http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/lb-in-california Everyone is focused on Predatory Lending to mean adjustable and interest only mortgages given to individuals who didn't qualify to begin with based on the path the loan was going to take. We see a payment that is so inviting, so trusting and so believable that the pride of owning a home is accomplished. I have another example of a predatory loan consultant with Countrywide Home Loans. First off, I purchased in 4/2005, I had an adjustable, interest only loan. I didn't know when I went to Countrywide to inquire about a refi, that I most likely didn't qualify for my first loan via CitiBank, but my payments were low and being made. I went to Countrywide at the end of 2005 all the way to June 9, 2006 to see if I could refi, get my taxes impounded (coming up with over $1500 twice a year was too much for me and to have an impound account meant everything to me) and add my car loan so I could write off the interest. I took in all my information, check stubs, bank statements which averaged $8000 in checking, W2's and everything else I was asked to bring. Also note that my tax refunds in excess of $4000 are directly deposited to my checking account. The loan consultant is aware of this and the balance in my checking account. The loan consultant was very pleasant, soft spoken and professional. She had me feeling right at home, right away. While she was working up some numbers, I was verifying with the Fresno County Assessor's Office, what amount would need to be impounded to cover my taxes. I was advised that $258.33 would need to be impounded each month. I check my email and I have one from the loan consultant, a closing cost estimate. I noticed the impound amout was too low at $123 something. I email the loan consultant back to advise of the info I received from the Assessor's Office. I get back an email from the loan consultant with a second closing cost estimate as an attachment, reflecting the correct amount of $258.33. So life is good. I'm told that my first loan will be $1261 a month and included the correct impound amount. I thought my first would be with P&I as I had also requested...but found out later it wasn't. Instead the P&I was only applied to the smaller second loan. When the signing day came, the loan consultant told me where to sign and made it a point to point out the pages that had the numbers $1261 and $258.33. The HUD doc had $258.33..so I had no reason to question anything. I sincerely trusted this person. I felt relieved that I didn't have to worry about my taxes. The first six months I'd glance at my statements and see $1261, then file them away. After that, I thought that I was good to go, I was in good hands and no worries about my house payments and taxes. No need to check my bank statements as I wasn't spending any money & I know my bill amounts to the penny and the Fresno Police Department Credit Union is good to let me know of any negative activity such as not having enough money in my account along with overdraft protection. Just like those with the interest only adjustables, I saw the number I could afford and that was it, I bought a home. The loan consultant decided at somepoint to change the impound amount to $123'ish (this might pay 1/4 of my yearly taxes)..she knew for the next six months that's what I'd see and be happy. By Jan of 2007 I'm in a very negative escrow balance. By July of 2007 it's so negative that the $1261 payment is now over $1600. Of course the money is in my checking along with my tax refunds..so it wasn't until 03/29/08 that I found out the impound amount had been reduced and....my gross earnings were inflated to up to $4300 from $3400 to "force qualify" me for the refi. And, no it was not a typo, it was her choice to change it. Like many of you..only the points the loan consultant wanted me to see were pointed out and from June 9, 2006 to March 29, 2008...I TRUSTED COUNTRYWIDE'S LOAN CONSULTANT. Why couldn't the consultant have said for instance..."Laura, I've worked up another option to include impounding the taxes but not paying off the car..or Laura, I'm sorry but no matter what I do to get you the loan you want, your income is just too low." At least I would have had the right to make a choice and a decision that would be a benefit to me. But there were no choices..the loan consultant had made her $6000+ and nothing else mattered. She had full knowledge of my income and full knowledge of the correct impound amount..she also had full knowledge that she was committing fraud. So just like those of you that got the adjustable, interest only, I too have a house payment I cannot afford. My loan doc's reflect the incorrect impound amount on some pages, and the correct amount on others as does my income. The incorrect amount was also given to Stewart Title. You'd think whomever typed up the loan would have questioned the discrepancies..but the supervisor to the loan consultant approved it with her signature as well. She either knew it was wrong and didn't care or she trusted the consultant like I did. In the fall of 2006 I thought I'd try selling my house (I didn't know at this time of the fraud)..and guess who came over, helped stage the house, put her flyers to include her picture, her business card and discount offers to any prospective new buyer...yes the loan consultant. While chatting over snacks I told her more than once.."I'm so glad you were able to assist me. Having my taxes impounded and a payment of $1261 took a lot of stress off me." Up until I found out all the bad news, I consistently praised and thanked the loan consultant. She had many opportunities to tell me the truth. I went to her office and spoke with her supervisor who offered no assistance or solution..she really didn't care. I've called number after number, passed from one person to another over and over, but there is no one at Countrywide Home Loans that could offer a solution or even give me the name and number of someone, anyone in a corporate position. I'm 51 yr's old, single and no where to go. I have a loan I can't afford. Had my tax refund money not been there I would have found out sooner..but now the tax money is gone and I don't make an additional $450 a month to make the payment. I've lived here since 1995 as a renter and purchased April 2005. I've worked hard to maintain good credit, pay my bills and be trustworthy. So in addition to losing the house, I lose my credit. Countrywide is excused for being dishonest, while the customer is faulted for being trusting. If anyone who reads this knows of any entity that might be able to assist me let me know. I've already emailed FDIC, FTC, BBB, HUD and any other website or email address I could find. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/lb-in-california Sat, 10 May 2008 13:26:52 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/wachovia-deceptive-and-manipulative-foreclosure-practices Wachovia Bank is one of the most deceptive and manipulative companies that I have ever had the displeasure of being forced to do business with. This company refused to give me a loan modification after originally approving me. I have numerous people involved (i.e. Fox6 News, Community Housing Works, Congressman Bob Filner) in the many but unsuccessful attempts to stop World Savings, which is now Wachovia Mortgage from taking my home. John Mattes, Fox6 News San Diego has aired my story on two recent occasions and has been in contact with Wachovia, along with Community Housing Works in an effort to try and get them to work at a loan modification with me. All attempts have been denied by Wachovia. I understand that the mortgage industry has received federal money to assist homeowners in distress. What I don't understand is with all this money given to the mortgage industry why is Wachovia Mortgage refusing to help me keep my home. The auction date for the sale of my home was February 6, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in which the house