The next enron
I fully believe this is the next Enron. If President Bush wants some good pr about fighting corporate fraud, let him issue an executive order stopping all foreclosures in anyway connected to Ocwen Federal, even if they sell the loan to try to scapegoat themselves. Or Attorney General John Ashcroft can take action, or the SEC. Give people a chance to save their homes, supervised by someone who will not continue to purposely try to strip them of their homes for a profit.
I have sent the letter at the end in the last day to: President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Rep. Deborah Pryce, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, US PIRG, Ohio PIRG, Ralph Nader, AARP, FDIC, Office of Thrift Supervision, President Jimmy Carter, Channels 4,6 and 10 in Columbus, Ohio, WOSU TV, National Public Radio, C-Span, Phil Donahue, Hardball, and more that I can't think of at the moment.
Who I am thinking of sending the letter to:
The Pope (I may be just kidding about this one), The Ohio Attorney General, The New York Attorney General, Attorney General John Ashcroft, President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, 435 Congressional Represenatatives, 100 Senators, Legislators in all 50 states, The SEC, Better Business Bureau, selected Mayors and City Councils and Chambers of Commerce, any banking and thrift organizations I can find, The Nation Magazine, The New Republic Magazine, Mother Jones, Buzzflash.com, Harpers Magazine, CBS, NBC, ABC, Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, 60 Minutes, Andy Rooney, Crossfire, President Ford, President Regan, Consumer Credit Counseling Services, Bob Woodward, Michael Moore, other authors (great book material here), and many more.
I've spend $27,000 trying to save my home in the last 15 months, and my arrearage only went down $2,000. I need help, and by god (literally) I'm asking for it.
They just offered me the 3 payment option, but from reading the reports here, it seems as if that could only be the continuation of my nightmare. I've just found out that this is also going on in Britain.
This shouldn't be happening to people, and SOMEBODY has to stop them.
Letter:
December 13
To:...
I am writing to try desperately to save my home. I have been the victim of predatory lending through Crew Mortgage/Scott McCann of Columbus, Ohio (currently license is revoked) and Ocwen Federal Bank. I have today written to President Bush and Vice President Cheney, and have also written to Mayor Mike Coleman of Columbus, Ohio, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones who does a great deal of work on predatory lenders. I talked this afternoon to Irving Schottenstein of MI Homes who built my home 18 years ago, and he was so nice and said he would try to find an investor who could help me. I will continue to ask for help in getting someone to convince Ocwen Federal Bank to work with me so that I can stay in the home I love, or find an investor who can help me.
I have had my home for for 18 years and I dearly love it. It backs to woods with all kinds of wildlife, and my whole life is in this house. I have been trying for 3 years to save it, even paying $27,000 through a Chapter 13, but it is scheduled to go to sherrif's sale on January 24.
Ocwen Federal has the reputation of trying to get people's homes when they have financial difficulties and selling them for a profit. I have done research on the web and there are hundreds of complaints about how they refuse to allow people to make up payments, and there is currently a class action lawsuit against them in Connecticut. There is an article in a financial magazine that comments I can't believe they treat people this way. I am working with an attorney who has worked with Ocwen before and is familiar with how difficult they are to work with. A letter from you to Ocwen would help tremendously. Ocwen has a 40% foreclosure rate.
I refinanced 5 years ago through a broker, Scott McCann of Crew Mortgage, who has since lost his license for predatory lending practices. If you look on the www.dispatch.com web site for Crew Mortgage or Scott McCann, you will find 5 articles about this company. The refinancing was done in November of 1997. At that time, I had perfect credit and had no need for or way of knowing that I was being given a sub-prime mortgage. I was told my closing costs would be $1800, and they ended up being $5600. I was told that my interest rate would start at 6 5/8, and would not go higher than 8 5/8. It started at 7 5/8 and went to 11 in the first two years. I had to go through with the mortgage because I was scheduled to change jobs within days. Of course, Mr. McCann knew this.
Because my payments increased so rapidly, I fell behind on my mortgage in December of 1999. I called Ocwen Federal, the institution to which my mortgage had been sold and tried to arrange to work the arrearage out. I don't have the name of the person I talked to at that time, but I was told I had to send everything owed at once or nothing. Since I did not have enough to send the total owed, I saw no other way but to earn all of the arrearage and then to try to work things out with Ocwen.By July of I had earned enough to pay what I thought was the whole arrearage of around $10,000.
The person I talked with at Ocwen was Michael Roberts. I talked with him four times and received a different answer every time. No matter what I told him I could do, it seemed as if he purposefully made it so that I was just unable to meet his requirements. The amount owed at one point went up $3,000 in 5 days. It seemed as if he wanted my home.
I gave up trying to work things out with them and hired a lawyer to file a Chapter 13. I have been paying $1752 per month since October. I was able to make those payments for 15 months, then after missing several payments, the trustee filed to dismiss the Chapter 13 on July 26. I paid $27,000 to the Chapter 13 Trustee, and my mortgage delinquency only went down $2,000.
Suing the mortgage broker or Ocwen at this point will not save my home. I am desperately trying to find someone who can help me save my home. If I was able to pay $1,752 per month for 15 months, surely I can pay $1,000 per month on a regular mortgage, which is what I should have had.
Please help me. Losing this home will be devastating to me. You can reach me at (phone number)
Sincerely,
Sandy
Dublin, Ohio
U.S.A.
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