CCO Mortgage (also known as Citizens Bank) provides a number of loan modification programs to help borrowers stop foreclosure and lower their payments. Additionally, Citizens Bank now participates in President Obama’s Making Home Affordable Program.

Regardless of whether or not you are current on your mortgage, if Citizens Bank is your lender, we most likely can qualify you for a loan modification. Actually, if you are behind on your mortgage, this may create even more of an incentive for Citizens Bank to modify your loan. If you are on time, getting a loan modification is still possible, and modifying now can avoid irrevocable damage to your credit.

How can this help you? Well, a loan modification can help you decrease your interest rate, payment, and possibly even the principal balance of the loan. An aggressive loan modification can help you keep your house, and in the process lower your payment by hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Let’s take a look at what exactly a loan modification is: A loan modification is an agreement between you (the borrower) and your lender (Citizens Bank) to lower your mortgage payments to an affordable level to help you avoid foreclosure. Citizens Bank has faced significant financial setbacks over the last two years due to the high number of foreclosures, and, as such is willing to work with qualified homeowners to lower their monthly payments and help them keep their homes.

When applying for a loan modification with Citizens Bank / CCO Mortgage, it’s important to remember that the primary basis of whether or not you will be approved for a loan modification is based on whether or not you are facing what Citizens will look at as an “acceptable financial hardship”.

Citizen’s Bank and CCO Mortgage’s loss mitigation guidelines cover a number of acceptable financial hardships, here are a few of the more common ones: Decrease in income, job loss, unemployment, adjustment of an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage), any increase in mortgage payment, death in the family, illness, disability, child birth, excessive credit card debt, decrease in assets, and increases in other household expenses.

As previously stated, Citizens Bank now participates in the Making Home Affordable Program, meaning that it’s conceivable to get an interest rate as low as 2% on a 30 year fixed loan through an aggressive loan modification. For more information on the Making Home Affordable Program, check out these HAMP Guidelines.

If your mortgage is currently held by Citizens Bank, it may be in your best interest to take a look at a loan modification as you are most likely paying more than you have to on your mortgage.

Items You Will Need When Applying for a Loan Modification

When applying for a loan modification with Citizens Bank, you will need to document your income, assets, and expenses. Here’s a quick list of what you will need:

• Last 2 Years W-2’s
• 2 Yrs. Tax Returns
• 2 Months Paystubs
• 3 Month Bank Statements
• Copy of Latest Mortgage Statement

Please note that Citizens Bank may ask for additional supporting documentation when reviewing your loan modification package.

What to do When You Call Citizens Bank

You can reach the Citizens Bank Loss Mitigation Department directly at (800) 234-6002. Now, as with most lenders Citizens Bank has two different departments that field calls on delinquent loans and how homeowners are treated and the help they receive varies base upon which department of Citizens they have reached!

The first department of Citizens Bank that speaks to delinquent homeowners typically is their collection’s department, who will try to get the homeowner to catch up by immediately paying back the amount they are late on, including the legal and late fees that Citizens Bank assesses.

The second department at Citizens consists of loss mitigation specialists and negotiators. Modification Zoom has significant experience working with lender loss mitigation departments and getting the best loan modifications for our clients. If you believe you need help getting a loan modification from Citizens Bank / CCO Mortgage, complete the form to the right, or apply here.

Often, homeowners contact us after they have presented financial information to their lender that makes it impossible for them to get a loan modification. If you do not have years of loss mitigation experience, the time to learn is not on your own foreclosure.

Modification Zoom can help get a loan modification from Citizens Bank / CCO Mortgage that will put you in a much better financial situation. Complete a form on any page of this website, and we will contact you immediately. The consultation is quick, absolutely risk free, and completely confidential. Take the first step today!

What is Making Home Affordable?

Loan modification help is only a few seconds away! Read this article to find out more about the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable loan modification program and to see whether or not you qualify.

The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is the single best way to achieve a fixed rate loan modification that will significantly lower your monthly mortgage payments.

You do not have to be late on your mortgage to qualify under the Government Initiative, and your loan does not necessarily have to be held by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Financial incentives are given to lenders that participate in modifying mortgage loans under the initiative, and to date hundreds of thousands of homeowners have saved their homes and avoided foreclosure through loan workouts.

Which Lenders Participate in Making Home Affordable?

If your loan is currently guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, participation by your mortgage holder, or servicer, is mandatory, and if you qualify for a loan modification under the guidelines, they must approve it. Otherwise, lender participation is voluntary. Here’s an up to date list of which lenders participate in Making Home Affordable:

What Are the Guidelines for Making Home Affordable?

You can qualify for a loan modification under Making Home Affordable if you meet the following guidelines:

1. Your home is your primary and only residence
2. The amount that you owe on your first mortgage is equal to or less than $729,750
3. You are having trouble making your monthly mortgage payments
4. You got your current mortgage before January 1, 2009
5. Your payment on your first mortgage (including principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA fees if applicable) is greater than 31% of your current gross income

What are the Benefits of Making Home Affordable?

Many borrowers say, ok, I want to save my home and lower my monthly mortgage payment as much as possible. How much money will I save if I get a loan modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)?

Under Making Home Affordable, your new monthly payment will be the maximum amount that you can afford under program guidelines. The target maximum amount for your monthly mortgage payment is based upon your “front end” DTI or Debt-to-Income Ratio. To calculate your new mortgage payment and to determine how much money you will save, multiply your gross monthly income by 31%.

For qualification purposes, do not include any payments on your second mortgage. Make sure to account for taxes and insurance by dividing the yearly or quarterly amounts to monthly figures. If you are currently escrowed, make sure to account for your Taxes and Insurance only once.

HAMP expires on December 31,2012. Your trial loan modification must be in place prior to this date in order to get a loan modification through MHA.

If you are in need of loan modification help, or your lender is being uncooperative in helping you get a mortgage loan modification, please contact us by completing a quick application right here on our website. We are Modification Zoom, and we are here to help!