Complaint Review: US Bank - Portland Oregon

I hope you can help expose an issue that I really don't know what to call or what to do regarding our need for assistance under the Federal Financial Stability Plan Making Home Affordable that was recently put into play by the Obama administration. Here is a quick summary of what we are up against. I am sure there are others many who won't know until it is too late!

Two years ago we went to the USBank branch with big/bold Red, White, and Blue letters advertising refinance your home mortgage now and subsequently did and received a lower interest rate. Recently I was laid off so we began the panic of what to do about the time Obama announced the above plan. (Early February) We went to the website, answered the questions and never fit a definition so perfectly and believed we were going to get help. After no less than 8 confusing and frustrating hours on the phone with US Bank, I decided to go to the downtown mortgage office and speak directly to an officer. I really think he wanted to help and seemed to try but the bottom line at this time . . . surprise!! . . . we don't have a mortgage, we have a 1st Lien Equity Line and as a result, cannot get the assistance we need. As he explained - back then, there were a lot of things being done that maybe should not have been being done. Quick loans in a branch for example without going through the mortgage department protocol. He referenced the bank President at the time and his operating philosophy and went on to tell a convincing story why US Bank should not have done what they did and that at the time, it really didn't matter. Nobody really knew or differentiated between a loan and a mortgage - it just didn't matter. "Who knew?" was one of his comments.

Now suddenly it matters. As a result, we are shut out of any help or hope for a modification on our loan/mortgage and we likely cannot qualify to refinance the conventional way as a result of less income. Had we not gone to US Bank on that fateful day and requalified our true mortgage to a loan - then that day while I sat with the US Bank Mortgage officer, I could have signed a piece of paper and walked out with a ~2% reduction in interest. No words can explain how sick and betrayed I felt and how wrong this situation is.

Regarding paper - I showed the original documents we signed to the officer and again, he agrees - to us it looks like a refinance of a mortgage to a mortgage. The word mortgage is all over the forms, interwoven with the word loan. Nothing to call attention to the difference. Annually we claim a mortgage deduction on our taxes. Looks like/acts like a mortgage until we need help. That little bit of help could determine if we fail to hold onto our home during this very difficult time. We are not living in the streets - we are not living in a mansion. I would consider our social rank as middle class. A regular John and Jane Doe trying to keep the home we have had for 19 years, playing right by all the rules and never missing payments. What can we do? What can be done for future fellow surprise candidates?

Russ

Tualatin, Oregon

U.S.A.