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Searching the web and ran across your website. I know you've probably seen and read many examples of people getting worked over by the lenders, but take a look at mine if you have time and tell me what you think.
Will probably be sending this information in with my Foreclosure Review paperwork and it will also go to all of my representatives at the federal and state level. If nothing happens I may even send it to media outlets. We'll see....
Just filling out our Independent Foreclosure Review papers and we are beginning to wonder if a lawsuit is a possibility after a whole bunch of wrong doing by CitiMortgage during the last two years.
We saved our home by repaying $19,000.00 after 2 years of hassle, 3 modifications, and then we were finally told that we either had to repay or the home would be taken from us. We were put into this situation after simply calling to get a better interest rate. Check this out...
3 MONTH TRIAL PAYMENT (October 2009)
-- Called Citi to see about lowering our interest rate because as a self employed borrower our rate has always been high. We were NOT behind on payments. The representative told us that "Yes, we'll set you up on a modification. We can get this done pretty easy."
He told us to get started he would have to put us on a 3-month trial payment (come to find out later that this was a huge mistake on his part and ours). Our payment was just over $1,000 a month, he knocked it down to about $830. The way he made it sound was that if we did this, we would have everything taken care of in three months and our payment would be at about this lower rate.
We sent all of our financials immediately and made our payment on time the entire time. We were also in contact with them the entire time.
After probably the first month we began to be notified or told when we called them that our paperwork was lost and that we would have to resubmit our documents. This happened numerous times during this modification attempt.
In the end it took 6 MONTHS to get the modification answer. To our surprise when we received the modification we found that our monthly payment would actually go up!!!! I immediately called them and told them that we would be crazy to accept the agreement. The representative that day which was one of probably 100 that a spoke with over the two years, said that it wasn't a problem and that there were other options. So, she began another modification after we returned the paperwork for the first modification "denied"....
The same thing happened the second time as the first but we would be surprised once again. The lost paperwork and resubmitting documents continued the entire time.
We called Citi, over and over, trying to find out what was going on and why things weren't happening.
All the while we continued to pay the reduced payment of just over $830..
Then the totally unexpected happened...
FORECLOSURE PAPERS (January 2010)
We received foreclosure papers by mail which totally caught us by surprise and was totally unexpected. We were still under the assumption that we were working with Citi and that things would be taken care of. I instantly called Citi asking what was going on and why our house was suddenly put in foreclosure even with us working diligently to get the matter straightened out. Keep in mind, we were not behind on our payments and we were able to pay our regular payments but they put us on the reduced payment.
When I called, the representative finally told us that we shouldn't have been paying the reduced rate after the 3-month trial. The problem was that we had called them after and during the three month period and they told us to continue paying and we have a document stating such. They never told us to do otherwise and they continued to receive our payments. At some point you would think that they at least would have called us to point this out. But they didn't. In the end, they told us that because we weren't making our regular payments our mortgage fell far enough behind to put us in foreclosure.
So now not only did we have the stress of trying to get the mortgage straightened out but now we were actually faced with the possibility of completely losing our house that we have raised our two daughters in. Most stressful situation we have ever faced and it was caused by a single phone call to an incompetent mortgage company. We just wanted to get our interest rate lowered!!!!
FORECLOSURE LAWYER AND CITI
So now that the foreclosure preceding had begun we were then wondering when our sale would be, if there was a sale date, and what was going to happen next.
Citi representatives told us that because we were in the middle of the modification process that the foreclosure would be put on hold.
The problem was that we were served papers, our name was put in the local paper, and a sale date was set, and of course the County Sheriff came to the door to serve the papers and put the sticker on our door unexpectedly. Actually we weren't served the papers by hand but had to go to the Sheriff's office to pick up the paperwork. They did put the sticker on the door though. None the less, a horrible experience.
Then, of course, we were surprised once again. After telling us that the foreclosure was on hold we received another letter from Citi saying that the agreement we made was not good or hadn't been followed and that the foreclosure would continue.
We called Citi again and the rep had to "check into" whether the foreclosure was put on hold or not. They called back and said the foreclosure was put on hold. I told them that I didn't trust them because of all of the mistakes and false information they had already given me and that I wanted to call the actual lawyer in Cincinnati that was handling the foreclosure for Citi. They had to research who in Cincinnati I had to speak with and call me again to give us the number.
After calling the lawyer, they finally assured me that the foreclosure was temporarily on hold. Was good that it was put on hold but the fact still remained that our house was in foreclosure.
UNWANTED VISITORS
CitiMortgage sent people to our house on occasion to hand deliver yellow envelopes that they hung from our door with a simple note on the inside stating that we needed to call them about our mortgage. This happened numerous times and it wasn't a professional thing to be doing. The people that showed up at our door were not professional looking people and the thought that these strangers were just roaming around the kids in our neighborhood wasn't a good thing. The amazing part was what the letter stated.... "Please contact CitiMorgage".... We were contacting Citi probably 3 times a week... How ironic. You would have thought that at some point Citi would've contacted me with some answers about what was really going on... That NEVER happened, still hasn't, and never will.
WAITING ON 2010 TAXES (January 2011)
After we were denied the first modification we were told that they were going to try a tradition modification. We sent in all of our paperwork for the third time including all our financials, pay stubs, etc... etc... Months went by and nothing was being done.
