um...hardships.
I get your point, but the more important point that shines through here is that perhaps lenders, and maybe even some loss-mit depts are the ones making it hard for homeowners in trouble to communicate with them. That perhaps they ought to anticipate that their customers might be to scared s***less to craft a detached, lawyerly request.
But then again, if they made it easier, they couldn't be so dismissive-- and right now it seems they think dismissive is good business.
Everybody talks about misstated income (like the loan officers didn't know a window washer couldn't afford a $700K "home"). I don't hear any talk about usury.
You reap what you sow.
Typo pardon, "too scared s***less"
Tanta, your guide was so clear and simple it made me wonder why lenders don't have a better form letter to steer their desperate/emotional clients through such a request process.
Most of them do, in my experience.
You have to remember that this guy's loan is already delinquent. He has already been called by the Collections people. Typically, if you tell the collector that you think you need a workout, they'll send you the "how to apply for a workout" letter. It may or may not be very helpful, but I don't write everything in the industry even though it felt like it at one point in my career.
The only time a letter like this would be "out of the blue" would be if the borrower is still current, but is afraid he won't stay current without a mod. Those are the letters where it is crucial to explain the situation fully, since otherwise the person on the other side doesn't even know why a mod is on the table.
But this is not that kind of letter. Unless Bailey has refused to pick up calls from CFC's collections department, he has been in contact with his servicer already. If he has refused to talk to the collector, he's got a problem coming off as cooperative. If he has talked to the collector, all that is documented on the servicing notes on his computer record.
Which is why these things usually start "I talked to a Bonnie from your company last week who said I should write a letter requesting a modification and giving you my budget."
The fact that Bailey's letter sounds like the first time he's ever communicated with CFC is, well, odd. Form-letter-like.
Tanta:
I appreciate your attempt to bring balance to this unfortunate situation by explaining how to deal (write?) with Loss Mitigation personnel.
The "distressed" borrower is going to want to "explain" his circumstances though. It's human nature or a cultural artifact but if you are in trouble, your impulse is to "explain".
That being said, Loss Mit is very busy right now so get to the point early. Detail what you believe will allow you to stay in your home.
Give clear intent that you are wanting to work with the reps to modify the deal so we all can move forward.
The problem is 95% of the population of this country do not understand or want to understand the financial considerations involved with this type of deal.
They just want it "fixed".
We are in for a tough next few years.
The mortgage problem today is unique in cause, size, and scope and the resolution needs to be original. Mightn't it work to halve the payments required for a year, call it rent and suspend the note. After the year's up, both lender and borrower would have a better idea of what sort of modification works.
At the least, nothing gets trashed, less property gets thrown into the bank's lap, and inventory gets controled. Also, some money is coming in for the lender--who looks compassionate.
I suggest writing in your own voice, about the details of your monthly budget, sticking to the relevant facts, and trying as hard as you can to stifle the impulse to blame your problems on everyone but yourself.
Well said. Unfortunately, the concept of assigning blame - specifically that of 'blaming everyone but yourself' - is a distressingly well-entrenched one for most Americans of my generation (to say nothing of the one we're now raising).
If we have a problem, at whom can we point the finger? Exigent circumstances? The media? The government? That eeevil corporation that had the nerve to lend us money? Now those, we're good at.
But ourselves? Heaven forfend!
(I shudder to think how this scenario will play out in 15 years, when the next generation will be asking whether the Loss Mit department accepts text messages. "hi need lwr $$ on mtg pmt hi med xpnses 8 up svgs cant refi arm r8 goin up
plz help kwikly thx")
YA if it's a form letter, it's actually not that threatening...and kinda dumb
It kind of reminds me of some of the letters for explaining impaired credit on FHA loans. I don't know if the borrowers are coached to be excessively maudlin or if they do it on their own. The result are explanations that read like country & western ballads.
The problem with this workout letter wasn't that it provoked insufficient sympathy, there just isn't much for the servicer to work with. If you think of the loss mit dept like a triage, is there anything in the letter that would make you think this was a good workout candidate? There are numerous web sites available with far more substantive (and basic) instructions and examples of hardship letters available. Tanta's post is great because it could end up saving a lot of people a lot of time.
PS Does the original article say this originated by a broker?
Nicely done, Tanta.
It strikes me that an essay leaving out self-deprecating facts and emphasizing how badly you have been treated by the world would get an 'A' in most public schools. People are surprised that it doesn't work in the real world, I guess.
I find it hard to get to upset about stated income. I remember when I was buying my condo and the loan officer told me that if I was borrowing money from my parents, I should say it was a gift and not a loan - and this was common knowledge among my young friends also buying houses. Certainly no one thought it was FRAUD, even if it made us a little uncomfortable. Surely the LO wouldn't tell us to do something really wrong. It was a formality or something.
I bet when the stated income loans were being made, the LOs were telling people what to say their income was. Perhaps borrowers should have walked away in a dudgeon at the idea of saying something not true (certainly they would have been wiser to walk out), but I'm not surprised they didn't. You used to be able to trust lenders not to put you in a loan you couldn't possibly pay - it was their own best interest after all.
And great suggestions from Tanta about how to formulate the letter. I wish my delinquent clients would get in touch with me to explain that they need to pay their debt off slowly, or take a few months off, or forget it - they are going bankrupt, or whatever instead of hiding out or being evasive.
I don't mind hearing their tales of woe. I am a compassionate person. I just really like to know at the end of it whether they are ever going to pay me, or if I should stop work and chalk it up to experience, or what.
Well said. Unfortunately, the concept of assigning blame - specifically that of 'blaming everyone but yourself' - is a distressingly well-entrenched one for most Americans of my generation (to say nothing of the one we're now raising).
