My husband and I applied for the homeowner affordability and stability plan with our Mortgage Company, PNC. This was after I lost two jobs in a 6 month period of time, the first in October and the second in March. With the thought of my unemployment benefits running out and us not being able to make it on just my husband's salary, I decided to "trim the fat" in out budget. I contacted PNC bank at the end of March and inquired about the homeowner affordability and stability plan. I was informed they would send us out a package, we needed to fill it out and return it and there was a 12 week review time. So we did just that. All the while, we continued to pay the mortgage each month and have never been behind.
Finally about early June, I received a telephone call from PNC stating that we had been approved for the homeowner affordability and stability plan; however, there was a 4 month trial period. We were allowed to make 4 consecutive monthly (from July - October) payments in the amount of $731, which was the proposed new and reduced payment amount! This is GREAT news and wow, so incredibly easy. So its October.
When I called PNC to make the last payment of $731 during our trial period, the customer service person I spoke with tells me that we were denied for the homeowner affordability and stability plan and beginning in November our payment will go back up the original payment amount. Then he begins asking all these weird questions, like, "Whats the reason the account got behind?" I say to him, "ummmm, no the account was never behind, we were current, I lost two jobs within 6 months, so we were exploring our options through Obama's homeowner affordability and stability plan." "O.K.", he says. So at this point, a couple of red flags were raised in my mind, but I've already been on hold for over an hour waiting to speak with someone, so I decided to sum it up for him. I asked him if we were going to be responsible for the difference we did not pay from July to October, since we were not approved for the homeowner affordability and stability plan. He says, "NO MA'AM!" I ask for a letter stating that and he said no problem, we'll send you one.
Well, I got the letter alright. The letter we received is dated October 17 and it states, "According to our records, there is a balance of $302.92 that we are unable to apply to your loan because your required monthly payment is $885.70. Please pay the difference of $582.78 using the payment coupon below. Payment is due by November 7." Of course this prompted a telephone call. During my first conversation with Michelle, customer service rep, she tells me that we were declined and that they issued us a refund for $269 on October 20 (makes no damn sense!!!???) and basically we are now a month behind on our mortgage because of the way PNC Mortgage has decided to accept, post and apply the July - October payments that we made.instead of the payments being applied to the lower pre-approved payment amount, the payments were held. For example, July payment did not fulfill the regular payment amount of $885.70, so it was held until August's payment was made, then it was combined with July's payment for a total of $1,462.00, then July's payment was deducted from that, leaving a remaining balance to the good of $576.30. They did this for all payments, July - October, which in the end has now put us a month behind on our mortgage.
I've tried, with no success, to work out an AFFORDABLE payment plan to get this caught up, but with no avail. The people in collections, customer service and loss mitigation are so rude and by the time you get through their one hour plus hold time, you forget WTF you called for anyway. Bottom line, this bank is a joke! I'm almost 100% positive this is not the intention president obama had when he put the homeowner affordability and stability plan in place. This is just another twist and loop hole that the big banks found so they can manipulate their customers and so they can make their pockets deeper. They don't want to be held to a higher standard, they don't want to work with you, and they don't want anything but money... Greedy, greedy, and greedy!!!
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