All Lucy Cruz wants is for her mortgage servicer to lower her interest rate to 3.5% from 6.5%. Then she could afford to keep her home, which she shares with her husband and two daughters.
Cruz realized she needed help when she lost her executive assistant job in April. Her husband is on dialysis and can't work, so they could no longer afford a monthly mortgage payment of $1,250.
Her servicer, Citigroup, put her into the president's foreclosure prevention program in July, which reduced her payments to $682. Between savings, unemployment insurance and disability benefits, they were able to handle the modified amount.
In late November, Cruz was denied a permanent modification because of a "negative assessment." She still doesn't know exactly what that means.
Citi then put her into another trial modification, with $842 monthly payments. She's making it work, though she fears she'll be denied again.
A Citi spokesman says it is continuing to work with the customer to find a solution.
Cruz doesn't know what she'll do next, but she's thought about filing bankruptcy to buy time.
"If you are talking about the roof over [people's] heads, they are going to do what they can to save it," she said.
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