was sold back to Wachovia for $638,253.93. The loan amount that I obtained from them through a refinance in September 2005, consolidating a first and second that I had with World/Wachovia was for $562,000. (Of which $20,000 was fees charged for the consolidation of the loans, $9,000 was a prepayment penalty that I was originally told would not be charged.) I originally purchased my home in December 1995 and refinanced the current loan in September 2005. This loan is an Option Adjustable Rate Mortgage loan which I did not want but had no choice at the time. I originally fell behind in my payments because my employer for the last twelve (12) years went out of business and the payments kept going up. I have since started my own business and am now able to resume paying my mortgage. I was originally pre-approved for a loan modification from World Saving/Wachovia in August 2007. Before the final approval they informed me that they needed to speak to my employer. They told me they would contact me regarding the status of my request. When I did not receive anything from them, I called to check the status of my modification and was told that my employer never returned their call (which is totally untrue) so therefore I did not receive the modification. I explained to them that my employer had called and left a message so they agreed to allow me to resubmit documents and reapply. They told me that this would take at least thirty days. On September 17, 2007 I resubmitted the requested documents. On or around September 25, 2007 I received a Notice of Default in which they informed me not to pay my mortgage payment because they were demanding full payment of arrears and any thing less than the total amount demanded would not be applied as a payment and would not stop the foreclosure proceedings. I contacted World by fax (10/15/07, 11/2/07, 11/20/07, 11/30/07, 12/5/07 and phone several times asking for the status of my modification but was ignored. On December 4, 2007 I made an online complaint and received a generic response that due to the nature of my loan I would need to call the 800 number listed in the email. I called the number and explained that I had been contacting World Savings regarding my modification and could not get anyone to acknowledge my request. I explained that the Notice of Default had been filed on 9/12/07 and that the three (3) month deadline was near so time was of the essence. I was then told that in order to finish processing the modification agreement I would need to submit updated bank statements. I submitted the required documents the next day, 12/6/07. On December 10, 2007, two days before the deadline, I received a call from Hilary in the loan modification department informing me that they were denying my request. When I ask her what basis she said 'because we do not believe that you have the ability to pay the mortgage'. I explained to her that I had deposited over $10K from one month of sales to my checking account from a new business that I had just started. She then told me that I had not adhered to the requirements of my first modification in August. I told her I never got a modification in which she responded 'well that's our decision'. This person is the same person who originally informed me in August that my modification had been denied because I had been given one in November 2006. When I told her this was not true she faxed over confidential documents from another lender's modification. I called her and told her that she obviously had me confused with someone in which she politely apologized and asked me to shred the documents. I decided to keep them in case I needed proof of her incompetence. In addition, I also informed World Savings/Wachovia that the City of Escondido is requiring me to obtain permits on a detached structure on my property that I remodeled for a guesthouse. The city is requiring plans and modifications to the structure of which I was very willing to do. I also told them that the city was going to place a lien of public nuisance on my home if I did not either obtain the required permits for their approval or return the structure to its original condition. The city has now placed that lien which makes my home unsaleable until the conditions are met. I also told them about a lawsuit filed by my neighbor regarding drainage issues around my property that was ongoing. Since my house cannot be sold until both of these situations are resolved I don’t understand why World Savings will not work with me and allow me to keep my home and fix these problems. After being denied, I contacted Community Housing Works in December 2007 and was working with Adelina Enriquez. After attempts to work out a modification were denied by Wachovia, she enlisted Gabe del Rio, Vice President of Community Housing Works. He then contacted Wachovia and tried to help me but all his attempts were also denied. He shared my story with John Mattes at Fox6 and that is when he became involved. After John aired the first story about me, Wachovia decided to re-open my file only to deny me again. They even told John Mattes that reversing a foreclosure was impossible and accused me of being a slacker and that I had refused to accept all their offers of working with me. They also blamed Community Housing Works for not contacting them in time to work out a modification. Congressman Bob Filner, 51st District is now involved (my congressman Bill Bilbray must be too busy to help the citizens) and doing what he can to try and get this company to be reasonable. I am afraid that I have no alternatives now because of World Savings manipulative practices of foreclosure. They are well aware that I have equity in my home because I had previously sent them an appraisal of my home for $850,000 and as much as this should have helped me keep my home, I believe that was their incentive to take it. I have the ability and income (which I have proved to them several times) to pay my mortgage and am only requesting that World Savings (now Wachovia) allow me to do so. I have never had a modification through this company and I don’t understand why they have been so diligent in their efforts to not cooperate with me and allow me to keep my home that my children and I have occupied for twelve (12) years. Run from Wachovia. They will lie and cheat you everytime. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/wachovia-deceptive-and-manipulative-foreclosure-practices Wed, 07 May 2008 20:56:32 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/you-need-money-to-ensure-your-rights I never thought much of it. I was CONSUMER STUPID and just went about my life. I invested in a piece of property with a friend in the interim and life was good. I was building a career, building assets, and truly working diligently for a better future. In fact, I mistakenly assumed I could not get a loan unless I was married or had a co-signer. As a single person, self sufficient I lost too many opportunities for advancement because of what I have learned the hard way about the intentional misinformation reported by the credit reporting agencies. I was first shocked into the reality of my dire situation when I received a wage garnishment. I didn’t even know that it was a garnishment. It was listed as a loan repayment #1 on my paycheck. They were taking 50% not leaving enough funds available to even pay my mortgage let alone car insurance, food, utilities. My employer told me the money was being sent to “some plumber” and I was provided a name and address. This was bad information because the alleged plumber was a court officer who was very sympathetic but said he just sent the money my employer sent him to Citibank’s lawyers. The court officer took me to a court clerk who pulled the records and I learned about a Citibank account where I allegedly defaulted. I paid $500 (that I didn’t have) to a lawyer to find out that I was served improperly and that the garnishment was illegal. I also found out that I had the right to get specific