In October of 2005, I used my last payment stub provided in the payment booklet from Everhome Mortgage. I did not receive a new payment booklet in the mail as I expected. Near the end of November 2005, I logged onto Everhome's website in an attempt to locate a mailing address that I could send the November payment to. I obtained an address in the state of California to send a payment to (see Attachment #1). Also at the time, it came to my attention that Everhome had an incorrect address listed for me on their website, an address in Southern California that I have never lived at. It is important to note that at no time has the property address of this home/loan changed, nor did I ever request from Everhome that they change my address. In June of 2005 I obtained a P.O. Box, but I still receive mail at the physical address as well. Attachment #2 shows a copy of my check for November 2005, as well as a request to correct the address they had on file.
By January of 2006, the check I had mailed Everhome had not cleared the bank. I sent a second letter to Everhome in early February 2006 (see Attachment #3 and Attachment #4). I again requested a new payment booklet, that my address be corrected, that my last name be changed on the loan due to marriage, and I inquired as to why the last check I sent had not been cashed. Out of concern that the check had fallen into the wrong hands, I put a stop on it, which I explained in the letter. I also attached another check. Until I could be assured that my checks were being posted correctly and that Everhome had acknowledged the address error, I did not feel comfortable sending one check to cover the last three months.
By late February 2006, I still had not heard from Everhome Mortgage via mail, telephone or e-mail. The letter I mailed February 8th, did include my e-mail address so they now had an additional way to contact me. Near the end of February, I attempted to log-in to the Everhome website to check to see if they had corrected the address error, and to make a web-payment on-line, as sending checks to the company was becoming a clear waste of time. I was not able to log-on to the website with my Log-In and Password that I had established in the fall of 2005. At that time, I again called Everhome and was able to reach someone in customer service. I was told that they could not speak with me regarding my loan, as it had been forwarded to an attorney in Anchorage for collections.
I then contacted the firm of Routh & Crabtee. At the time of my call, I was told that they had just received the paperwork, and it was so new that I could come in immediately and pay a reinstatement fee to stop the foreclosure process. I was prepared to come in and pay the amount, which I believed would be approximately $6,475. I was e-mailed a reinstatement document (see attachment #5). Upon reviewing the document, I noticed that the reinstatement fee was significantly higher due to the additional costs of foreclosure and late fees. I immediately contacted Routh & Crabtree and explained the situation, asking that this matter be investigated. I did not feel that it was reasonable or fair to ask me to pay for late fees or foreclosure costs when I had been attempting to contact Everhome regarding this loan for over 4 months.
At that time (March of 2006), I sent my first e-mail to Andy Ratcliff at Routh & Crabtree (see Attachment #6). As you can see by reading the attachment, Andy replied with the reinstatement spreadsheet, as well as collections notes from Everhome. It should be noted that I have reviewed the collection notes and it is very apparent that Everhome had an incorrect address for this loan, an incorrect phone number, and my communications regarding the address problem, payment booklet and name change were not being forwarded on to the appropriate department or individual.
Attachment #7 is an e-mail from me to Andy at Routh & Crabtree. By that time, I had mailed Andy everything that I had in my file, per his request. He stated via e-mail that he sent my documents to Everhome for review. As of January 25th, 2007, Everhome has no record of receiving these documents.
On March 27th, 2006, I again contacted Andy via e-mail, requesting the status of this with Everhome. As you can read in Attachment #8, I was told that they were still waiting on Everhome.
Near the end of April 2006, I again sent another e-mail to Andy requesting an update and I did not receive a response. Also at the time, I received a letter from Everhome, returning one of the checks I had sent, and a letter explaining that the loan was sent to collections (attachment #9). Although I did not receive this letter until April, it was dated February 18, 2006, with the incorrect address. This was over 3 months after I had notified Everhome that they had the wrong address for me in their system.
I again sent an e-mail to Andy on May 18th, 2006 requesting an update. As you can see, I was told that Everhome was still working on it, with a project resolution date of June 1st (see attachment #10).
On June 5th, 2006, I again contacted Routh & Crabtree via e-mail, requesting an update. I did not receive a response to the e-mail (see attachment # 11). On September 5th, 2006 I sent another e-mail to Rick at Routh & Crabtree requesting an update since it had been 3 months since I had last heard from anyone. I was again, told that Everhome was following up on it.
In December 2006, my husband, suggested that we contact someone at the Consumer Credit Counseling Agency of Alaska since my efforts to resolve this problem with Everhome and Routh & Crabtree seemed to going nowhere.