So then around the first of the year (January 2011) a Citi representative tells us that she doesn't know why they were trying a traditional modification because we wouldn't qualify for that, blowing up everything we had done entirely. Yes, it was AMAZING!!! More wasted time, money, interest, lawyer fees, etc... etc... Someone by now is making money off of our single phone call that we made at the very beginning to get our interest rate lowered.... The nightmare continues...
Now the representative tells us that to get going on the new modification that we would have to get our 2010 tax returns done. So we continue to waste more time. We had already sent all of documents in two times in the last year and some of them more than that because they "lost" them.
4-MONTH AGREEMENT (FEBRUARY-MAY)
In January 2011, a Citi rep tells us that we could make a new agreement while we work out the newest modification. We were told to pay $1,000.00 per month (Feb-May) while they worked on the modification. So we did, on-time, every time. Once again we did exactly what they told us to do to get things squared away so that we could move forward. Again, according to them, we were on the right track to get things done.
By this time, we were beyond trying to get a lower interest rate which is what we called for in the first place. We were now fighting to stay in our house!!!
DECISION TIME
While this all was going on we contemplated every scenario. Should we just let the house go? Should we start looking for a place to rent? What is happening with our credit? How would our children react to having to move out of the house they've been in their entire lives? As stressful as stressful gets...
After paying the four $1,000.00 payments we finally were called by a Citi representative that finally had answers but they weren't the answers we had expected or thought we would ever have to accept.
This representative "spilled the beans" after I told her my entire story...
After learning that we were not behind on our house payments at the very beginning she told us the reason they put us on the Trial Payment Plan was to put us behind because we had to be behind on our payments to even qualify for a modification. This was astonishing to us... If they would have told us this IMPORTANT fact there is no possibility that we would have agreed to this. Period. She even agreed that it was wrong and agreed that the entire thing was wrong but she couldn't do anything about it.
The fact that Citi would put someone behind on their payments for any reason should be against the law! If we weren't behind on our payments, we weren't qualified to sign-up for the the modification and that is what they should have told us! Citi didn't tell a lie by doing this to us, but they absolutely weren't telling the truth!
So here is where the hammer falls. She tells us that the last modification attempt was not accepted and that the only option we had now was to pay the $19,000 that it would take to bring the house out of foreclosure. Amazingly we had just went a year and a half, lots of phone calls, hundreds of sheets of paper, faxes, more phone calls, stressful days, sleepless nights, and absolutely nothing had happened. Nothing. We made one call one evening hoping to get a better interest rate and it turned into a financial nightmare.
Another thing that was amazing was that during these phone calls we were speaking with people representing a giant in the banking industry, Citi, and the lack of knowledge coming from the people on the other end of the line was out of control. They had absolutely no authority and were doing nothing but answering calls giving answers, however right or wrong, and going on to the next phone call in line. And this is their "customer service" department. I could call them, speak with someone, get an answer and then call back five minutes later, speak with another rep and get a totally different answer.... I wouldn't want to know what is actually discussed behind closed doors at this company.
STAY OR GO???
This is it. Should we try to pay the outrageous amount of money (for us) to save the house we have lived in since 1997? Our first and only house, where we have happily raised two daughters who are closing in on their teenage years. Or should we get out of it by just picking up and walking away... Well, we decided to try to make it.
It would not be easy and we knew it but it is a decision that would affect us financially because it would take everything we have to make it happen.
We were put on a repayment plan that forced us to pay the $19,000 back in monthly payments in five months. Almost the entire payment was interest, late fees, and lawyer fees, meaning in the two years we went through this we didn't make a dent in our actual mortgage. Keep in mind we still paid the reduced 830 payment on time as well before we started the $1,000 payments back in February.
NOT OUT OF THE WOODS (JUNE-NOVEMBER 2011)
We ended up making a down payment on the repayment plan of about $6,000.00 and then made monthly payments of $3100.00. With my income being seasonal as a self employed individual, I knew I would be able to make it through the summer and make the payments I needed to make but that wouldn't be it for me, unlike Citi who will just see that I made the payments, mark us off as paid, and go on like nothing happened. We don't have that luxury... Citi took all of the money that I made during the summer and now my seasonal work (snow removal) will have to carry me through the winter (it doesn't always snow). The $19,000 we paid to Citi would have bought some new equipment which would have given me the confidence to go forward with expanding our business. But with ruined credit and the loss of on-hand cash, that idea was terminated.
We are definitely worse off at this moment than when we made that fateful phone call about our interest rate over two years ago!
First of all, our credit is ruined, my business has been held back because of the mortgage situation, and our financial well being and stability has been jeopardized by Citi.
RESPONSIBILITY
After all is said and done, I know that it wasn't my fault entirely and that Citi should have to take some responsibility. The only mistake I have made through this is trusting a company to treat people right and in the end I know that we were not. We simply called to see about getting our interest rate lowered and in the end we were taken down a path that led to nowhere and in the end we paid for all of the mistakes of 100's of people employed and/or paid by CitiMortgage.
I sit here typing this letter in the very home that we saved from becoming one of the 1,000's of homes that sit empty but the future is still a little fuzzy because I don't necessarily know where we are going from here.
CitiMortgage, lawyers, phone reps, investors, and all kinds of other people are getting paid with some of that $19,000 that we worked hard for and they did absolutely nothing except mess with a families future.