Faces Of Foreclosure

Treasury Department announces permanent mod plan
November 30, 2009

The Treasury Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a plan to help borrowers convert to permanent loan modifications. As expected, the announcement emphasized the importance of ushering borrowers currently in trial modifications into permanent modifications.

Phyllis Caldwell, chief of the Treasury Department’s Homeownership Preservation Office, said in a press release that with the success of the trial modification program, agency officials will aim to augment the permanent modification plans. “We now must refocus our efforts on the conversion phase to ensure that borrowers and servicers know what their responsibilities are in converting trial modifications to permanent ones,” Caldwell said.

The plan would involve applying more pressure on banks to convert trial modifications into permanent ones. It’s a task that has proved tricky — while over 650,000 borrowers have qualified for trial modifications under the Treasury’s program Making Home Affordable only 375,000 of those are expected to transition to permanent modifications by the end of 2009.

The Treasury plans to disclose how many permanent modifications each bank implements, according to Michael Barr, assistant secretary for financial institutions, a move intended to call out those banks that aren’t performing adequately. “We’re going to be quite focused and direct on particular institutions that are not doing a good job,” Barr said. “Some firms ought to be embarrassed, and they will be.”

A comment from one of the readers of this article:

It is my hope that Ms. Caldwell takes her role seriously, takes no prisoners with regard to enforcement of mortgage servicer slackers, and facilitates IMMEDIATE REMEDIES and SOLUTIONS for homeowners. This problem is an embarrassment to our country! It doesn’t make sense how banks/mortgage servicers are dragging their feet when slated to receive “incentives of several thousand dollars for each mortgage they agree to modify with lower payments. Those payments aren’t made until the modification is permanent.” In fact, it seems more evident that banks/mortgage servicers are benefitting from foreclosures . . . from what? Insurance and government backing for losses?

In a recent meeting with a local real estate agent, she named Chase as the worst bank in all of the mess, followed closely by Wells Fargo. And I just found this re Chase . . . this is shocking. Can’t charters be pulled from banks? Why are they unregulated and out of control?

I’ve been in an on-going nightmare with Chase since mid-2003, involving them forcing me into bankruptcy then to save my home, and the last year and a half of misfeasance, malfeasance, simple incompetence and outright greed. My “three-month modification trial period” has now stretched to eight months, with no end in sight, and no guarantee of anything resembling an equitable mortgage from this. At one point, Chase attempted to have us falsify our incomes to get a better deal. And reporting this occurance, which is a felony, to several federal agencies got us nowhere. Nothing has been done, and it looks like my only remedy is going to be to sue Chase in federal court to see if I can get a mortgage out of them for something less than the 11 3/4% I’m paying now.

A favorite:

The banks are not honoring the agreement they made with the government. They should be fined $1 millions a day until they start modifying loans. Banks want the program to fail. Our government needs to step it up and make the banks accountable.

And then there is Wells Fargo . . .This from Alex Strobel on December 14, 2009:

Wells Fargo has been participating in the Making Home Affordable Program since April 13, 2009 by providing homeowners with home loan mortgage modifications. The numbers:

Wells Fargo has potentially 334,949 homeowners who qualify for a home loan mortgage modification through the Making Home Affordable Program. There are currently 96,137 homeowners in a home loan modification trail period and Wells Fargo has made 3,537 home loan mortgage modifications permanent.

Responses to this included:

We met all the requirements and applied for the HAMP program with Wells Fargo and were told that our “investor” is not participating in the HAMP program only to find out that Wells Fargo is actually our investor. They approved us for their “in-house” modification program, and put us on a 3 month forbearance. We made our final payment on Dec. 1st. We then received a notice saying we need to come up with $14,000 by January 5, 2010 or risk foreclosure proceedings. I have called and emailed Wells Fargo and am waiting for a call back. They are they are putting homeowners through a vicious obstacle course, many won’t find their way, and their lives will be horribly effected in the process. (Coming from a homeowner that had 800+ credit score, now low 600’s, and still no relief from Wells Fargo, just more panic attacks.) Good luck economy!

A gentleman named “Larry” notes that Wells are “bastards” and “good for nothing scum bags.”

So much for Forbearance Agreements:

January 4, 2010: A Realtor/friend said today: “Be careful. Wells Fargo just foreclosed without notice on a home that was in the middle of the three month forbearance agreement.” Apparently Wells (and other lenders) do not have the ability to modify any loans it has sold (and my loan has been sold repeatedly). I was pleased in 2006 when Wells Fargo took on my mortgage; I had no idea that lenders were then bundling and selling them willy nilly. This has been a painful lesson.

January 5, 2010: A couple knocked on my door around 4 p.m. wanting to know if the open house was over. Surprised, I told them they must mean Point San Pedro Road. They said they were new to the area and weren’t sure. (I subsequently checked — there is NO address similar to mine on Point San Pedro Road — it is my house they came to view, but I see nothing on the Internet to indicate that it is up for sale — this strikes me as insider information. The woman was about 45, blonde, 5’7”, trim. The man was around 60, about 5’8”, quite portly, somewhat seedy and smoking cigarettes. She spoke. He said nothing.)

I was delighted when on December 23, 2009 (after one year of “negotiations”) I received a Forbearance Agreement from Wells Fargo with a modification within my income structure. A polite Wells Fargo rep explained that the language on those “Agreements” is “boilerplate.” That doesn’t seem to be true: Basically, you do give away your rights, the lender “in its sole discretion and without further notice to you (me), may terminate this Agreement . . . and may foreclose . . .

January 5, 2010: eMail to Wachovia and Wells Fargo: Do you have any idea what is going on? Does Wells Fargo have the power to save anyone’s home?

I have written to Wells Fargo’s CEO and CFO for an explanation of the Agreement and requested a copy of the note as it is now held so I know with whom I am dealing. No response as yet. I CAN afford the restructured agreement as noted in the forebearance — without undue problems.

My negoiator said it might go up a couple of hundred dollars when it is finalized — that is affordable also. However, if lenders really do not want to help anyone with anything, or actually cannot help, what are we all doing? Will you kindly assist me in getting a copy of the note asap or tell me who to contact?

I speak for millions of Americans when I say this is really sad; this absolutely should not be happening in America.