My husband and I bought our first home in 1998 and were financed through Green Tree. Two and a half months after moving in, my husband lost his job and we were unable to pay the mortgage. We were granted an extension and given the opportunity to catch up what we could.
Not long after that, Conseco took over the account, unbeknownst to us. It was then that they stopped applying any of our payments to the principal balance, leaving everything going to interest. No matter how many times we asked about that, we were never given a clear answer or explanation.
In July my husband took a job transfer to get out of the house which was structurally unsafe. I was told by a rep of GT that the house would be placed on a list to help it sell faster and that it would not affect our credit and that GT would cover park rent.By the middle of August, I was told that was all a lie and that the rep, Jamie, had been fired along with her entire dept. And so the game began. The calls came, threats were made, arguments had.
I did some research and discovered that there were 13 open and active complaints against Conseco on file with the Division of Financial Institutes in WA state. All dealing with questionable bookkeeping practices on home loans.
Over time, this issue was forgotten and nothing was done about it. Then in I get a call from a collection agency. I explained the circumstances of why we moved and my suspicions of Conseco. Suddenly, a different company is handling the collection action. I again go through the song and dance. When I asked Conseco about the status of the house in Dec. they said there was a sale pending. I asked how much and was put on hold. Megan in South Dakota said that her manager said she couldn't give me that information, that I needed to call the regional office in Federal Way. I did just that and I still haven't gotten a return phone call.
I was able to learn, from the collection agency, how much the house had been sold for and all the charges Green Tree had reported to them. Five minutes and a calculator and I discovered a $12,000 discrepency. I contacted the Attorney General's office and they promptly contacted Green Tree.initially, GT only gave elusive answers for this error.
When the AG's office backed them into the corner and demanded an explanation, they said that the house had been sold for $48,000, not the $36,000 they reported to the collection agency. The balance of that amount went to the dealer. Oddly enough, the rep from the dealer was totally clueless, although admitting that he didn't have all the paperwork and it could have been in someone else's office. He gave the indication that the house was still on the premises...
All in all, there were no payments made on the principal balance once Conseco took over, they failed to file a Property Excise notification with the county, thereby holding them accountable for taxes, they failed to pay lot rent, they have refused to put any agreements thus far in writing, they list numerous questionable transactions regarding this account after the foreclosure, and they jerry-rigged an answer when cornered.
Now the collection agency is calling and stating that if I don't make a verbal agreement by tomorrow (6/5), they will proceed with legal action. But wait! They can't, as my husband and I are currently protected by such a lawsuit under the Soldier's and Sailor's Civil Relief Act! You should also know, that in November we received FOUR Notices of Private Sale indicating that the house was being sold. And, the amount listed on our credit report in March indicates a balance owing of $14,000. Conseco said it was a misprint. The balance was actually $94,000. Big typo, huh?
Lesson learned, don't enter into an agreement with Green Tree. Chances are that you won't come out of it with the shirt on your back. An interesting side note, in their web site stated they were unable to process home loans.
Michelle
Olymia, Washington
U.S.A.
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