I need to warn potential future customers of a bad company to deal with. This story will be as brief and to the point as possible. Unfortunatley it is a very long story and can't all be told here. I would love to elaborate the full story to anyone intersted in all of the details.
We purchased our first home 7 years ago, And with our motgage brokers assurance went with MCAP. Our first mistake. This company has lied and cheated us out of our home and will never get any business from us or our friends ever.
We live(d) in High River during last June 2013 devastating floods. It was a unprecedented disaster that destroyed 1/2 of our towns homes and businesses. We were evacuated from High River and locked out for 12 days until it was deemed safe to re-enter and clean up. We spent a better part of the week throwing every single one of our possesions into the trash. We contacted MCAP to update them about the house. We have applied to the Alberta Governement for the disaster relief program to get assistence in re-building the house.
We asked MCAP if they could put 6-12 mortgage payments to the back end of the mortgage until we are able to repair/rebuild the house. And the fact that we are not allowed into the building as deemed unsafe by Alberta health authorities. They agreed to a few payments and to keep in contact. 4 months later they statrted pulling payments out of our account without us knowing. We contacted them to seee what was happening and to see if they could go a few more payments (As we had to rent another home in the process), and the DRP is incredibly slow. (Another story).
They said NO and wanted to call in the loan for 4 missed payments. I reminded them of the destruction and that they agreed to go a few payments until the house will be repaired. After a very heated call, one week before christmas. The girl on the other end of the phone was quite frank in saying, "why would we want to wait for money from you or the governement when your home is CMHC insured and we can get the funds now. I stated, that she can wait to see if we will decide to continue paying the mortgage , or default.
The normal process is 3 missed paymnets, is it not? It turns out they backdated the missed mortgage payments and renegged on our agreement. Very underhanded and sneaky. Actually lying. So we are in court again tomorrow for the second time. As the judge did award them back the house, and put a $200.000 judgement on us, but he stayed it for 4 months until we see if the DRP is going to pony up. (they undervalued our property at about $105,000, the reason for the judgement difference. It was worth about $330,000 pre-flood).
The fight continues........
One footnote. If you are thinking of buying your first home, please do not use CMHC insurance and a low downpayment. Save up all of your money to ensure you have the 20% down payment. Did you know that if you use CMHC, and for any unseen reason you default your loan, you are personalby liable for the difference and can be sued. BUT, if you do not have CMHC insurance and you are in a situation that forces you to default, you walk away from your mortgage, that is it. The bank cannot go after you for any financial loss. They get the house back and thats it. End of story. So not only do we lose our house, every personal item we had, but CMHC will most likely come after us for any shortfall in the home ($200,000)
Starting over at 50 is not easy. (actually starting -$200.000 at 50 is not going to be good)
If I can get anything out of my expereince, I want to pass along my message. Please, Do not use MCAP Mortgage.
Thanl you for reading this.