My home was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike and is uninhabitable. I have no complaints or problems, whatsoever with the insurance company - Farmers Insurance. My agent was wonderful to me and responded quickly and was very concerned about my well being and my health. My adjuster was very nice and concerned about me, as well. They sent the adjustment check in a very timely manner and I endorsed and sent to my mortgage company as required by Nationstar Mortgage. I hired a contractor and he required 50% of the funds up front before he would begin the work. The total of the first draw ($19,000 - half the adjustment) was sent by the mortgage company and the contractor insisted that I endorse the check over to him, which I did. It was almost one month before work ever started on my home. I got a new roof and rafter repairs. On the inside I had a small 1/2 wall removed, the kitchen was gutted, a small hall closet taken out to make room for a new bathroom vanity installation, flooring was laid in the area in front of the vanity, flooring layed in the kitchen and entry way (I provided all the materials for the floors), scraping of ceiling and re-texuring and painting of bedroom and closet doors in bedroom and insulation and sheetrock and paint installed in the kitchen and dining area (the room was also gutted by the contractor, of which he left all debris in my garage and back yard). The contractor's carpenter needed materials and I purchased them for him to continue the work, since the contractor would not return either his or my calls. Contractor finally called me back and told me he would leave me a check for reimbursement. The check he gave me was insufficient, which made me overdrawn in my bank and to exacerbate that problem, my bank charged me over $250 for insufficient funds. Things went downhill from there with my contractor, whom I suspect was having "personal issues", and ultimately I had to fire him. The mortgage company sent someone out to my house to inspect the job and signed off at 45 percent completion. I hired a second contractor who jumped through all the hoops required by the mortgage company to release more funds so that the work could continue. The mortgage company kept coming back asking for additional documentation and finally the second contractor decided not to accept the job due to "my mortgage company being too hard to deal with". Finally, after many tears and sleepless nights, I found another contractor who was willing to help me. He agreed to repair my house with the remaining funds and has done everything the mortgage company has asked him to do and as of today, the mortgage company is refusing to release any more funds until the job is 100% complete. This is simply ludicrous. How can any company expect the job to be done with no money for supplies and materials, etc? It is like going to the grocery store and getting the groceries, but not paying for them until you have cooked and eaten them! Maybe a bad analogy, but nonetheless apt. This situation has caused me so much heartache, strife anxiety and thoughts of suicide. I am crying as I sit here and write this to you. I am living elsewhere and paying more expenses than I would have to if I was in my own home. Can you please tell me if I have any legal recourse or is this just the status quo for these greedy vulture mortgage companies who feed off of victims such as myself? I am hoping you might be able to offer some guidance to me. I am at a point of desperation right now. Any advice you can offer me is greatly appreciated. I simply don't know where to go from here. Sincerely, Victim twice
0 comments