information to prove how the debt originated. To get representation in court, I would have to pay another $2,000 which I didn’t have. Please keep in mind $2,000 seems to be the magic number for retainer fees. I pulled all of my records and found the letters from 2000 surrounding the stolen computers and appeared before a judge trying to explain I was never properly served and told her the bill did not belong to me. I was handed a card by the judge who asked if it was my signature on the certified return receipt and my address. I told her it was not and she made an assessment that I was lying without checking my signature. Citibank successfully stole approximately $7,000. Once they received their money, they sent a letter of apology stating they acknowledge the bills were not incurred legally and that I had no responsibility. I called up their lawyers to request refund of the money they admitted they were not entitled to. This was June 2006. Of course, they didn’t respond to that. I requested legal assistance to get the money back and was told it would cost $2,000 up front to initiate any action, but was told they could get me a lot more in the long run because of Citibank’s gross negligence. If I had $2,000 in the beginning, they would have never been able to illegally seize assets they weren’t entitled to. As a result of this Citibank saga, I pull my credit reports and I am shocked to see on all three reports a total of 50 different trade lines not belonging to me or not recognizable. I start writing to the credit reporting agencies disputing their information as well as the individual creditors. It took about six months for them to figure out personal information. They had me living at addresses I never lived at. My alias names were both my mother and grandmother. I was told by the credit reporting agencies I was married to my father, I was later married to a former roommate and I had a half dozen last names and variations of my social. Eventually, the personal information was corrected, but the damage was done. I was being hounded by collection agencies and attorney’s constantly alleging I was their debtor. Once the letters from the creditors started rolling in, the harassment started to cease and about 75% of the trade lines were deleted. But there were a few that lingered on and I started filling complaints with every consumer group, the Federal trade Commission, the Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Banking and Insurance, and any other agency I could uncover. One of the trade lines in particular was a Bank of America tradeline. Bank of America has purchased Fleet and I was told the code for fraud had dropped off during the transfer of data in their computers and that the charge off was an error on their part. They confirmed my new account was in excellent standing. They sent a letter confirming they asked the credit reporting agencies to delete the trade line. Two of the three agencies complied, but Trans Union decided I was putting in too many inquiries and Lynette Fullwood elected to contact my employer (a separate division owned by Bank of America) by email and freely discussed personal information. The information surrounding that old account and my letter as well as a history of my battle with their agency was discussed with a secretary of the insurance division. Our Operations Manager and the secretary put me through several hours of inquisition surrounding the old identity theft. I immediately complained about Lynette’s disclosure of personal information to individuals within the company outside of the credit card division that could easily verify validity of the document. Lynette’s response was to indicate she called the FBI on me because I was committing fraud and she didn’t like me. I became pro-active and contacted the FBI to find Lynette’s pitbull she threatened me with and they thought it was pretty funny. Another intimidation tactic used by Tans Union to persuade me to drop fighting for my civil rights. I had recently received a promotion to manage a satellite office and because of Lynette’s interference specifically stating my character was in question, my supervisor reneged on the title change, relocation expenses (of course after I paid the money out of pocket to move) and refused the pay increase that was to go along with it. Stated reason was that they were afraid that headquarters would instruct them to terminate me because of Lynette’s disturbances. I wound up suffering constant scrutiny and Lynette’s disturbance caused significant stress that reduced my performance as well as the onset of high blood pressure and chest pains. It was determined that supervisor harassment was the primary cause of the health problems and I was placed on disability. Eventually, I was informed while out on disability, I would receive a demotion to a position that would require another relocation at my expense. The company indicated they were putting me under the direct counsel of the woman Lynette had turned against me to ensure I didn’t lose any accrued time and pension benefits. I could not afford to accept the offer and because of Lynette’s activities and her conversations with this member of management about the entirety of my disputes, I was denied a severance package of 24 weeks pay, plus my insurance was canceled without the benefit of COBRA and I lost nearly $30,000. The bank is still to this day holding about $10,000 in retirement funds that they have out and out refused to transfer to a private investment fund as allowed by law. Because of Lynette’s interference from Trans Union and ongoing harassment, the employer refuses to have any discussion and refuses to pay the agreed upon severance. So I pay a lawyer $200 for my rights. Then I am referred to another lawyer who I paid $750 to start a claim (this lawyer couldn’t even account for the money upon request) and Bank of America sent him conflicting information. The lawyer then requested an additional $2,500 to pursue my severance claim and suit against Lynette Fullwood for the inappropriate actions taken by Trans Union. I did not have $2,500 to pay, therefore I could take no action. So every response and stall letter Lynette sends throughout this 18 month period, I send a letter back to her personally. I was so angry I figured if she had nothing better to do with her time, I could easily fill it with so much documentation surrounding my personal investigations and requests for specific information regarding her efforts that she would be more than willing to do the right thing to make me go away. In the meantime Lynette sends a letter regarding a Chrysler repossession stating she received information from Chrysler proving I did have an account and my car was repossessed. I never had a loan with Chrysler and Chrysler confirmed in writing they have no record of me or my social in their files. They confirmed all the credit reporting agencies delete the trade line. Chrysler even called Lynette Fullwood on 3-way and Lynette refused to tell them what information she received to justify the trade line listing. Now here is the best one and with a known violator of the FDCPA. I had a charge off with Discovercard. Discover alleges the account was solicited through a mail in my name to an address where I never lived. They also refused to talk about the trade line listing because I did not accurately answer one or more of their challenge questions correctly. DO YOU THINK MAYBE THEY HAVE THE WRONG PERSON? The account was charged off in 1999 for nonpayment. What about that statute of limitations? Discover sends a letter instructing the credit reporting agencies to delete the tradeline listing. Not one agency will comply because Discover had sold the bad debt to a junk debt buyer – Weltman Weinberg and Reis. These people are a piece of work and the principals need to be locked up for fraud. Weltman Weinberg and Reis initially sent a letter in the mail. It was a court document phishing for personal information stating that they were suing “Jane Doe” for that Discover Card account. I brought the document to the County Court House and learned from the court clerk, the document was never properly filed and that it was used fraudulently. This law firm is not a law firm. On their websites they say they are a legal professional association and not a law firm. So, the last time I checked the firm is pretending to be a law firm for intimidation. During the whole Trans Union/Lynette Fullwood fiasco, some man starts showing up at my place of employment asking a lot of questions and looking for someone with my first name but a different last name. The guy was told the person didn’t work there. Next thing I know, I get a hysterical call from my 70+ year old mother while I am at work. There was a man who had a man at her door waving a gun in her face alleging he was there to arrest me for nonpayment of that Discovercard bill. He evidently was screaming demanding to know my address, my phone number, and where I worked. He told my mother if she was any kind of mother she would cooperate and maybe he would go easy on me. Thankfully he scared her so much with his terroristic threats she couldn’t remember my personal information. Then the terrorist goes back to my place of employment and questions people in the lot. He then winds up in another part of the state again looking to serve some alleged court documents to my first name/different last name. I was called into the lobby where I worked as acting office manager and told the guy all court documents and summons regarding employees could not be accepted through the local office. It needed to go through the legal department for compliance and I provided him an address. The guy started screaming uncontrollably because he wasn’t going to go through the legal department. He wanted information from the branch. I requested he leave the premises and not to return. The man flashed his “gun” and it was apparent it was a toy gun with the orange tip removed. I had a business card, which turned out to have fraudulent information and phone numbers on it. The documents the guy was pawning off, were the same Special Civil part Court Documents phishing for personal information. The last personal contact was when they found my current address. The thug call bangs on my door last spring dressed in gray sweats claiming to be maintenance with my apartment complex. I know all of the maintenance guys and didn’t know this guy so I told him I needed to call the main office to confirm he was legit. The guy threw an envelope, hand written with my name on it and grabbed my arm. The man used profanities alleged he know I was using two names and if I didn’t pay my bill he was going to see to it I never worked again and that I lost my place to live. I took self defense and the guy was hurting as he ran off to the main road and I called the main office and the police to report the incident. Same thing, illegal use of court documents (still in the other persons name) phishing for information. Now, I complained a million times to Discover and they claim to hold no responsibility over what the junk debt buyer does. They allege they can share personal information (even if it is inaccurate) to anyone they choose. Now these extortionists of Weltman Weinberg and Reis, have been accessing my credit reports for no legitimate purposes. I have notified the credit bureau they were to be denied access to my reports and the credit reporting agencies have all disregarded me. Now the date of last activity on this old charge off from 1999 is listed as a current charge off with date of last activity being charged off this very month. Discovercard has been made aware that every month the date of last activity is updated to reflect the current month as are the credit reporting agencies. Discovercard verbally stated on the phone that Weltman Weinberg and Reis must be fraudulently reporting the trade line in Discovercard’s name and updating that date of last activity. And the kicker, no one is able to supply any information to validate the identity of the person they are trying to collect from. So I research attorney’s and to get all three credit bureaus, the alleged law firm, and Discovercard before a judge with representation we are looking at $5,000 retainer to start and I was told they would probably ask for more. These are the worst of the saga, and the items still ongoing. Look how long this story is and there is so much more with America General and their debtor Mrs. Shoeford’s who defaulted furniture winding up on my report. And many more. Trans Union and Equifax both have refused to provide free annual reports and refuse to investigate any discrepancies. I was told if I paid a monthly fee with Trans Union’s Credit Watch service they would fix my credit report. I signed up and of course it was another Trans Union lie. What I did learn is that no one in Trans Union will ever be able to help because my credit profile has been flagged as a “trouble maker” and the guy would not elucidate but indicated that was bad because my credit will NEVER reflect accurately unless I sue. Now we do have a new issue where I was defrauded by a predatory lender. I was offered a charge card through Juniper Bank and it was marketed as being a preferred provider of a professional association I belong to and partnering with a legitimate firm I do business with. I called them up and went over the terms and conditions. I explained my credit situation and stated I wanted only a $500 credit limit but the flexibility to pre-pay for business travel purposes. I was told not a problem. Within my first month of holding the card, I pre-paid and additional $1,000 by electronic transfer because I knew I was extending my stay. I called the bank to confirm he transfer. I was embarrassed at the hotel 4 days later by their denial of a $750 charge. I called to complain and only then did I learn they put a hold on all pre-payments for 45 days. I immediately canceled the card and requested full refund of the “overpayment”. The card gave me a lot of trouble about refunding that money until I threatened to go file a complaint myself in small claims court. I received my refund. After the account had been closed a fraudulent insurance charge was approved to the account and a bill as received. The bill was for a $25 insurance premium plus #4 overlimit fee because the account was closed. I called to dispute and sent a letter US Postal to confirm to their requested PO Box. The next month, I received another bill for another $25 insurance premium plus $34 overlimit fee and a $34 late fee with 30% interest on that initial; $25 and $34. I got the department of insurance involved about the fraudulent insurance billing and the insurance carrier put through a credit for everything they billed. The credit card company now has me in collection for over $600 which is solely interest and their fees. I sent proof via FedEx and my package was marked return to sender – refused. They refuse to sign for any evidence. I sent a Fed ex to their collections agency and to date no word yet, however, I am gearing up to start round 2 with the Trans Union where this crap is inappropriately listed on my credit report as a default. Now I have been detailed, I have kept records, I have written to my assemblyman, senators, my Governor, the FTC, the Consumer Affairs people, Department of Banking, Attorney General at the State and Federal Levels, and the whole 9 yards. Everyone passes the buck. No one wants to enforce the laws already in place. No one wants to address the issues. I don’t blame the private attorney’s charging fees because I understand they have expenses they need to cover and pay for but they are part of the problem and not part of the solution. The credit card extortion racket and the Credit Reporting Agencies KNOW that the average citizen cannot afford legal fees and they know that most people won’t have the intelligence or the resources to take action against them. I have been saying for years there are a million better solutions. Believe me, I wish I could get face time in front of the powers that be. It’s been unreal the harrowing experiences and the loss of employment, and the way the system has railroaded me for years. I’m in a much better place than so many others out there because these companies drive people to the edge. They drive them to the grave from medical issues, stress related issues, suicide, and more. I have the inconvenience of not being able to obtain credit for less than an extortion rate of 30%. Too bad for me, I am deterred from doing more business with white collar criminals and facing more harassment. I will never own a house unless I pay cash up front. I will never have a new car unless I pay cash up front. Is that such a bad way to live? I look dirt poor compared to counterparts I work with, but I live debt free. I have to wait until I save money for a medical procedure I need. I can’t afford all the dental work I need to have that insurance won’t cover and I have to pick and choose like roulette which medications I will pay for each month. It is difficult to live without credit the way I do, and it can be quite stressful especially when your necessities are not being met but all in all, I am better off without them. If only I could get the mess cleaned up, I could finish my degree and be eligible for a higher paying job. This is what I strive for. Civil Rights and protection under the laws already in place are reserved for the wealthy because your middle income brackets and below just don’t have the financial resources to ensure their rights will be upheld. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/you-need-money-to-ensure-your-rights Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:10:46 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/predatory-lending-builder/mortgage/title-fraud/government-complicity I was victimized by Grand Homes, the City of Richardson, Texas, Chicago Title/undisclosed partner Grand Title, Colonial Mortgage/Jon Traver, Broker for Colonial, RESMAE Mortgage, EMC Mortgage, LaSalle Bank, Bear Stearns, Premier Communities Property Management, various employees and executives and owner of Grand Homes, the attorneys for listed parties, Richardson and Collin County Courts/court reporters/judges and unable to obtain help from several local, state and federal agencies as well as my own state legislators...to name the most culpable. Contrary to what many are engineered to believe, our voice does matter and does make a difference.This letter went to CNN Headline News and several legislators regarding my experience with Predatory Lending and more: You asked for feed back…so here it is. This is my answer to your question and a bit long…but the poster-child story of what is flooding the news. I am a life-long conservative Republican and am terrified of what appears to be deliberate engineering of this country toward a Socialist/Communist society with a dependent and fearful citizenry focused on nothing but daily survival. We do not need a parent in the form of government…we do not want to be fearful of speaking up for fear of reprisals and we cannot abide the idea of waiting in line every month for food stamps and welfare. I’m disgusted with the Socialist action of bailing out these banks and doing nothing to compensate the victims and restore the faith and confidence of American citizens. How many Americans will wind up begging for welfare and the kind of assistance real Americans abhor? The wholesale and wanton theft, abuse and corruption is nothing less than Organized Crime at its worst. As my situation unfolded and I learned what I did, with no extensive financial education, I could easily see what was happening and where we were headed and realized it had been going on for a long time. I asked the obvious: If I can find what I did and see the writing on the wall, where are the buffoons who are supposed to know and who are paid by our taxes to oversee things and prosecute cases hard enough to deter further criminal activity? The value of the homes was inflated by the banks and their appraisers and the builders from the get-go. The counties know about the fraud and continue to enjoy inflated property tax payments while the homeowners don't get refunds when they finally realize the extent of the fraud. While assisting neighbors in their protests, the county assessors and board admitted their knowledge. This is not just a matter of people stupidly getting in over their heads. The ‘cause’ of the economy downturn and damage to the banks is not Foreclosures alone and not where the problem originated. Should the government bail out Bear Stearns? Are you serious? Should we reward any criminal for criminal acts? NO…absolutely not. If I robbed that bank or defrauded them of funds, you can be assured I would be prosecuted and imprisoned; not offered a reward and a pot full of money. All of the perpetrators who knew or should have known and all the politicians and officials who aided and abetted need to be fully prosecuted, separated from every last vestige of their homes, property, money, credit, credibility, reputations, family and health as victims like me and millions of other people have been damaged. Further, they need to be imprisoned with common street criminals…not sent to resort-style white collar prisons for a couple of years and released to enjoy the wealth they stole from good people. Shut these companies down and let the perpetrators reach into their own pockets/profits and pay the victims and pay for their stupidity, recklessness and crimes. It would take far less to aid in the direct recovery of the victims…including individual investors as well as the defrauded borrowers…than to aid and abet the Organized Crime in this country and give them carte blanche to return to ‘business as usual’ as was the case after the 80s. We hear all the stupidity and lies spewing from the mouths of our ‘for the people, by the people government’, but why aren’t people like me testifying before Congress with the ‘real story’ and the real details? We turn on the television and hear the ‘spin’ and the cavalier chuckles of news reporters with their “gotta love it! It’s America...” hilarity and their refusal to run the real story and then we hear “It’s the fault of the ‘victims’….yada yada” Experts, including Greenspan, have admitted to the massive fraud and have stated that there was no way the victims could have known what was going on behind the scenes and what was being perpetrated against them and yet it’s our fault. It’s like the Dark Ages of ignorance; holding a rape victim responsible for rape or a homeowner responsible for a home invasion. CNN ran a story which began with Bush, Paulson, SEC officials, Bernanke and others sitting around a conference table and the story was focused on the bail out. All we saw was a bunch of nervous officials chuckling and looking very nervous and crooked. CNN panned to Paulson walking from the White House to a podium to take questions. The first question concerned the disparity between the aid going to the criminal corporation, Bear Stearns, versus the homeowners and victims of the fraud and reckless behavior. Before Paulson answered, you went to commercial. My question for you is: Why did you cut to commercial without running the rest of the story? Why were we denied that answer? There is no accountability and no explanation…no prosecution and no restitution for people who cannot afford an attorney and will never recover their lives and what they lost. Those of us who were victims of the fraud which was originated by and perpetuated by these banks want to know why our government will not prosecute or help us directly. We want to know why the heads of these banks are walking away with their ill-gotten gain and hundreds of millions in bonuses when people like me have been destroyed by their fraudulent acts and company policies that set us up. We want to know why we were stymied at every turn with every agency