Especially when anyone who has been dealing with the public more than a day DOESN'T CARE who's to blame and just would be happy if someone clearly articulated the problem and what they wanted. You don't piss off the customer support by doing something dumb, because that's sort of expected, but you do by humming and hawing and throwing up a bunch of squid ink.
Writing lesson by Tanta! What a way to start the morning.
I'm sensing some class resentment triggered by Mr. Bailey and his Cyrano, M. Bedard. A little perspective on writing from Gardner:
It is of course possible to become a good writer without a college education or, more specifically, without courses in literature. One does not have to be college-educated to be a sensitive and intelligent human being; in fact, there are some advantages to remaining one of the so-called common people, and thus avoiding the subtle social distancing higher education imposes."
Learning to write well is inseparable from learning to become a better person and the formation of good character. As Tanta has pointed out, the main problem with the letter is that the writer thinks himself the center of the world, his own situation is unique, "it's all about him," etc etc. One of the main principles of writing is concision--there are other people in the world, and they have busy lives, so respect that, get to the point, be simple and clear, don't try to sound intelligent, just be yourself. Lessons for writing, lessons for life.
Tanta, these are people who signed on to Option ARMs. How clearly were they thinking then? By the time they get to the letter to loss-mit, they are desperate. Couple this with CFC's rampant fee structure for any payment irregularities and documented "inability" to respond to correspondence unless payments have been missed, and you can see why CFC stock is all the way up to $4.59.
These guys are supposed to be the professionals, if their customers can't afford the product, then they deserve to go the way of the Packard.
Nice to have the primer on how to write a letter to loss-mitt though-maybe you could make something for the youtubes and cross-post it on the internets?
I think you've just made the case for better form letters.
It's not unreasonable for someone who doesn't work in the industry to seek out a guide or model. Hell, people do that for resumes and cover letters and complaints about cockroaches in cereal. Why not for such an arcane matter as underwriting and loan modification?
If Mr Bailey had read this blog post, and maybe begged a bookkeeper friend or accountant nephew to help him do a budget, his request might have succeeded. But only because he had a better guide. Most borrowers would never know what to write on their own.
If you did well in English class, and you don't grovel, we'll consider helping you. We made our money on fees.
Everyone knows that people who purchased in '04 or later will default in droves - regardless of their "reasons" for defaulting. Handling this situation on a case-by-case basis is counterproductive. The chicanery was ubiquitous, the solution must be SOP.
"Let me tell you that the biggest problem Loss Mit folks tend to have with borrower letters is not that they don't have the old college polish. The biggest problem is that "explanations" for delinquencies are not actually the same thing as proposals for a successful workout."
So if most institutions clearly lay out the process, how come the loss-mit folks are having these big problems?
And again with the "hardship" stuff- it's the industry's label, not the consumer's. And in the absence of guidance, people probably see their only resort as carpet-bombing hardship emails.
If homeowners were getting clarity from their banks there probably wouldn't be all these moe-like websites out there. I find it hard to believe that the same banks who made all these complex, opaque loans on the front end are going to make the rules of the game clear for doing a mod on the back end.
"I don't hear any talk about usury."
Are we not talking about loans with typically single-digit interest rates?
I don't see the big deal about Moz griping about a rash of canned requests.
If the industry wants to help, maybe they should publish guidelines on their website or how about a guided form that collects standardized information that can be analyzed.
It's certainly disgusting that Moz helped create this mess in the first place.
CFC is scum - basically the same as Enron. Without 2002-2006 option arm and subprime 'profits' no one would be talking about this crappy company.
Angeleo should and hopefully will go to jail.
I don't agree with all this silly letter writing and I think the Post did a puff piece - but CFC is scum.
SR
Malaclypse:
Okay. I'll save "usury" for the rest of the credit fiasco.
The difference between 1% and 2% interest (or similar increases) can be the difference between paying the mortgage and defaulting.
The point is that many buyers can afford the lower rate, but not the reset rate. It's more interest than the "obligated" can pay.
Fox business is currently ripping Angelo Mozilo apart on his stupidity of sending that message and discussing who sends such messages and why.
they must be reading CR for material.
Gomer
The fact remains that Moe Bedard is a grandstanding douchebag
Did anyone notice the 6am timestamp on Mozillo's letter?
He may have millions, but that boy is working EARLY!
Also, on the "workout" letter part, how many homeowners know this is an option? -If the banks want to help out the loss mit folks, might I suggest telling all the delinquent homeonwers about the workout letter optoin upfront?
I need to know what kind of business you are in, and why it requires you to spend money on it
Those burned-out grow-light bulbs ain't gonna replace themselves.
Moe doesn't know the first thing about Loss Mit; Countrywide doesn't know the first thing about underwriting.
They're perfect for each other.
One wonders what, precisely, this guy's expectations were. Just what we need - more Icanhazloanmod mouth-breathers.
Emma Anne,
You know what? You are actually right. Stated income, and even writing in the income that the LOs tell you, is no that bad. When my cousin immigrated into the US and bought his first house in 1987, the LO told him what income to write as income and he did. My cousin is, in general life situations, very nice, to the extent that most of my family calls him naively nice. But on that day he lied about his income because, as you say, people don't think they will be in a loan they cannot afford. actually... i'm opening a pandora's box now... but what's for sure, on another line of thought, the impression my uncle must have gotten is that the lenders are, probably, too tight, and the LO is fixing this for him. Of course the truth is that when you have a housing bubble everyone stretches and this is precisely the time where standards are too LOOSE. The computers wouldn't accept my cousin's real income but the system sure accepted his fake one.
