Site Review- Adjust My Loan, or, why bankruptcy sucks

Adjust My Loan is the website of a nationwide company that specializes in Arizona Loan Modification. When I worked at the Credit Union we called it refinancing, but after reading the description on the site, I see the difference between a refinance and a modification. A refinance almost always involves borrowing against the equity you’ve accrued by taking out a second mortgage against the value of your house. A modification helps people having trouble making their payments by working with your lender to negotiate an adjustment of your interest rate, an extension on the length of your mortgage, or even a reduction on the principal amount owed.

In 2001 when Chris and I filed bankruptcy because we had been swindled by a shady mortgage refinance company, I wish a site like this had been around. We tried to work with our lender (who had bought the mortgage from the company that bought the mortgage from our Credit Union) to get our payments lowered,  but they were absolutely not going to help us at all.  I spent HOURS searching the Internet, filling out applications at places like the Lending Tree, making countless phone calls to places that claimed to help people avoid bankruptcy, but in the end, that’s what we did.  Maybe they didn’t exist back then, but no where in all my searching did I come across a Loan Modification Company that could work with my lender on my behalf.

In fact, doing this review reminded me of something I had forgotten about-there was one company I found online that swore they could help us get our debts settled and we could avoid bankruptcy. They would negotiate with each of our creditors to have us pay a percentage of what we owed in exchange for having the accounts marked paid in full. Sounds great, right? Yeah, except for the one drawback- the FEE was $3,000. In CASH. If I had $3,000 in cash, would I have needed help PAYING MY DEBTS?

So anyway, back to the site I’m supposed to be reviewing here Adjust My Loan might charge fees, it does say in their FAQs that they don’t charge an upfront fee. They work primarily in Arizona but you can apply if you live in a different state. They use attorneys to audit the existing mortgage to see if any Federal Laws were broken, which I assume is then an excellent bargaining chip.  Take it from me, bankruptcy SUCKS. Your credit is ruined, you can’t get credit cards or car loans, it changes your whole life. If you are having trouble making mortgage payments, you are not alone.  Search the Internet for Loan Modification Arizona (or New Jersey or California or Montana or wherever you live),  weigh your options, and do what’s right for you.