Mortgage Forum

Joel Fraser

We bought our house in 2006 because my father was very ill and I became his caregiver. We needed more room in order to accommodate him and his disabilities.There was a problem with my credit just before the loan went into escrow, so my sister ended up getting the loan in her name. Our broker (a family friend) assured us we'd have no problems refinancing, we just needed to wait until the prepayment penalty period was over (2 years). Never happened primarily because the house won't appraise for what we owe. Long story (and a different thread!) regarding what this "family friend" did with this loan! Long story short, my husband was laid off two months ago. I knew it was coming so I've been in contact with the lender, but basically up until last month, the answer was "We don't have any programs to help you out until you're really late with payments, usually 90 days." We haven't been late yet, it's been a struggle to keep up with payments, but we've managed.Anyway, last month, after calling them again, I was told they will work with us even if we're not late. Change of tune :-) They can do a forbearance to start with and go from there. I've received the documentation they sent to start the process.My issue now is that although we've been making payments and I've been in contact with the lender, the loan isn't actually in our names. My sister lives with her boyfriend in their house (in his name) and they're just about to refinance it. How can I get around this? We can sell short (5 foreclosures in our neighborhood, 3 in our block), I don't know if the bank will go for it. We can walk away, my sister takes a hit on her excellent credit, but we would really prefer to stay here. Do we have any options?