This is the copy of the letter I had to send to a lending officer last week.
August 25
Wells Fargo
Dear Sir or Madam:
My husband I have been informed that Conseco/Green Tree Finance has a $31,000.00 bad debt claim against us on our credit report. Regretfully, that is true. I must express to you how strongly we both feel about paying our debts. We have strived diligently to be responsible and pay off our debts in full. Our experience with Conseco has been very trying and very frustrating to put it nicely! For almost two years we attempted to sell our mobile home financed through Conseco. We were informed by Conseco repeatedly that it was an easy process working with Conseco to qualify a new buyer for our used home, this is what they do.
We were told that an interested party with approved credit would be able to purchase our home with as little as 3% down. Therefore for months we ran ads in the local newspapers and showed our home to potential buyers. We felt like we had it sold several times only to find out that they couldn't/wouldn't buy it because they were told that they didn't qualify for the 3% down (they needed 20%). That was not so frustrating. We were willing to be patient and do the right thing.
During this process of advertising and showing our home we began to work with a particular salesperson named Todd at Conseco. He offered to show our home in the evenings if I would put his name and extension number in the ads. I did this and sent him a nice couple who had seen our home already and came back deciding that they wanted to buy it. Todd informed them and us that they qualified to buy the home at 3% down and he started working with them to set up their loan. Apparently, from what the couple told us, when they were ready to sign documents and purchase the home they were then informed (by Todd himself) that things had changed - they could only buy this used home with 20% percent downbut, if they were to buy a new home that they would qualify for the 3% down.
The couple was furious to say the least. They even had her father call Todd to try to negotiate the deal and offer to be a co-signer with Really Good credit. Unable to buy our home the couple came to us with the parent and informed us of what Conseco was doing to us behind our backs. They felt it was unfair to us as well as the potential buyers that the company was actually turning away our buyers (knowing that they were wanting to get the home with 3% down) and telling them to go buy new homes.
Unsure and in disbelief we pulled out our records of potential buyers who had attempted to work with our finance co. And had also been sent away. We were only able to reach two of them and they had similar stories and assured us that the Conseco representatives had implied that if they had been trying to buy a new home that they would have been qualified for 3% down. One of them had, in fact, purchased a new home with very little money down at a local sales lot although they didn't qualify to buy our used home without 20% down.
At this point and after almost 2 years of being lied to and led on by a company with unscrupulous business practices along with the fact that we were still running ads, making payments, keeping up the lot in the park it was in and maintaining the utilities, we were angry, frustrated and felt like we had our backs against a wall. We felt that Conseco had backed us into a corner and we had to just cut our losses and move on. I honestly don't know how you deal with a company that functions in the manner in which they do business. To this day we don't understand what the purpose of ruining the sale of our home actually accomplished for Conseco. We only know what it was/is doing to us.
Sincerely,
Mr. & Mrs. *
Since I wrote that letter I was told by our loan officer that she had spoken with "Joe" in Arlington. She asked him why (3 years later) they are still reporting the full amount remaining on the loan... Hadn't they sold the home... Surely you don't still have it. He assured her that they had sold the home but the funds from the sale of the home don't go to our principle amount still owed... It is applied to interest that they would have received had the loan still been in good standing and payments still made for several years. He informed her that they not only lose what's left on the original loan amount but the future interest too!
OK! Have you ever heard of such crap in your life? He lied about attempting to contact us numerous times and said my husband had "screamed and yelled at him over the phone". LIE!!! In fact, he had only called us ONCE and my husband just simply stated that "you're not getting a dime out of me, thank you" and hung up.
Does anyone know if the consumers have any rights when financial institutions (loosely used) default/conduct business fraudulently and with less than professional intentions.
It seems to me that this company thinks it can target a certain class of income and not fear retaliation due to lack of resources on the consumer's end. Somehow, they must be stopped.
Kristie
burleson, Texas
U.S.A.
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