Here are our details in brief:
July – 2006 Loan National City Mortgage 656,000
Dec 2008 Tried to start modification before we were behind
March 3, 2009 – Sent in all docs for modification to NCM (informed there was an investor on the loan, NCM had sold the note)
April 2009 – had a forbearance agreement with NCM until permanent modification agreement could be reached – contact at NCM was unsure if “investor” was going to adopt modification plan with lower interest rates and was encouraged by NCM to wait until the end of June with the forbearance agreement buying time to see what the investor was going to do. (did NCM know the loan was going to be service d elsewhere?)
End of May 2009 – received notice that NCM would no longer be servicing the loan as of June 1 – GMAC would be servicing- called contact at NCM he informed me GMAC was the investor on the loan
May/June 2009 began contacting GMAC several times per week to see if they had our paperwork - began getting collection calls stating we were behind on payments – transferred to three different departments to clear up paperwork issues, had to start process all over again – Resent paperwork quite a few times
July 2009 – wrote letters to top execs of GMAC telling our situation -Received letter from executive office stating any agreements with NCM were null and void.
July 2009 received modification papers that conflicted within – two different interest rates and payment amounts within one document – tried to get it fixed – they denied anything was wrong with the documents and continued to insist they sent one thing and did not want copies of what we received
August 2009 – (before HAMP documents were published online) asked for the HAMP plan and were transferred to another department had to reapply again. We qualified, did not want to sign documents because they gave up our rights (ie… Oregon foreclosure laws)
September/October 2009 – received a call from executive offices (new person) verbally we worked out a modification, even have a recording of her stating the agreement – got the docs and they were not anything we had discussed
November 2009 – called and tried to get agreement changed. Was told that we received what she said. (BS)
December 21, 2009 – received another letter from executive offices, different person asking us to fill out modification papers again and submit them.
December 26, 2009 – Same week received Deed Trust Sale/Foreclosure papers from MEERS! Auction dated 5/11/09 11AM
Please contact us if you would like to join forces and fight together!
Hi Jennifer and Glen,
Great article in the Bend Bulletin! I am the guy mentioned at the very end (and Nick got it a little wrong – I didn’t work on SB 628, my colleague Matt did, but my organization did, so it’s close enough) and I would like to talk to you about other ways we can improve the laws so this doesn’t happen to anyone else, and hey, it might even help you if we can get things turned around fast enough.
email me at jonb at ospirg d ot org if you get a chance. I hope you have a happy new year and that all this works out for you.
Hello Jennifer, Glen and Jon
I am so glad that the Bulletin covered this on the front page. This is an issue that is not being talked about. Unfortunately, we have been experiencing a very similar story since February of this year when my husband lost his job as a landscape special projects manager. It seems to me that all that needs to be fixed is enforcement of the regulations. The servicers of these loans are not being required to follow the law, and apparently they have enough money that don’t have to. It feels like a violation of my due process rights. It is a violation of my right to property. If my mortgage company was an insurance company, I would be suing them for bad faith and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Is this possible as a class action? There must be 1000s of families that this is happening to. I also have a Freddie Mac loan, and my husband and I have been assured that because of this, there would be no problem getting a modification. Citimortgage services our loan. We entered into a forebearance agreement (verbally) the day after my husband became unemployed. We thought it was a good idea for us to be proactive. For the next 6 months, we paid the agreed upon amount. Then, when my husband (Thom) still had not gained employment, I called them to let them know that we need further assistance. On September 10, 2009 (my birthday), they verbally modified the loan. As a previous paralegal, I know that real estate contracts can only be modified in writing. They promised paperwork to us within 20 days. The paperwork never arrived, but they called us almost daily requesting the return of the completed paperwork. Finally in November, when we still had not received the paperwork, we contacted Housing Works to see if they could advocate for us. We are in the process of gathering the needed documentation to return our modification agreement, which we received on December 11, 2009. The cover letter is dated November 23, 2009, with a due date for return of the documents of November 1, 2009. We’ve also been told that we’re in foreclosure, but we’ve never received any documentation of that.
We would be more than happy to do what we can to help bring about social justice in this issue. It seems like a suit for declaratory relief might be useful if it went far enough. This is discrimination! It would not be happening if we had the money to fight it. Then again, we would not be in this situation either.
