Who are You?
Your Home Advocate is company based in Provo created to act
as an Independent Intermediary Organization to assist homeowners/taxpayers
in default.
What do You Do?
We help homeowners who are behind in payments to solve their
problem on their own, with our help, or with the help of other
companies. Our two goals are to educate and to assist you
in taking action to get things fixed.
How long have you been in business?
Five years, under the Your Home Advocate name and our previous
name.
What qualifications do you have?
Five years of talking with homeowners and their mortgage companies,
full-time, keeping abreast of what’s new in the mortgage and
real estate industries, and gaining experience by helping
people through trial and error.
Why should I call you?
Because we’ll be honest with you, go through your options,
and let you know if you’re better off taking care of things
on your own without our help. We’ll treat you with respect,
and not try to steer you in one direction or another, like
a loan officer, bankruptcy attorney, or We Buy Houses guy
might be tempted to do.
What Will Happen if I contact you?
Call our toll-free number on the
Contact
Us page. You’ll speak with an assistant, who will forward
the message to one of our associates. He or she will return
your call within one business day. Once you have made contact
with them, you may call them directly at the office anytime.
What services do you offer?
Free advice online and on the phone, our
Free
Report on your options if you're behind in payments, recommending
services like credit repair, lending institutions, handymen,
real estate agents, investors, and ongoing education and support
through our
newsletter.
What are the benefits of working with you?
You may learn that you have options you were not aware of.
You have the flexibility to solve things on your own or to
involve a professional. You will be treated fairly and with
respect. You’ll get fast answers and no B.S. You will not
get ridiculous lowball offers. You save and improve your credit.
You keep from losing your home. You can put a stop to your
lender’s harassing phone calls. You get time to breathe and
peace of mind again.
How can I get someone on the phone quickly?
Call our toll-free number on the
Contact
Us page. You’ll speak with an assistant, who will take
a few notes. A representative will return your call within
one business day. Once you have made contact with him or her,
you may call them directly at the office anytime.
Is this a scam?
No. Our representatives have received many letters from satisfied
clients over the years.We disclose everything to you up front
before you commit to anything. If you won’t do business with
us after knowing all the facts then we don’t want to do business
with you, and won’t try. All of our services and procedures
have been thoroughly examined by a Utah attorney to make sure
we are in full compliance with the law. There are scams to
watch out for, which we cover in our free
newsletter.
Are you licensed?
We are not attorneys and do not offer legal advice, but we
recommend seeking legal counsel when entering into any real
estate transaction. We are not licensed credit counselors,
loan officers, or Realtors, and do not have to be in order
to give free non-legal advice.
How did you know I was behind in payments?
Either the public records showed that you were behind in payments,
or we sent out an ad to the public at large, and you happened
to see it.
What can I do if I’m behind in payments?
Read our
Free Report to go through
each of them in detail.
Why is my mortgage company treating me like this?
They are trying to collect money that’s owed to them, and
if you have ever had to do that yourself then you realize
how important it is to get your money back. Every business
needs to collect its income or it will suffer. The problem
is the way these companies are organized. Tell me if this
sounds familiar:
A monotoned call center employee is calling you to tell you
what you already know—that you’re behind. When you ask if
they can work with you, he can’t give any definite answers—just
that he’ll ask his boss, who is unable to receive incoming
calls. No one calls you back. You keep calling them and waiting
on hold forever, unable to reach the decision maker. You have
to enter your loan number on the keypad, only to give it again
1 minute later when you get a live person on the line. No
one seems to know anything. Meanwhile, you’re still getting
calls from the monotoned employees who are rude and snippy
with you on the phone and treat you like a deadbeat.
Finally somebody in a different department (who also cannot
give their direct number) tells you that they will let you
pay what is behind over the course of the next year. He emails
you paperwork to fill out. You fax it back. A week goes by
and you don’t hear from them. You call back and no one has
heard of the person you spoke with and you forgot to get his
name. You are forwarded to someone in charge who now tells
you that they are unwilling to accept partial payments. You
have to pay everything that is behind, plus this month’s mortgage
payment, in the next 15 days. You don’t have the money to
do that and will try to get a cash advance at work or borrow
from your brother-in-law. You get most of the money, call
them back, and now that person you spoke with never answers
their phone, yet their voicemail says not to leave more than
one message…
This is the kind of disorganization that drives us up the
wall. Dealing with lenders is our least favorite part of the
job. I don’t know why the system is as gross as it is. Our
guess is that they are big, inefficient organizations who
have to set things up in the way that is easiest for them
because of the sheer number of calls and people they have
to contact.
How is being late affecting my credit?
Technically, your payments are supposed to be paid before
the due date. But, to make it easier for you and to allow
for checks in the mail, there is a grace period of 15 days,
usually. If your payment is received within that period, all
is well. If it is received after the 15th, you now owe them
a late fee.
But it does not affect your credit report unless your payment
is made on or after the 30th of the month. Now, it is 30 days
late, and you mortgage company will report this to the credit
bureaus. It usually takes them 30 days to report it. If you
miss another month or two, they will report you as having
been 60 or 90 days late, and so on. Every month that goes
by makes you look worse. If the lender will accept payments
from you, always pay what you can, even if it’s not the whole
amount that’s behind.
This is why. If you make no payment in June, and none in July,
you’re now 60 days late on the June payment and 30 days late
on the July payment. If you make a payment in August, the
mortgage company will call that the June payment, made late.
This keeps you from being 90 days late on your June payment.
It looks better to have several 30 or 60-day lates than to
have 90, 120, or 180’s.
Will I be able to refinance if I’m behind in payments?
Yes, if you pick a lender that can do it. Many mortgage companies
say that they can do loans for people with bad credit, but
they define bad credit as less than a 600 score. This is a
joke. Find a lender who can write loans for people with scores
in the 400’s and 500’s. These will likely be more expensive
loans because they’re taking more of a risk on you, or at
least they believe they are. If your score is really low,
you’ll have to have a good amount of equity in your house.
What do you charge for your services?
Your Home Advocate will not charge you for anything that we
do. We provide a much-needed public service in order to help
Utah residents and their communities. However, if we refer
you to a professional such as an attorney, real estate agent,
or lending institution, they will need to be compensated for
their services.
Have a question for us? Use the form below, and we'll post
the answer right here on this page.
