Should You Hire A Loan Mod Company?

Let’s face it, over the last several months, Loan Modification Companies, or LMC’s have received a tremendous amount of bad press. The big lenders, as well as the federal government have all come out and discouraged the general public from hiring LMC’s to do something that anyone can do for free. This is absurdly inappropriate advice.
If a homeowner is having difficulty making their house payment, ,the chances are good that they are working as much and as hard as possible in order to get the needed income to keep the home. This means that they don’t have the time to sit on hold for hours, waiting to talk to someone who has no vested interest in seeing their needs met, and has no authority to make a decision even if they care to. Wading through countless automated phone systems telling you to press ’1’ for some option that doesn’t help, or they don’t understand. Then they are put on hold again, only to be transferred to someone else who doesn’t care and has no authority, etc, etc.
When a homeowner personally calls their lender or servicer and actually gets to speak to a real, live human, invariably, the first thing they are ‘offered’ is some variation of a forbearance or repayment plan.  Not a modification. Unfortunately, the average homeowner isn’t knowledgeable enough to know the difference most of the time, and winds up getting stuck with an even higher payment than the one they currently can’t afford. Having an advocate that knows your budget, your expenses, and how to navigate through all the bank’s hurdles is more than a luxury, it’s nearly a necessity.
An LMC can separate fact from fiction, and handle the hours of phone calls and faxes. They can set up the file correctly the first time so that a loan modification is more likely to be accepted. They have the know-how via experience to get the right people on the phone, and weed out the re-payment schemes to get to the ultimate goal: a fair modification to the terms of your loan.
I fear that if the public at large chooses to follow the bad advice given by the Banks, the Government, and the general media, this crisis we are in will continue much longer than necessary. The truth is, LMC’s offer an extremely valuable service to people who would otherwise have no one on their side.