Homeowners Seeking Gov’t Loan Mods Fed Up

Liya Cornelius of Carmichael, Calif., another Bank of America customer (and former Countrywide customer), says she was also told in early May that the program wasn’t available yet. “They told me they’d put me in the system and get back to me in 90 days,” she says. “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”

Amos, the Colorado housing counselor, says that some companies have proven to be more difficult than others. In general, though, industry cooperation is increasing as the plan progresses. In its early stages, “lenders didn’t know which end was up, and they were inundated and were not prepared and were resisting every bit of the way,” she says. “Now, they have resigned themselves to the fact that they need to do this.”

Dealing with the sheer volume of loans will still take some time, however. There should have been a system in place at the servicing companies before the government announced this program, Amos suggests. “It was a cart-before-the-horse type of thing.”

A Treasury Department spokeswoman says that it is working on ways to help servicers reach more borrowers faster.

ProPublica will continue to follow homeowners’ efforts to obtain Making Home Affordable loan modifications. If you plan to apply for one, or already have, please tell us your story.

Karen Weise and Ben Protess contributed reporting to this report.

ProPublica is a nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism.