Our problem began before even moving into our home, while still in the process of purchasing our MF Home through Clayton. Never spoke to a mortgage person even ONCE during the process or else alot of question I would have asked would have resulted in not financing with a company like Vanderbilt.
Purchasing a MF home is not like a conventional loan for a site built. There are not a lot of options to finance or refinance a manufactured home loan.in addition to this, Vanderbilt is "privately funded" so the regulations and bailout plans put in effect to help homeowners do not apply to them. That puts alot of us in a predicament.
We purchased our home in Oct.in January, my husbands hours were cut from over 50/wk to only 35/wk. This, compounded with other unexpected financial issues was not looking good. We saw that, while we weren't having a problem making our payments at the time and had money in savings as a buffer, this could only last so long, so we called Vanderbilt to make them aware and ask if they had any programs to help. The man I spoke to on "Lily's Team", let's call him 'Dick', was rude, disrespectful and completely unhelpful.'Dick' told me that I "shouldn't have taken a loan that I couldn't afford" and that "there isn't anything we can help you with because its a new loan and you have a low interest rate". (Remember I never spoke to anyone during the purchase of the home and didn't know until after closing that I paid over $10,000.00 in points to get that low 5.74% interest rate). I said, "sorry, 'Dick', but I'm not the one that approved the loan and when we first got it, we could afford it. However, circumstances beyond our control are causing a problem." He muddered something else rudely in response to this and I hung up on him.
We remained on time with our payments until a few months passed and things got really tough. We called again, and again, they said they couldn't help.in July, I already new that August's payment would be late (late to me is anytime after the 1st, but according to the coupon, payments made after the 16th of a month require a $5.00 late charge). I called again, asked for the 'loan modification department' and spoke to a nice woman. As she explained it to me, they were only helping people who lost jobs or hours - which was my situation - and the only thing they could do is extend the loan back out to the original terms, 30 years in my case. But since I'd only been in the home since Oct 08, that would only be 9 months and wouldn't really affect my payment. And she also told me that since they are privately funded, they aren't required to help anyone. So basically, when it comes to helping homeowners - THEY DON'T HAVE TO. I told her that August's payment would be late and she informed me that as long as it was paid "within the month it is for, it won't show on your credit as a bad pay". I told her I'd keep the company informed as to the situation.
For August, I didn't get the payment out the door until the 10th.By the 12th, a representative was calling my house to ask me when I plan to pay my mortgage. I was angry by this since the payment coupon states the payment isn't essentially LATE until after the 16th - so why are you calling my house, especially when I'VE NEVER BEEN LATE. I was rude with this person and plan to be again if one of these assholes calls me before I'm actually late.
Note to the wise, if you mail a payment past the 5th, send it Certified Mail so they have to sign for it and you'll have proof of when they actually received it in their hands. Just a CYA move (cover your ass) that makes sense when dealing with companies that don't really care about the people keeping them in business.
We are weighing options as far as lawyers that deal in mortgage/loan mods, refinancing with another company and other things. I will gladly offer any advice or point anyone who is having problems with Vanderbilt in a helpful direction if I find something that works for me. The little people must band together.
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