Read all your loan documents when purchasing any property to make sure all fees and terms are correct, and that your loan is what it is supposed to be. For example, if it is going to be a fixed-rate loan, make sure you state that the loan is a fixed-rate loan before you sign it.
Review all loan documents before buying in advance. You can request a Statement from HUD1 24 hours before closing any real estate sale. It will detail and describe each charge on your loan.
After you buy, make sure the credit bureaus are reporting your payments correctly. For example, if you changed loan companies shortly after your purchase, the new lender or servicer may not report you later in the first 60 days after the loan has changed companies.
Always look for unwarranted charges on your mortgage statement and submit a written dispute to your lender, and they have up to 60 days to respond to any valid dispute in writing. In that period, this may not reflect negatively on your credit bureau; this would be a violation of RESPA.
Prepay your mortgage whenever you can if there are no restrictions in our mortgage contract to do so. This will save you a tremendous amount of money over the life of the loan. In some extreme cases, you can reduce your mortgage from a 30-year loan to a 15-year loan.
If you have a mortgage and are trying to lower your mortgage payments with a loan modification, be sure to monitor progress regularly; weekly for update. This can be time consuming.
If you are in foreclosure and have a valid dispute, your property cannot go to a foreclosure sale; because any valid dispute must be addressed first, or else it is a violation of RESPA. So, if you are in foreclosure and have a dispute, please let it be known in writing to prevent the progress of a foreclosure sale.
If there are any outstanding charges on your account, especially late fees; Typically, if you make payments to upgrade your loan, the fee can be negotiated and reduced. When making your payment, it is the best time to take advantage of your negotiating powers to minimize some of your outstanding fees.
Lenders and servicers want to keep you in your home no matter what you may think. No one wins in foreclosure, everyone loses. So if you’re having trouble paying your mortgage, try talking to the mortgage company for help.
Be careful hiring an attorney, broker, or modification company when they say they can guarantee you a loan modification. No one can guarantee a loan modification, no matter what they say. They may have a much better chance of getting you a loan modification through experience, skills, knowledge, and / or perseverance. However, the mortgage company decides if it is worth modifying your loan in the end, they have the last word. Just remember that.
Additional tip:
If you are behind on your mortgage payments, you are at risk of foreclosure and have limited funds. Always try to pay off your first loan or the largest first loan, if you have an 80/20 mortgage. The first loan is often the deciding factor in getting your loan into foreclosure. The second or minor loan rarely causes your loan to go into foreclosure. If the smaller loan becomes the loan that leads to foreclosure, you will generally get little or nothing from the foreclosure sale, unless you have decent home equity.