It might have been too much home for him, must have... but he ended up paying it off and owned it free and clear about 10 years later. I must say that his salary rose quite a lot during the 90's though, from 60k to like 100k+
ot to mention his wife's income...
mozilo:
This is unbelievable. Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the internet. Disgusting.
Sooo... a company can have a stable of lawyers on hand to make sure that its interests are well represented, but some average schmoe uses a form letter from the internet and it's 'disgusting'.
Sounds like mozilo thinks the little guys need to learn their place and just accept whatever generous offer he deigns to put before them.
And, yes, I get the point that the borrower doesn't do a good job in his defense, but mozilo sneers at the effort itself, not just its efficacy.
"Maybe the government will fix the problem."
Spoken like a true liberal. While you're at it, can you pay for my gas too?. You see, I bought this SUV and the dealer said I should get 25 miles to the gallon...
I still want to know why the mortgage companies are so resistant to modifications. If they lose more money in foreclosure (or do they?) and more foreclosures drive prices of surrounding homes down, why isn't it better to just modify if it is clear the property will foreclose? What am I missing?
And it's because of all the greedy, credit-pimping, real-estate-pumping pigs that this <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/> 67-year-old Santa Barbara, CA woman has to live in her car, as reported by CNN. And she has a job!
Tanta - as usual, you nailed it. But I think your point will be lost in the rush to further tan the tan man's hide on this one.
Virtually every real letter ever sent to Loss Mit includes the following two elements:
1) Specifc citations to evidence what major-league assholes are employed within the collections staff.
2) The hard-luck story.
If borrowers could wrap their heads around the fact that mentioning either or both gains them anything insofar as achieving their goal (be it a modification, short sale, or whatever). Loss-Mit people are more thoroughly desensitized to hard-luck stories than Coroners are to rigor mortis. If the nation's Loss-Mit Specialists all contributed a nickel in a pickle jar every hard-luck story they have heard, the worth of that pickle jar would easily exceed the combined market cap of CFC and BAC.
I remember when I was buying my condo and the loan officer told me that if I was borrowing money from my parents, I should say it was a gift and not a loan - and this was common knowledge among my young friends also buying houses. Certainly no one thought it was FRAUD, even if it made us a little uncomfortable. Surely the LO wouldn't tell us to do something really wrong. It was a formality or something.
I did this in 1990 so it's not exactly a new thing.
Paul - it isn't what you're 'missing'. It's what you are assuming, when you say that mortgage companies (servicers?) are "resistant to modifications".
What gives you that idea?
"And again with the "hardship" stuff- it's the industry's label, not the consumer's. And in the absence of guidance, people probably see their only resort as carpet-bombing hardship emails."
There is no lack of guidance where I am sitting. I deal with this stuff every day and I will tell you the borrower that lied about their income, was lax and undisciplined about their finances and unreliable about keeping their promises when they got the loan are no better when they are trying to 'resolve" a foreclosure action.
Great letter writing advice. Thanks for the tremendous professionalism.
Beyond the glazed one's reply error...
Would anyone on this blog lend money to Businessman Dan based upon his letter??? I don't think so.
Poor old Dan claims he's a business owner but writes like he's asking mom to move back home. The guy could not write a coherent business letter. Stop and think about that.
So while sympathetic to his plight, the letter screams he's still digging himself into his hole and will take your time and the company's money with him.
Mike S.
If the banks want to help out the loss mit folks, might I suggest telling all the delinquent homeonwers about the workout letter optoin upfront?
That is, more or less, what the "Hope Now" plan is about. Servicers sending a bunch of letters to everyone who is delinquent or might be (who have ARMs coming up on a reset, at least).
But bear in mind how the process has (historically) worked. Your payment isn't in by the 15th. You probably get a call at that point from collections. Everybody gets one by the time the payment is 30 days past due.
Most 30-day lates cure; you call the borrower, they tell you that they forgot or were a little short this month or whatever; they send in the check or make the payment over the phone; you're done.
If that payment doesn't come in, they keep calling you. They don't normally start talking "workout" until they have established that this isn't just a temporary thing here.
Imagine the following, just for imaginative purposes:
Bailey's first payment goes late. CFC collector calls. Bailey says it's because he had to fix his Jeep and he's a little short. Collector asks him what he's going to do. He says he'll get the payment in by month-end.
Collector does not offer a workout or talk about workouts at this point. Collector makes a note in the system that Bailey is going to send in payment by month-end.
At month-end, payment is not there. Collector calls back. Bailey says he had some doctor bills. Etc . . . .
Only when the borrower indicates something long-term ("I lost my job") or is getting 60-days down or thereabouts does the collector introduce the possibility of a workout. And that is simply practical: most people who miss one payment don't need a mod or a workout. And most people who tell the collector up front that there's just no way they'll get that payment in--it's just too high for them--get referred to Loss Mit.
Nobody is going to open a modification case for every borrower whose payment isn't in by the 15th.
Frankly, the statistics on "no contact" suggest to me that most people are just hiding from Collections. I can relate to that, psychologically. But it's hard to then say that servicers aren't explaining how to ask for a mod to people who won't pick up the phone.
"I still want to know why the mortgage companies are so resistant to modifications. If they lose more money in foreclosure (or do they?) and more foreclosures drive prices of surrounding homes down, why isn't it better to just modify if it is clear the property will foreclose? What am I missing?"
Nothing. While a lot of shops are still under-staffed, the big problem is most borrowers do not qualify for loss mit and a fair number that do will not execute on the plan.
Paul - it isn't what you're 'missing'. It's what you are assuming, when you say that mortgage companies (servicers?) are "resistant to modifications".
What gives you that idea?
Well, this for one:
Wednesday, May 7, 2008; Page D03
Treasury officials met with about 10 leading mortgage firms yesterday to figure out why they have not helped more distressed homeowners, pressing the lenders to do better.
Lenders Pressed to Hurry Help - washingtonpost.com
Yeah, to be really effective, such letters should state that one lied about one's finances at the instance of the mortgage broker, and point out that "everyone was doing it."
Having gone through bankruptcy, overwhelming heath bills during my successful cancer fight (with excellent insurance) I can tell you that the people who are hired to "work" with you on your payment problems DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANYTHING YOU SAY OR WRITE NO MATTER HOW PROFESSIONAL YOUR DEMEANOR.
It's a fantasy to think that "just the facts ma'am" will help. The person on the other end of the phone or letter has a script they are to follow regardless of the individual's circumstances. Senior management has approved the script so that the outcome of any interaction with the "customer" will be to the advantage of the corporation not the individual.
These are the facts and if the form letters piss off senior management, then they are reaping what they have sown.
A little advice for everyone underwater on their house, walk away now. It's what every executive at Countrywide would do with an underwater asset.
Tanta thanks for further info - it's not that I want to be on the side of the weasels - I'm not, but the only way I'd permit Tangelo his grumpfest is if his industry had willingly (and 'hope now' is nice, but it's woefully late in coming, watered down and was agreed to grudingly by the industry) laid out all the info upfront -including on workout options. Then, the industry can be rightous in its dismissal of the whiners and weasels.
And then, people like me won't have the sneaking suspicion that it's rigged so that they can dismiss just about everybody.
how is this any different than Realtor Jim's advice to "sell him your keys" and foreclosure just magically goes away??
Angelo gets no slack from me however one needs to understand how to communicate effectively. That was not part of this process in any way at all.
why CFC is even allowed to continue to make ANY mods. to any of it's loans after the forced sale to BofA (that is still in question) is just criminal....
Ciao
MS
Tanta,
This was an excellent post...as usual. I'm glad to hear this perspective on loan modification and hopefully many can benefit.
My only question is about Mozilo's use of the word disgusting, the very word he's being vilified for. I'm not sure he meant it about the borrower, but more about the fact the letter seemed to be a form from the Internet. Many online have drawn the same conclusion as you. I'm not so sure.
Regardless, I can't see any reason that Countrywide would allow Mozilo to continue using email. Further, their response to the press was pretty pathetic.
Thanks again for some great, useful information.
A little advice for everyone underwater on their house, walk away now. It's what every executive at Countrywide would do with an underwater asset.
Are you going to be around to help out if these folks get slapped with a deficiency judgment? If the interest rate on their credit cards jacks up to 29% because of cross-default provisions? If they can't rent a decent managed apartment because of their terrible credit rating and end up with their kids in some flop house? If they try to get a car loan in two years and the lender turns them down because they're deadbeats?
If not, I suggest you exercise some care in the "advice" you give other people.
PS: I've been through the conversations with the hospital's "case manager" about my atrocious medical expenses that weren't covered by insurance. If the case manager was "following a script," it was a good one: just the facts, clear exposition of my options. Of course she didn't ask me to explain at length my "hardship"; she was sitting next to my hospital bed and knew we were on the oncology ward. If she had made me grovel and whine and beg for sympathy, I'd probably have unhooked the IV line so that I could smack her. She had the decency to "assume" I was having something of a hardship and just go on from there. I personally appreciated it.
[The vast majority of letters troubled borrowers write to Loss Mit people are whiny and poorly-written. ]
We used to write them on behalf of the borrowers, and it worked out much better.
Then, after accepting them for a few years, certain servicers INSISTED that they be written by the borrowers.
So, we built a process which made it easy for borrowers to kick out a quick, to-the-point hardship letter... and it works.
I'm not quite clear on what Moe's agenda is... give the borrowers enough rope to hang themselves, so then they REALLY need help?
Anyone looking for free, how-to advice on the internet, or anywhere else for that matter- and that includes HOPE NOW, and Neighborworks, et al, is going to get what they pay for.
Robert,
To lump Internet advice, HOPE NOW, Neighborworks, and any other community group out there providing housing assistance together shows a level of ignorance that is shocking.
Those groups are nothing alike. It is also generally the case that a reputable community group in your area that is a HUD certified Housing Counseling provider will offer you vastly superior assistance not just to the other sources you mentioned, but also to any other "paid" service you will find out there.
Those are the groups building the affordable housing, creating the childcare programs, and providing the resources for those that need some help.
I'd advise you not to talk about things you know nothing about.
Paul - if that story leads you to conclude that the servicers are "resistant to modifications", I can't help you.
There is more to it than can be condensed into a comment (or even a blog post).
Just take Tanta's advice - if you feel that a modification is the best option for you, you will need to EXPLAIN exactly WHY THAT IS SO to the loss-mit d00d (or d00dette) assigned to your account. I can't speak for CFC, but every one that I have ever managed did their job without scripts of any kind.
If you are truly dealing with a loss-mit specialist (not a "front-end" collector, mind you), the conversations are less scripted than most reality-TV shows. Come to think of it, some make for better entertainment value.
Most have no idea how to even approach a loss mit dep't
Consumer Complaints about Countrywide Mortgage
If you are truly dealing with a loss-mit specialist (not a "front-end" collector, mind you), the conversations are less scripted than most reality-TV shows. Come to think of it, some make for better entertainment value.
I remember getting an unfortunate phone call a few years back from one of our dumber loan correspondents, trying to 'splain to me why said correspondent shouldn't have to buy back a bunch of crappy loans. At one point, d00d says, "Are you reading from some kind of script?"
