Renogotiating a Mortgage?

[SweetErika]

Yeah, I just saw the typo in the title and missed the editing window.

I've read some articles and tips on renegotiating (not refinancing) mortgages with banks/lenders, but would still like to hear other perspectives and personal experiences.

Have you, or anyone you know, asked your bank to lower their interest rate? If so, how did you start the process (e.g. even find out who to talk to), what did it involve, and how did it go?

If you're a borrower or lender, do you have any tips or info that might help someone wanting to renegotiate their mortgage?

Some general info:
- We have a 30yr fixed mortgage that can drop about a percent when we have 20% equity (which we don't quite have because housing prices have dropped).

- Our mortgage is through Chase and due to my self-employment and an interesting financial situation, we did a low-doc loan.

- We're current on our payments, and have never been late or anything.

- We have excellent credit.

 

[RuReal]

Holy hell you actually have a question I thought you had the answer to everything because I don't think I have seen you say anything remotly incorrect.

I wish I had an answer for you or could help because you are always offering great advice. I wish you luck in your search. If you were in Canada I would know someone you could talk to.

 

[SweetErika]

Holy hell you actually have a question I thought you had the answer to everything because I don't think I have seen you say anything remotly incorrect.

I wish I had an answer for you or could help because you are always offering great advice. I wish you luck in your search. If you were in Canada I would know someone you could talk to.

I have questions all the time. I know what I do because I ask questions and find the answers, whenever possible.

In the past, I've started threads on such topics as nuisance raccoons, painting, fixing a plumbing problem and orgasms.

 

[KellysCrack]

I would love to tell you I have had fun with the renegotiation process. I have country wide...otherwise know as Bank of America. I have been attempting for a year, they sent us out of the country to the India office a few times but that never seemed to work. I was told that I could get better assistance more then once if I didn’t pay my loan...that doesn’t work for me so I kept paying. I was actually turned down once based upon the fact that I did pay.


I have finally decided to just go to my local bank and work with them; I am hoping that it is a smoother process.

 

[alaskabibear]

Don't know if this helps, but: Have you looked into a refinance as opposed to a renegotiation of existing terms? That seems to be what most people who are current on their payments and in good standing are doing in order to capture the historic low interest rates - not sure if you even need to involve your current lender for this approach. (that might not work if you owe more than the current appraisal on the house though)

 

[SweetErika]

I would love to tell you I have had fun with the renegotiation process. I have country wide...otherwise know as Bank of America. I have been attempting for a year, they sent us out of the country to the India office a few times but that never seemed to work. I was told that I could get better assistance more then once if I didn’t pay my loan...that doesn’t work for me so I kept paying. I was actually turned down once based upon the fact that I did pay.

I have finally decided to just go to my local bank and work with them; I am hoping that it is a smoother process.

That sucks!

BoA is the same way with credit cards. Even though we've always paid our full balance on time, at one point we wanted them to lower the interest rate for some reason or another, and they said they couldn't do that until we missed a payment. So much for actually trying to work with responsible, longtime customers!

Don't know if this helps, but: Have you looked into a refinance as opposed to a renegotiation of existing terms? That seems to be what most people who are current on their payments and in good standing are doing in order to capture the historic low interest rates - not sure if you even need to involve your current lender for this approach. (that might not work if you owe more than the current appraisal on the house though)

We'll be looking at that, too, but we'd rather not spend the money on a refi if we don't have to. If the bank will drop our interest rate at least to what it was supposed to be if the market hadn't crashed for free, we might as well go with that, at least while we're looking at other options.

Plus, we may not even be able to refi on our own because of our interesting financial situation/need for a low- or no-doc loan.

My mom said she'd be happy to cosign or whatever for us if that'd help us get a lower rate, but I'm not sure if that would help and how it might affect our credit, etc. We've never needed a cosigner for anything, so we're not aware of the ins and outs and downside on something like a mortgage (well, apart from the cosigner also having their credit destroyed if the loan isn't paid, of course).

 

[alaskabibear]

I'm truly sorry that you are caught up in this current mess. I wish I could offer more insight, but I can't. One thing I might mention though; If you're not already doing so, all inquires should probably be followed up with either emails or registered mail correspondence so that should you need, you can show good faith effort that you tried to work with your mortgage holder. Seems like having proof of your effort and attempts to renegotiate is key to moving to the next level of possible action. Wishing you all the best!

 

[SweetErika]

I'm truly sorry that you are caught up in this current mess. I wish I could offer more insight, but I can't. One thing I might mention though; If you're not already doing so, all inquires should probably be followed up with either emails or registered mail correspondence so that should you need, you can show good faith effort that you tried to work with your mortgage holder. Seems like having proof of your effort and attempts to renegotiate is key to moving to the next level of possible action. Wishing you all the best!

Thankfully, we're not at risk of losing our house or anything unless something really catastrophic happens. Even then, because we've been responsible, we'd have some options.

It's just that the economy has had a negative impact on our income and investments, so we're trying to cut expenses where we can. And yeah, we fully expected to be at the lower rate within two years at most when we got the mortgage; we had every reason to believe that'd be the case and the loan officer really reinforced that idea. We could afford the higher rate at the time and can still do so, but if the bank will work with us so we're an even better bet for them, that'd be great.

We figure trying to renegotiate our rate and looking at refinancing are worth a shot, since we really have nothing to lose by asking and checking it out.

 

[modbus]

SE - if you do need to refinance... make sure you take a good look at Credit Unions... they are so much more flrxible than banks