12/07: Upon the advice of a friend, I sent a tweet directly to my mortgage lender and they responded fairly quickly! Wow! They asked for my contact info...hopefully I can get a real person to communicate with! If that doesn't work, I'll have to start tweeting about my bad experience to the world!
12/08: Got a call from a BofA Twitter Help person...not associated with BofA however. Probably a marketing person trying to save face for BofA. She took my info/history with the lender's customer service to forward to a BofA rep....
12/09: Got a call from another Twitter BofA Help person...she said she had my info and gave me another BofA phone number to call...back to square one I guess. This number is for the Home Retention Division, which I'm sure I've already called. But she insisted I call again, "because that's who can help me".
I'm sitting on hold right now, after listening to a 5 minute spiel about the Making Home Affordable Program....another 5 minute hold with wonderfully loud music before I got to talk to another BofA rep! Not bad at all compared to the other times I've sat on hold with BofA! Trying to stay positive!
I asked him what he can tell me about my file..."can you hold on a sec"..."just trying to find some documentation"..."I don't see that you are in review at this time"..."can you tell me what you've sent?"...Seriously? You can't find anything I've sent to you. You have full access to my file right? "Right".
After telling him what I've sent he miraculously found my info in my file...ugh!
I asked for an address I can send a letter to...and it was like pulling teeth out of a snake!!! I gave him the address I had and he wanted to know where I got the address, but would not confirm that it was a correct address! "What letter are you sending?, who are you sending it to?, what else are you sending?, who told you to send a partial payment?"
...this is so frustrating...on hold again...40 minutes on this call...and I still feel like I'm on square one!!! He calculated some ridiculous amount for us to pay...a three month trial period and then maybe they will modify our loan, and maybe not! Ugh!
I just want to curl up in my bed and cry myself to sleep. I don't feel like they are really helping us. They asked for our budget info and our income (again). Then they gave us an adjusted payment amount for our loan. The problem is, the math doesn't add up. Income minus budget doesn't equal new loan payment...deep breaths!
He wanted me to make a commitment to this adjusted/temporary (3 month) payment amount and said he couldn't guarantee it would be offered after today. I called him on his pressuring me to make a decision and he said he wasn't pressuring me. I asked him what he called it, "just an offer that I cannot guarantee will be here later".
I told him I couldn't make this decision without my husband. I also asked how he could take a commitment like this from only one party on the loan docs and not each and every person on the loan? His answer..."you don't have to commit today, but I cannot guarantee this offer will be here tomorrow." I asked him what the terms are and what would happened to the missed payments and late fees. Again he was vague and said "they would remain until we got approved, if we got approved, and then that would be decided at that time."
I was on the phone for over an hour...crying most of that time...although the man I spoke with was calm, I still felt beat up by the time I hung up the phone. I felt like I was being roped into accepting a deal that I would eventually regret. Ugh!
Time to Tweet!
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Teresa/Brian,
ReplyDeleteI’ve given your situation a lot of thought and I know it is of little benefit but there are many others in similar circumstances. First and foremost, I admire your dedication and tenacity for trying to do this right for yourselves and your family, many just bail and run. The 3 month trial period the lender offered is what I understand they are supposed to do before they make it permanent.
I so wish there was an instant answer that I could provide, a silver bullet of sorts, but as you already know that is not likely to emerge and the processes and systems you must work with in the meantime are cumbersome at best. Do keep up documenting and communicating with the lender as it will support your position should you ever be required to prove your good faith attempts at resolving things. Perhaps time will evolve a lender’s “ear” that really hears your plea and has the ability to act on your behalf, or a program that leads to a successful solution, do not lose hope (easy for me to say – refer back to my first and foremost statement above…).
To the extent possible, continue to plan your options and alternatives for the next steps. I know there have been foreclosure moratoriums imposed on certain loans which may be the behind-the-scenes reason your lender has not gone down that path yet. More time is not always the answer and certainly can lead to more time to be frustrated as well.
Advice from a motivational guru I enjoy suggests we focus on the things in life that we can control. We cannot control how others react to us but we can control how we react.
All I can say is hang in there. Keep documenting and trying. They unfortunately are a business and comes down to not caring which is frustrating. The fact that you are trying to work w/ them and making a good faith effort you would think they would take each case by case. I'm sure there they are following protocol and policy, but keep trying. Hopefully someone on the mortgage company end will listen and try to work with you. Hang in there.
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