at local, state and Federal level in our pursuit of justice with every form of proof necessary to prevail in our possession. Governor Spitzer spoke up about the Federal interference with State investigation and prosecution of these crimes and look where he wound up less than a month later. Funny they investigated and prosecuted him while arguably half of the people who went after him are guilty of the same or worse. My case starts with builder, mortgage and title fraud and includes open city racketeering/complicity, Federal cover ups and interference with prosecution, lack of State agency assistance, cleaned court transcripts and judicial misconduct. The origination broker was motivated by the high-yield premiums and easy acquisition of loans due to the structure provided by the banks and mortgage companies. The motivation was pure profits and their political and official cronies sat back and either participated directly or refused to do anything about it. Key elements of the mortgage were either misrepresented or not disclosed. I depended upon the professional advice and the laws and ethics codes to guide my decision and protect me. The payments and long term goals and expectations were comfortably attainable and made sense to me as they were ‘sold’. I had no idea that the structure my broker presented was designed to obtain approval by the mortgage company while I expected the bank to know better than I what I could and should be approved for. I provided the required documentation, but feel that my overall situation was either misrepresented or the bank did not care because of the pure profit involved. I did not know until much later that the sales pitches presented by the supposed independent broker were based on a builder training program which he attended and which was designed to keep me tied to the over-priced and inflated value of the new home. The appraisal was puffed at the very last minute because I refused to close when told that I needed to bring a much higher amount to closing. I had excellent credit and income and did not need to be ‘sold’ into a sub-prime mortgage other than for the purposes of a greedy mortgage broker and the banks and mortgage servicer involved. For most of these scams to succeed, all the players who profit from the sale of a home had to be working together to gain the confidence of the buyer and feed them to the next predator in the deal. The Fed and the Federal Government knew what was going on and did nothing. Politicians and local officials benefited from a variety of ‘rewards’ from the build-out through to the end game. The HUD office in Washington confirmed knowledge of all the ‘players’ in my deal and used my information to pursue yet another investigation in RESPA charges against one of the largest and oldest title companies in the country and even warned me to be careful for my personal safety. Millions of fines and back room deals and hidden results regarding these players do nothing to alter the fraud they commit daily against unsuspecting and trusting consumers. HUD was happy to use my documents and told me my docs made their case…BUT, I and the fifteen neighbors who brought stories and proof to the table were told that the statute had run out for most of us and HUD could not access victim restitution funds on our behalf. They could use the millions in fines to supplement their salaries which are paid by tax-payers and they could use those fines to build impressive and comfortable headquarters with gyms and relaxation rooms and dining rooms, but what about the victim’s damages? The fines are not large enough to deter the criminal behavior which continues as the investigations for the same offenses are opened and run concurrently to the latest ‘Settlement Agreements’. These disciplinary actions are impossible to find and the public has no hope of discovering what they need to know to protect themselves from known criminals. Statutes of Limitations in these types of cases that normally take much longer for the violations to be discovered should be eliminated, particularly when the fraudsters are known and found guilty on a repeated basis. The final insult and injury is to sit by and endure the massive bail out of these crooks with tax payers’ money while all of us are paying dearly in one way or another for the fraud responsible for bringing down the economy. The heads of these companies are not held accountable and they walk away with huge bank accounts from the fraud they committed. There are too many comments by people who were not victimized and by newscasters which put the blame on the individuals in these cases. The victims include honest, intelligent, highly educated people who had no idea what they were being set up for. How many people know that the scenario was pre-meditated? How many know that the moment we signed those documents, we are reported as Class C accounts in a hidden code on our credit bureau? I learned of this from a credit company who was kind enough to tell me about it while telling me I had a perfect record with EMC(LaSalle Bank/Bear Stearns) who had put this code on my account and while I had a perfect payment history with all my other accounts. Class C means bad collection account. This is a set up to ruin your credit and ability to borrow money; it is specifically designed to prevent your ability to refinance the ARM before it goes up and you don’t even know why because it is hidden. Destruction of your credit also limits your ability to obtain legal counsel when the crooks come after your home. EMC/LaSalle Bank/Bear Stearns are in actuality one and the same and yet they operate as separate companies while moving forward with the theft of your home and tell the courts they don’t even know who the other party is. When caught lying and committing fraud upon the court and obstructing justice; the crooked judges rule in their favor. Are there any ethical and educated attorneys out there who are willing to make an honest dollar? Apparently not…too many of them are in league with the crooks and making millions off the backs of innocent victims. These cases are complicated and the number of players adds to the possibility of ‘conflicts of interest’ for lawyers who have handled cases for one or more of the crooks. The rest want a monthly retainer to pay their salaries while they string their clients along, advise them badly and ‘lose’ the case once they have pocketed the last dime of the current ‘victim’. In my case, as in others, EMC (Bear Stearns) promised not to foreclose and work with me while I expended all the time and effort fighting the builder and title issues which created encumbrances, destroyed my property value and prevented my legal conveyance of the property to protect myself. While the city openly aided the builder and allowed violations of building codes, muni codes and city drafted deed restrictions and Homeowner Association documents without following legal process of obtaining variances and such and while the builder sent extortion letters to me and made extortive and coercive demands and while they filed ‘purchased’ and/or coerced affidavits and ‘dirty hands’ court documents and more…EMC(LaSalle Bank/Bear Stearns) acknowledged that my efforts would benefit them. Their advice that I not file bankruptcy and not incur any expense other than fighting for my property and rights was merely given to facilitate their hitting me broadside with an unexpected foreclosure. How many know that a large number of foreclosures were accomplished with pre-designed and bogus bank ‘mistakes’ which stripped many people of homes they had paid timely on for many years. These escrow and payment ‘irregularities’ are played out while the borrower does everything they can to fix the problem while the bank has no intention to do so. When news reporters ran these stories with evidence and victim’s interviews locally several years ago…the station which just happens to be owned by a big bank fired the reporter and the series on this fraud