Saving Your Home: Navigating Foreclosure Workouts with Your Mortgage Servicer

DJ Olojo [00:00:05]:

Hey, Foreclosure Fix family. My name is DJ Olojo, and this is the foreclosure fix podcast where our goal is to help 1,000,000 homeowners successfully navigate foreclosure. If that goal resonates with you, please do us a favor, like, subscribe, and tell a friend so that way we can help more homeowners. I am so excited about our podcast today because I have Melissa Bolling on the line. How are you doing today, Melissa?

Melissa Bolling [00:00:35]:

I am great. I'm so glad to be here. Thank you so much. Well, Melissa

DJ Olojo [00:00:40]:

is a servicing expert. I get tons of questions and and people always ask me about, you know, what does the servicer do, or who is this person sending me my statements? And so I thought it was beneficial to bring Melissa on today. Melissa has been in the servicing industry since, what, 1994 or so? and she has managed through her various positions as a vice president over $1,800,000,000 of portfolio and receivables. And so she has a wealth of experience in around 2004. She started a servicing company, which is now known as allied servicing that services, all types of mortgage notes, partials, and things like that. And so she is just a wealth of knowledge, and she brings years of experience, expertise, and most of all working with homeowners to save their houses. And so, Melissa, again, we are excited to have you on today. And help our listeners understand how the servicing industry works.

Melissa Bolling [00:01:40]:

So by and large, most lenders do not administer their own loans. They may make the loan or they may buy the loan, but they almost are never the face of the loan. You're generally working with a servicer who is going to send you your welcome package. We are going to post your payment. We're going to monitor your insurance and your property taxes. We're gonna be the voice on the phone when you call. There's exceptions to that rule. There are banks that service their own loans. And so you get a loan from, you know, your local bank. And when you call, you call your local bank and you speak to them. And and that's common as well, but overall, the very largest portfolio of loans is serviced by a third party. And so that's one of the things Ally does is we provide servicing for our clients. So the lenders pay us to be that point of contact for the borrowers during the time that they're paying on their loan until the loan is sold or until the borrowers pay off or refinance or otherwise, the loan changes hands.

DJ Olojo [00:02:43]:

Okay. So you said a few things there that I think need to rewind on and just kinda highlight. So you're telling me the servicer in most scenarios is not the same as the lender.

Melissa Bolling [00:02:54]:

That is absolutely correct.

DJ Olojo [00:02:56]:

Got you. So these are 2 different parties. There's somebody who actually owns the loan, but then there's also you all who come in and you service the loan and you act on behalf of the servicer. So if I am thinking about this correctly, I would liken a servicer to a property manager in real estate. that somebody may own the property, but the property manager is doing all the work on behalf of that holder. That's exactly what we do. Awesome. Awesome. And so, you know, for our listeners, you know, a lot of times people have complaints about servicers. maybe how long it takes servicers to produce a payoff or how long it takes me to get somebody on the phone with the servicer. Can you kinda explain to us, like, what the delay is, what takes so long, and why is the process so frustrating?

Melissa Bolling [00:03:45]:

