Mortgage modification madness
TEXT OF STORY
Tess Vigeland: While would-be homeowners are deciding whether to get off the sidelines, lots of current homeowners are trying to figure out what to do about their mortgages. The government’s fix-it programs and the banks that are supposed to implement them appear to be generating more madness than modifications. Here are a few stories that came through our inbox.
Ann Cornwell: My name is Ann Cornwell. I live in Gastonia, North Carolina. My experiences with Wells Fargo, where not just once but twice, they closed my file after the 45 day deadline to complete documentation because of quote unquote lack of documentation. In both cases, the lack of documentation was 100 percent due to their not telling me that there was a deficiency in the documents. I had had over 20 phone conversation with various reps and now a rep was telling me she could send me a packet and I could start all over again.
Anne Hars: My name is Anne Hars and I’m from Los Angeles, California. Chase bank claims that it takes 30 to 60 days to process a making homes affordable loan modification. However, the application process with Chase has seemed more like something out of Kafka’s novel, The Castle. A saga of a frustrating bureaucratic maze. On Chase bank statements, the last page always reads, “left intentionally blank.” But they do not number this last page. For example, a Chase account may have six pages and all the pages say, “one of six, two of six, etc.” But page six, the blank one, is not numbered six of six. We have been continually turned down for a mortgage modification because we are not sending them, Chase, complete bank statements. Even though we send them the sixth page. Since it doesn’t say “six of six” they claim our application isn’t complete, and make us start all over from the very beginning.
Anita Senkowski: Hi, this is Anita Senkowski and I’m from Essexville, Michigan. In May 2007, I began the process of working toward a deed in lieu of foreclosure. My original servicer had been acquired by Citimortgage and after nearly finishing the process I was told I would have to start all over. As you can understand, I couldn’t face beginning the whole process again so I researched Citimortgage sucks on Google. From there, I was able to learn the name of the then CEO and using local property records, I found his home address and discovered his home phone number. I wrote a very tense but business-like letter, and sent it by FedEx for delivery at his home on Saturday morning. After spending most of the weekend ducking the cops I thought he dispatched to arrest me, I heard from a member of his staff on the following Monday. So it pays to start at the top.
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