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by MatthewCCox

Keeping Our Dream Home

January 30, 2012 in Finance

A little over eight years ago, we moved into our 4500 square foot dream house. We had built it right behind our double-wide mobile home on property we purchased in 1988. I had spent most of my lifetime inMortgage a trailer house of some type so it took some adjusting on my part to get used to it.

It also took some adjusting to get used to paying for it.

In an effort to create those resources, we became involved in two aggressive businesses. They produced lots of money but not much profit. They both failed and we took the equity out of the new house several times while establishing two new businesses that were profitable.

The final time we removed equity was at the height of the market. We ended up with an 8% loan.

When the mortgage crisis hit, we jumped on the opportunity to get a modification and, in the summer of 2009, we received one with a fixed rate of 5.75%. This was a government sponsored modification. During this process, the appraisal determined the loan was almost 200% of the new market value of the house.

I didn’t think we could get an additional modification so I didn’t consider another one until I received a call from an attorney’s office last August offering to help us get a modification. I told them I didn’t think we could get a second one. The caller told me we could if it had been a year since the last one.

I work as an accountant. Therefore, I understood the modification process. I have been through one for myself and helped several clients with their paperwork. So, last September, I decided to pursue a second modification with our mortgage servicing company.

When I called to ask them about it, they said we couldn’t get a second one as long as our first one was in good standing. I asked them how many payments we would have to miss to put it in “bad standing.”

They wouldn’t tell me so we decided to experiment.

We quit making payments, and agreed that, since our house was upside down, we would risk foreclosure. We understood the MSC would have difficulty selling this house. We were determined to reduce our cost of living, even if that meant moving to another house.

I communicated this to the MSC. We requested an interest rate of 2%, explained we would not make another payment until we received this, and reminded the MSC of the loan to value ratio.

We concluded that, if we could cut our payment in half, we would be willing to accept the loan to value ratio. The 2% interest rate would cut our payment by 47%.

Every time we received a collection call from the MSC, I repeated our stance.

Upon their request, we completed the modification paperwork twice: once in September and once in December. I included fully documented financial information to support the modification request and wrote an additional letter reminding them of the situation with the loan to value ratio. We had two long phone calls to discuss the modification. During each call, we were told we did not qualify for a modification. I always asked why and they never gave me a straight answer.

We received the 2% modification proposal about ten days after the second call.

There are several lessons here.

  1. Recognize your Desire and do everything within your power to fulfill it, even when everyone says it can’t be done. (Our Desire was to reduce our cost of living.)
  2. Do not become attached to how a specific Desire will be fulfilled. (We were willing to give up our dream house to fulfill our Desire.)
  3. Become informed about your situation and do everything you can to fulfill your Desire while understanding The Universe will move heaven and earth to make it happen. This includes learning what is in the best interest of all parties and finding a solution that works for everyone. (I continually explained to the MSC how our deal was the best deal they were going to get for this property.)

Feel free to contact me if you wish to know more about situation or would like to chat with me about how our team could help you with your situation.

If you think the cost for our service will be an issue, I suggest you read my next article when I start a series that I believe has the potential to usher in our new economic system.

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by MatthewCCox

Updates on Previous Articles

January 29, 2012 in Opinion

Here are updates on topics we have written about previously on Peace of Mind News.

Mortgage Modification

Peace of Mind News UpdateAfter not making payments for several months, we received a Proposed Modification Agreement from our mortgage servicing company (MSC) on January 23, 2012. This reduced our monthly payment by 47%.

It was exactly what we asked for and exactly what was offered to us in October.

Of course, if you have been following this story, you know that we were told the October offer was a mistake, we were threatened with foreclosure, and we experienced numerous collection calls.

The last time I wrote about this, we had received a request to complete modification paperwork a second time.

Even though our numbers hadn’t changed much, we completed the paperwork and submitted a thirty-seven page fax to our MSC. They then scheduled an appointment on January 12 to discuss the paperwork.

While waiting for this appointment, I received several collection calls from our MSC. Each time, I asked them to confirm the January 12 appointment and told them we would not make any payments unless they gave us a modification.

During the January 12 appointment, the representative told me we didn’t qualify for the modification and asked me to submit paperwork showing we had the income to support the current monthly payment amount. I responded by saying, “That wouldn’t be a modification.”

I went on to explain I had provided honest information that indicated a modification was appropriate. I expected them to negotiate in good faith.