Well, there can be a lot of reasons. As far as why you can't reach your servicer, that that's probably if you're calling them on the phone, that's a really unusual problem to have. You may have to wait in line because there are other people with questions, and sometimes it's a seasonal thing. So everyone knows In January, you're looking for that 10.98 so you could file your taxes. And that is the time when historically servicers have overwhelming numbers of phone calls. Where's my 1098? Where's my 1098? Where's my 1098? That's been mitigated in some cases. A lot of them are now available online via their portal. or you can go through their phone tree and actually select a non human related option that gets it sent to you via fax or email. Or otherwise, you're just gonna have to wait for it to be mailed. It just kinda depends on how the servicer operates, but there there can be times when it is difficult to get a hold of them if there are things going on. such as in the last year or so, there have been these homeowner assistance funds that opened up in the states to help borrowers who were affected by COVID and there were were delinquent and needed help getting caught up. That created unprecedented volumes for servicers as well. But generally speaking, if you're calling the main number, and you are working your way through the prompts if they have them to get to a person. You might have to wait a little while, but it shouldn't be a ridiculous amount of time. Ask to things like payoffs or requests that you're making, you have to remember you're not the only person who requested a payoff quote that day or that week or that month. And so you're put in a queue, but in each case, your loan docs have to be reviewed. Do you have a prepayment penalty that needs to be included on the quote? What are the recording fees for your local jurisdiction that need to be added to the quote? Is there any kind of interest rate change or escrow change that is up coming or pending that may affect how your quote needs to be produced. Are you delinquent and in foreclosure and do we need to obtain the legal fees and costs from the attorney so that they appear on your quote so that if you do pay off or you do reinstate, you've paid everything that was due. Cause you wanna be You wanna be at 0 after either of those transactions. And so it's not simply a matter of us just pushing a button and a payoff quote comes out. We do have to do some human things before the computer can generate that quote, and then we can send it to you or your lender. But overall, in most cases, you're going to see that, a payout quote should be turned around to you in 3 to 5 days.

DJ Olojo [00:06:14]:

Now if you have a if you have a portal access, You could certainly go in and kinda get an idea of where your quote's gonna land, but always you need that official quote to know exactly what is due. And I think that's really helpful because I think people in general especially those who are trying to get a payoff before foreclosure sale or trying to get a reinstatement quote before foreclosure sale, they get upsent because they call in or they email in or write in, and they can't get it the same day. And they're just like, hey. I'm trying to pay you why are you not trying to take my money? And I think that that context is very, very helpful for a lot of our listeners because it's a process to it. Mhmm. So Let's talk about a couple different things that you said. You talked about borrowers who may be in foreclosure. you may need to get legal fees or legal costs from the attorney. Right? And so how is a servicer set up to handle those borrowers who are current versus those who may be delinquent or in foreclosure. help us understand, like, the different departments because sometimes, you know, I'm on the phone with the servicer, and they'll say, well, we have to escalate you to a different department or to loss mitigation. gotta help help our help our listeners understand what that process looks like because can't anybody just help us?

Melissa Bolling [00:07:32]:

Well, unfortunately, The larger the servicer, the larger the portfolio, the more compartmentalized it becomes. So let's talk about Allied for a minute. We are eight people. So when you call Allied, you almost always can talk to whoever answers the phone. They can usually answer your question, but not always. Even with eight people, there are things that have to be handled by certain staff who are experts in that area. And as a servicer grows, it becomes very large, the front end staff can't be trained in all of the nuances of everything. They can answer general questions. What's my next payment due? When did you mail my 1098? Can I get a copy of my documents? Things like that. That they could definitely do that. Did you get my last payment? How was it applied? All of that can happen with your general frontline staff. But as soon as you start talking about things like foreclosure, each state is different. Each state has separate rules. And so oftentimes a servicer's default department is even divided between the states themselves, is it a non judicial foreclosure? Meaning, it's just notices and then a sale, is it a judicial foreclosure? where we're actually gonna go to court and we're actually gonna speak in front of a judge and there will actually be hearings. Each of those have their own nuance And if you're in bankruptcy, that adds yet another layer of complexity because it's a very complicated process to navigate through. And so what they're trying to do is they're not trying to pass you off. They're trying to get you to the most expert help possible. and also the one who can do the most for you. Because the further you're escalated, the better the chances that they can do things like negotiated payment arrangement over the phone if you're, say, 2 months delinquent. They can probably set you up with an arrangement so that you don't go into foreclosure so that you don't incur legal fees. And many times, there's no cost at all. They'll say, okay. You're gonna pay regular monthly payment and say 1 12th of your total delinquency. And so by the end of a year, you're gonna be current. or, you know, there's any number of ways they could do it. They might be able to prove a deferral. They might be able to do things for you because you're on the lower side of the delinquency. But You know, as you become more delinquent, options do minimize the earlier you act The more options you have for saving your home, the longer you wait, the fewer options remain. And so you have to be routed to the most expert person who's going to give you as many possible options as you could get so that you could save your home. And so That's important. And escrows, even escrows, the payment of taxes and insurance, it doesn't sound like it should be difficult, but it can be. There are places where you have 3 or 4 taxing authorities. There are places where insurance becomes very complicated because in some places, Homeowners has a wind component. In Florida, you have to get windstorm, and you might need flood insurance. You might need to make a claim under any or all of these policies. And so, again, the idea is not to pass you off. The idea is to get you to the most expert person for your immediate need. It may take longer to get to where you need to be, but in the end, it's going to save you because you're gonna know all of your options and deal with a person who's expert in your situation.

