Richard Zombeck, Huffington Post blogger and founder of ShametheBanks.org was featured in an article in the Boston Globe on Friday. Unfortunately, people still love to fault the homeowner.
If you've been through HAMP hell,
suffered your own loan modification runaround,
had your share of mortgage servicing frustrations, and uncooperative servicing companies
trusted your mortgage servicer's advice to "skip mortgage payments or
ended up losing your home caused by an illegal foreclosure or
forced to fight against faulty loan accounting or twisted facts?
VISIT CrimeShouldntPay.com and voice your opinion. Fight back. Fraud is the new "F" word in foreclosures: Let's call it what it is: Fraud.
Read: In a jam, more skip mortgage payments
A small excerpt:
If you've been through HAMP hell,
suffered your own loan modification runaround,
had your share of mortgage servicing frustrations, and uncooperative servicing companies
trusted your mortgage servicer's advice to "skip mortgage payments or
ended up losing your home caused by an illegal foreclosure or
forced to fight against faulty loan accounting or twisted facts?
VISIT CrimeShouldntPay.com and voice your opinion. Fight back. Fraud is the new "F" word in foreclosures: Let's call it what it is: Fraud.
Read: In a jam, more skip mortgage payments
A small excerpt:
Richard Zombeck, 47, said he and his wife stopped making payments on their Salem home about eight months ago after a dispute with the company that services their loan. Zombeck said the company, Ocwen Financial Corp., notified them that they had been approved for a permanent loan modification but would not provide written proof. He feared that without that documentation the lender might one day seize the house they bought in 2006 for $360,000.
Ocwen representatives said they could not discuss the Zombecks' case due to privacy reasons, but added that they work hard to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
The Zombecks' financial problems began more than two years ago when their interest rate was about to reset to 11 percent, making their monthly payments unmanageable. At first, Zombeck was embarrassed by his predicament, but after hearing stories about predatory lenders and foreclosure problems, he went on the offensive. Zombeck started a website, www.ShameTheBanks.org, which features stories from homeowners in trouble. He also hired an attorney and is demanding that Ocwen reduce his mortgage payments.
"The majority of people aren't looking for a free house, they are looking for a fair deal,'' he said. "You come home every day expecting to be evicted. There is not a lot of joy in this.''
Homeowners can spend months negotiating for a loan modification, spending hours on the phone with various bank representatives and repeatedly filing documents that banks often claim have been lost...
...At the same time, public ire about the way foreclosures are conducted has mounted following admissions by major lenders that some employees signed thousands of legal documents without reviewing the paperwork, and court rulings showing some banks unlawfully seized homes. As a result, sympathy for delinquent homeowners has increased, with more being viewed as victims of predatory lenders rather than deadbeats. Attorneys general in all 50 states are investigating allegations of sloppy or fraudulent foreclosure practices.
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The people who write these responses calling homeowners deadbeats, losers, socialists, and the many other assorted names they use, are nothing more than bank employees and Wall Street types who still can't or refuse to take responsibility for what they did. These same banks who have taken some of the largest corporate welfare in this nation's history actively encourage their employees to write these comments.
WELLS FARGO LOST MY paper work even though i have the tracking number and the person whom sign for it. then even though the paper work was sent on time i was still denied a hamp loan for failure to submit paper work. i feel like i am in the twilight zone\
of mortgage modification hell. we were tole by wells fargo when an illness and under employment made me not be able to afford my mortgage and could not sell my home because we are extremely underwater "we can not HELP you until you are 3 months in default. sounds like premeditated foreclosure to me. can any one tell me doesnt each servicer get 6k for every foreclosure.
II continue to hear that mortgage servicers are encouraging borrowers to skip payments, as a step toward finding assistance. Don't believe them. It only caused additional significant harm. This bad advise has ended up leaving borrowers with ruined credit -having that caused credit card interest rate to spike -or limits cut. And still no assistance. Please read:
http://www.givemebackmycredit.com/blog/2009/04/do-not-skip-mortgage-paymentse.html
keep us posted...