The representative then told me I hadn’t provided complete information.

I told him I had provided complete information and had confirmation of the thirty-seven page fax in front of me. If they were missing anything, they had lost it. I suggested I scan and email any missing documentation to him immediately and asked him what was missing.

He told me what he thought was missing while apologizing for not being able to access the complete file because of “computer problems.” I scanned and emailed the “missing information” to him and waited while the email went through.

Once he confirmed receipt of the email, he said the information would need to be verified and he scheduled a follow-up appointment on February 2. I was sure the MSC was playing games with me and I was willing to play as long as they wanted to play.

Much to my surprise, less than two weeks later, we received the modification proposal.

I will review the details of this almost six-month process in tomorrow’s article with the hopes that other people may be able to take advantage of our strategy to negotiate a reduced mortgage payment.

Purpose of War in Iran

I wrote previously that the goal of today’s wars are to establish Rothschild/Illuminati backed central banks such as The Federal Reserve. The Fed is an independent bank that controls the supply of the United States Dollar. The most recent countries to experience this were Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.

In addition, I mentioned that this is the purpose of the potential war in Iran. A war would destabilize the current central bank and make it necessary to establish Illuminati banking. The story linked here confirms this is exactly what is taking place as the United States attempts to do this through sanctions. I suspect the saber-rattling will continue with Iran until the new bank is in place.

New Economic System

The new financial system remains on the horizon. However, we are closer to it. This recent report shows that India and Iran are using gold instead of dollars to trade for oil.

Numerous other reports indicate that things are happening behind the scenes. I have not been able to confirm these reports so I have not reported them.

During my research, I have discovered a philosophy that I believe allows all of us to begin the transition to the new economy, no matter what we end up using for trade. Be sure to look for that information in future articles.

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by MatthewCCox

Modification and Straw Man Update

November 12, 2011 in Finance

Straw man mortgageSeveral readers have asked  what is going on with our attempt at a modification for our mortgage and how I have done with accessing my straw man bond to pay debts. This article provides updates.

Loan Modification

About every two weeks, I either receive a call from or I call our mortgage servicing company. The conversation is the same.

They want to know when we’ll make a payment. I explain that we will as soon as they approve our modification. They explain they can’t give us one until a point in the future.

I ask when that point will be and they say they don’t know.

I wrote a letter to my mortgage servicing company a couple of weeks ago. I reminded them of the negative equity in the property and described how giving us a loan modification was in their best interest.

They haven’t responded and I don’t expect them to do so. I just wanted the letter to be in our file.

I’ve chatted with our attorney friend and she has explained that since we have a previous government modification, the mortgage servicing company isn’t motivated to give us a new one. Apparently, they were motivated to give the first one because government paid them several thousand dollars to do so.

In addition, since the mortgage servicing company doesn’t own the note, they have no motivation or ability to negotiate with us.

This means the foreclosure process will start.

During the foreclosure process, we will be able to require them to provide a copy of the note. At that point, we can negotiate directly with the note-holder. Until then, we should just hang on and keep doing what we’re doing, not paying.

She said there is a chance they won’t be able to find the note. Things will get very interesting at that point.

Straw Man Bond

I also chatted with my attorney friend about the straw man situation. She understands the legal side. I grasp the accounting issues.

We determined she may have completed the paperwork incorrectly when she attempted to pay her property taxes so she is going to redo the paperwork and submit it again.

I have attempted to access my bond for five different debts. Two of my credit cards, a credit card for two of my sons and, at the last minute, I decided to do it for my mortgage. That wasn’t my original plan. However, the mortgage statement was on my desk as I was working on the credit cards, so I decided to give it a shot.

Those documents went into the mail on October 24. That means I can start looking to see if anything happened on the accounts around Christmas Eve at the sixty-day mark

Both of these situations will take time to evolve so we’ll wait patiently while remaining in the moment of now.

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by MatthewCCox

My Mortgage Company Serves Me Waffles

October 26, 2011 in Finance

I wrote previously about our experiences in attempting to acquire a modification on our home mortgage. If you missed it, you may read that story here.

A couple nights ago, I received another call from my mortgage company.

“Mr. Cox, when may we expect your past due payment?”

I encouraged the representative to look at the notes on the account.

I told him we would not make a payment until they had sent us the paperwork for the loan modification.

