Have been a lurker in these forums since 2007, and have benefitted greatly by it. I feel helpless while typing this and filled with anger and sadness and would be grateful for any suggestions.
I have had an excellent credit history and have always been prompt in all my payments. I had arranged for automatic deduction of monthly mortgage payments from my Bank account. Prior to the incident described below I had NEVER missed a payment or have been late in my payments in the 16 odd years I had been a home owner. I had not applied for restructuring of payments or reduction in mortgage due to hardship. This is my sole home and only real estate.
Due to an internal mistake by Chase Bank, they stopped taking payments from my account and the account went into default. Immediately upon coming to know about this, I contacted Chase Bank by telephone and had innumerable discussions with various personnel, who assured me that the mix up is being resolved and the payments would be deducted once again upon resolution. I wanted to send subsequent payments by mail but was told not to since payments cant be posted till the issue is resolved. I have my notes during these conversations as well as phone records during this time as proof of this effort.
While the above discussions were going on I came to know that my home is under foreclosure proceedings. I was still in touch with Chase Bank and they continued to assure me that the issue is being resolved. Twice an auction date was fixed and then postponed by Chase Bank after I came to know of it and called them.
In the meantime, after Chase promised me that they were postponing a new sale date set, they still went ahead with the auction, and in the absence of a bidder home reverted back to Fannie Mae. Again I called Chase Bank and spoke to an Escalation Manager who said she would research the account and call back in a few days. She did call me and told me that she got approval to reinstate the loan account and rescind the sale if I make a payment of the reinstatement amount by certified check to an address which she gave. She also gave me the contact details of their attorney’s office where she was going to send the reinstatement amount. (Apparently she could not let me know the amount).
The attorney’s office had a record of a call from the escalation department but no information of a reinstatement amount. Now the escalation department of Chase stopped responding to my calls. I faxed them two letters requesting for reinstatement amount. Chase did not respond back and instead started eviction process. I was now constrained to hire an attorney. Eviction process got temporarily halted due to legal proceedings.
About 2 weeks ago a notice was pasted on our door asking us to move out within 24 hours. Our attorney requested Fannie Mae attorney to delay eviction while we try reinstate the account, to no avail. My attorney then advised us to vacate the property immediately, which we did. I understand a Realtor’s sign has now been affixed to our property and it is being shown to potential buyers.
In fairness, it is not exactly Fannie Mae’s doing that has me in this predicament. It was Chase Bank which stopped taking payments for reasons best known to them. It was Chase Bank who kept taking my calls and promising me that they are working on the problem and it will be resolved shortly. It was Chase Bank again who would not take additional payments until their internal payment system is resolved. All of my numerous inquiries are logged in their system and I can back it up with my phone records, notes and names of people.
Now we are in a bind. The promises of Chase kept us waiting it out till it was too late. Since a lawsuit is pending we cannot contact any of the parties: Bank, Fannie Mae etc. Same is the situation with our elected representative who is also similarly constrained. Other than the time when he signed us up, our lawyer is very busy and not available by phone and sends out one liner responses to our queries. He advises us that per Fannie Mae, reinstatement or rescinding sale is not an option and we have to pay off the loan or lose the house. To pay off the loan we will have to liquidate our entire retirement 401K accounts and still have the albatross of foreclosure in our credit report. We have no interest in pursuing a lawsuit and would gladly withdraw the same if it is possible for us to speak directly to Fannie Mae and get the situation resolved, sale rescinded and the account reinstated as promised my Chase Bank. At the same time, considering our experience thus far, if we were to withdraw the lawsuit, we are concerned that Fannie Mae would go ahead and sell the house making our efforts till now infructuous.
Any suggestions folks?