[scbrvt]

Hey everybody. I wanted to introduce myself and give you my (long) story.

I bought my home in 1998 just after I graduated from college for $240K. It was a probate buy. While I was in escrow, I found out that my dad had put my money (ALL of the money I inherited when my mom died when I was 13) in a risky investment and it was lost. (Dad left when I was 2. We were never close. I guess that’s why he didn’t really look out for my best interest with the estate. Who knows. And you know what, I’d rather have a mom than a college education, a house, or any of this, but that’s not the point.) Anyway, my mortgage broker is the dad of a college friend, and was able to work the system to close the loan despite this finding. I got a neg-am ARM, but I already planned to re-fi in a year or two, so it didn’t matter, and it was cheap.
The house needed a lot of work, so I took a second and did the work, mostly on my own and with friends, but there was some stuff I needed a contractor for. I re-financed to consolidate the first and second. Another neg-am ARM, but the house was gaining equity like wildfire, so it was not really a concern. (Uh-huh…) And life was great-I was with a terrific guy; we were planning to marry. I had a fun-if-not-so-high-paying job at a vet hospital and volunteered at the zoo. The fiancé was paying WAY MORE than his share of the home loan. Why worry, right?
So, in late 2004, I got the feeling my fiancé was backing out of the relationship, so I had to find a way to afford the mortgage. Mortgage broker suggested re-fi for equity to buy an apartment building, which I did. The house had been appraised for $1.5 million! I was in great shape, per him! No worries! So the home loan went up to $900K (“Countrywide Conventional Jumbo PayOption *ie:neg-am* ARM” at 3.575% Margin and ~ 8% interest rate with deferred interest of about $4K per month if I only make the minimum payment option.) The apartment loan was ~$700K (also neg-am, but less of a monthly loss at 7.5% interest with WaMu and only about $750-$1000 deferred interest per month on a minimum payment.) So the fiancé split, which was totally depressing, but at least I'd be financially OK, as I had “planned for the future by investing in real estate”…Blah blah blah.
Let’s do some math:
I make about $3K per month as a veterinary technician. My income from the apartment building rents is about $7K. My minimum payment on the house is $3K/mo. On the apartment building, it is $3760/mo. (That’s already leaving me behind.) Not to mention that over the years, I had a lot of things I had to fix on this rental property, and very little income to make it happen, let alone eat, pay for utilities, etc... With my exceptionally good credit and sneaky mortgage broker, I qualified for 4 equity loans for total of $225K. These were as of Monday basically used, with only about $30,000 remaining.
When I started getting notices over the summer that my home loan was going to reset to over $7,000/mo MINIMUM PAYMENT, I started to evaluate my options. I considered selling the rental, as it has also built up quite a bit of equity (Appraisal last month was $1.5M and I bought it for $950K in 2005) and went over the options with a realtor. He said I could likely sell it for $1.4M) But we found that with capital gains, closing costs, etc., that if I put the projected profit back into my home, it still wouldn’t get me a fixed on the house I could afford on my salary alone. My mortgage broker suggested that we look into a re-fi on the apartment building and asked me for a check to show intent and funds. I wrote WaMu a check for $12,000 that was just supposed to be “held and not cashed until we decided to proceed,” and when I decided NOT to proceed, they said it was too late to get my “lock in deposit” back which they hadn’t cashed yet, but as soon as I asked for it, they did. (Seriously within minutes of asking for it back.) So I signed loan docs for this new 5 year fixed at 6.35% on $1M at $6222/mo. I used the cashout to pay down my equity loans, so that I don’t have to pay $1500/month on those, but the payment is still $800/mo more than I was paying last month. I also have a vacant apartment that I’m trying to fill, which is costing me $1400/mo for the past 2 mo. (I have an open house this Sunday, so hopefully a new tenant will bridge that gap for me, at least.)
I have a “new” boyfriend who just moved here after a year and 7 mo long-distance relationship. He had a hard time finding a good job, but now he’s contributing $500/mo to the home mortgage. However, I don’t want to rely on that money after the last guy. (Especially now that I’m so stressed out and *****y all of the time because of all of this. I swear it won’t be long until he can’t take me anymore and goes back to New York.)
So anyway, I contacted the Workout Team at Countrywide to see what I could do about trying to prevent my home loan from going up to over $7K/mo in 4-6 months. I was told to fax a letter of hardship, 2 months bank statements and pay stubs to them, and that I’d hear from someone within 7-10 business days. I did that on 12/17. I called them back two weeks later to check the progress, and was told that my file was closed due to “lack of funds.” Now, let me get this straight: Isn’t the “Workout Team” there to help people who are experiencing a “lack of funds???”
They said they would re-open the file and “escalate” it if I faxed my most current pay stubs and a revised letter saying exactly what I was looking for. (Previously I had merely asked for their opinion on what I should do, and any suggestions were much appreciated.) I also found out that my “negotiator” is named Gina Williams at ext. 4858, but that negotiators are not allowed to talk to clients on the phone, as they “spend too much time on each call.” So I faxed the requested information to her attention and *begged* for her to respond in some way, and not to just toss my file in the garbage bin. That was on 1/14. I haven’t heard from her (or anyone else fro Countrywide) yet.
And let me just say that aside from the frustration of all of this, their phone system is built to make a person want to end it all swiftly. The voice recognition customer service lady is so infuriating and I have the hold music permanently stuck in my subconscious. I dream about calling them every time I lay my tired head down for a moment. I love this:
HER: “Thanks for Calling Countrywide. Your call is very important to us. Please tell me what you’re calling about. You can say something like, “I’d like to make a payment,”… or “insurance information.”
ME: “Verify receipt of a fax.”
HER: “I think you said “Tax information.” Is that right?”
ME: “NO.”
HER: “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that. Please tell me what you’re calling about. You can say something like, “I’d like to make a payment,”…or “insurance information.”
ME: “Talk to a representative.”
HER: “I think you want to talk to a representative. Unfortunately, I need to know what you’re calling about before I transfer you to one of our agents. You can say something like, “I’d like to make a payment,”…or “insurance information.”
ME: “Extension 4858”
HER: “I think you said your payment is going to be a little late. Is that right?”
ME: NO. GRRR. [silence]
HER: “Your call is very important to us. Please tell me what you’re calling about. You can say something like, “I’d like to make a payment,”…or “insurance information.”
ME: [silence]
HER: “Please let me know how I can help you today.”
HER: “Say something like “I’d like to make a payment,”…or “insurance information.”
HER: “You can say something like “Year end tax information,”…or “recent payment information.”
HER: “In order to help you, you need to give me some idea of why you’re calling.”
HER: “Let me see if I can find someone to help you.”
ME: [HOLDING FOR 40 MINUTES. CRYING AND LOSING MY MIND]
REP: “Thanks for calling Countrywide. How can I help you today?”
ME: “Is this the Home Retention Department?”
REP: “No. This is the Department for Dealing with Morons Who Can’t Navigate our Phone System. I can transfer you to Home Retention. Please hold.”
ME: “NO! WAIT!!”
HER: “Thanks for Calling Countrywide. Your call is very important to us. Please tell me what you’re calling about. You can say something like, “I’d like to make a payment,”… or “insurance information.”

Thanks for being here. I love this forum. A lurker no more.
-Stephanie