Our story.......

[jesse331]

Well here's our story with Countrywide/ Bank of America.

We were First time home buyers......We purchased our home in 11-2006 before the market had exploded on an interest only adjustable rate loan w/o taxes or insurance escrowed (we didnt know it was a crappy loan at the time)
We managed this mortgage along with all our other obligations with no problem for 14 months and then we got hit with taxes and insurance. Never having those expenses before really hit us hard. We were also very discouraged to not see any principle reduction after 17,000 in payments had been made so we felt it was time to refinance into a fixed rate loan with taxes and insurance escrowed.

We applied with a few banks and ended up going with CW/BOA as they were the best deal.... They obtained the appraisal and when that came back the loan gentleman called us and told us the appraisal had come back much higher then what we owed our previous lender. He said we had 70,000+ in equity available to us. He made it a point (was kinda pushy) that we should use this equity to take cash out and reduce our monthly debt so he talked us into taking $40,000 cash out and paying everything we owed off.....My Truck, credit cards, small loan ect. So we reluctantly accepted the loan

Everything was great for the next year and a half, We only had one bill each month....an $1800 mortgage payment with taxes and insurance included and the refi was proving to be saving us over $1200 a month.....

Now fast forward to 10-2008.... The economy goes into the tank and My wife gets laid off from her job, we immediately loose $2800 in monthly income and my income isn't enough to make the house payment and pay everything else we needed to live...

So beginning 12-08 we cannot make our mortgage payment so we immediately begin calling CW/BOA asking for help.....a total of 7 times and each time we're told to fax in tons of paperwork, which I do, we call back in and there is no record of us asking for help or faxing anything..... They did this to us 7 times between 1-09 to 9-09....

On the 8th call for help we're told the usual thing....to fax in all this paperwork, which as in the previous 7 times, I did. I called back in twice to see if they were going to help us and the first time I'm told there is no record of us asking for help and the second time I'm told that they are sending us some documents to sign....

The lady I am speaking with is actually nice (First one). I got all excited and thought we just might be ok... The papers finally arrive via FedEx in 10-09 and as soon as I read them I realize that what they've sent won't help. They sent me papers to sign for a "Partial Claim" I called and asked what this was and she explained it to me. She said that once I sign it our loan will be current again but it does nothing to lower our payment.

I politely explained to the representative that we need a lower payment, getting current will help but without a lower payment we'll be behind again in a couple months. So it isn't beneficial to just get current if we cant remain current with a payment we can afford.
She in turn got very angry and asked me "So are you refusing our help?"
I again politely tried to explain my reasoning however she wasn't at all concerned with reason.... She was down right mad that I wasn't interested in only a Partial Claim.

She then proceeded to (yell at me) and tell me "Well you better get your shit packed because we're coming to foreclose and get your deadbeat ass out" She then hung up on me...

I've tried to call back in but she put something in the computer on our account so now nobody is willing to talk to us anymore...

10-23-09 they canceled/blocked/killed our online access to our mortgage account. So now I have no way of knowing what the status is with our account.

In closing, I can honestly say that BOA are some of the most rudest, nastiest, uncaring people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting.

Something simple like lowering our payment a few hundred dollars was too hard for them I guess.

I'm figuring they are proceeding with Foreclosure and we'll be forced to take our three kids and go back to renting sometime in spring of next year.

So much for having a piece of the American Dream!

[ama125]

Welcome to the forum... sorry to hear of your troubles. Since they came back with an offer for a partial claim, I am going to assume you have an FHA backed loan. Is this correct? If so, there may not be much they can do for you. There is FHA-HAMP, but the guidelines for that program are more restrictive than the regular HAMP program and only came out in August so it remains to be seen if BofA has fully adopted the program. Still, it is no reason for them to ignore your prior requests for assistance or treat you so rudely. Have you emailed OOP yet? I cannot promise they can do anything for you or anyone else for that matter, but they are more polite and helpful than anyone in customer service. See the sticky thread for instructions. Best of luck! It is not an easy battle!

[heidi79]

don't give up just yet, that's the best thing i can tell you. the partial claim i believe creates a second loan that will pay all the past due payments and make you up to date, but, then you end up paying is small loan also, it's garbage and makes no sense at all so don't accept it.

the treatment you recieved is downright abuse, do you have this reps name or employee number? find the emails on the forum for mrs. desoer and send them a short but to the point letter about what happened. a lot of people on this forum get a response from that email.

hang in there, if you want the house, don't give up! be careful with your financial information.