Tanta says, "No, I'm writing the script. If you would like to speak to someone who reads from a script, I can transfer you to the collections department."
But it's hard to then say that servicers aren't explaining how to ask for a mod to people who won't pick up the phone.
Tanta, if your only experience with bills you can't pay was in the hospital, that explains how unrealistic this statement sounds to me.
In reality, there is never a reason to answer a phone call from anyone to whose employer you owe money. Ever.
Because we live in a country in which laws protecting debtors are routinely flouted, the only result of answering that call will be more calls, demanding full payment right now. Regardless of whether the debt is owed, whether it's beyond statute, was never incurred by the so-called debtor in the first place, whatever--those calls are meaningless.
And anyone who has had any money trouble in the past 10 years knows this.
Collectors, whether they work for the creditor or an agency, lie constantly and don't document anything except that you answered the call, unless payment is made by phone. They refuse to negotiate or accept written offers, because there is no opportunity to bully the debtor via mail or fax. They threaten things they can't do at all hours to anyone whose phone number or address is associated with the debtor, and since there is no enforcement of the limited protections offered by the law, nothing stops them.
My mother sold her home of 23 years to a family that had some financial troubles just after they bought. She gets screaming, cursing calls daily from collectors who tell her to stop lying, she HAS to be Mrs. Smith. I'm encouraging her to sue, but it's probably too much trouble.
So if any loan servicer wants to achieve a workout rather than converting the property to REO, they need to do two things:
-Post clear instructions on their web site, with clues throughout Google as to how to find these instructions, about what the workout request should say.
-Mail letters, lots of them, certified.
Is this more expensive that paying someone $11 an hour plus a bonus for each borrower bullied into partial payment? Only at first.
I understand that loss mit folks don't like to be treated like every other bill collector, but the issue is, Do you want to be right and own Goodyear, Arizona? Or do you want to be wrong and get some revenue flowing?
Tanta,
Congratulations on your successful fight. I did pay off every hospital & Dr bills along with the co-pays and deductibles. I did not want to think about the possibility of recurrence with outstanding medical bills. However the bank and credit card companies were not understanding; so we filed for 7.
Guess what happened, the bank loaded me more money and credit cards offered me more credit.
If the underwater homeowner does a work out now and the value of their home continues to decline and the recession takes their job, then where are they?
As for jacking up credit card rates to 32%... the next congress will be taking a serious look at reforming the bankruptcy law again, indentured servitude is such at 19th century concept.
I would not be too harsh on the letter writer. Part of a loss mit department's job is to get the necessary details.
The "education" from college or business school does not help one write prettier letters--it helps one hone in on the types of issues Tanta raised and communicate them effectively.
My mother sold her home of 23 years to a family that had some financial troubles just after they bought. She gets screaming, cursing calls daily from collectors who tell her to stop lying, she HAS to be Mrs. Smith. I'm encouraging her to sue, but it's probably too much trouble.
As a male whom one collector-idjit seems to think is named "Melissa" I'm really happy my combined internet/phone service includes a 'blocked caller' webpage.
Having dealt with two such idjits over the last three years, despite having never paid a single bill late, I wonder to what extent "borrower refuses contact" means "creditor called some random person who's now pissed-off".
[Realistically, how many letters from borrowers actually get read all the way through, do you think?]
None. However, they always want to know the reason for hardship.
And yes, it helps to have a sem-logical case for what you're requesting.
The "template" letter fails on a number of fronts.
There's another product niche for CR - you could sell templates and fillable .pdfs to homeowners who want to write letters to their lenders asking for a workout. It would be better than the crap a lot of homedebtors are using at the moment.
Likely, one of the main reasons people can't offer up an objective solution is because they have no idea how to budget ... they don't know what they're spending, they don't know what they can/can't afford - thus the inability to actually suggest that they could make a monthly payment of $xxxx.xx. As has already stated - most of these people would like the Lender to just fix it ... sort of how their LO fixed it for them to get the loan in the first place.
robert - By the time you're over in Loss Mit, your RFD has probably been documented about eleventy-jillion times in the collection notes.
Putting it in your letter to loss-mit is done reflexively, I suppose. It's utterly superfluous to the recipient of said letter.
So if any loan servicer wants to achieve a workout rather than converting the property to REO, they need to do two things:
-Post clear instructions on their web site, with clues throughout Google as to how to find these instructions, about what the workout request should say.
-Mail letters, lots of them, certified.
Everybody has an evil collector story. Every collector has an evil borrower story. To follow your logic, a company that tolerates that kind of collector behavior isn't a company who is going to do a good-faith workout, so what's your point?
Beyond that, there is something really problematic with "soliciting" workout proposals. Every servicer needs to publish clear instructions for whom you should call (or write) if you are having problems making your payment. But nobody is going to announce to every borrower that every borrower can get a workout by filling out the forms correctly.
The workout process, unfortunately, is a process of negotiation. You sound like you want servicers to offer the same terms to everyone regardless of circumstances. I can promise you they will get sued by mortgage investors if they do that.
People are free to refuse to take collections calls. It is not illegal to refuse to talk to a collector. But that doesn't mean that all servicers are going to publish step-by-step instructions to the general public for saying what the Loss Mit people want to hear.
spk to B2 at POE, sd is not going to pay per CollRep-Angelo M called him "disgusting". Also sd wanted a mod, and sent us email (doc'd abv 5/18 10:40AM). Advised sent mod docs 5/12, but no rec'd back. B2 sd nvr got it, advised will resend, ver address.
B2 again gave RFD=unaware of loan terms + ARM reset + curt. of income + less $ for his business (herb cultivation).
