We bought our home in 1999, we paid too much for the actual worth of the home (we found out later) but were dealing with Associates Housing and Finance. They were an OK company.
Then we were notified that our loan had been sold to 21st Mortgage. We were unaware of the harrassing tactics that would be used to collect if you were 25 days late.
They call your home, multiple times, they call your work multiple times, they call your cell phone multiple times&then because they think you are stupid—they call your cell phone from other numbers&including the collectors' cell phone.
My husband had a brain injury during a triple by-pass operation over 7 years ago. He has lost his executive function, I have explained this repeatedly to this company. They still call him at our home number and get him upset saying they will forclose on the home, etc. Keep in mind&we were not even 30 days late. This last week, after two days of harrassing phone calls, he told me he was planning to kill himself—that I would be better off. He was too "stupid" to be of any help any more. He is "just a burden to everyone"
After a trip to the doctors and an increase in his medication and LOTS of talking, we got him to get out of the thoughts of suicide. I called the company and tried to explain to them that I work 10 - 14 hrs a day&sometimes 7 days a week. I cannot call them during their business hours to let them know if a payment will be late. I use bill pay, sometimes at 0300 in the AM I put the payment on bill pay&since I've not had ANY other problems with any other payors on the bill pay system&I figure it's done.
Well, let me tell you. It is not done, nor counted as paid until they have the funds in their own pockets!!! They will hound you until the payment arrives, then they don't let you know it's arrived&they just stop calling. If you call them to explain AGAIN the problem with dealing with brain injured folks, they tell you it is not their intent to cause harm, they just need to talk to someone to make sure the payment is going to be in their office by the end of the month and that it was MY FAULT for not calling them to let them know the payment would be late. (Although when my husband told Megan at extension 2376 that he could not deal with the finances due to a brain injury, she said "well, your name is on the loan too—you mean to tell me you don't know anything about it?"&Perhaps she has a brain injury too - couldn't remember he told her he no longer had the mental capacity to deal with finances?) When you mention your intent&it is turned back around on you with "that's why we're letting you get behind" - tell me how I am behind if I am not even 30 days late. Then they say if the loan goes into default, you have to pay 3 payments in one month to get it out of default!
She also said they can call you as many times in a day as they need to in order to reach you to talk with you. They can call your cell phone from multiple numbers as often as they want, they can call your work as often as they want and they can call your home phone as often as they want. When questioned as to the legality of these mutilple calls, she said "oh, trust me it is legal, we are the #1 manufactured home lender and we didn't get there by doing things illegally". She wasn't too thrilled with my comment that just because they did it a lot didn't make it legal.
With all of the economic problems we are facing, with people loosing jobs and having trouble paying, wouldn't it be nice for those of us in manufactured homes to be able to deal with a mortgage company that is compassionate and helpful? That will look for ways to help you instead of saying "the government help for mortgages does not help people like you"?
Beware&you will not find compassion or help from these ruthless sharks!
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