Submitted by Reader:
5/22/2008
To whom it may concern:
The letter sent below was responded too by ACCOUNT MANAGER IN THE WORK OUT DEPARTMENT NAMED SARAH, WHO ADVISED ME THAT THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE UNTIL I AM DELINQUENT ON OUR PAYMENTS. THE GUIDE LINES THEY ARE GIVEN BY THERE LENDERS ONLY COVER PEOPLE WHO OUR DELINQUENT.
I GUESS THIS MEANS THAT WE HAVE TO BE READY TO LOSE OUR HOME BEFORE WE CAN GET ANY HELP.
THIS MEANS I SHOULD STOP BEING A GOOD CUSTOMER AND STOP MAKING PAYMENTS AND THEY MIGHT HELP ME OR PAY $8000 TO $10000 IN COST FOR A NEW LOAN THAT REALLY WON’T HEIP.
I AM THEREFORE NOW SUBMITTING THIS LETTER TO ANYBODY AND EVERYBODY ON THE FOLLOING LIST FOR HELP.
She also treated me in a disgusting manner and would not give me the phone number of the Advocacy Department or her supervisor.
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i understand your frustration trust meeeee..
I did not expect to become unemployed last year. I had 6 months of reserves and was unemployed for a little over 8.
It was a hard struggle, I contacted CountryWide to explain my hardship & I was told flat out several times that I had to stop paying my mortgage in order to receive any help. WHAT ?????
Does this sound crazy to anyone else? I was faxing them over the proof of unemployment. I had a Great Credit History & I was calling CountryWide in Good Faith to receive help before falling behind & before foreclosure. I thought that is what good customers do. You want to pay but want to come to an agreement or understanding because of unforseen circumstances that came up. I now am employed, but making less than before, but I am grateful to have a job.
In other words when the home was bough we could afford it with no problem. & NO I have NOt refied to cash out, & NO i do not drive fancy cars etc. I live a modest life.
Yet I am unable to get CountryWide to help my family & our situation.
Here is the thing, when you buy a car you get insurance , not with the hopes of getting into a crash or accident, but a just in case. when you buy a home, you don’t buy it with the intention of not paying it, Atleast for me I bought it with the intention of raising my family there and grow old with my husband there.
So if an accident/crash/hardship happens, what or who protects the homeowner? I can not refi, because the homes have gone down in value below my purchase price of the year 2005. This is unforseen as well. I don’t think anyone expected it to get this bad, but it did. So now what????
Lets find solutions !….
How about the banks taking the initiative of contacting its customers and offering the help before they drown? How about the banks deciding wether to lower the rates and fix them for the customers or do they want to add additonal homes to their already 1000’s they have still in foreclosure.
WAKE UP !!!!! this receission may be worse than our grandparents in the 20’s, if we don’t stop it now.
The realestate market may keep getting worse if we don’t stop the bleeding, small bandaids do not cure a large gashing wound.
Our income has not increased, yet the interest rates have, gas prices, milk prices, food, etc…. we are a hardworking family, & are reaching out for help, instead of contributing to the problem. yet CountryWide prefers you to be part of the problem with late payments or no payments at all, clogging the credi bureaus, and forclosures etc.
This is just not right.
I feel your pain. The most crushing thing to me has been the judgement. Every single situation has a story behind it and they are NOT all bad.
Who is the “real” enemy here? Those who were spoon fed the American Dream and wanted a *home*? Who had poor education and were guilty of trusting their lender/broker? Who lose the roof over their head and everything else, which is terrifying!! Will I go to jail because of my bills? Will I lose my kids because I am homeless?
Yeap, I am sure that those people, my people, are evil selfish and stupid.
Please people. Hold a bit of compassion for your fellow humans!!! I know that everyone is suffering economically (EXCEPT CEO’S AND THE BIG BANKS!).
I am not saying to “hate” banks. I am asking that we try understand that we do not have to hate people. Some were malicious, some always are. They tend to get the most attention and offer a scapegoat that takes our focus away from real problem solving and learning from mistakes, our own or others.
I will tell you my story in brief. Had to relocate for husbands first position at a University, thought we were going to stay forever…bought a condo in South Florida, THE CHEAPEST three bedroom in the county and renovated it myself while caring for my infant son.
Due to a family emergency, we had to leave after a year. Listed the place at a loss to move quick and in our new area we lived in a one room basement that a kind family offered us. This was not a solution though but we hoped it would buy time.
Found a house with 50% equity and was told in writing by our lender rep. that we were preapproved for a $170k equity line which we planned on using to short sell the South Fl. condo at a loss to ourselves.
Our Credit Scores are 830/850. Owned 8 primary homes in my 35 years (started young), NEVER late. I have never had a credit card. I have worked my butt off as a single mom for many years putting myself through college and my child in private school. I never took out a student loan. I even lent my parents money to help them buy a home. I am not from a wealthy family, my single mother never graduated from college. I did it on my own…
Then….I moved to Florida. It has ruined me. I have always put 20% down and had 30 year fixed rate lending, they tried to get me into some funky loan but I do not believe in credit and try to own as much of my homes that I can.