B2 sd CollRep-Shnaps is a major asshole and h/u
spk to B2 at POE, sd is not going to pay per CollRep-Angelo M called him "disgusting". Also sd wanted a mod, and sent us email (doc'd abv 5/18 10:40AM). Advised sent mod docs 5/12, but no rec'd back. B2 sd nvr got it, advised will resend, ver address.
B2 again gave RFD=unaware of loan terms + ARM reset + curt. of income + less $ for his business (herb cultivation).
B2 sd CollRep-Shnaps is a major asshole and h/u
Continuation, next screen:
052208 12:20 PM: VPCreditPolicy rec'd call from LAT reporter re: CollRep-Angelo, VPCredPol standing in dept demanding expl of CollRep-Shnaps failure to return from men's rm
052208 12:27 PM: Spk to CollRep-Shnaps, sd VPCredPol is also a major asshole and f/o
In a better world...
Corporate CEO's would possess half a brain and command true business savy...
Mr. Bailey should have been able to reach a human being in the employ of Countrywide by telephone.
A couple of minutes of conversation to deduce a request for a potential workout should be possible.
Another couple of minutes to process this request, mail Mr. Bailey a package of clear concise documents (with clear form instructions for completion, and any necessary documentation requirements attached), return time table set, and response time table set. All possible in a modern, technologically equiped, business environment.
Thus avoiding all the associated circus drama - internet gurus, bad form letter templates, even worse personal correspondence to a business transaction, embarrassing exposure in the press for all parties, etc., etc., etc...
Then again, if we went back to the very, very beginning of this mess...
See: CEO's with half a brain; now add vision to that equation.
I still can't figure out why Mr. Mozilo was looking at the email in the first place. Was he hoping for a deal on Xanax or an opportunity on Nigerian wealth? If I open an email with multiple recipients, I generally look to see if the correct person got the message and move on. I just have a hard time believing that Mr. Mozilo is that involved in the day to day stuff. And that his email is available to the public. Just a little odd. I guess he'll have plenty of email to read today.
Petey,
"Okay. I'll save "usury" for the rest of the credit fiasco."
No, it doesn't work there, either.
eightnine-blah-blah,
"And, yes, I get the point that the borrower doesn't do a good job in his defense, but mozilo sneers at the effort itself, not just its efficacy."
No, I don't think you're getting it at all. First, it isn't a defense. The Loss Mit folks don't care how hard your hard luck was. They are there to mitigate the company's loss (Loss Mit, get it?) and so the writer is not writing to defend anything, but rather to make them a business proposition. "Yeah, you can take the house, but you'll take a bath after recoveries. I can get you a lower loss if you make my payment more affordable!" This is not defense, this is working out a deal that both sides find more attractive than foreclosure.
Second, Moz seems to be sneering at precisely the form-letter, defensive "oh, woe is me" nature of the thing. That would seem to be justified if CFC is getting a flood of form letters which do not, in fact, address the point I'm making above. "Can I haz mod", indeed.
Yeah when I got this home I didn't qualify for the loan as my income was too low. The LO asked me if I received commissions, and I did, he just said to tell my personel dept to verify it when he called them. I did that, and personel said they verify more income for women buying fur coats that salesmen buying homes, but OK. Got the house, paid it off early. For the first few years it was scary.
"B2 sd CollRep-Shnaps is a major asshole and h/u"
Bwahahahahahaha! You've clearly seen one or more of these before. I used to amuse myself by doing a SQL query on collections notes looking for phrases like "wolf bite". (Which showed up a disturbing number of times, I might add.)
Mr. Bailey???? At least his first name wasn't George.
Now that I have thought about it.....it seems a bit of a coincidence that his last name is Bailey.
You have my permission to flog him
Henry Paulso
Tanta writes: Of course. But Mr. Bailey did not come up with this letter all by his own muddled self. He found this form letter on Moe Bedard's site, and spammed CFC's management with it on Moe's advice.
I'll comment in defense of the Tan Man's reply. I think a lot of people have deliberately, or conveniently, been mis-reading him. Moe has been using people like the poor Mr. Bailey as a form of human spam-bot, counseling them to send nearly-identical email to multiple email addresses (not just, and maybe not even including, loss-mit).
To use humans already at their wit's end in a way that is likely to be unproductive for them to advance one's own agenda is, indeed, disgusting; and re-reading Mozilo's comments in this light, they seem a fair characterization of Moe's actions. But it's a lot more fun to pretend CFC is kicking another borrower when they're down, and land a well-deserved blow onto the CEO, even if this might be one of the few times he doesn't deserve it.
(Do I get an honorary Countrywide "shill" designation now?)
Google "Countrywide Financial Hardship Assistance" and this is the first entry:
https://customers.countrywide.com/secure/FHAStart_login254.asp
Step by step instructions? For even a short sale request? Who would have thought a greedy lender would want to help a lying borrower???
Point: We are in this together. Work it out!!!
As usual, Tanta's advice is good advice, but the thing that gets me is, right now, professional help with this problem is pretty readily available.
There are agencies around the country with people who will sit down with Mr. Bailey, or anyone else for that matter, and help them do the objective look they need to do.
Sadly, for an awful lot of people, the modification still doesn't make sense.
Full disclosure: I work for such an agency.
(Do I get an honorary Countrywide "shill" designation now?)
YES YOU DO!
Under the powers vested in me by the Conspiracy of Elitist Econobloggers, Inc., I hereby award to DCRogers the title and style "Shill For Countrywide," with all the rights, privileges, appurtenances, fixtures, and self-congratulation belonging to that degree.
/s/ Tanta, Grand Mistress of the Ancient and Hermetic Order of the Shill
cc: blogosphere
BTW,
I will be making sure that our counselors see this post.