I have since had several phone appointments with Rick of CCC Alaska to discuss this problem. We have together (via phone) contacted both Everhome, and Routh & Crabtree regarding this loan.
As of January 16th, 2007, per Rose at Routh & Crabtree, they have had no contact with Everhome since October of 2006. That same day, we contacted Everhome, requesting status of this loan. We were told that it was being researched. A representative agreed to mail me a loss mitigation packet (see attachment #12). It should be noted that the loss mitigation letter states that approval of a program would prevent a referral to a foreclosure attorney. This loan was already referred to Routh & Crabtree over one year ago. At this time, we were also told by both of the above parties, that this foreclosure was still on-hold.
On January 23rd, 2007, I noticed a vehicle drive by my home and take a picture of it with a digital camera. I contacted Rose at Routh & Crabtree to again ask her what the status was. She assured me that she would see what she could find out by sending a message to a web site, which would then be forwarded to Everhome. She stated that they (Routh & Crabtree), had no specific point of contact, only the loss mitigation department telephone number.
I spoke with Rick with CCC of Alaska again on Thursday, January 25th, 2007. Together we contacted Everhome Mortgage Loss Mitigation Department and spoke with Keon. Keon stated that she had no information in her system that showed I had attempted to dispute this loan going to foreclosure. She recommended that we contact Routh & Crabtree again. I stated that Routh & Crabtree has consistently told me that the investigation was being handled by Everhome and that they had told me they used an intermidary web-site to forward messages to Everhome. Keon stated that web-site was for reinstatement figures only, and that indeed Routh & Crabtree had other ways to contact Everhome. We ended the phone call with Keon's recommendation that I again send all documents that I had regarding this foreclosure to Routh & Crabtree. Rick and I then contacted Rose at Routh & Crabtree. Rose stated that she had contacted Everhome, but had not heard back from anyone. She told us that the file she had did contain the documents I had sent to Routh & Crabtree back in early 2006. She noted to us that there had been an e-mail sent to Everhome in June of 2006 and again on January 22nd, 2007. When asked by Rick what would occur if Everhome proceeded with the foreclosure despite the obvious investigation, she stated they (Routh & Crabtree) would proceed on their end. When asked by Rick what generally occurs when it is apparent that a client is not being treated reasonable or fairly, she stated they would point this out to the client and recommend they obtain their own attorney. We asked that she relay the information we discussed to Rick upon his return to the office on Monday, January 29th and that I be contacted if anything had changed.
It is my goal that this matter be resolved as quickly as possible, with a fair and reasonable resolution. By evidence of this information, it is obvious that I have tried to resolve this matter on my own, without success. I am currently willing and able to pay the monthly mortgage payments on my home, but I have been unable to do so for the last 14 months. As I stated before, I would like Everhome to remove this loan from foreclosure, accept a large bulk payment towards the loan, and work with me to set-up a payment plan to bring the loan current. Everhome should clearly accept responsibility for the mistakes they made in handling my loan and for essentially ignoring my repeated attempts to resolve this matter.
Update: in late February of 2007, we were able to obtain e-mail address's for individuals at Everhome. The counselor from CCCSofAK was able to reach individuals who stated they would be sending me a letter with a response, after researching my file. They were to have mailed the letter to me on or about February 23rd. I have still not received this letter.
On March 21st, a default letter was placed on my front door stating EverHome was foreclosing on the propery. Prior this notice, no one at Everhome or Routh & Crabtree had notified me of this decision. Rick and I have been very consistent in contacting Routh & Crabtree regarding this situation so they were fully aware that I requested to be contacted immediately if they had any communications with Everhome. I then contacted the Research Department Supervisor (I had the # only because of the e-mail) to find out why I had not received the letter. She agreed to fax a copy to my office. The letter was a form letter that did not address my file whatsoever. It simply stated that I was responsible for making the payments and the loan was now in foreclosure. I immediately called back to the Supervisor and was put on hold for so long that I had to disconnect, as I was at work. I then received an e-mail stating that I would be contacted by someone in the default department. That individual called my home # while I was at work. I have returned her call and she has not returned mine. The counselor I have been working with also sent an e-mail to several individuals at Everhome regarding this issue and he nor I have received a reply to that e-mail.
Needless to say this situation could have been resolved quite some time ago, but due to the absolute disregard by EverHome Mortgage and Routh & Crabtree to fully research this matter and work with me on a resolution it has escalated into a foreclosure that should not be occuring. I am not sleeping at night and having episodes of anxiety and asthma, which are brought on my stress.
Julie
Eagle River, Alaska
U.S.A.