[jesse331]

Originally Posted by ama125

Welcome to the forum... sorry to hear of your troubles. Since they came back with an offer for a partial claim, I am going to assume you have an FHA backed loan. Is this correct? If so, there may not be much they can do for you. There is FHA-HAMP, but the guidelines for that program are more restrictive than the regular HAMP program and only came out in August so it remains to be seen if BofA has fully adopted the program. Still, it is no reason for them to ignore your prior requests for assistance or treat you so rudely. Have you emailed OOP yet? I cannot promise they can do anything for you or anyone else for that matter, but they are more polite and helpful than anyone in customer service. See the sticky thread for instructions. Best of luck! It is not an easy battle!

Thank you!

We're very discouraged as well. I am very happy I found this site because honestly we didn't know where to turn.

Yes our loan is an FHA backed loan and after 5 or 6 tries to get BOA to help I called the Federal Housing Administration to see if they could help..... I figured that if they are backing our loan then they should be aware BOA was giving us a hard time then maybe they would step in and get them to work with us. when I spoke with FHA via phone they told me to apply for help directly with BOA..... I explained our situation and they insisted that BOA is required to assist us with Obama's plan.

They offered us a Partial which would have got us caught up but with out the payment getting lowered we would have ended up delinquent all over again....
Now that we have declined the Partial they won't talk to us anymore. They even cancelled our online access to our account information.

I just found the thread on the OOP tonight and emailed them. I didn't know FHA loans had limited options for help but even with limited options the bank should still be willing to help.... I can't see why they would want to foreclose on a home that currently is 105,000 upside down when the owner is willing to make payments...Just lower then the original amount.

So, we'll see what happens next..... Hopefully they will do something but if not, I'm going to go to every court date to try and get the judge and anyone else involved to see we didn't ask for my wife to get laid off so we could get behind..... I'm also going to make it point to show how many times we've tried to get them to give us some assistance... I might be going down...But I'm not going down without a fight!

[jesse331]

UPDATE:

After emailing Barbara Desoer only yesterday,
I received a call this evening from a Cynthia Thornton who said she was with Barbara Desoer's office.

She Apologized for all the run around we've experienced for the past year and she assured me that she will personally make sure we get processed for a Mod as quickly as possible.

She said she had everything in our file she needed but a more recent pay stub so she wants me to fax that over to her..... (I've tried like 20 times but keep getting a "Remote Fax Error") Uhg!
She said she's going to assign us a Senior Negotiator to quickly get us through this.....

It sounds like it might just work this time...

I can't thank this website enough....Without the information on this site, I would have had no idea where to turn for help and ultimately was just days away from just giving up and letting them have the home.....

I'll keep this updated.

Thank you
Thank you
Thank you,
Jesse

[ama125]

Originally Posted by jesse331

UPDATE:

After emailing Barbara Desoer only yesterday,
I received a call this evening from a Cynthia Thornton who said she was with Barbara Desoer's office.

She Apologized for all the run around we've experienced for the past year and she assured me that she will personally make sure we get processed for a Mod as quickly as possible.

She said she had everything in our file she needed but a more recent pay stub so she wants me to fax that over to her..... (I've tried like 20 times but keep getting a "Remote Fax Error") Uhg!
She said she's going to assign us a Senior Negotiator to quickly get us through this.....

It sounds like it might just work this time...

I can't thank this website enough....Without the information on this site, I would have had no idea where to turn for help and ultimately was just days away from just giving up and letting them have the home.....

I'll keep this updated.

Thank you
Thank you
Thank you,
Jesse

Glad you got a call. They are prompt in replying to the initial email. I was able to get a negotiator assigned quite promptly too, but just prepare yourself in advance for when you do get to speak to a negotiator. I recommend reading up on FHA-HAMP to see if you qualify and have questions ready (http://portal.hud.gov/pls/portal/url...4400144F9D3D85). There is no guarantee that they will be able to give you a mod, but don't feel discouraged. Right now, just be happy that you are making some progress. Try to know your options and discuss those with the negotiator. Since you've already been given the okay on a partial claim, you may be able to get into FHA-HAMP if you meet the other criteria. FHA-HAMP uses partial claim paired with a modification. It was only made effective in August so the servicers may still be implementing the finer details of it. There is no NPV test for it like the regular HAMP program so you needn't worry about that. There are lots of other folks on the forums here with FHA loans. Good luck to you and be sure to keep updating on what you find out.

