Outstanding mortgage balance that much higher than original!?

Question

I know it is not possible to get the mortgage balance without permission/info from the borrower.

I also know you can get a rough estimate by pulling the mortgage doc from public records, lookup the prevailing interest rate at the time, and plug it into an amortization calculator. But..

I've been seeing judicial foreclosures with balances that are almost 50% higher than the original loan amount. I know there are some legal costs in there but does that explain most of it? Can being delinquent on your mortgage really rack up that much in fees!?

In another context if I am buying subject to the existing mortgage it is pretty damn important to know what the loan balance is. If I can be off by that much then it is a very risky proposition indeed.

Robert Steele · Answer

Yeah it's not a loan mod or there would be a public record of it.

I've heard someone say that when you stop paying your mortgage and get foreclosed on that it can had $30K-$40K to the loan balance. Fortunately it's never happened to me or anyone I know.

To give you perspective what I saw was a $240K loan go up to $320K by the time of auction.

Daria B. · Answer

if there was a loan mod those papers should also be filed with public records. Yes?

Patti Robertson · Answer

Just guessing but could it be that these homeower's lenders modified their loans, throwing past due balances and legal fees on the back end and charging fees for the processing of that modification?