Complaint Review: Daina Carter

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! PLEASE HELP US SAVE OUR HOME! Bank of America is at its malicious practices again!  Bank of America holds our loan but Wells Fargo manages it!  We did have a few hard years financially but we have had steady income for the past year and a half.  If we do NOT at least get a trial loan modification in writing by I next court date our home is going to be sold for way less than it is value. This is our retirement home, NOT just a House! We have spend well over $100, 00.00 in upgrades to our home, time energy, LOVE and commitment

We are in a desperate position and in need of your attention and assistance in this matter involving the mortgage on our home (Bank of America holds the mortgage but Wells Fargo manages the account) and the repeated attempts at a loan modification through Wells Fargo. Each time the application process has been initiated or corrected and re-submitted, it has been denied, ignored or delayed to death to leave us to start the process all over again, adding to our fear of going into foreclosure of our home.

We’ve read the internet article, Bank of America whistle-blower’s bombshell: “We were told to lie” (http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/bank_of_america_whistleblowers_bombshell_we_were_told_to_lie/?source=newsletter), and fear the horrid schemes are being repeated at Wells Fargo. We feel we have been going through many of the same scenarios described in the article.

We are asking for advocacy support in fighting this battle with Wells Fargo in order to save and keep our home and thought it’s time to blow the whistle on these practices against homeowners and the American public. We thank you in advance of your attention, support and hopeful resolution. Here is a quick summary of the history of this matter initiated back in early 2012:

In March 2012, we initiated the loan modification process with research and analysis and discovered we could have the current monthly mortgage payment of $7,000 lowered to $4,000 per month. We requested a loan modification, were assigned a Loan Modification Specialist (who was changed 2-3 times a month) and provided the required documents and statements. Each new Specialist that we were assigned had no history on our account and we were requested to resubmit documents and statements for each new Specialist. The process just dragged on and on with no progress.

We filed a personal Chapter 7 in May 2012 after a three-year battle with the down economy and reduction in income, even draining our reserved savings to stay afloat in our business as well personal expenses. 

In or around June 2012, we were notified that our loan modification application was denied because we were current on the mortgage payments.

Mid-August 2012, our house was taken out of our CH. 7 case, excluding it to avoid foreclosure while we were still enduring financial hardship.

Over the next three months, we did not make mortgage payments. In or around November 2012, we hired Woodinville Law to assist us in the process of applying again for a loan modification with Wells Fargo. Woodinville Law represented us in working the application paperwork and files for us several times over the next 6 months with the same stall tactics we had encountered in prior contact with Wells Fargo. Again, our applications were ignored, corrected and resubmitted, and eventually in mid-June 2013, our application was denied again.

On June 18, 2013, the internet article mentioned above was published. After reading through it, we felt our challenges and frustrations were explained.

Excerpt from the article referenced above: [Former loan-level representative Simone Gordon says flat-out in her affidavit that “we were told to lie to customers” about the receipt of documents and trial payments. She added that the bank would hold financial documents borrowers submitted for review for at least 30 days. “Once thirty days passed, Bank of America would consider many of these documents to be ‘stale’ and the homeowner would have to re-apply for a modification,” Gordon writes. Theresa Terrelonge, another ex-employee, said that the company would consistently tell homeowners to resubmit information, restarting the clock on the HAMP process.]

On or around December 2013, we hired Integrity Law Group, PLLC to assist us in the process of applying for a loan modification. We reapplied yet again. We were hopeful when we were finally able to get a phone conference appointment with a Wells Fargo Loan Modification Specialist scheduled for Thursday January 16, 2014 at 10:30am. When we went to the offices of Integrity Law Group for the conference call, they were unable to get anyone from Wells Fargo on the line. Our hopes were dashed again. We held on thinking we could eventually reschedule another conference call.

In or around April 2014, we finally got a response that we were denied because they could not consider my income from a business that I owned. At this point, the application timeframe had expired again.

In June 2014: hired another attorney, Zeshan Kahn, to get our home out of CH.7 and has been working towards getting the file closed. Apparently, after the CH.7 case was closed in August 2012, it was mysteriously reopened in October 2014 “due to a clerical error”.

In or around July 2014, Integrity Law Group reapplied for the loan modification on our behalf and due to the repeated lack of attention, process and communication, the application expired and we had to start the process all over once again.

Excerpt from article referenced above: [Worse than this, Bank of America would simply throw out documents on a consistent basis. Former case management supervisor William Wilson alleged that, during bimonthly sessions called the “blitz,” case managers and underwriters would simply deny any file with financial documents that were more than 60 days old. “During a blitz, a single team would decline between 600 and 1,500 modification files at a time,” Wilson wrote. Employees were then instructed to make up a reason for the denial to submit to the Treasury Department, which monitored the program. Others say that bank employees falsified records in the computer system and removed documents from homeowner files to make it look like the borrower did not qualify for a permanent modification.]

In or around September 2014, we hired another attorney, Todd P. Kimball, who reapplied once again for us for a loan modification – still waiting for a response to find out what we need to do to get to a trial payment to lead up to permanent modification.

In October 2014, we discovered that our home was listed on the MLS for sale by direction of the US Trustee assigned to the CH.7 case. And since then, we’ve had a number of realtors and prospective bidders insisting on coming through our home.

NOW we are frightened that once again, due to the lack of communication and process, our home will be sold out from under us. Several phone interviews have been set up but have never come to fruition because of Wells Fargo's neglect in being in the conference call with my attorneys. Mr. Kimball had a phone hearing scheduled in mid-December and Wells Fargo once again did NOT connect.  Todd calls every day between 10:00 and 11:00 A.M. and only gets a voicemail and has not, to date, received any return calls.

Excerpt from the article referenced above: [Bank of America’s mortgage servicing unit systematically lied to homeowners, fraudulently denied loan modifications, and paid their staff bonuses for deliberately pushing people into foreclosure: Yes, these allegations were suspected by any homeowner who ever had to deal with the bank to try to get a loan modification – but now they come from six former employees and one contractor, whose sworn statements were added last week to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts.

“Bank of America’s practice is to string homeowners along with no apparent intention of providing the permanent loan modifications it promises,” said Erika Brown, one of the former employees. The damning evidence would spur a series of criminal investigations of BofA executives, if we still had a rule of law in this country for Wall Street banks.]

And finally, another excerpt from the article referenced above: [These well-sourced allegations amount to an accusation of Bank of America stealing thousands of homes, and lying to the government about it. Homeowners who did everything asked of them were nevertheless pushed into foreclosure, all to fortify profits on Wall Street. There’s a clear path to punish Bank of America for this conduct. If it doesn’t result in prosecutions, it will once again confirm the sorry excuse for justice we have in America.]

In our case, since Wells Fargo manages the mortgage account for Bank of America, one might assume that the two banks work in tandem for the same objective: make as much money off of mortgaged homeowners in distress. So where would homeowners go to get protection and assistance to be able to save their homes and stay in place? Or are we left to stand by and watch the money-grubbing scavengers (the banks, realtors, and others) prey on us unfortunate victims?

Sincerely,

Mark and Daina Carter