In the month of July I became a homeowner, based on the desire to own a home and property. To use the property as a private residence and in the future establish a non-profit retreat and learning center, my American Dream. The first mistake made, trusting the mortgage brokers to act in my best interest. Because of my financial situation at the time and still today I am a risk. This put me in the situation of having a mortgage that would be fixed for two years and then go to an adjustable rate. The brokers told me, no problem, you can just refinance into a thirty year fixed rate at that time. Problem, one cannot refinance into a fixed rate at the time because of the financial climate shift and the housing market not looking so good.in an attempt to work with my mortgage company, which tends to change, there were no results. Apparently the company would rather foreclose, send me out of my home and loose all that I have worked for and invested in. The company would rather incur the cost of foreclosure and be stuck with a house on ten acres in rural Maine that may or may not sell. Trying several avenues to solve the interest rate increase from 7.25 up to the adjustable rate being 10.25 (which I did pay for several months) there seemed to be no help. So a letter was sent to the Better Business Bureau. It was shortly there after I received a slight loan modification putting my interest rate back the original amount for a two year period when at the end of that time my interest rate will go back to being an adjustable. That time is soon to come and I fear that GMAC mortgage will increase my rate to an amount that is unaffordable.in September I started the process to refinance with no luck and then another loan modification to get my interest rate down and fixed for the length of the loan. The housing market at this point is now worse, the government has stepped in to help and there are many programs to help some homeowners keep their homes. Once again there is no refinancing option so I applied to GMAC for a loan modification. Loan Modification Denied! According to Bobby in the loan servicing department of GMAC, I do not qualify because of debt to income ratio. I realize my numbers do not look good on paper but I am making my payments regardless and will continue to make payments. It would be much easier if my interest rate were a bit lower though. I found it very interesting that all of my income was not being entered into the equation because my teaching job was considered temporary. Hard to get a teaching position to look like it is full time when the school year has a summer break. Bobby also stated to me that even if my interest rate was lowered, who is to say that I would be able to make payments in the future. Glad to know Bobby has a crystal ball that he can see my future in. Im not saying that it could not happen but come on, it could happen to anyone with or without good numbers. Bobby also suggested I do a short sale on my home. I told him I was not interested and reminded him that I have yet to become late on my payments. Punishment for paying on time every month seems strange. My conversation with him had gone as far as it could and there was nothing left to discuss, so before I lost my temper any further, I ended my conversation with him. Short Sale? Roughly two weeks after my conversation with Bobby, I received a call at work from the GMAC Short Sale division confirming my moving forward with the short sale of my home. I was horrified, never did I agree to such a thing. The person on the phone referred to my conversation with Bobby and that I hung up on him. Yes I hung up on him but that was long after I declined the idea of a short sale and there was no point in continuing my conversation with someone who is doing nothing. If Bobby was offended by my hanging up and out of spite sent my information to the short sale division, seems like a bad move on his part. On my next mortgage statement I noticed a charge for eighty-three dollars. Calling GMAC I am told this was a Broker Appraisal Fee, funny how this fee comes as a surprise. Never on the paper work did I see a fee listed or required of payment. If I knew there was a fee and I chose to continue with the process I would have included a check. Once again I feel like my mortgage company is shafting me, all I want to do is get a decent fixed rate and continue to make my mortgage payments. Like many of the mortgage companies during this hard economic time there are pages and pages of customer complaints and nightmare stories on the Internet and GMAC is no exception. People are treated unfairly and no consideration is taken when one is not behind in their payments. I refuse to drive my already rough credit score into the ground by being late with my house payments. It seems like a crazy gamble with no guarantee of help. This is simple and I believe would cost the company less money that a short sale or foreclosure. Modify my loan by dropping the interest rate down to a reasonable amount, say five percent, and fix it for the extent of the loan. This way I can live without fear of loosing my home, move on with my American Dream and continue to send GMAC a check every month like I have been for the past five years.
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