DJ Olojo [00:10:58]:

Got you, Melissa. And thanks for the explanation because now I think I have a little bit more grace for servicers. Not not too much. Just a little bit. But you we get it. You talked about as you talked about workouts, right, and you talked about the longer you wait, the left options become available to you. And so a lot of the folks who are listening to the podcast are in pre foreclosure or actually actual active foreclosure. Mhmm. And you know all the emotions that come with that. And you know all the kind of frustrations that come with that, you've probably been on the other end of of of phone calls where somebody's yelling at you. Absolutely. Help us understand what someone in foreclosure should do when they call the service? What should they be asking for? What information should they be getting? What should they bring to the table? Help help our listeners understand that piece. The biggest piece of advice I have is call early.

Melissa Bolling [00:11:53]:

Call even before you've missed the payment if you know you're going to miss it because there are things that can be done for temporary issues like unemployment, medical leaves, catastrophic car failure. It happens. People can't make their monthly payment because they had to replace a transmission. Call when you know, be honest, explain the situation and have a plan. Even if it doesn't get accepted, have a plan. Have an idea that you're gonna be be you're gonna say, hey, I need to miss a payment. but I can make a quarter payment on my other payday for the next couple months. Propose a plan. Think about it. How do you wanna get out of it? because the servicer can't give you money. Okay? The lender is also not a charitable organization for the most part. This is an investment. They expect to be paid according to the promise that was made in the note when the borrower signed it. So while we understand things happen, we also need to know how it's gonna be resolved. So call early, call with a plan, apply for loss mitigation, and what that means is you ask for the loss mitigation application. The lender will send it to you. They will also send a list of all the things you need to provide. Make sure it's all there because we can't evaluate you for options till you submit a complete package. Don't not send your savings account because it only has $25 in it because then it looks like you're hiding a bank account. don't not include the rest of the adults in the household because if there are 5 working age adults in the household, but only one of you is on the loan, we still expect those other 4 to contribute to the household expenses, whether that's directly towards the mortgage payment via say a rent payment or whether they're carrying the utilities or someone is responsible for the car payment or however your arrangement works. Talk about everybody. make sure that you are giving a realistic view of your income. I can't tell you how many applications I see where The borrower's filled out the application in good faith. They've provided all their copies. But on the application where they total their income and they total their expenses, The expenses are 100 if not 1000 of dollars more than their monthly income. That right there If I see that, I literally can't give you an option because you can't actually afford your regular monthly expenses. Never mind your delinquency. you can't cover your monthly expenses. And so sometimes it's a good exercise for people to understand where they are at from a budget standpoint. But complete the application, complete it by the deadline. Make sure everything's in there. Send more information than they ask for if you need to to explain your situation. The better idea we have of what you're going through what's going to happen, when the situation will resolve, you know, what kind of income are we talking about, the better chances we can come up with a plan. And the earlier you apply, again, a 2 month delinquency is far easier to repay and make a plan for than a 1 year delinquency. So it's always best contact early, ask for loss mitigation, If you submit a complete package, we have to put the action on hold until a decision's made. So that even gay gains you some breathing space. You can be starting to put together, you know, some additional funds to try and make a down payment against that delinquency or to reinstate. You can be looking at things like local agencies that offer utility assistance You you have to think outside the box if you can't make your mortgage payment, but maybe you can get assistance for utilities, internet. Any number of other agencies will help food, definitely. you you wanna look at those options as well. And then what you can expect is your lender's gonna or your servicer's gonna come back to you and say, okay. Your lender can offer these options. Some of them are retention options where you stay in your home and you keep it. That's usually a forbearance, a modification, a payment arrangement. Then there are non retention options where like I said, you got an application where they can't afford their monthly expenses. You're gonna say, okay. We will hold off for 90 days while you put your house on the market to sell so that you can save your equity and start a fresh in a home that you can afford. Or they may say we will offer you a deed and move foreclosure where you basically, you give back the house instead of going through the foreclosure process. And of course, at any time, you have the option to refinance. There's never anything stopping you. Go to your local bank and credit union. The place where you do your business talk to them about your situation. Credit unions are great because they are far more flexible about personal situations, and they have a mandate to lend in their communities. So their job is to extend credit to the people in their communities. So they're a great resource even for, I mean, I don't usually recommend getting a loan to fix a delinquency problem, but sometimes a signature loan, which requires no collateral, will get you current on your mortgage and the payment terms are so reasonable with those credit unions that it actually saves the house and it saves your situation. And so there are options, but your your service is gonna bring you your options, even if the only option is you need to sell or refinance.

