Last Call For Loan Modifications Under HAMP

By Cathy Moran, Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Specialist, Mountain View, CA

HAMP, the government program incentivizing home loan modifications, ends in 2016.

To qualify for HAMP, a complete Initial Application Package must be submitted by December 30, 2016.

That package must include:

• A RMA form which includes a required hardship affidavit and Dodd-Frank certification
• Either IRS Form 4506-T or 4506T-EZ, or in the alternative, a signed copy of the most recent year’s tax return with all applicable schedules and forms,
• The Dodd-Frank certification, either as part of the RMA form or as a stand-alone form, and
• Evidence of the borrower’s income.

Get the HAMP forms and supporting information

Start Now

My advice is start now. Don’t wait for the last minute. Who wants to be filling out forms over the holidays?

Expect the servicer to screw up, lose things, delay. Make a record of what you’ve sent.

Be persistent. Many of my clients have gotten loan modifications after months and months of submitting and resubmitting forms.

Get Free Help

HUD certifies housing counselors to help with this process. Counselors are FREE. There is no excuse not to get help from non-lender experts: this is not their first rodeo. Click here to find a free housing counselor.

Alternatives to HAMP

Nothing keeps loan servicers from offering proprietary loan modification programs after HAMP sunsets.

But I have no confidence that they will play fair, or even put out a good effort to get troubled loans back on track.

So while your clients still have some federal laws and regulations as partners, get them to file their HAMP application before December 30th.

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Cathy Moran has headed her own small firm Moran Law Group in Mountain View, California, for nearly 30 years. Family law and tax issues as they play out in bankruptcy are areas of particular interest to Cathy.

This post originally appeared in The Academy, Consider Chapter 13.