was never finished. It was all spelled out and then squashed and now we are in this huge economical crisis. By the way, millions of people bought the shoddy homes and signed the fraudulent loans after these abuses were brought into the light of day; and nobody knew??? Insiders at EMC (servicer), attorney in fact for LaSalle Bank for Bear Stearns, call the victims Joe and Judy Jerk and they laugh in their meetings while they decide who to foreclose on this month and call it ‘whacking baby seals’; because they know these people are innocent and have no idea what is coming. EMC is a known foreclosure mill to whom ‘packages’ of mortgages are sold as collection accounts which are in actuality being paid timely at the time the mortgages are ‘transferred’. They follow a modus operandi which has been documented by one victim after another who is dazed and confused by the time they are thrown out in the street…some at gunpoint with no due process at all. Bear Stearns’s ‘stellar financial reputation’ was a lie perpetuated by the FEDs who already knew about the illegal activities. I actually brought my documents and proof into the courtroom and to the local FBI. Many other victims have done so. The banks and Federal agencies visit the websites where these stories are detailed on a regular basis. But they did not have to read my documents or visit the websites…they already knew. If you are going to run a story…try doing so with some ethics and a full range of the facts for a change. People like me who followed the rules and did everything the right way to fix a bad situation we did not cause and wound up decimated feel that our taxes should be expended directly to help us and that the perpetrators should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the wanton destruction that has been wrought upon us, our country and the general economy. After being publicly flogged by a judge and ordered to obtain an attorney while I cried and explained how terribly ill I was, I went to North Texas Legal Aid as directed and was told they did not have the resources to help me! They and every other legal aid group I called actually asked if I was an ILLEGAL immigrant, certified disabled, black or other minority, etc. When I answered those questions with “NO”, they refused to help even though they are funded with my and the average American’s taxes. I have not even touched on all the details of my story or what I have, unfortunately, learned in the past few years. I can prove everything I say and after spending several months homeless, sick and incredulous over how I could be in such a terrible situation after fifty three years of hard work and honest living; I tell my story constantly with names and details. I used to believe in the system and continue to inform others and fight the good fight while I try desperately to rebuild a living from my sixteen year employment with the same company. Due to all the issues with my new home and the massive fraud along with extended food poisoning from Peter Pan Peanut Butter; I lost most of my business and am unable to function as I did prior to the illness and destruction. If not for the problems I was dealing with I would not have eaten peanut butter because I don’t really like it. If not for the tainted peanut butter, I would not have been too sick to work or fight the legal battles more effectively. I thought I was being deliberately poisoned for over a year and it turned out to be the most innocuous and healthy snack on the planet…so we thought. Had the FDA followed up on the discovery of rat droppings, plastic, hair and whatnot in the peanut butter in October 2004, many people would not have gotten sick or died. I now have a painful and debilitating auto-immune syndrome which is caused by Salmonella and because of the duration of symptoms; appears to be a permanent condition. I am currently on the verge of losing my car and in constant fear of being homeless due to fear of not being able to pay my rent. I’m in straight commission sales with no family…figure it out. I raised my son and managed my life very well until all this occurred and it was all ‘known’ by everyone but the victims and preventable. How do interest rate cuts help the real victims…including those who are losing their jobs from related backlash…who could not borrow money if they wanted to due to the ruination of their credit? We are talking about 20 million or so by the end of the year according to estimates. How will mortgage assistance help those of us who have already lost our homes and have nothing left? How will handing the crooks money and letting them draft forbearance agreements which only make it easier to steal homes going to help people in danger of losing their homes? How does a person with foreclosure and eviction in their credit file even rent an apartment when eviction is the one thing that precludes a rental application from being approved? How in the hell is confidence and stability going to be attained while intelligent Americans watch the stupidity and corruption? We can’t recover if our taxes are used to ‘bail-out’ the crooks and nothing is done to stabilize the average tax-paying, home buying contributory citizens. This is forcing us into a Socialist/Communist mentality. People who could never have imagined asking the government for anything are desperate for help and we are looking at the very situation our parents warned us to be aware of with billions of our dollars supporting illegal aliens and staring down the barrel of destruction while idiots are trying to take away our right to bear arms against the ‘take over of our country’ and the invasion of our homes. Our Fourteenth Amendment right to equal justice in the courts has been trampled into the dust. We are prosecuted for using our voice, so there goes that Amendment. I don’t have to continue here with an example of every Amendment right that is being stolen along with our homes and stability. Our political leaders and legislators and enforcement agents seem to be “Testicularly Challenged” and/or corrupt or merely dumb. I have a question for all of them “Are you stupid, a crook or short on testicles (a coward)?” We listen to you guys, this was your turn to listen… Texas Patriot http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/predatory-lending-builder/mortgage/title-fraud/government-complicity Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:02:16 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/dearborn-federal-credit-union-regularly-garnish-federal-social-security--federal-student-loans-that-are-exempt-from-garnishment Fight back and win! Be a victor instead of a victim of DEARBORN FED CREDIT UNION PREDITORY COLLECTION PRACTICES/HARRASSMENT BY GARNISHING FED SOC SEC & Student loans PROHIBITED BY FED LAW & FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT (FDCPA) leaving me destitute. Federal Social Security Laws governing garnishment (20 CFR 404.970) state SSD is exempt from garnishment; Federal Laws governing Federal Student Loans (USCC, 20, Subchapter IV, Part F, §1095a) state d) No attachment of Fed Student Assistance 2001-2004 Lost job Paid bills, ran out of income, Rcv’d financial aid for grad school; became ill; filed/recv’d SSD; Owed DBFCU $8k; paid 'til $ ran out; DBFCU negotiations failed 08/04 Judgment filed by collections atty Wilbur Brucker 01/05 GARNISHED entire social security monies from checking account by Brucker leaving zero in bank account & bounced check fees 01/05 I met with DBFCU Collection Mgr, Marino Guidi, about garnishment; stating “no refunds” despite proof of SSD and Fed Student Loan. Guidi said I must pay $5k; finally he said he’d keep $2k (extortion) against my will (illegal action). 02/05 Garnishment reversed - DBFCU kept $2k. 05/05 Garnishment filed 5/05 Ms. Greenwald - called Mr. Wilbur Brucker and informed him that I would file a grievance against him in the Michigan Bar Attorney Ethics Committee. 