DJ Olojo [00:17:29]:

Melissa, I I couldn't write fast enough as you were kinda as you as you were kinda talking there. Right? I got, like, 5 or 6 different questions. Right? No. No. No. That that's great information. One of the things that you touched on was all the stuff that the borrower needs to provide to the services. a lot of times, you know, I work with people. I talk with people. I deal with people working for foreclosure, and they are not computer literate, or they, you know, don't know how to send the email. Okay. What do you suggest they do? Like, how can those people still get these options if they can't, you know, email back and forth. They don't have to email.

Melissa Bolling [00:18:08]:

Most servicers will mail you the application. They'll send it to you regular And you can collect your bills because a lot of folks who don't use their computers or online banking to pay their bills, they get a traditional statement the mail. They write a check every month and they mail it out. You will get your statements in the mail, or at least you know who to call. You can call your utility company and say, hey. I need a in my last monthly statement, and they will send it to you. You can take those things. You can go into any I would go to a UPS store or a library. make your copies, and then I'd put it all together, and I would send it through the US Postal Service. We always recommend mean, I like commercial for the US Postal Service. I'm not gonna lie. We always recommend the flat rate priority mail, doesn't matter how much you put in the envelope. If it fits, it ships for like $9. And you get a tracking number, and you know it arrives. But mail it in. Mail it in. We don't require email. There's never any requirement for that. Some servicers are really big and have a lot of technology where you could do it all on their on their website. you don't have to. They have to work with folks who don't have access for some reason. Perhaps, you know, they're disabled, and they can't get out to do these things. You know? And again, delinquency happens if nothing else the American public knows that everyone has struggled with their mortgage payments. Since 2008, delinquency has been in the news. We all know it happens. don't be ashamed to ask someone for help. Ask a family friend. Ask your banker. Ask a financial advisor. Ask for help. ask them to help you put the package together. I have clients in my portfolio who are functionally illiterate. They can't read or write. But they get someone to help them so that they can maintain their home because they've they've achieved homeownership, which is a big deal in the US now. They've achieved homeownership, but they get the help they need to keep it. Do not be ashamed of delinquency. Do not be ashamed to ask for help, even if it's from your servicer. We're used to it. People call us every day. How do I save my home? That's our job. Nobody wants your house. Nobody. Repossessed property. It's not the best answer for the lender because then they've got the property. They've gotta they've gotta clean it out. They've gotta rehabit. They've gotta sell it, and they are going to take a haircut. That's why they offer modifications. That's why they want you to stay in your home. because nobody wants to take your house. The goal though is you have to pay. So you have to pay or you can't stay. There's there's no there's no options in in in homeownership in lending. You have to pay to stay. You made a promise you have to keep it. And that means on your first, that's on your second position home equity line of credit. That is on your utility loan. If you put solar on your house, All of those when it comes down to it, a note is a promise to pay.

