Meet Thomas Cox, Esquire. A National Hero in Foreclosure Defense
Frankly, I thought everyone already knew that, but apparently not. So, if you aren’t already familiar with what Tom has done and continues to do for homeowners, take a look below… click PLAY on a few videos… read what the New York Times, Huffington Post, the American Bar Association… and others have to say… and see for yourself.
Watch Tom testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee… see him awarded the $100,000 Purpose Prize… read what Boston University Law School has to say about his accomplishments… and much, much more. It will make you want to stand up and salute him… and it will likely bring a tear to your eye too.
Today we talk about forbearance. If you are fortunate enough to have a federally related mortgage, a loan owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, then Tom will break down all the specific rules that are in place about what happens at the end of a forbearance. But even that is a complicated issue as we will learn throughout this episode.
Forbearance simply means that a homeowner supposedly has told his or her bank that the homeowner is being affected by the COVID-19 crisis and can’t keep making his or her payments.
You can be on a forbearance plan for up to 12 months. That’s the limit. There’s nothing on the table from any source right now, giving any option for a longer forbearance, period.
We go over the easy ways to find out whether or not you have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan. The Fannie Mae Freddie Mac servicing guide says they’re supposed to contact you. They’re not supposed to put the burden on you to contact them. We have history here saying that doesn’t always work so well.
We will cover all the details that we know right now about forbearance, what happens at the end of the forbearance period, foreclosure, and the steps taken after the end of the period of foreclosure and how they would proceed.
Forbearance is not supposed to affect your credit score. But in the words of Tom Cox, “You better check.”
If you are currently in forbearance please make sure to document every phone call, the name of the person you talked to, and the items discussed, with the date of the conversation.
Nobody should have been put into a forbearance plan unless they asked for it. But Wells Fargo is in the news for opting people into a forbearance plan without their consent or knowledge.
What do you do if you have a VA loan or a USDA loan? We unpack the details of this scenario when it comes to forbearance. FHI has a partial claim process that will likely require a lot of documentation to sort out.
We talk about certified forensic loan auditors and the scam that they ran on homeowners during the last housing crisis and speculate that there may be some opportunistic companies like this that spring up to take advantage of homeowners coming out of forbearance.
“Anybody promising an easy conversion from forbearance through a loan modification is lying to you.”
