In July my husband and I decided to purchase our first home. We were a young couple and excited about starting our new life together. We found a new subdivision and found a floor plan of a townhouse that we liked. We signed the contract and decided to finance through our Credit Union. I had banked with them for over three years and had worked for them at that point for two years. I was always happy with the quality of service that I had received from them so I assumed that the quality of their affiliate, Dovenmuehle, would be the same. Wow was I wrong.
Our home was built and ready to move in in July. Everything was going well at first. Sent in our payments through our online banking system with the credit union. We were on time each month with our payments.in July we decided to have another child. I had major complications from the 5th month on and had to be placed on and off of bed rest for months. Finally complications got so bad I had to be placed on permanent bed rest. We had to go through all of my Personal time at work, through our savings account, and my short term disability (when it finally kicked in) was only a little over half of my income.in March my son was born safe and healthy. When I got home from the hospital I found a letter from Dovenmuehle stating that our property taxes had been calculated too low and our mortgage payment was going to increase almost $400 extra dollars a month to make up the difference and the first payment would be due the following month (May). So we had one month to come up with an extra $400.00 a month. I tried to contact them to please call me (at that time they didn't list their number on their website only a contact email) so that we could set up some kind of arrangement. A few days later I still had not heard from them so I once again sent another email asking if they could call me. The following week I received a letter. "Thank you for contacting us, please allow us 20 business days to research and get back with you." a few days later I received a second letter (for my second email) stating the exact same thing. After not hearing anything and knowing the payment was coming up soon I sent them a third email asking if we could remove the escrow from the account and just pay our taxes ourselves at the end of the year. We received a letter a week later stating that we did not qualify to have the escrow removed because we owed more than 80% of the value (we were a few hundred dollars short of owing 80% less). So I sent them a 4th email asking if we could have a deferment for a month to make the payment. We received a letter from them stating that they would not defer a payment.By this point I am very concerned with what we would do. I still was not able to talk to anyone over the phone. I received a tax check in the mail and used it to make Mays payment. Finally when our first payment was past due in July they called me (big surprise!) asking where our payment was and why it wasn't paid. Like I had not been trying to contact them for the past two months at all. My realtor informed us that we could try a short sale or a partial claim. She had explained what a short sale was. And so I explained the situation to the representative. Told them I wanted to file for a short sale. The delinquency rep said she had to transfer me to the "short sale department" her exact words. I was transferred, explained again what I wanted and the rep said she would send me the paperwork to fill out and send back. I filled it out and also sent a letter allowing my realtor to get any information from them regarding the loan that she asked for. A week later we still hadn't heard anything. My realtor finally got a hold of someone named Bill Neil. She told him that I had sent in the paperwork and wanted to know the status. He told her that he hadn't received my paperwork and then went about telling her information on my loan status and that they didn't do short sales unless there was an offer on the house. She then ask how he knew we didn't if they hadn't gotten the paperwork and also asked him why he was giving her information if he didn't have permission to (since the letter allowing her information was with the paperwork faxed.) He said oh well I got that piece. So out of ten papers he only received one? Doubtful. So I called him back asking about the short sale and why I wasn't told I needed an offer. He said he wasn't sure but we could apply for a deed in lieu of a foreclosure, basically giving the deed to the bank so that it wouldn't hurt my credit. I said fine if that's my only option then lets do it. I resent the paperwork a second time.
A day or so later we got an offer on the house so my realtor called and told them that we want to do the short sale. Well we don't do short sales at all is what they were now telling her. And that I had applied for a deed in lieu instead. So my realtor explained that we were told we couldn't do one unless we had an offer and that's why we put in the app for the deed in lieu but now we had an offer. They shut the door though saying they just didn't offer them anymore. We had to turn that buyer away.By this point we are two months behind and it's already affecting my credit. I had to quit my job because we could not afford the $400 extra on the mortgage plus paying out an extra $600 a month in daycare. I called Dovenmuehle again and talked to Bill Neil asking him why we were now being told we could not do a short sale no matter the circumstances. He said I was given the wrong information and that we could as long as we had an offer. So we get a second offer on the house. The loan rep from Bank of America (the buyers loan officer) calls Dovenmuehle and they tell her "we don't offer short sales at all" Second time we had to turn someone away. We get a call the next day saying "we were wrong we will do a short sale bring the customer back. My realtor informs him that the person has already put an offer on another house. He tells her to tell them to cancel it then and come back to you. Not only is that illegal but she could lose her license for doing that! So we decide to go ahead with the deed in lieu since we are now 3 months behind by this point and I don't want them to mess up my credit any worse. 3 weeks goes by and we hear nothing. An appraiser came to the house and says it will be a few days before we will hear anything.
Two weeks later we receive a letter stating that the two short sales were declined because the offers were too low (not because they didn't do them but because they were too low!!!) If they were too low why were we not told this so we could have negotiated WITH the customers to get a higher offer.instead we had the doors shut in our face!
The letter also stated that we were declined for the deed in lieu of a foreclosure with no explanation as to why. So I call to speak with a representative asking her why we were not told that the sale was too low. And why the deed in lieu was denied. Her words "We didn't feel it was in our best interest." What about the customers best interest, what about a mother with a newborns best interest? A family who has paid their bills on time for years. My credit was great, 720 beacon and now I can not even find another job in my industry because they see this on my credit. I have not heard from them in over a month and can not get any return phone calls. I had even consulted a lawyer who tried calling them and had to play cat and mouse on the phone only to never get in contact with anyone. We have moved out of the house and in with my grandmother because I did not feel comfortable staying in the house not knowing what was going on with the loan. We are still in limbo and aren't even being kept in the loop about a foreclosure. I can't pay a lawyer only to not have anything get fixed because they can not get in contact with anyone. What else can I do!? How can they do this and ruin my life for the next 10 years!
Jens_spa
Summerville, South Carolina
U.S.A.
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