Research and Educate Yourself on LM

Did you know that licensed California real estate agent are not permitted to accept any upfront fees to complete a loan modification? This is true for loan modifications or any service performed by licensed agents. The Department of Real Estate requires that the service offered to the client must be completed before  a payment can be made to a company. Basically, if you hire a company to complete a loan modification, they cannot charge you until the loan modification is completed.

We all know that most companies out there are accepting payments and then not completing the service. I think when homowners read or hear about this they get scared and don’t trust anyone. However, I think the homeowner just needs to be clear that they will not pay anything until the service is completed. If you need or want a loan modification yourself but don’t have the time or energy to do it yourself, don’t let this keep you from getting your loan modified. Like anything, do your due dilligence before utilizing outside services to help you.

That being said, don’t wait until the last minute to pursue a loan modification b/c you are only hurting yourself. While you are researching your options, you can still get all of your income documents and bank statements together. Once you do that, you can even submit all of the required documents to the lender to see if they can get it done for you without using an outside company. I just can’t stress enough that you should not let what the media is saying about all of the shady practices out there affect your pursuit of more favorable loan terms. Don’t wait to call your lender because you need to be educated on all of the options available to you.