CitiFinancial Mortgage - Associates
Lien Remains on Title Despite Zero Balance After Bankruptcy

In 1999 I took out a second mortgage for $20,000 on my home with The Associates. The Associates was then purchased by CitiFinancial Mortgage, and I proceeded to make the payments and do business with them. In October I was forced to file chapter 11 bankruptcy due to an identity theft situation. I attempted to contact CitiFinancial to reaffirm, but could never reach a live person who knew who I needed to talk to. I would be given another phone number only to get a voice mail and generally no response.

Finally, I gave up.

This year in March I applied to refinance my home, as there are some repairs, etc., that need to be taken care of. Everything proceeded as we thought it would with the bankruptcy in my past until we got to the title. CitiFinancial Mortgage shows a zero balance on my credit reports, but still has a lien on the title to my house. We figured it would be no problem. We would contact CitiFinancial and find out what we needed to do.

I spent hours and hours trying to find a phone number or address to contact someone. Every time I would get someone on the phone who we thought could help us, they would look up my account on the computer and tell me there was no problem, my balance was zero. Finally, I was given a phone number of someone to call who worked with these accounts that had been charged off.

I tried on several occasions to work with this man to negotiate a settlement to our problem. He wanted me to pay an amount greater than the original amount borrowed! I informed him that I knew I was only responsible for the amount that was owed at the time of the bankruptcy and they could not ask for more than that.

So that brought it down to about $16,000. Unfortunately, I could not afford that amount and made him an offer of $7,000 (most of the proceeds from my refinance!). He refused the offer and was extremely rude and smug about the situation. He basically told me I would pay the full amount or they would never release the lien on the house. They would get it now or whenever I tried to sell.

Even I know they can't keep the lien on forever, and I have been advised that the lien will be off in October. So any money I was offering was more than they were getting or going to get in the future! Still, no deal. The company that was helping me with my refinance asked me if they could try to reason with them, and I gave them permission.

The finance company has sent CitiFinancial all of the paperwork they have asked for showing my proceeds and the loan terms, etc. This was faxed over four weeks ago. The woman at the finance company calls them every day trying to get an answer as to whether they will accept my offer or not, and every day she is told to leave a message. I have tried to call with the same response.

I just want them to decide. If they are not going to accept the offer, couldn't they just let us know? The people we are dealing with are going to get approximately 50% of whatever they collect since the debt has been written off. I guess they think they can get blood from a turnip. How does a person ever get the chance to try and stay even with life when companies like this can treat them in this way?

Company: CitiFinancial Mortgage - Associates
Country: USA
State: Maryland
City: Gaithersburg
Address: PO Box 9428 Dept 0251
Phone: 8007533673

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