CitiMortgage Mess

[grubbydog]

I have been following this site for about a week and felt I might be able to get some thoughts on the mess I am in.

Short version: I have an ARM that is currently at 6.5%. I am in year 7 of payments. November 2008 I fell behind on the payment - 1 month. Since then I have made all my payments on time. Last month I finally got "caught up" on the November payment. As of today I am current but I am struggling to keep it that way.

My business took a nose dive a couple of years ago. Today I am making less then $10K annually from it. I am retired (almost 64) and I draw a pension - about $38K. Most of my medical is covered so few expenses there.

I am a single parent. My 16 yo daughter is adopted from Korea and she lives with me after my wife walked out a couple years ago. She has left the state and I have no address on her. She does send us some financial help from time to time. Since we are not divorced there is no court ordered support payment - so it's difficult to count on it.

Our home was last appraised a couple years ago for $380K. My mortgage with Citi is about $199K. I suspect the home is worth about $320K or so...about what we bought it for in 2002.

When the bottom fell out a year ago I sent a letter to CitiMortgage. Actually I sent them a couple in Dec 2008. The second one contained lots of the supporting documents I had not enclosed in the first one. Bank statements, income, IRS collection notices, lawsuits, etc. Pretty much my life.

Since then I have settled all of the lawsuits and am working to pay off IRS on back taxes. I owe them around $5800. No other debt. No credit cards.

I spoke with some CitiMortgage people that deal with the Hardship applications and they told me my application was under review. For months I waited. I received 3-4 calls a day trying to collect on the single payment in arrears. These people were just trying to collect and said they had nothing to do with my Hardship Application.

In August I sent another certified letter to CitiMortgage. It contained all of the info that was on my December application - just updated.

My account info on the CitiMortgage website then posted that they had received my application and it was under "review". During that time I continued to get 3-4 calls a day. WHERE'S THE MONEY? It was like I'm talking to someone on the other side of the world. I think I was.

A couple of weeks ago I get a call from someone that says they are calling about the letter I submitted in Dec. 2008!!!! She asked me several questions - verify income, payments,etc. After 6-7 questions she said you do not qualify for anything and says I need to talk with a refinance person.

She transfers to refi and after 5-6 questions the guy seemed to start laughing and either hung up or I lost the signal (I was on a cell phone)

A few days ago the "Notice" on my account - the one saying they would be in contact with me after the review - was gone. So I am somewhat perplexed as to what I should do. I have written 5 letters toCitiMortgage. Never have I received a WRITTEN response. The lady in India told me " I can not send you a letter. I have no authority to do that." What? Do they never send a written response? Only got collection letters and the "you owe us $800 in late fees and we are going to report you to the credit bureau - wow, I'm really scared.

I am trying to get them to do two things:
1. Rework, modify, refi my mortgage to drop the payment by about $200 -$250/mo. Currently with PIMI it's about $1520.
2. Waive the nearly $800 in late fees they have charged me since last November. Although my other payments were on time over the past year I have been behind a month -so they get it add the "late fee". A letter to them in January asking them to do so went unanswered.

Today I am current on my payments. But because of my reduced income I have limited options left. This house is the only asset I have left and I need to hold on to it. I have no plans to sell it until my daughter graduates from high school - 2 years. At that point I will look at what I need to do.

Any ideas? Has CitiMortgage just closed the books on my applications? A phone call from India and removing the Hardship review notice from the website and that's it? Do I need to start over? Am I talking with the wrong people? Nearly a year and I have no idea what to do next.

Anyone?

[heidi79]

You are definitely talking to the wrong department. The india reps are nothing but general customer service and collectors.

You should be able to apply for help even while being current, the HAMP program would be a possibility. Take a look at your expense sheet breakdown, are you running a big negative every month? If so, you need to make sure you end up with a small surplus. When you've got all your information correct, call the home retention department or loss mitigation department (all of these are with american reps only)

Try: 1-866-255-3901 Executive Response Team for Citimortgage, if they won't help you directly they can definitely give you the correct number for loss mitigation.

[grubbydog]

Thanks. I am aware that I was dealing with the bottom of the food chain. I was somewhat surprised when they called me last month and said they needed info regarding my letter of 2008. I have sent all of my correspondence to the office in Frederick, MD. Since it was the first time they had actually responded to a letter I felt I owed them a conversation. It became apparent very quickly that they were simply gathering info to put into the data base. Why she passed me to the refi department is still a mystery to me. I was trying to get this mortgage modified - I don't have the funds to do a refi and get hit with closing costs, etc.

My income/debt is normally about even or sometimes negative. I'll have to look at it and see what I can do. Thanks again.

[suzyq1970]

Grubbydog, please call the number suggested. 1-866-255-3901 Executive Response Team for Citimortgage. Tell them you are a Loan Safe Member and explain your situation to them. The founders of this site worked together with Citi to make that number available to us.

[grubbydog]

Thanks. I got a letter today from Freddie Mac. They said they own the loan and understand I had gotten behind. Suggested I attend some workshop in Atlanta next week. They are only about a year behind the power curve. I'll give the folks a call. Appreciate it.