Last year, around Oct. after never having been late on our mortgage payment, we suddenly received a notice of intent to foreclose on our home. After getting the runaround and World Savings insisting that we were behind by three payments when we knew we hadn't missed any, someone finally discovered (after we had produced solid proof that payment had been made, checks cashed etc.) that, though payments were made, the money had supposedly not been applied to our mortgage due to an alleged $300 short in our escrow account, but instead had been deposited into a 'holding account', (in explicit violation of the contract which states that funds forwarded would be applied to the balance due, not placed in a holding account and forgotten) though World had previously insisted that they had 'no record of any payment' having been made (they had a history of losing payments, six of ours, some we were able to show receipts for, others, mostly cash payments, were just gone and we had to pay them again.
They were recently sued in a class action suit for exactly this, we didn't hear about it until it was too late to join). This alleged 'short' did not show up on our statement, was not disclosed or reflected when we paid by phone and we were not informed of this alleged short' prior to receiving the foreclosure notice months later. We attempted to make our payment online as we usually do, but were unable to access our account so we decided to go to the World Savings office, money in hand, to make payment, but World Savings was now Wachovia who had bought out World Savings. Wachovia staff refused payment, saying that the World Savings accounts had not been transferred in the buyout and that we would have to make payment to World. We called World but reached a message stating World Savings is now Wachovia.
In the meantime, we received statements from both World AND Wachovia, though Wachovia still refused payment, and World demanding not only the payments we had already made, which they were still sitting on, but additional collection, foreclosure and legal fees; and yet, we still couldn't contact them. We continued to attempt to correct the issue via mail correspondence since World could not be reached via phone or internet. We also sent duplicates of correspondence to Wachovia. World did not reply to our inquiries, we were unable to contact anyone at World via phone, email or mail. Wachovia still refused payment and were unable to locate our account information, despite the fact that they were sending demands for payment. After many months of emails, letters and phone calls to Wachovia, though they have replied to our inquiries with vague form letters, saying that it would take them at least thirty days to 'review this matter' they never gave us any answers.in the meantime, we had not received a mortgage statement or bill for several months. Then finally they sent us a demand for $15,000 (which included the payments we had already made, plus late fees, etc.).
Again we attempted to contact Wachovia, who couldn't or wouldn't tell us anything over the phone and, in response to yet another mail inquiry sent us yet another letter asking for our patience while they researched the matter. About every other week it seemed the demand would increase by about $3000, growing further out of our reach as our business suffered while we worked trying to save our home. We continued attempting to communicate with Wachovia via mail correspondence. They sent yet another letter thanking us for our inquiry and asking for our patience while they researched the matter, stating that it could take up to thirty days. Then, just days after receiving this letter, someone taped a 'notice of trustee sale' from Golden West Savings to our front door, stating that our home was going up for auction in eleven days. Though Wachovia claims that they made 'numerous attempts' to contact us, neither my husband nor I have ever received a singe phone call from anyone identifying themselves as Wachovia reps.
As a result of World and Wachovia's errors, we were forced to pack all of our belongings and put them in storage, donate most of our food and a large fraction of our belongings, send our four children to live with two different sets of grandparents where the two youngest were enrolled in the Fremont school system but the two older children were not enrolled, as there were no openings available. Our children have since fallen behind and three have lost their places in their respective schools so have to be transferred to another. We contacted a lawyer who wanted $5,000 up front plus $1,000/mo while they negotiated with whomever it is we need to negotiate with, but Wachovia has refused to reason with anyone at all and we have not had the funds available at this time as our focus has been on trying to save our home instead of promoting our business. We have contacted so many agencies I can't even count them. Project Sentinel was one who tried and failed. There were at least four or five others who tried and failed (though one did succeed at getting the auction delayed two weeks); most turned us away because Wachovia gave us such short notice. Our home went to auction on Monday, Aug 18th.
On Tuesday, Aug 19th a Wachovia representative came to our door and informed us that we had until the end of the month to vacate. We have copies of all correspondence and clear documentation of the numerous banks' errors, inconsistencies, contract violations and contradictions that led to our losing our home (e.G.'make payment' one week and 'we can't accept payment' the next, as well as allegations from Wachovia that the short' stemmed from a payment dated Sept 29-07, though they apparently began placing payments into the unapplied' account in Aug, on top of the fact that the short' payment in question was an automated phone payment which would attribute any short' due to bank error. We have hard-copy, dated documentation of all allegations. We are currently fighting unlawful detainer suit, but because we've been focusing all of our time and resources fighting Wachovia, our business has suffered so we dont have money to retain an attorney. Class-Action suit, anyone?
Kaila
tracy, California
U.S.A.
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