Frankly, I'm impressed the Moz-man read the e-mail, commented on it, and tried to forward it.
He must get 1000+ e-mails a day.
My opinion of him went UP, even if he did hit the wrong button & used an unfortunate word.
He must be reading and responding to a gazilion e-mails, still trying to wade through the mess.
And I thought he was on vacation, sucking Martini's on a big ol yacht.
NOOOOO, the Moz-man working hard!
Grand Mistress of the A HOS?
Where to begin,...
A whole bunch of subtexts running in parallel here.
Not to defend Mozilo or CFC, cuz they're getting what's coming to them at least a little, but no one likes spam very much. And make no mistake: this was spam.
To go on to Tanta's suggestions re a letter that might actually start a workout, I see some things worthwhile and others not so much. It's true that there is no point whining about why you're in the hole you're in. It's spilt milk and neither you nor the servicer should give a damn about how the milk was spilled. You could be evil, stupid, a victim of bad luck. Your mortgage broker could have been evil or stupid. Who cares?!?!? This isn't about litigation and holding someone accountable for the spilt milk. It's about finding a way to clean it up or walk past it. So Tanta's suggestions in that regard are spot on.
I differ with her, however, about whether a concrete and sensible proposal for modification will get serious consideration. The front line staff in loss mitigation are IMO as clueless as the borrowers. They are instructed not to think and to follow the company and lawyer approved script in order to maximize the company's take. My experience is that they have virtually no autonomous negotiating authority whatsoever. (No surprise. If you are an executive with a Harvard MBA who runs this show, acting on the advice of your Yale Law in house counsel, how much authority to negotiate are you going to give your $12/hr front line staff? Would you seriously consider letting them write off tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars when you don't know how sharp the person who sent that letter really is?)
An anecdote to demonstrate how thorny this problem is. We used to pay for private day care for our daughter when she was small. Our daughter is grown now, but we became good friends with the person who looked after her and kept in touch over the years. A few years ago at Christmas we were talking on the phone and I could tell something was wrong.
What came out eventually was that she had gotten herself into a big credit card hole. She hadn't run up the bill herself. That had been the work of a deadbeat son-in-law. It turned out that she wouldn't report him because (a) he was the father of her grandchildren and (b) he would be deported since he was in the US illegally. You may judge her for the circumstances and what she was willing to do about it but I appreciated her dilemma with respect to the s-i-l.
That's the spilt milk. It's irrelevant to the lender. They just want their money. So I started negotiating on her behalf. I never brought up the spilt milk. I simply suggested over and over and OVER that she couldn't pay what they were demanding, that I had a way out for both her and the bank, but that they would have to take a haircut.
It took me close to four months of bouncing around from call center to call center, faxing letters here and then being told to fax letters there instead. It was fruitless. The people staffing these jobs were clueless and had absolutely no authority to negotiate a settlement.
Here's how I solved the problem in the end. I wrote to the chief PR guy for the bank, whose comments were always in the press. I told him I used to work for the same bank years before. (That happens to have been true but IMO it would have helped even if I had been fibbing. Make a personal connection.) I described the situation in brief and said that I had been negotiating for months with people who had no authority to settle and who would not pass the file on to people who did have the authority. I told him that I had offered to pay the haircut amount out of my own pocket and would collect it from their customer over time, i.e. I would take on their credit risk, but that I could not get anyone to agree to the deal.
He sent my letter to the Harvard MBA head of Visa operations at the bank. We had a settlement within three days.
The bottom line: It's not enough to have a plan that will work for the bank. You have to get it into the hands of someone who will make it work for the bank. So, yes, you need a better letter, per Tanta, but I suggest you send it to the likes of Mozilo et al if you really want to get somewhere.
...The workout process, unfortunately, is a process of negotiation.
Gee, I guess this means that the process can't be readily outsourced or automated and requires a significant # of workout specialists. Someone should tell the Govt
jus me writes:
Frankly, I'm impressed the Moz-man
Agreed. So do we have enough to start a fan club?
FWIW- DCRogers,
I am soooo envious.
Tanta, best post I've seen in quite some time.
The one picky point I'd make is that the new FACTA laws on obtaining and using medical information may some servicers concerned about situations where you offer too much detail about your medical situation.
It might be better to simply state that unspecified "medical conditions" played a role in the hardship and leave it at that (assuming, of course, that you are telling the truth and can prove it if asked).
However, it's unlikely that many servicers will be too hung up on that, as it's a pretty new set of laws that haven't resulted in examination finding or lawsuits (yet...)
Presto Changeo - so you're saying...you used to work at Providian?
Presto, I am not claiming that the best or most effective or foolproof way to get a workout is to write a letter to the Loss Mit department.
I am suggesting that if you do write such a letter, there are better and worse ways to go about it.
Appropos this particular borrower, Moe's post includes Bailey's response to Countrywide after the Mozilo "reply":
Mr./Ms Jemisaon,
In attempting to come to some way to save my home, I took the advice on forming my hardship letter from a forum. Why? Not all of us have been to a university to study business and we need some help in dealing with these matters. (perhaps, if we had, we would not have fallen for what we did, to start with)
To have recieved the e-mail that I did, stating by one of your employees, that what I did was disgusting and unbelievable has been just about the final straw. I am trying to do the right thing, I am trying with every ounce of what I have left in me not to blow my brains out ovewr losing the home I have been in for 16 years. The only hope I had left was that perhaps the countrywide company did want to help the people it is servicing .then I receive that responce to my letter. Just great. Now I know, that it is all a nice fat laughing matter to those who are supposed to help.
Bailey thinks that a mortgage servicer is some kind of a social service agency that is "supposed to help." That is his basic misapprehension that, it seems to me, generated such a bad letter in the first place.
