If you are struggling with your home mortgage payments because of a change in your financial circumstances, then you should learn more about Obama’s loan modification program. This is the bail out for distressed homeowners that promises to modify your current home loan into one with a lower interest rate and much more affordable mortgage payments. This is a government program, and so it has certain approval guidelines that must be met in order to participate.
The Obama loan modification program has 7 basic triggers for approval that must be met by interested homeowners. One of these is called the Asset Ratio. Your assets will be reviewed to determine if you fit into the program or not-but only certain assets will be counted.
ASSET RATIO FOR LOAN MODIFICATION
- Liquid assets-checking, savings, CD’s, Money Market, stocks will be counted
- Retirement accounts are “protected” and will not be counted
- You are allowed to have 3 times your monthly housing expenses (this includes your house payment, property taxes, homeowners insurance and any HOA dues) in a liquid account
- Some lenders may revise that amount and limit the total amount of liquid assets to just $5000 total
How does your lender know how much money you have in the bank? Well, when you prepare your financial statement as part of your loan modification application for Obama’s plan, you will be asked to disclose your banking information. You may also be asked to send in 2 bank statements or even up to 6 months of bank statements. Whatever accounts you indicate on your application will need to be substantiated with copies of statements.
The general idea behind this asset ratio is to only offer help to those homeowners who have exhausted all of their other options-including any savings accounts. You really need to show that you are at the end of the rope and the only viable option for keeping your home is to get a loan modification. Remember, you are asking your bank to lose money and they really do not like to that-but under Obama’s plan they will receive a subsidy payment-as long as they follow the standard guidelines. This includes the asset ratio guideline.
There are 6 other approval triggers for Obama’s loan modification plan. If you are worried about preparing your application correctly so that it meets all of these, you may want to use a software program that actually mimics these triggers and will do all the calculations for you automatically. Just put in your monthly income and expenses and you will see immediately if you are passing or if you need to make some minor adjustments to your figures. Doing this before the bank reviews your paperwork is one sure way to be certain you have the best chance of approval.
Susan Gregory is the author of two resource books for homeowners and real estate professionals, the best selling The Complete Loan Modification Guide Kit and The Stimulus Book-HAMP & HAFA Edition. She also teaches workshop training classes for the federal programs to help real estate professionals assist homeowners with home retention and exit strategies. The Complete Loan Modification Guide kit provides a valuable resource for borrowers that includes a step by step handbook, required forms, and a software program that mimics the federal approval triggers for loan modification. An advocate for homeowners, Susan also offers free 30 day email support for all of her clients who purchase her publications. Thousands of homeowners have been helped using these materials. Visit http://www.myloanmodficationcenter.com for more information.













