When Deborah R. was getting divorced, she lost her job and was unemployed for eight months. By the time her divorce was finalized, her home was pending foreclosure. Assuming she would lose her home, neither Deborah nor her attorney required her ex-husband to sign a quitclaim deed, a document releasing his interest or rights in the property. Deborah came to regret this oversight. While Deborah managed to hold on to her home, her ex-husband still had claim to half of it, and she spent thousands of dollars — all her pension money — trying to get him off the deed. He preferred to see her lose her home than to be cooperative.
Years passed, with Deborah making payments and getting extensions and trial modifications, even as the loan servicer changed several times. She worked hard to improve her credit score and went to graduate school at night to boost her earning power. It wasn’t enough. She spoke with a bankruptcy attorney, and they decided that the best way for Deborah to keep her home was to declare bankruptcy — even though she could still pay her other bills. Her attorney referred Deborah to a mortgage broker, who spent almost three years trying to get Deborah a conventional Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan. Deborah was anxious, knowing that mortgage rate hikes were coming. It seemed like the loan was forthcoming, but at the last minute she was denied due to a single late payment in the previous 12 months; two other lenders also denied her after preliminary approval. “It was one crushing blow after another,” says Deborah.
Deborah R. outside her home.
Eventually, because Deborah had not been approved for refinancing, her bankruptcy was terminated, and her lender was talking about a foreclosure sale date. Thankfully, she was introduced to BlueHub SUN and was able to refinance her loan into a 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
She recalls, “Sitting in the title company conference room, I took a deep breath and said, ‘I did it.’ I think I hugged the woman who was handling the closing.” She continues, “Sometimes I pinch myself and ask, ‘Did this really happen?’” As a bonus, during the refinancing, she was able to force her ex-husband to sign a quitclaim deed and now she owns the home herself.
Now Deborah’s mortgage is current, and she is not in foreclosure for the first time in a decade. “I wish I had found SUN years ago,” Deborah says. “I am so grateful that SUN agreed to refinance my loan.”
Deborah’s plan is to present a perfect year-long record of on-time payments, then refinance again to a lower mortgage rate. “I am so thrilled to have a bi-weekly withdrawal option,” she says of BlueHub SUN’s unique feature to allow homeowners to pay their monthly mortgage bill in two installments.*
What would she tell others who are going through foreclosure? “It’s all about making on-time payments and rebuilding your credit history. And you should never give up.”
“Finding BlueHub SUN was my saving grace,” she concludes. “Your program was brought to me in my darkest hour; I think it is almost too good to be true.”
* Bi-weekly payment not available to residents of Pennsylvania.