DJ Olojo [00:21:14]:

Yep. It's funny you say that because I work with a a closing attorney and, like, any time, you know, you're selling a house and the borrower signing their pack of a 100 different, you know, documents with the initial and stuff. He always says he said, look, these documents basically say in a 1000 different ways, if you pay, you stay, if you don't, you won't. Right? And that that's the thing. Yeah. That's exactly it. And I think you said something that I think a lot of people are are challenged with is that, you know, the bank doesn't want your house. They don't want it. They want your payments. They want them on time and they want them in full, but they don't want your house. Right? And so I think that that is a huge misconception in the industry. And I think something that homeowners especially those who have are having financial challenges need to really understand is that finding a way to kinda pay the the note and the mortgage and and making sure that you are doing what you're supposed to be doing, holding up your in your agreement is really important. And if you can't, It's not necessarily the end of the world, but you have to let somebody know. You know, you can't just stop paying thinking that no one's gonna do anything. And so To to that side, Melissa, can you give us an example of, like, a good workout or a situation that you've had where you've seen you know, it worked out very, very well for a borrower.

Melissa Bolling [00:22:29]:

I have a loan in my portfolio, so we opened our doors in, like, 2000

DJ Olojo [00:22:33]:

1. Gotcha. And

Melissa Bolling [00:22:36]:

this loan has been with us nearly since the beginning. And interestingly enough, this loan was with me when I -- worked at my old conventional job and was a service of her big company. And this loan happened to also transfer to allied as an asset to service. And this particular customer had some real challenges. She had had some delinquent tax issues, prior servicer had paid all of those taxes. So she had this huge amount of taxes that were sitting out there on her loan as in advance. She got behind. Her loan documents called for interest to accrue on this that tax advance. And in the end, she was in a pretty pretty bad place. We were able to negotiate a workout. She makes her regular monthly payment. plus a specific amount that goes towards those advances. And as long as she makes payment every month, that's kept her out of delinquency, she's been paying on that and performing since probably 2008. In spite of many challenges, she got injured at work. She was put on long term disability. She's had all sorts of other issues. But she has made that payment every month, and she is almost completely in the clear. So her payment's about to drop about $370 a month because she has performed and she's kept her home all this time through all these difficulties because it was her priority. She made a promise and she kept it. She only had 1 month since probably 2008 where she could not make her forbearance payment And I was able to, as the servicer, say, based on your pay history, we can give you that month of grace so that you can get back on track. And then she got her issue solved. She started right back paying. It's just been this great success story, and she's she's gonna pay that house down, and she's She's gonna own it. She's gonna keep it. And I think it's just great, but made contact. And she kept her promises, and she made her payments, and she's always communicating. If something comes up, she calls as soon as it happens. She keeps her servicer in the loop. We aren't just because, look, We don't know why you didn't make the last two payments. We're going to assume it's because you no longer want or can afford the house. That's the assumption with silence.

DJ Olojo [00:24:59]:

So communication is really key. One of the things that I've seen a lot of and that I have a question for you on how services deal with is around escrow payments. Right? So I know there are many people who have escrow payments in their in their in their mortgage, you know. And so people get frustrated and people get upset because just say their normal payment was a $1000 a month. Mhmm. And then all of a sudden, it jumps to $1500 a month. And they're saying, hey. I got a fixed interest rate. You know, I've been paying on this loan good for 10 years. Why are you asking me to pay $500 more a month? I can't afford that. So what would you have those people do in those situations as it pertains to the escrows?