I explained to him that we had filed the modification application more than six weeks ago and, the last time someone called, I had been promised we would have the modification paperwork in 5-7 business days. I had even been quoted interest rates and payment amounts.

The representative put me on hold and came back to tell me that the previous representative made a mistake and I would have to wait until the account was eighty days past due and no longer in good standing.

“That’s odd. The previous representative told me two weeks ago that not making a payment for thirty days would revoke the good standing of the account and allow you to negotiate with me.”

“He made a mistake.”

“How do I know you aren’t making a mistake today?”

“I apologize for the earlier mistake.”

WafflesI smiled. They had waffled on me.

This was becoming a game. I decided I could wait as long to make the next payment as they could wait to give me the modification.

I didn’t feel an iota of remorse about playing this game. I was negotiating in good faith, explaining precisely what I was going to do and what they could do to get me to do what they wanted me to do.

Apparently, this confused them.

Or, maybe they didn’t care that they had a mortgage on their books that was upside down by more than two hundred thousand dollars.

I considered what my attorney friend, Ana, had told me during our conversation.

“Your signed Promissory Note is a negotiable instrument that the bank sold to another bank or the Federal Reserve through the ones and zeros, the electronic transfer of funds. The lender has already been paid. In most cases, the servicing company doesn’t have the legal right to foreclose or enforce the terms of the loan because the document you signed has been sold and used as a negotiable instrument. The servicing company only has the servicing contract. They don’t have the actual note.”

I didn’t know if that was true or not. However, the servicing company was beginning to act like it was.

Was the threat of foreclosure an empty threat? Would they give me my promised modification? How long would it take?

I’ll let you know as soon as I know myself.

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by MatthewCCox

The Next Step in My Financial Education

October 12, 2011 in Finance

The lack of a quality financial education plagues society. As I wrote previously, those who understand the financial game often benefit at the cost of those who don’t. As a result, many people struggle to make a living when it doesn’t have to be that way.

For example, when the home loan modification program was first introduced, everyone told me I couldn’t get a loan modification because my loan was current. After asking many questions, I learned there was a way to do it and I got it done in spite of experts telling me I couldn’t.

MortgageMy financial situation changed drastically over the past few months and I wondered if I could get another modification. Everyone told me this wasn’t possible since I previously received a modification. Then, I heard through a casual conversation that an additional modification is possible just twelve months after receiving the first one.

When I called my lender to ask about it, they told me this wasn’t possible, as long as I had a loan modification currently in good standing. This carefully worded phrase held a clue so I decided to talk with those who share our house and explain the situation.

I told them that I had reason to believe that if we didn’t make payments for two or three months, that the mortgage would achieve a “bad standing” status and we could possibly get a loan modification. Unanimously, everyone said, “Quit making payments.”

I explained that we could lose our dream house to foreclosure and the response was the same.

“Quit making payments.”

This goes against everything I’ve ever done in the past. However, it made sense, especially if this is what it would take to reduce the loan interest rate.

So, early last month, I requested the loan modification paperwork, completed it, and sent it to the mortgage company. Then, I called the mortgage company to tell them the news. The call went like this.

“Hi, I’m calling to tell you I have just submitted the paperwork for a loan modification and I won’t be making a payment until you approve it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. We must deny this modification because you have a modification that is currently in good standing.”

“I understand. Therefore, we will not be making a payment until you give us a new loan modification. You can decide when the current modification is no longer in good standing.”

The representative realized what I was doing and said through a chuckle, “Please, may I put you on hold? I need to talk with a supervisor.”

“Sure.”

After a few minutes, the call resumed and the representative still had a chuckle in his voice.

“Mr. Matthew, I’m sorry. We must deny your modification because you have a modification that is currently in good standing.”

“I understand. Therefore, we will not be making a payment until you give us a new loan modification. You can decide when the current modification is no longer in good standing. It doesn’t matter to us how long this takes. I just want to be honest and upfront with you about our plans.”

The representative continued to suppress laughter before asking, “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes, please put a note on my account so that anyone else who calls in an attempt to collect will understand what it takes to resolve this situation.”

“I will do that Mr. Matthew. Have a good day.”

This call repeated a couple of times until our first payment was thirty days late.

Then, I received a different call.

I’ll tell you about that conversation in a future article.

Would you be willing to risk foreclosure if you could reduce your mortgage payment by fifty percent?

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