Countrywide is still defrauding its customers despite lawsuits all over the country! Back in August my husband became ill and had to go on Short Term Disability. I immediately called Countrywide to see what our options were, and I was feeling very hopeful since they advertised helping their customers during a hardship. We were assured by the reps that they understood hardships happen, but not to worry, they were there to help... (Yea right!) We were offered a suspension of our payments during my husband's time off from work. I asked what would happen to the payments we would be missing, and it was explained by three reps and a supervisor that the payments would just be put to the back of the loan at the end of the suspension period. We were elated and took the offer. About a week later our suspension period papers or forbearance as they call it, arrived. After reading the text in the paperwork, I became concerned and called Countrywide immediately. I told them that the paperwork seemed to contradict what every rep was telling us, and I was told that it was just generalized wording, but not to worry, the payments would be put to the back of the loan. I didn't take just one person's word, but also talked with two other reps and a supervisor who explained and assured me the same as well. I kept in touch with Countrywide for the next several months to be sure there weren't any changes and that we were still on track with the suspension of payments, and everything was well. When my husband's return to work was approaching I called Countrywide to see about when the payments would be put to the back of the loan and what paperwork we needed to fill out for that, and they told me to call back after he was physically back to work. When my husband returned to work I called Countrywide again, and explained that I needed to do the paperwork for sending our payments to the back of our loan. The rep started asking questions about our financials which I thought was strange, and at the end of giving all of it, the rep said, "I'm sorry ma'am, you don't qualify for a modification at this time." I was shocked. I told him that we were told that our payments would be put to the back of our loan, and that there was never ANY mention of qualifying for the offer made to us. Long story short, Countrywide lied and renegged on their offer, and instead of helping us in a hardship, they requested that the five missed payments, technically six, be made in one lump sum. Had we known that, we would have only been late one month until the std checks came and paid our mortgage during that period! Instead they fraudulently tricked us, and took advantage of us in our most vulnerable hours! The only option offered was a modification, which is another loan on your home, that increases an already unaffordable payment. How does that help people in hardship? I immediately started putting all of our payments into a savings account, and called Countrywide several times explaining that we have our payments but that we will not be sending them until they put the balance of missed payments to the back of our loan as it was promised to us. I taped my conversations with Countrywide reps because I live in South Carolina where it is legal to tape conversations without the other party to your conversation knowing... And it is totally admissable in court. I told one supervisor, Alma, that I was taping our conversation after she gave me some affirmative answers and she literally fumbled over her words and asked me to stop taping. I asked her if I was being taped by her company, and she said "it's possible." I asked her what the difference was then, and what was it that she had to hide... I got them on tape lying and making promises that they took back. I am now searching for a lawyer to file a wrongful foreclosure suit, because the Countrywide rep told me that we were just put into foreclosure on April 1. I have not been served with any notice of that yet, but I assure you I will fight this company to the end. My children will not be homeless, I will not lose the one asset that me and my husband have worked hard for and continue to work hard for, and I will not let crooks rob me! If anyone in South Carolina has had this happen to them, please leave comments. I am a stay at home mom, and I have plenty of time to fight for this good cause.
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