Melissa Bolling [00:25:46]:

So first thing is escrow is based on the prior 12 months activities. That's all it's based off. We look at last year What did we pay for your taxes? What did we pay for your HOA? What did we pay for your insurance? At the base of it is you take all of those amounts and you divide by 12. And that's the base amount. I've gotta have 1 12th of those expenses coming into your escrow account every month. But If your taxes went up, if your insurance went up, if something hit that wasn't in the previous budget, Now I have an additional amount that I've gotta divide over 112. And I've gotta click that too because now we expect that larger tax bill will be the same for this coming year. Were you? Did you go negative at any time? Which means that the budget for the prior year was too low and your balance dip below 0. It's a savings account. That's what an escrow is. It's a savings account. If it went negative, we didn't have enough. So now again, that negative portion 112, and we've gotta have it all. And it can it can balloon. Escrow goes up every year. just it does. There's nothing we can do about it. There are very few situations where this is not the case. There are things however you can do to mitigate it. You contact your property taxes. You make sure that if you are entitled to exemptions, or any kind of reduction in your taxes that you apply. And if you need to, you apply every single year. Some places you do, some places you don't varies by the state. For example, Texas is a great example. If you live in the property, you are eligible for homestead exemption. and that is a significant savings on your taxes. But all you have to do is go down to the appraisal district, and in some cases, it's the Forbes online Fill it out, turn it in, you show proof that you live there, and bam, your taxes have been reduced. But if you're disabled, if you're over 65, there are other places where exemptions are available. Washington where I live? I have to be over 65 or disabled to get any kind of exemption. They don't really have a homestead exemption. So, you know, I don't get that. But here's the other thing you could do. Every year, you're gonna get a notice in the mail. And it's gonna say, We've assessed your property. We, the county, have determined that your property is worth x. And so that means your taxes are going probably go up. You can appeal that because it's not based. Somebody didn't come to your house and look at your house. They looked at comparable sales in the neighborhood, So if you've got a castle down the street that just sold for twice what the other houses are worth, that affects your value. You can appeal that. In some places, there are companies you can call that will do the appeal for you, or you can You can say, look, you can't assess my house at this because let's say, my roof is twenty five years old. Or I've knob and tube wiring. You know, things that would affect the value to a new sale. Take those steps, appeal your taxes, and make sure you're getting your exemptions. That will help keep your tax bill as affordable as possible. It doesn't wipe it out, but it helps. Insurance Most people? They get a renewal package via email or in the mail, and they're like, oh, great. I have insurance next year, and they file it away. Did you look? because I've seen insurance go up a $1000 a year. Every year when you get your renewal package, you shop, you call, and you find out who can give you the same or better coverage for a better premium. But that's on you. The servicer can't do it. We can't appeal your taxes. We can't get your homestead exemptions. We can't shop your insurance. Allied's tiny. So we can do things like we get an insurance bill and we go, what? And we'll call the borrower and we'll be like, are you aware that your insurance is going up? Oh, we're small. We can do that. A larger servicer. They're getting thousands of pieces of insurance mail a day. Right? They can't do it. But it's on you to shop that insurance, make sure because insurance companies too, they just tend to say, Oh, okay. Well, it's a new year. So we're going to assume that your property increased in value by x percent because typical for your area, and that raises your premium. They didn't look at you personally. These are all things that are done by formulas and algorithms. based on general values in the area, demographics. There's a lot of things that go into it. If if you have an agent Who is shopping your policy annually? That's probably a big help, but you don't inform yourself. Go online. You can get a quote from insurance agency in a couple of minutes. On the phone, via the web, and don't necessarily get stuck on the big names. And and and ask around. Who do your friends and family have? Are they happy Are they good claims coverage? Do the premiums stay reasonable? For example, I am, legacy with USAA personally. My dad served in military for 30 years, so I'm eligible for USAA. If you've got any kind of military background and you're eligible, go with them. My insurance, I save more in premiums per year than I pay in premium. My discounts are higher than my premium.

