Back to Work Program - income reduction documentation

[ezdriver]

"So very few people really understand this Back to Work program so I am having a difficult time - I finally found a lender in my area who claims to know how to do them but until I can "formally" apply she hasn't wanted my documentation."

All enders claiming to do FHA loans have no excuse to not know everything they need to know about the BTW program. An FHA letter was sent to every last one of them. You can do some reaserch yourself by checking the FHA website where yu can read the program's requirements yourself.

Shane laid out some valid directions and cautions in his post above. One of the important points mentioned in his post is the length of time between the catastrophic event [your initial ch13 filing] and the prior financial events that led to it. On second thought, I do not think that your situation meets the guidlines of the BTW program. Sounds like a better use of your time and energy would be to use the two years of waiting [from discharge date] to strengten your financial profile [income, savings and strong credit] then go buy a home.

I wish you all the best.

[yepbob]

I am not sure why it would not meet the requirements of the program since I have talked to several lenders who believe it does. A job loss led to our bankruptcy - just because we attempted to thwart the outcome we had doesn't make it less of a qualifying event. I have researched this program myself and have had to find lenders who DO know something about this program. Worse case is we will have to wait the whole two years but we are going to try everything first.

[ezdriver]

---

@yepbob wrote:
I am not sure why it would not meet the requirements of the program since I have talked to several lenders who believe it does. A job loss led to our bankruptcy - just because we attempted to thwart the outcome we had doesn't make it less of a qualifying event. I have researched this program myself and have had to find lenders who DO know something about this program. Worse case is we will have to wait the whole two years but we are going to try everything first.

---

As an FYI, Nationstar Mortgage is the lender doing mine and two of my buyer customers' as well.

As I said before, every FHA lender has received the FHA letter detailing the guidelines and requirements of the program. If I asked a lender whether they did FHA loans and then they tell me that they do not know about the guidelines and requirements of the BTW program, I'd tell them to take a hike for being lazy and unprofessional. If you can find the information, why can't they?

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to add our experience with this program. We have been in the process since December, are two weeks away from our closing date, have paid $1000+ in inspection and appraisal fees, only to find out that it is not being approved. We met income reduction guidelines for the cause of our short sale, but because my husband wasn't on unemployment (he worked with a temp agency after layoff) and because we didn't miss other payment obligations it is denied. This has been an extremely stressful process and has just been a huge let down after feeling so hopeful and so close to being in our own home again. I hope others have better luck with it than we did.

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I just wanted to add our experience with this program. We have been in the process since December, are two weeks away from our closing date, have paid $1000+ in inspection and appraisal fees, only to find out that it is not being approved. We met income reduction guidelines for the cause of our short sale, but because my husband wasn't on unemployment (he worked with a temp agency after layoff) and because we didn't miss other payment obligations it is denied. This has been an extremely stressful process and has just been a huge let down after feeling so hopeful and so close to being in our own home again. I hope others have better luck with it than we did.

---

That sounds like your lender wasn't very familiar with this program.  There is no requirement to go on unemployment or miss other payments.  I'd definitely try a different lender.  Since you already have your appraisal, you should be able to get a relatively quick decision at a new lender (potentially within a week).

[Anonymous]

Well I thought the same thing about their requirements but it is their underwriters denying it. Any ideas of national lenders that actually know more about the program? We had used Summit Funding.