Well, that lender who told us we were going to be fine and were approved for $170k? Came back and told us that he was sorry (and I believe he was, he is a nice guy) but that he had failed to consider our debt to income ratio.
We have nothing left. Nothing. Rather than work something out with us, we too were told we were not behind so nothing could be done. Rather than….ooooohhhhh giving us a bridge loan for all of 5 min. then reworking it so that the dear bank can sell it to that grouchy Fannie Mae (Who I would like to kick in the Fannie), we were told…get this…
That they are going to foreclose on our condo, and then file a deficency judgement against our new home because of the equity it has in it (Which it has because we were trying to do the right thing!!!! And we were going to give them the equity!) After the deficency judgement is filed, they will move to foreclose on this home and IF there is anything left, we will get it.
I do not want to be kind to these banks. I have to set healthy boundaries and this is out of control. We did not buy beyond our means, we were pulled under by corrupt lending and caught in the crossfire of those who were either hunters (ie: get rich quick investors) or prey (Not taught how to read the kind of language that is printed on those 863 pages you sign when you buy a house.
Everyone is a little bit wrong and everyone is a little bit right. Lets stop being mad/judgemental/hateful to one another and start trying to fix this mess. I have lots of ideas but they fall on deaf ears of people screaming so loud they can’t hear…there are solutions, not easy ones but ones that will heal our nation and ourselves.
Thank you, if you made it this far, for hearing me. I am the face of those people that are judges so harsh.
One other thing. I could have used a credit card, my husband has one in a block of ice for emergency, it has a 13k limit, to renovate the crackhouse I bought that was in awful shape.
I did it all myself, plumbing, heartpine wood floor, cabinets, electric, paint…all of it. It was one of the hardest things I ever did (Hubby had to travel a lot so I did most alone). I was isolated, cared for two kids, got no sleep…and somehow loved it also. My 3 bedroom, 1000 sq ft. mansion. I feel rich. I am rich. I have a home.
That feeling, is why people made poor choices and wanted to believe so badly…did not stop to think clear. For those who have always taken it for granit that they will have a house, or have had one given to them, or who can choose on anything other than cost…this may be hard to understand.
Not that there is anything wrong with things being easy!!! I wish they were
We are not all selfish
Morning Moe,
I read this yesterday. This happened in my area. Just one of many cases.
I just finished an evaluation and we filed a complaint with the DA in on another case. This was a realtor who took a person for $120k on the purchase of her home. Barbara Hernandez will be writing about this one as soon as the charges are filed.
Amazing the fraud in this area. And it is on-going.
While I “feel sorry” for this poor guy, if he hadn’t been out to “beat” the system, he never would have lost his home. That is what got the industry in trouble in the first place, and it will continue as long as the sleeze balls are allowed to be in the industry, buyer/seller/broker/loan agent etc. It used to gall me that people with bad credit were rewarded with the subprime loans, or not having to payoff collections etc. Ethics and morals are certainly out the window.
No we are not all selfish. We also want to be able to keep our children and ourselves safe. Sometimes I tell myself those people who judge us who got into trouble has forgotton that they may have been luckier in their lives. We wanted a home for our family..due to the subprime era, housing boom and lack of rentals available (with escalated rental prices as well) we made the only choice available at the time… Maybe we lacked mortgage knowledge, signed documents without understanding them, etc.. and these are not excuses.. in our family case it is fact. Since then I have learned many more things and saved my home.
The consequence for us is our credit rating but you know what… we have a house and the kids are safe.Hollar and judge if you like .. that’s why there are differences in people.. Although there is no crystal ball for any of us in this economy.. I hope those of you out there who assume the worst of people and “blame” us for all the country’s woes, please I hope the best for all of you… because as the post above me says.. We are rich
I too can feel what you are. Citimortgage told me the same thing. I needed to basically be in foreclosure before they can discuss doing a workout. I have been faxing information every week since March. They have conveniently lost my paperwork every time, and have had to open and close the case because of the screwed up politics. I was informed by someone in the loss mitigation dept. the other day that they are working on 700 workouts an hour! On June 5, they will start foreclosure proceedings… maybe I will finally get that call from them that I have been waiting for. Or… maybe I will go rent the house down the hill from me that is 2000 sq. ft larger, newer and has a swimming pool…for half of the money I am paying for my mortgage…Hmmmmm…….
Ah, yes, Countrywide. My stepdaughter’s husband is out on disability, and with her health she seems to be heading for the same, all while next month they’re facing a huge readjustment on their variable rate mortgage they were talked into. Their loan balance is about twice the current value of the house, they’ve applied to Countrywide for some sort of workout since they’ve been OK’d for one of those relief FHA loans, but Countrywide told them they’re not eligible since they’re NOT BEHIND on their loan. Meanwile other people are being told by Countrywide they’re not eligible because they’re NOT CURRENT on their loans. Now when she asks to speak with her Countrywide negotiator she is refused access and when she said she was just trying to protect her credit in the face of adversity Countrywide responded that they do not care what happens to her credit. Mozillo’s got his, too bad for his customers. Sigh.