DJ Olojo [00:31:11]:

Wow.

Melissa Bolling [00:31:12]:

Because they are specifically for the active military and veteran community. but there are other insurances that are like that. There are other memberships that can help you out. You know, definitely look into things like if if you're older AARP. Get your discounts. Apply for them. But again, homeowners associations, there is absolutely nothing you can do. other than get on the board. I I think that's all you can do. Try and mitigate homeowners association. So POA, HOA, any of those condo associations. Any of those, not a lot you can do about that. You are stuck with their increases. But on your property tax, and your homeowners insurance, your windstorm, your hurricane, your flood, whatever insurance you're carrying, there are things you can do, but you have to do them. You have to take control of your homeownership experience.

DJ Olojo [00:32:05]:

Gotcha. And, Melissa, you know, another thing too that I wanna add is that make sure too, if you are older, A lot of states in addition to homestead also have a senior exemption too where you can, you know, get rid of your school taxes because you don't have any kids school age in the house. So like Melissa said, It is definitely your responsibility as a homeowner to find every discount, every way to save money because Every municipality wants more dollars to spend. Every insurance agent wants more on their premium, and it's our jobs as homeowners to try to keep as much money in our pockets as we possibly can. Melissa, with that, this is my favorite part of the podcast. I'm gonna head into the bow tie round. And bow tie round is where you get to tie one on with our guests, Melissa. Right? And so we have three questions in the bow tie round. The first is The beast, alright, is for the best advice you would give someone who's in foreclosure. The o is for one thing you are grateful for right now. The w is for your wildest or most interesting foreclosure related story. So let's tie one on. What's your best piece of advice, Melissa?

Melissa Bolling [00:33:12]:

My best piece of advice is, as I said earlier, I make contact with your servicer. Do not be taken in by the numerous number of foreclosure avoidance scams that are out there. You should never have to pay for foreclosure assistance. It's free with your servicer. It's free with a reputable foreclosure assistance. Agency, if you're paying for it, They're not your advocate. They're not doing what you need. So contact your servicer first. They want to help you. We want you to pay. We want you to keep your home. Foreclosure, it helps no one. So communicate. Don't pay for assistance. Big scam.

DJ Olojo [00:33:58]:

Thank you. And and and she can't reiterate that or not. There are so many scams out there and foreclosure assistance from the United States government is always free. And your servicer wants you to call them. That's the same reason why when you call your servicer, they answer the phone is because they want your call. Now you may have to hold. You may have to wait, but they want your call. So the next question is one thing you are grateful for right now.

Melissa Bolling [00:34:24]:

I do know, but I'm grateful for a lot of things. You know what? I'm I'm I'm definitely I'm definitely, grateful that not only Do I personally enjoy my homeownership? I like that I work at a place where I can help others have that same experience. I'm grateful that I have this small company so that we can give them that personal attention to really help when they need it or otherwise I've got clients I've never spoken to. They make their payment by ACH, and then they pay off one day. I mean, I'm grateful for all my borrowers, but You know, those those are definitely they're few and in between, but they happen. And I wish that for everyone.

DJ Olojo [00:35:03]:

Now, awesome. I am I'm grateful that you have pink here, and it matches my bow tie, like, perfectly here with it, you know, with that pinging back. So, hey. I I'm grateful that we coordinated our our our podcast today. The last thing is what is your wildest or most interesting kinda foreclosure

Melissa Bolling [00:35:19]:

related story? Alright. Well, this foreclosure didn't end up with the borrower saving their home. but it gives you an idea, kind of what you can have happen from a servicer's perspective. We had a property. This happened to be Pennsylvania. This was several years ago when I first got into doing this for myself, the the servicing, we started foreclosure, And Pennsylvania's very long state. It takes a long time. It's judicial action. Borrowers would get Going in the foreclosure, we'd be a year and a half in. They would file bankruptcy. And then they would get dismissed because they didn't succeed in their bankruptcy plan. and then we'd start with the foreclosure again. And it took so long in the foreclosure that they would file again. And there was nothing barring them because there had been so much time between their filings. We did this three times. 3 total bankruptcy. It was 7 years to get to foreclosure sale.

