A violent storm did serious damage to our home on June 10. State Farm settled the claim for $38,000 in total. Because the payment was made out to us jointly with our lender, we endorsed it and sent it straight to CitiMortgage as directed. As soon as we received the check I rang CitiMortgage to learn the next step. A recorded voice told me to go to www.mylossdraft.com and finish the paperwork there. The site was one page, unclear and short on detail, yet I printed the forms, filled them out, and rang again hoping for clarification.
Once a live person answered, all I got was the website address repeated. On two occasions I explained that I was capable enough to have reached that point and simply wanted someone to guide me personally. They offered nothing of the kind.
I sent the forms by fax and received no confirmation at all. Later that day I checked in and heard that faxes need 48 hours to show up. That is when the runaround started to look deliberate.
I raised the process once more, hoping a different agent would be more helpful. This woman shared more than the site had, likely by mistake. Since I was paying several contractors, she said I ought to submit the self-contracting form and skip the lien waiver. The statement on that form says the owner will carry out the repairs personally and will furnish paid receipts for materials and any subcontractors. My thinking was this. One, with multiple contractors I had no option but this form. Two, I promised to send receipts after CitiMortgage released the funds, since $38K was beyond what I could front. Three, agreeing was the only route to any of the money. The agent told me all of this was understood and acceptable.
One week on, the inspector they require came to the house and verified the work. They conceded that 95% of it was done. I accept this step, as they must make sure the house still backs the loan. After that, per their website, the rest of the money was supposed to be released. It was not.
I made over six more calls. Each time they demanded receipts proving I had already paid the contractors. That is absurd, because paying the contractors is exactly what the money is for. I even put it to one agent on the line, a robotic employee with no authority and a new one on each call, that if he had $38,000 spare he could pay the contractors himself, forward me the receipts, and I would repay him. Predictably, he did not get it. Their staff seem to be coached to stonewall so the company can hold the money for as long as possible.
Eventually I rang the mortgage customer service line and, on the third try, got a manager. At first she seemed willing to help, but I misjudged her. I said plainly that I would cash in my investments and pay off the mortgage, costing them perhaps hundreds of thousands in future interest, unless she made a call to get my money released. She placed that call, returned, and guaranteed that my money would reach me by July 16th. I took down all the details, including her extension, if that is genuine, along with the case number, and thanked her. Within the hour the insurance department rang, once more insisting on receipts and saying nothing would go out until they got them. We went around the same exasperating circle again, and it led nowhere.
By then roughly a third of the funds had come through, so I forwarded her a contractor receipt for precisely that sum. I had already sent two earlier receipts for amounts we paid ourselves. She made a great show of needing to escalate it for sign-off, more stonewalling, and I told her I could not care less.
What I said to her was this: we have done more than your paperwork asks, considering your unfinished instructions and the different stories your employees give. Nothing in your documents obliges me to pay contractors and hand over receipts first, before you pay me. They set no condition for releasing my funds. They give no percentage or receipt count. Around the fourth call, depending on the person, I was being told 100%, or 50%, of the repair cost, stated flatly as truth with nothing in writing. Going by your own documents, all I owe is two paid receipts, and not even those ahead of payment. The money is owed to me. Your inspector confirmed the work, so your worry about the collateral is gone. You have no right to keep my money to collect interest and strengthen your reserves, which is clearly what you are doing. Am I perfectly clear?
She replied that she understood, and that the funds would go out when the fax came in, with the same 48-hour delay and no follow-up. This is now the third guarantee I have been given, and I see no reason to believe it. Meanwhile, the contractors I hired are waiting on their pay.
Where can I turn? Their arrogance appears to give them a sense of entitlement, as senseless as that is. Call it what it is: a scam. Anyone who thinks it through can see they are keeping homeowners' insurance money for themselves. That is plain theft. How much power could an ordinary consumer possibly have in a setup like this, where a few giants rule?
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