Two years or so ago, my husband lost his job unexpectedly. One month later I lost my job. We were only in to our new home a few months. Right away, we filed a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy to save our home.
Not long after that I had to have emergency kidney surgery to save my life. Not having insurance yet from our new jobs, nothing was covered. Needless to say there was tremendous medical bills.
After three years or so of paying into the Chapter 13, and not being behind that much to begin with, as my Husband found employment soon. We felt we were about caught up on the house payments, or very close.
After consulting with our attorney, we decided to drop the Chapter 13 and start to pay Countrywide ourselves, and file a Chapter 7 because of high medical bills. We of course wanted to check with Countrywide first to make sure our payments were current. As we would have NEVER dropped our Chapter 13 jeopardizing our house to foreclosure without checking with Countrywide first especially after paying THOUSANDS of dollars into the 13 over three years.
We called Countrywide in Jan. We were told that our payments were indeed current. So, we dropped the 13 and started to pay the payments ourselves.
After a few full payments that were made on time, and receiving statements not showing any back payments owing, we then received a statement showing we were behind $2000. Of course we did not understand this, as we were told otherwise. When my husband called right away, he was told that we were behind. Not believing this, he asked for a printout showing our payment history. He was told to get it from our Trustee. My husband said that we were no longer in a Chapter 13, and that the Trustee information might be different from Countrywide's information anyway. After my husband told the rep that we were no longer in the Chapter 13, she told him she did not believe him. She was rude and practically called him a liar.
Knowing the amount of money we paid to the trustee, and what Countrywide said we owed, things just didn't match up. We need time to research this with the Trustee, but in the meantime we wanted to catch up on what they claimed we owed. We sent an extra $1000 with one payment only to have it returned and told that all our payments would be returned as they were going to go into a Foreclosure. If we only owed the $2000 like the statements showed, we would have paid that up in two payments. But, they refused our extra payments, and not only that, they are charging us late fees on our returned payments.
Financial hardship is no longer an issue. We made more money last year then ever. My husband has worked 3 years, and I have worked 2 years at permanent steady jobs with respectable companies. So, we want to know why Countrywide's attorneys went to court with papers stating that we are unwilling to pay our payments, and that we have not paid since Oct. (When we were in a Chapter 13, and they were being paid by the Trustee), and our payments to them in March and from then on were on time. We even tried sending the extra $1000 when we were told we were behind $2,000, just to have it returned telling us they plan to Foreclose on us.
Also, we would like to know why their attorneys said in court that we legally swore that our house was worth what the amount is we owe on the total loan, when in fact we have equity in jeopardy here. Also, we had another mortgage company interested in refinancing our loan despite our bankruptcies until Countrywide claimed we had not paid and was unwilling to pay since Oct. This is not true. So Countrywide has tied up our loan so we can not refinance by reporting false credit information. Our default was at the beginning of our bankruptcy almost 3 years ago. Not a current problem. We have paid without trouble. And this should reflect on the credit report.
There seems to be no trouble getting our Foreclosure papers and Default papers to us right away, but the essential papers we need to send in to repay Countrywide never show up.
We spend 45 minutes talking over the phone to the "Work Out Dept.", giving all our information as it is entered into their system, just to be told that we can not be considered until we fill out paperwork with the same information. And that it will take 10 weeks to review the paperwork after they get it back from us. Yet we never received the required paperwork she promised to fax to us before 5:00 the same day. So, we call the rep back talking directly with her again, just to have her say the very next day that "I am sorry, but I don't remember talking to you!".
We are told papers are being faxed that are never faxed. Until we threaten to call the Atty General. And then we are told: "do what you think you must...!"
Other times we are put on hold so long we hang up. When we do get a rep to talk to us we get..."will you hold please... Click!" Several times during the conversation without any explanation of why we are being put on hold. We are then told they will have to talk to their supervisor about our account and that a supervisor will call us back, they never do. We call back asking for a supervisor, only to be told they are in a meeting.
We call the bankruptcy dept to ask why we have to pay Atty. Fees and other unexplained fees adding up so fast we can't keep up, when we would have never ended up in court had Countrywide not told us we were current on our payments, thus dropping the chapter 13 jeopardizing our home to foreclosure. So, we were told to call back in two days after he has time to check into it... We call back... No such extension... No such person.
In May, after we discover we have enough money in our 401K to borrow as a hardship loan to cover the $6000 by this time they say we owe (only two months after being notified we owe $2000), we call Countrywide. Talked to a rep who said she would send us the paperwork from Countrywide showing the hardship to allow us to get to the money from my husband's 401K. I told her of my concern about getting the paperwork in time, she reassured me that Countrywide is good to work things out with people. She said she sent the paperwork. We were for the first time optimistic that maybe it would be OK. But, once again necessary paperwork was needed. We are told it will be sent. One week later we call because there is no sign of paperwork..."give it another week", we are told. No paperwork. We call again reassured that the paperwork was sent May 30th.in the meantime fees mounting. No paperwork. We call and are told that the paperwork was sent to another dept to be sent out to us. We ask for the phone number of that dept so we can inquire of what happened to the urgently much needed paperwork. We are told. "that dept doesn't have a phone!!!" So, we contact our attorney...
We have had the cash to pay this up to date, but either we never get the required paperwork, or Countrywide raises the amount owing so fast we can't keep up. We have even had people willing to lend us the money if need be. We believe that Countrywide is aggressively trying to foreclose on us as they have on so many others, who stories much like ours, can be found on two separate web sites:
We have yet to receive the 401K paperwork. (However, they have raised the fees so high now, we don't have enough in there to cover it.) Yet, we did receive the certified letters stating they are going to sell our property and charge us the fees it cost to do that too. So, we will be without our home, and still owing them money.
As anyone could guess, we are totally fed up with Countrywide. We are good law abiding hardworking citizens. Trying to live the American dream of owning a home. We waited so long for our first home together. Fighting with bad luck of job lay offs and health problems... We fought tooth and nail to keep our house. Slowly paying 3 years to a Chapter 13 Trustee. Not a fun experience. Only to have Countrywide do this to us. Why did they tell us we were current allowing us to drop the 13 and then they foreclose on us? Why did their attorneys go to court with false information? Why do the reps never return calls, and lie to you? Why do they take advantage of honest people trying to make a go of it? We are interested in joining any class action again them.
V
Silverdale, Washington
U.S.A.
0 comments