DJ Olojo [00:36:22]:

Wow.

Melissa Bolling [00:36:24]:

And on top of that, when we had the sale, they did vacate the property. but they had, like, a foreclosure party in it. So they destroyed the inside, and then they lacked 2 dozen stray cats into the property.

DJ Olojo [00:36:42]:

Wow.

Melissa Bolling [00:36:46]:

This is why we don't wanna take property back. Oh my goodness.

DJ Olojo [00:36:49]:

the banks would have paid you to keep the house at that point.

Melissa Bolling [00:36:55]:

Oh, we're good. We're good. But that's why we don't wanna foreclose because these are the things that happen. There's so much damage. I know there's a lot of cities And even some of the smaller cities where there's all that damage that occurs because the borrower leaves they've given up And then someone comes in, you know, you heard about it stripping the copper, removing everything that wasn't nailed down and even some things that are. or the the property's just destroyed before they leave. They're like, well, if I can't have it, nobody can kind of a thing. And we don't wanna get into that kind of an emotional situation. We know it's their home. We know. And people are just like, it's my home. I can't leave it. But sometimes, That's the only option because you literally can't afford it, and there's no way out of the hole. And We'd love to help you, but in some cases, the math is the math. And if you can't make that monthly payment in full every month, gotta look at other options. You've got to be okay with believe me, it is far less personally. hard to sell your property on your own and move out that it is to have your neighbors see your stuff get put on the curb because you had to be forcibly removed.

DJ Olojo [00:38:09]:

Yeah. So emotions run high, but start early, contact early, and let's find a solution because, obviously, foreclosure does not work out for us? No. It does not. You know, it does not at all. Melissa, I think today's podcast was phenomenal. I I really appreciate the advice you have given to listeners and using your real world perspective and the things you deal in every day is so helpful to our audience. And I think will really help people light a little spark under them or, you know, light a fire under them and and get a movement to say, hey. The servicer is not your enemy. They are your ally. So with that, Melissa, how can our listeners get in contact with you or your company Should they wanna follow your journey or reach out? Or if they're if they're on a service by Allied, what what's the best way to kinda connect with you all?

Melissa Bolling [00:38:56]:

So the best way to reach Allied is always via phone. We always answer it to human. There's a few options there. Like, if you just need our address, you can press, you know, 2 or something like that. You can call us at 877-893-0240. We are open Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 5 PM Pacific time. So we're we're behind all the East coasters, but we're always happy to speak with you at any time about your loan. You can also email us our general mailbox is info. So that's info@allallservicing dotcom. And that mailbox is monitored by the 2 owners, one of which is myself. So you will definitely get an answer, or you'll get you'll definitely get you the right person to give you what you've requested. So those are the 2 best ways. And, of course, if you are a customer with allied, log in to the portal, all servicing.com, borrower registration, client registration, however you need to reach us, there is information for you online as well.

DJ Olojo [00:39:52]:

Yeah. Please note, if you are not a customer of You don't wanna call them to talk about your loan. They really can't help you. help you. So make sure you're calling your servicer. Right? So, again, Melissa, we appreciate you joining our podcast today and appreciate your great advice. You are going to be hard to beat. So with that, hey. This wraps another episode of the foreclosure fix podcast. please like and subscribe and leave us a review. It really helps us get out to more people who can use this beneficial information. With that, Thanks for being a part of the show today. And, again, thanks for being a part of the foreclosure fix family. We love you. God bless you. views and opinions on this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. If you have a specific legal question, we highly recommend you contact a qualified legal professional.