[jesse331]

Originally Posted by ama125

Glad you got a call. They are prompt in replying to the initial email. I was able to get a negotiator assigned quite promptly too, but just prepare yourself in advance for when you do get to speak to a negotiator. I recommend reading up on FHA-HAMP to see if you qualify and have questions ready (http://portal.hud.gov/pls/portal/url...4400144F9D3D85). There is no guarantee that they will be able to give you a mod, but don't feel discouraged. Right now, just be happy that you are making some progress. Try to know your options and discuss those with the negotiator. Since you've already been given the okay on a partial claim, you may be able to get into FHA-HAMP if you meet the other criteria. FHA-HAMP uses partial claim paired with a modification. It was only made effective in August so the servicers may still be implementing the finer details of it. There is no NPV test for it like the regular HAMP program so you needn't worry about that. There are lots of other folks on the forums here with FHA loans. Good luck to you and be sure to keep updating on what you find out.

thanks,

I read the entire article on the FHA-HAMP and we easily meet all the qualifications for the mod.

I had to decline the previous partial claim they offered...it wouldn't have helped us in the long run because it did nothing to lower the payment....

Now if they agree to give use an FHA Mod as the FHA-HAMP documents state it is supposed to be offered then we'll be just fine.... It will leave us with a 900-1000 payment instead of the 1900 we got now

We'll see what happens....Wish us good luck

Jess

[ama125]

Originally Posted by jesse331

thanks,

I read the entire article on the FHA-HAMP and we easily meet all the qualifications for the mod.

I had to decline the previous partial claim they offered...it wouldn't have helped us in the long run because it did nothing to lower the payment....

Now if they agree to give use an FHA Mod as the FHA-HAMP documents state it is supposed to be offered then we'll be just fine.... It will leave us with a 900-1000 payment instead of the 1900 we got now

We'll see what happens....Wish us good luck

Jess

I've got my fingers crossed for you! I've seen sooo many others here with FHA loans, I would love to see one with a successful modification! All the ones I know of are still hanging in there and trying! Good luck!

[cleach]

Oh, I sure hope it works for you!

[jesse331]

Ok sorry guys I've slacked a bit on keeping this updated...I've been working allot lately.

After being denied HAMP assistance from Cynthia Thornton I waited a couple days and emailed the OOP again, this time we recieved a call from a Heidi McNaughton....Heidi had me fax all the information again and sure enough, three days later I received a call from a guy saying that we were denied for a HAMP Mod. He would not explain why but he did say it had something to do with the investor on our mortgage.

So as of today we have been denied all HAMP assistance twice now and today we got served the LP...

Let the games begin.... I'm going to find every legal loop hole in the book to stall this foreclosure. We more then qualify for the HAMP Mod so there is no good reason why they keep declining us. I'm going to make them work for this foreclosure!

Oh yeah and another funny thing...they filed a court paper saying that they lost our Original Note and Mortgage.

I'll tell you what.......BOA sucks!

[heidi79]

I'm glad you're getting somewhere!

Keep us updated on how things go. FHA mods are a little different from other hamps but hopefully all will go well, any info you can provide on the workout would be helpful for others with FHA loans.

[jesse331]

Originally Posted by heidi79

I'm glad you're getting somewhere!

Keep us updated on how things go. FHA mods are a little different from other hamps but hopefully all will go well, any info you can provide on the workout would be helpful for others with FHA loans.

Heidi, I don't think you read my last post correctly...It says we were served the Lis Pendens.... There are no more hopes of a Mod.

[bellebelle]

Hi Jesse,

I watched something about 1/2 yr ago about a group that was helping homeowners with foreclosures. There were paticulars about it I esp. recall, that in the state of FL when they don't have your original note or mortgage they don't have a legal leg to stand on. They may be a chance you can get your house scott free, but you probably don't have a second to loose. I remember the story becasue it was in the media (Katie Couric, morning program) and I checked into it to see if the law was the same in GA and it isn't - FL has laws that make it easier for the banks to screw up and give you a free house.

Start calling attorneys and asking about this. Or google it. After all, it's our combined tax money they are getting to bail them out.

Good Luck. Don't make it easy for them!