I too applied to Countrywide’s workout dept, I started the process in February 2008, after my husband lost his job in October of 2007.
I knew that keeping up on payments was going to be hard, at the time we had very little left in savings, I wanted to start the process as early as possible,as I knew that it would take time, well here we are it is June 4th 2008, no relief, no help. I have managed to make payments the day before they go 30 days to try to keep my credit intact, but todays the day if I do not make the payment today it will have gone the 30 days, and I can’t make it, now this also means I am due for Junes payment as of tomorrow.
Here’s the kicker, I called Countrywide 2 days ago to check and see if they had made any progress with getting help for us, (I have been assigned a negotiator, although Ihave yet to speak with her in the last 2 months since she has been assigned) at any rate I was told I’m not up there on the priority list because I was yet to miss a payment, I was told that when I miss May’s payment and at that time I will then be due for Junes payment, that a human would actually call me, because then I am in default. One would think that they would try to help early on, or perhaps they just want to own another foreclosed property in Florida.
Wow, this is terrible. They are suppose to be held to the upmost code of ethnic. My husband is a realtor, no we did not buy a 750 (whatever type car that was), no we do not live in a million dollar home, no I don’t get my nails or hair done ,no I don’t buy name brand and NO, my husband does not LIE, CHEAT or STEAL. That’s why we are still BLESS even through the hard times. Those that do will have their turn, and it’s dbl folds. I’m a true believer of Karma. I’m sorry to say this, the people that were con usually completely trust the other person because they are of the same ethnicity. My husband caught a loan officer trying to scam a lady out of $40k. She showed him her loan docs and the numbers didn’t match, even though she had already signed the loan docs because my husband caught it, she was able to cancel on time. And NO he didn’t make anything from it. It was all in the goodness of his heart.
I’m sorry to hear about all these poor people being con. When times are hard and people begin to feel squeezed people go into survival mode. Unfortunatley, they choose the easier route to hurt people. Gosh, go get a job…beware people are now stealing gas from parking lots now….All my husbands real estate friends also have regular jobs also…..
I guess the banks want to keep adding to their foreclosure pile.
WHY DON’T THE BANKS JUST HELP EVERYONE THEY CAN IMMEDIATELY AND MAYBE THINGS CAN GO BACK TO NORMAL.
YEAH, just tell all the investors we are giving everyone a loan mod across the board a fixed rate of 5% for the remainder of their loan.
think of that A WIN – WIN for all sides.
people can keep their homes and investors can keep getting paid. imagine that a simple solution
We were defrauded by CitiMortgage who is really Capitol Fairbanks; these bastards foreclosed our home and we were never, ever late! The scummy bastards, their employees and lawyers are stealing innocent peoples homes devoid of any delinquency! If you refinanced your home, send a letter of rescission and then when the bastards do not cancel the loan in 20 days as they have to under law, and they attempt to foreclose on your home, defend the foreclosure and go to the courts and bring the certified return receipt and letter of rescission and assert sham collection, fraud, file complaints against the scummy bastard Citi Lawyers and get your loan set aside! Stay away from those corrupt BK courts as a lot of these courts are running a scam on the American public with the Judges often being appointed by this scummy banks representing law firm or, your banks law firm and, the judge in the bk along with our US DOJ trustee is there to assist these bastards, we know, it happened to us! We were never late on our mortgage and were paid in advance at all times and this scummy bank, CitiMortgage, their sum sucking employees and scummier lawyers, have committed bank fraud and treason upon the courts when they filed fraudulent foreclosure actions against us devoid of any delinquency! We are suing the bastards and hope to own CitiMortgage one day for what they have done to us and many other Americans and, DO YOU REALLY THINK THESE BASTARDS ARE GOING TO HELP YOU ON YOUR MORTGAGE FOR 3 MONTHS? THEY ARE NOT AND IF YOU ARE A REFINANCE TRANSACTION, YOU HAVE RIGHTS UNDER TRUTH IN LENDING ACT AND RIGHT OF RESCISSION, SO EXERCISE IT AND DO NOT DO A LOAN MODIFICATION WITH THESE SCUMMY BASTARDS AS THEY FORCE YOU TO WAIVE YOUR LEGAL CONSUMER RIGHTS AND, THEY CHARGE ILLEGAL COLLECTION AND LAWYER FEES TO WHICH THE TILA AND REG. Z SPECIFICALLY SAY THEY MAY NOT CHARGE! WE HATE THESE BASTARDS AND WILL WORK EVERYDAY UNTIL THEY FALL TO THE GROUND AND ALL THEIR EMPLOYEES ARE LAID OFF AND THEIR SCUMMY LAWYERS ARE DISBARRED! TO HELL WITH CITIMORTGAGE AND SHAME ON OUR GOVERNMENT FOR GIVING THEM OUR TAX DOLLARS TO CONTINUE THIS SCAM AGAINST HONEST AMERICANS!