abcd Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chi-Char-Hou-Dal Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 Post this on reddit- try to get some Internet momentum behind you also call the news - good luck this is really shitty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcd Posted April 29, 2013 Author Share Posted April 29, 2013 Thank you very much Chi-Char-Hou-Dal. I have posted it on reddit. First time I visited the site. Also can you tell me what you mean by call the news? Is it write a letter to the editor? Any other suggesstions on getting internet momentum? I am a retired first generation U.S citizen and was always proud of my not being in debt, my credit history and the pursuit of the American Dream, one of which is home ownership . Just thinking about my having liquidating all my retirement accounts so I can pay off my entire home loan for no fault of mine, and then have my credit rating drop the bottom fills me with helpless fury. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 abcd, you may want to get in touch with the fellow that has this FB page. He helps mortgage customers of BOA as well as other big banks.https://www.facebook.com/keepbankofamericahonest. I have been following it for a while now. Hope you can find some help. Edit to add another link specifically speaking of Chase:http://www.keepbankofamericahonest.com/index.php/forum/2-announcements/107-j-p-morgan-chase-delays-modifications#107 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcd Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Thank you too Bubba. I have sent a message to the facebook user and hope to get a reply. I am dismayed. If this is what happens to a customer who has always made his mortgage payments and whose financial status has not changed and who can continue to make payments; what can they not do to those folks who have had a change in their financial status? Or the elderly or retired who do not have access to the internet? Is this really a mistake on the part of a big Bank or some kind of twisted strategy on their part? Just writing here and the leads that I got here is much more that what I could have got on my own without this forum. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 This is one of two reasons I don't allow banks or creditors to make automatic withdrawals from my accounts for payments. It's too easy to not pay attention and lose track of things when it happens automatically. The other is I don't want to get a nasty surprise when the account gets hit twice "by accident". Unfortunately, though Texas has good protections for your homestead, they mostly don't apply to your mortgage lender and you have to keep on top of them to make sure everything stays square. Always review your payments and keep your docs in order as you go along and consider consulting a lawyer as soon as things start to go south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I agree that you should make payments yourself, and confirm they are properly credited. I would never trust a bank to make a payment regularly on my behalf, nor would I trust a mortgage company to properly draft my account every month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcd Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 Thanks for the last two comments. I hope that it at least helps others who might be opting for automatic deductions of mortgage change their method of mortgage payment. Could someone point me to a decent attorney in the Houston area? I need to find out what my options really are under the circumstances. My current one has suddenly become very busy and always unavailable over the phone. One of my main co.ncern is that Fannie Mae may sell our home even while their attornies are negotiating with our attorney regarding the amount to be paid. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Wish I knew a decent attorney............sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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