News to Mr. Bailey: unless you got a mortgage loan from a nonprofit charity in the first place, your loan is not being serviced by a nonprofit charity. "A cry for help" is a great thing to offer the local suicide-prevention hotline, or your therapist, or your mom, or a social worker down at the county.
But your creditors are a different thing. This is simply a fact about the world.
Moe is exploiting this deeply confused man for Moe's own reasons. I felt obligated to do my part to make sure that other troubled borrowers looking at this news report at least don't make Bailey's mistakes. That is all.
It might be better to simply state that unspecified "medical conditions" played a role in the hardship and leave it at that (assuming, of course, that you are telling the truth and can prove it if asked).
As far as I know, any borrower can volunteer any information he wants to about medical problems and their related expenses or impacts on employment. Servicers simply cannot call your doctor to verify what you said.
Usually it's moot, because hospitals and doctors are so quick to send accounts to collection that most people's difficulties are obvious from a glance at the credit report. In fact, insured people end up with handsful of medical collections on their reports, because while the insurer is duking it out with the hospital, the hospital has already reported it as unpaid.
The thing is this, to use Bailey's example: he says he is uninsured and that he had medical and dental bills. You have to explain that they are "unforeseen" and "unlikely to recur," or else they don't count as a "harship." I mean, what were we talking here? The annual physical and teeth-cleaning? A sinus infection with a 15-day antibiotic scrip? Those are "foreseeable" and "typical" expenses for someone without insurance (just as they are for someone who has insurance but has the expense of the premium plus a co-pay).
Frankly, I had the same response to the auto repair problem: if you drive a 15-year-old car, major expensive repairs are neither unforeseeable nor unlikely to recur. It's called "maintenance" and you budget for it. Just as someone who owns a new car budgets for the car payment and four visits to Jiffy Lube a year.
So you don't have to get into details about your medical history, and you want to be careful what you put in writing when you send the message to 20 strangers including the press office. But you have to show that the expenses crossed the line from "normal cost of living" to "hardship." If you can't, you leave it out because it doesn't help you much.
Shnaps,
Not Providian but a big Visa issuer. That PR person I wrote to? Well, he gets an occasional mention on this blog. (Usually it's Tanta tearing a strip off something stupid he's quoted as saying.
)
Tanta, I meant no disrespect. I was just pointing, in a very long-winded way, that you have to present your case to someone with the authority to make a decision. The best advice I ever got re seeking employment was, "Don't ever send your resume to the black hole called HR. Find out who makes the hiring decision and send it to them." This is no different.
I agree that Bailey is just a poor shlub who doesn't know how the world works. He was one when he borrowed the money and he's clearly one now. Not everyone is a rocket scientist. In fact, I can quite confidently proclaim that 99.9999% of the population aren't. That's not such a troubling statistic. The troubling statistic is that about 85% of the population doesn't have the sense to stand a few miles away when the rocket's going off.
Who knows what Moe's motives are?
Wonderful commentary.
Tanta, I thought this was one of your best ever. Jargon free, practical advice from an expert to solve a real life problem. AND FOR FREE. Does blogging get any more useful than that?
Re: honorary "shill" award: the Cowardly Lion best illustrated my reaction:
[the Cowardly Lion has just received a Courage Medal from the Wizard of Oz]
Cowardly Lion: (blushing) Shucks, folks, I'm speechless. Ha Ha!
By the way Tanta, congratulations on limiting the "first manisfestation" to your second comment.
I still can't figure out why Mr. Mozilo was looking at the email in the first place. Was he hoping for a deal on Xanax or an opportunity on Nigerian wealth? If I open an email with multiple recipients, I generally look to see if the correct person got the message and move on. I just have a hard time believing that Mr. Mozilo is that involved in the day to day stuff. And that his email is available to the public. Just a little odd. I guess he'll have plenty of email to read today.
According to the old timers he's very approachable and responsive to everyone. He supposedly answers any employee email, no matter how mundane or inane.
How about some good old fashioned underwriting to see what their debt ratios are before agreeing to the modification.
It is a request for a new deal, therefore the lender has an obligation to properly analyze the borrowers ability to pay. The borrower expresses willingness, now check their ability.
Second, Moz seems to be sneering at precisely the form-letter, defensive "oh, woe is me" nature of the thing. That would seem to be justified if CFC is getting a flood of form letters which do not, in fact, address the point I'm making above.
Why should he be sneering at the massive amounts of misfortune incurred by his borrowers?
Somebody who wasn't a ginormous dickhead wouldn't have sent that. What's wrong with getting help?
Would Tanta consider that guy disgusting? No, just not clued in.
The correct answer is: "Why do we have these delinquent borrowers whining and not getting to the point? We must communicate exactly what we want to know to make a correct decision, otherwise they will follow some irrelevant internet script. "
The fact is obvious that Mozilo really doesn't give a shit about the crap that's happened to his loanholders, or doing anything half decent about it, even though he knows plenty of it is a result of his company's own massively sleazy fee-oriented gimme gimme gimme previous policies. Simply put, he sees his loandholders the way a vampire thinks of virgins.
Darn, I scrolled all through these comments and no comments from Moe.
I guess he's busy helping Larry and Curly write a hardship letter.
(applause, Three Blind Mice song playing)
Thanks for this powerful information on how not to write a hardship letter. Indeed finding the best way to deal with loss mitigation and overwhelming hardship is not easy. But what you've shared is vital.
Peter
I see that Moe Bedard has been mentioned frequently on this blog entry. Mr. Bedard, if you ever visit this comment section, can you confirm or deny the contents of this thread:
The page cannot be found 234743.htm
And this thread:
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