I hear your anger and frustration and I understand. I have been trying to be heard for months now. Writing officials, executives… doing everything I can to work something out with GMAC. I too believe there is a class action suit here. We need to find the right attorney. I am not sure if the approach is predatory lending, violations of rights, banks misleading homeowners…. We need to join forces.
If we are all in Bend, we need to meet. The article says March is a meeting… that is way too long to wait! We need to meet now.
There are groups in Portland who are joining together and going to the housing auctions at court houses and protesting. We need to be heard. It is time to put pride aside and go public. Join forces and get people to talk.
Anyone up for organizing a public meeting? Let’s do it!
Thom and I are in! 541-788-5291 or 541-678-4238 and thanks to Nancie for the feedback. I spoke to Jon Bartholomew this morning. He has a lot of information regarding policy formation, talking points, etc. We need to get the word out! There is a hearing on January 12th for which testimony is needed. The more people who reply the better. Get more info on this from Jon. His # is 503-231-4181 at OSPIRG.
Awesome! Off we go… I was at the point of full burn out. We can move forward together.
Jennifer, I just read an article about your story in the bend bulletin. I want you to know that your story reads like so many of ours. We have a support group in Southern Oregon for folks that were loosing their homes. So far we are getting great traction on our own. We all gave up on HUD counselors and the HAMP act and anything that looked like a modification. We are convined that modifications are a fantasy of those who wanted to save our home as well as our legislators. The bank servicers have no authority to modify a securitized loan beyond what ever their investment in the loan may be. They have very little skin in the game except what they scrape from the pool on their servicing agreement. They make money collecting $$$$ as well as foreclosing. That’s about it. They loose money when they modify. My husband Mark and I have been working on this topic for a year now and have turned over a lot of dirty rocks to find the truth.
We are getting our foreclosures “Cancelled” with some simple steps and putting these foreclosures on hold until we have finished our research. (Ours was cancelled on October 2nd) We are doing forensic loan audits on our loans and finding some scarey things like. Who really owns them, who has standing authority to foreclose or collect, and do they even still exist. We are finding that “The lights are on but no one is home” that has much authority to do anything to us. Feel free to call if you want more info. There is hope and it is not with HUD or HAMP. We are also working with our state and national legislators getting them educated. Wall Street has really pulled a good one on Washington. Best wishes and happy new year.
Nancie Koerber 541-664-8332
Nancie (and all),
I happened across your comments while searching through the Eastern Michigan BBB website and I am wondering if through your ordeal, you (or anyone else) have compiled a list of names, phone numbers and addresses for managers, supervisors and top executives within GMAC that can be included in correspondence? I am tired of talking to different low level phone operators who cannot do anything. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Carl
I can give you more phone numbers, but they don’t matter. They are the same robots for many, many, many levels. Time to bring in the big guns and read…. Read a lot… http://livinglies.wordpress.com/ It is overwhelming at first, but there are many of us in the same boat. We are all willing to share what works. There are different goals that homeowners have. Some want to extend foreclosure and stay in the house as long as they can, because it doesn’t make sense to have their current principal balance. Others want to keep their homes and are trying to wait and see how the laws will change.
I understand being tired! I am burned out but have found a renewed energy by talking to others in the same boat. This is new territory for everyone involved, banks, homeowners, government, lawyers, etc……
I sat and read for four hours last night on the web site above. Start with the current blogs. There is tons of information. I should have read it all months ago and didn’t take the time to do it. My mistake.
Feel free to post here anytime you want.
Hi Tonya, As for your pending foreclosure. You might want to check with your servicer and ask them the trustee that is foreclosing. They should have a website so you can verify. If you were not formally served with at least 120 days notice the foreclosure can be cancelled. We had one party in our support group that did that. Not only was foreclosure cancelled but the foreclosing servicer had to pay all their attorney fees. The laws on foreclosure procedures are very black and white in our state. The loan servicers attorney that lost was also asked by the judge to show that they had standing authority to foreclose or collect on the property. It has been over 2 months and the loan servicer keeps saying they do but refuse to produce the documents. So the property is in limbo. The loan servicer continues to pay the attorney fees as they argue with the homeowners attorney… Hmmmm, wonder why they don’t just produce the documentation. Perhaps they don’t have it. If you want to speak to these folks, feel free to call and I’ll get you their number.
Nancie Koerber 541-664-8332
This read is actually useful, the post was 100 % perfect! Keep up the good work.