I will try to keep this as short as possible, as I only want to stress the fact that the banks and mortgage companies really got us all into this mess. Under the TARP guidelines set forth by our Congress, they (mortgage companies and banks) got billions in bailout funds to help homeowners stay in their homes.
They have done nothing to help people stay in their homes. They found a loophole and are forcing more and more people into foreclosure and short sales, adding to the surplus of homes already on the market. Why? Because they have out-of-the-country investors standing by to purchase these foreclosed properties and resell them for a profit within a 24 hour period before any paperwork is visible to anyone. The banks make money on the new loans and processing fees that they would not get by just doing a re-modification for the existing homeowners like myself. Appraisers make money, home inspectors make money and realtors make money. The only losers in this whole scam are the honest homeowners trying to keep their homes.
Here is the short version of what they have done to us to date.
In October, I started to make calls to CitiMortgage to apply for a loan modification. It took 27 calls, 6 e-mails and 7 months to even get a reply, and I only got their attention because I held up paying on the mortgage for 3 months. I then got current with the payments once I had their attention.
In April, we finally spoke to a rep of CitiMortgage and started the process of the loan modification. We went back and forth for another 6 months with documents, and they kept saying they did not receive this or that. That was fishy, because for everything they kept saying they did not get, I know I had sent it. I had my file at home to back up my claim that I did in fact send them everything they were requesting again.
In September, we finally spoke to a rep again, and they now said they had all the documents and were processing them. They asked us to make 3 payments of the reduced amount of $1044.77 (which was approximately $300.00 in savings per month). Needless to say, I was grateful. So we started to make the new payments and paid 8 payments, not 3. Then one day I got a call from CitiMortgage, and this is when it gets really interesting. In the meantime, I had been in contact with a HOPE Counselor (NovaDebt, Sue Hazel) to aid in the process of staying in our home.
In early May, I received the call from CitiMortgage. I thought it would be a good call to tell me we had made all our good faith payments on time and that we had been accepted for the loan modification. The call was to tell me (you ready for this?) that our loan modification had timed out because CitiMortgage did not receive all our documents back on time. This was after they had confirmed to me that they had everything they needed.
In mid May, I immediately called my HOPE Counselor to make a conference call to CitiMortgage to get clarification on what was going on. It took 6 calls to finally reach a human being named Tom. When my HOPE Counselor asked about our situation, he stated, yes, your modification had timed out because we (CitiMortgage) did not receive all the documents back in time. My HOPE Counselor then informed Tom that I had proof that they had all the so-called missing docs, because I had sent everything to them by USPS return receipt, and an employee of CitiMortgage had signed for them all, and they were dated also. He (Tom) put our conference call on hold, and 15 minutes later he came back on the line. His first words were, "Oh dear, we do have all your docs here. In fact, 2 sets of 37 page docs are here, 1 from July and 1 from Nov, and I do not know what happened and why we failed to process these!" He said he would look into it and re-open the case. 4 days went by, and Sue and I had to do another conference call. Sue (the HOPE rep) and I were never able to reach Tom again, as he was apparently transferred to another department.
Enter the next player for CitiMortgage, a Patti Kimmerly with the Office of Homeowner Preservation. In the meantime, I called Freddie Mac because they held the actual loan and Citi was only the service provider. They were flabbergasted at what I told them and about how we were being put through a run-around. Now another 5 months went by, early October, and I guess Freddie Mac must have told Citi to work something out with us, as they do have hardship programs. At the same time I was trying to work on a solution (for the past 2 years), I started to get the beginning of foreclosure paperwork from CitiMortgage and a few attorneys.
Finally, on October 10th, this Patti Kimmerly told me to write a letter stating my disability and a follow-up letter when my disability hearing is to take place. Once again, I did what was asked of me. I wrote an initial letter, then a follow-up letter in Nov.
I have not heard a thing, all my calls go unanswered and I never get a return call.
I have since contacted my Congressman, Cliff Sterns, and I am sending over all my files to prove my case.
I guess my next move is to file an injunction to block the foreclosure and get this all in front of a judge. What CitiMortgage did to us is fraud, by holding my documents. I posted a blog in a forum about CitiMortgage's deceptive and unlawful business practices, and my e-mail inbox lit up!
They are deceiving everyone, and this needs to be made public, and it is not just Citi. Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are in on it also. Once again the American people get the short end of the stick. If you or any news station were to ask people, "Has your mortgage company said your loan modification has timed out, expired and/or has missing documents?", please let us know. Watch the response you get. I can assure you it will be overwhelming.
These big corporations will continue to take advantage of us until we do something about it. I am asking for anyone's help to get this out to the public. We could blow this whole scam wide open!
I'm ready. Can you help me?
Thanks...
0 comments