I've been working on this file for about a year. Finally got approval after the seller agreed to a large promissory note.
The approval letter states
" Seterus, Inc. is the current servicer of the above-referenced loan (“Loan”) and utilizes National Collections & Loss Mitigation Services, LLC. to assist with short sales. We are pleased to advise you that, subject to the conditions in this letter, we can offer you a discounted payoff for the Loan in the amount of XXXXXX, plus a repayment agreement in the form of a promissory note in the total amount of $XXXXXX in the event you are able to sell the property securing this loan through an arms-length transaction. This discount expires on 1/10/2012 (“Expiration Date”). To accept this offer, you
must complete the following steps prior to the expiration date:"
And
"Upon completion of all requirements by Borrower(s), Seterus will execute a release and a discharge of the deed of trust/mortgage and, if necessary, will dismiss any pending legal action to collect this obligation. As required by law, Seterus may issue a 1099-C, Forgiveness of Debt, as a result of this Settlement Agreement."
My client doesn't feel like this is concrete enough to proceed and wants language inserted specifically releasing him/her from any deficiency liability in the future. National says that Seterus won't change the language and if they do it will take like six months.
Any experience with this? Any comments on the language already there? Am I wrong in thinking that when the letter states "discounted payoff" that means it's paid in full?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts / help.
Jae
Tags:
Jae, I've just finished a Seterus negotiation; we close on the 16th! What I learned is precisely what you are asking.
They consider their standard settlement agreement (see the sample on this site), and from which you are quoting, to be without release from deficiency. "We do not presently intend to pursue deficiency but we reserve the right to do so in the future".
I attempted to negotiate the promissory note lower by offering cash at closing instead. The cash terms the MI company offered exceeded the discounted value of the note payable so in the end we agreed to the note payable. The MI company did not budge from the initial offer for the note payable, though we sure tried.
We then approached Seterus with the offer: we accept the note payable, but there is no way we will accept a future deficiency. They agreed to amend the Settlement Agreement to delete the deficiency.
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