Margaret Carson admits that she was skeptical when she first heard from AHP Servicing about modifying her home loan. Margaret was working hard to stabilize her family after two significant losses in rapid succession. One of the biggest worries for the family was the mortgage on the home where Margaret’s niece, Margot, lived with her young son.

Since mortgage loans change hands often, it can be difficult for borrowers to contact the right person to speak with about their loan. Even when the borrower reaches the mortgage servicer, each new contact likely means working with various representatives and starting the conversation from scratch. It’s rarely an enjoyable encounter, and Margaret was understandably frustrated from previous experiences.

She was in for a pleasant surprise. At AHP Servicing, each borrower is assigned a dedicated Resolution Specialist, who is the borrower’s single point of contact and is familiar with the file and any issues or pending requests. Resolution Specialists at AHP Servicing work with borrowers to solve their problems, not shortsightedly trying to collect the maximum amount of money.

Twin Tragedies Unsettle a Family

This story began when Margaret’s mother, Lula Singleton, passed away three years ago. Lula and Margaret’s sister, Pam, owned a home together. The family didn’t realize they had to go through probate and transfer ownership of the home after Lula’s death. Since Pam was also listed on the deed and mortgage, that oversight didn’t immediately cause any problems. 

A short time later, Pam unexpectedly died. Pam’s daughter, Margot and her young son were living with Pam at the time of her death. Margot didn’t have an ownership interest in the property and wasn’t a party to the mortgage agreement. She couldn’t keep up with the mortgage payments on her own and she also couldn’t request a modification from the servicer since she wasn’t the borrower and didn’t own the property. After losing her grandmother and her mother in a short time, Margot feared that she was also about to lose her home.

“Margot was grieving her mother,” Margaret said. “And she had all these bills coming in. Then, she needed surgery and I took time off work to go to South Carolina and take care of her son.”  Margaret and one of her brothers pledged to help Margot financially, which took some stress off of her and gave her and her son time to stabilize. “I’m grateful that we were able to come together,” she said. “That kind of stress can tear a family apart, but we were able to keep Margot and her son in the forefront.”

The moral and financial support helped tremendously, but the mortgage issue still needed to be addressed. “My sister kept good files, and there was a whole chain of different finance companies. I didn’t know how to make sense of it,” Margaret said. Each time she tried to get a resolution, a new servicer would get involved and further confuse the issue.

Then, the loan was transferred to AHP Servicing. Despite the family’s best efforts, the mortgage loan was 90 days past due when AHP Servicing Resolution Specialist Brandy Davis first reached out in September of 2019. By that time, the family was understandably wary of anything a mortgage servicer had to say. 

Fortunately, their experience with AHP Servicing was completely different. “Brandy really worked with us,” Margaret said.

AHP Servicing Resolution Specialists aren’t locked into a playbook filled with scripts and form letters. Instead, AHP Servicing is committed to finding creative solutions to help struggling homeowners. In this instance, that meant going above and beyond the servicer’s traditional role to educate the family about the steps they needed to take to empower Margaret to act on her family’s behalf. 

Once Margaret had that authority, AHP Servicing offered a modification that forgave the majority of the delinquent payments, cut the interest rate nearly in half, and lowered the monthly payment on the property.  With a little help from family and AHP Servicing, Margot and her son are secure in their home once again.

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