07/05 Garnishment Reversed However, no costs or bounced check fees were granted to me. DBFCU assigned debt collection to Peter Rogissart Esq. Livonia, MI 06/05 Judgment Lien/ordered creditor’s exam 06/05 Contacted Wayne County Legal Aid & Defender, Mr. Benjamine told Rogissart about SSD; provided bank, SSD, Fed Student Loan statements; 06/06 Debt Exam Cancelled. 11/06 Garnished Income Tax; 05/07 Reversed 03/07 Garnished Income Tax; 09/07 Reversed 10/07 Garnished Income Tax; 02/08 Reversed Filed complaints against DBFCU and Rogissart in Federal under FDCPA – DBFCU settled for $600 out of court. Rogissart filed 4th garnishment/will not settle. Requested formal investigation by the National Credit Union Assn; Ltr sent to DBFCU Supervisory Committee Chairperson, Wm. Furtwangler, & Chairman, Dr. Chapman (self-governance); and MI Atty Grievance Commission Do not allow banks to garnish social security or federal student loan monies -- it is illegal. According to Katie Kuehner-Hebert’s article Who Determines Whether A Deposit Can Be Garnished? American Banker Magazine. Federal law says creditors can't take Social Security and Veteran's benefits to pay debts. Yet the practice is widespread. There is no established process for enforcing the federal prohibition. You have to be your own advocate. Be the victor and not the victim. You will be stronger for it. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/dearborn-federal-credit-union-regularly-garnish-federal-social-security--federal-student-loans-that-are-exempt-from-garnishment Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:00:32 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/last-chance-cash-advance-and-id-theft-protection I needed some extra money, so I browsed the internet looking for an overnight loan. But I did not apply at this time someting said NO! I, however received an email from a Last Chance Cash Advance company saying I had been pre-approved for $700, funny, just the amount I needed. So I filled out the loan application, reading the details carefuly and not accapting any extra offers. To make a long story short I did not get the loan, but they got my banking information. The next day I got on my online banking account only to find I had been debited $31.98 by ID theft Protection. I called the number listed and talked to a girl who spoke broken English and was very rude. She informed me it was part of the loan application, I never saw this part, however; she said I had consented to the ID theft Protection. It cost me $31.98 to be turned down for the overnight loan of $700, and if I want my money refunded I have to file a theft idenity claim against the ID theft Protection service. I ask, is this not Irony? The ID theft Protection stole my banking information and I have to prove it for a refund. Moral of this story no matter how hard one tries you still can't get ahead of the scam artists. Benjie from Indiana http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/last-chance-cash-advance-and-id-theft-protection Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:42:32 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/the-wells-fargo-shaft I got this letter from Wells Fargo saying I've been approved for up to $7,500. So I called them to ask about it and they say they can only give me a loan for only $5000. They said I could use $2,500 chq to pay off an account I have with CitiFinancial and the other $2,500 would be 'free' cash. I go down to WF and prepare to get myself into more debt. Except, I am not entirely stupid. I look the papers over and they want to charge me 39% interest. I couldn't believe it, I was stunned. I know I have bad credit, but have never faced an interest rated anywhere near that. So he (his name is Stone) hands me the chqs, he puts them in my hands. I see one made out to Citi and one too me. I am tempted. But you see my Citi loan is 12 month interest free, and I know that he knows it is an interest free loan because of those codes that are listed beside my loans on my credit report. So I challenge him, why would I take out a loan at 39% interest to pay off another loan I have that I am paying no interest on. What would be the point. Just so I could get my hand on $2,500 now. HE HAD NO ANSWER, EXCEPT HE SAID TO ME..."YOU CAN ALWAY PUT THE EXTRA $2,5OO BACK ON TO THIS LOAN SO YOU CAN PAY IT OFF SOONER". So then I would have no extra money but I would now have a loan that I would be paying 39% interest, where before was paying no interest. THAT WAS UNBELIEVABLE. Needless to say, I walked. My feeling toward Wells have been forever tarnished. How could I ever trust them again? The really questions is why did I think I could trust them in the first place? http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/the-wells-fargo-shaft Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:05:31 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/loan-applicant If you apply for a loan thru coldwell banker specifically Michael Woods Office, expect it to cost you $350.00 whether you get the loan or not. This is really not a big suprize but it does seem scammy to me,most expensive phone conversation I can remember. When it was drawn out of my account, PHH mortgage services was the name on the statement, I'm watching to see if they hit me again somewhere down the line. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/loan-applicant Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:02:11 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/to-good-to-be-true http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/to-good-to-be-true Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:43:16 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/19-and-clueless I was 19, thought I was in love, and stupid. I was working a 40 hour work week at a really evil outsourced call center. I was taking calls for Chase credit card applications. Every day I heard people's sob stories of how their credit card company raised their credit rating and they were having to pay enormous monthly payments. What drew people to apply for Chase cards was the fact that our cards had a 7.99% fixed APR and they could also apply for a balance transfer on their application. Sounds like a great deal right? Little did people know that Chase would approve these customers with a low credit limit which meant that they would receive a partial balance transfer, which meant that their debt hadn't been consolidated, it had just been seperated out even more. Another issue was that, if someone made a late payment on this account or any other account, the APR would rise to over 25%. Knowing as much as I did about all of this, you would think that I would steer clear of credit cards. One day, I walked into a Bank of America to sign up for new checking and savings accounts. I sat down with a banker and while he was processing my paperwork, he looked up at me in amazement and said, "You have a credit score of 796! I don't know how that is possible for a 19-year-old but you do! You've been instantly approved for a $3,000 credit line!" Being as knowledgeable as I thought I was about credit cards, not to mention scared of them, I said, "I don't need a credit card." But the banker retorted, "This credit can just act as a safety net. If you happen to overdraw your checking account, it will just come out of your credit card." Well that sounded alright with me. I knew that it was sometimes hard to keep track of spending with a debit card and if I slipped a little bit into the red zone, it would be nice to not have to pay a $30 overdraft fee. So I accepted and took the credit card. Now was the oppurtunity to brag about my incredible credit score: 796. My sister had a friend that worked for AT&T Wireless and I made the mistake of bragging to him about my excellent credit. He said that I should try to apply to get a cell phone, so I did. I was approved for 2 phone lines with no deposit and a free phone of my choice. Woo hoo!!! I picked the least expensive plan, one that I could afford without having to use my new credit card. Later, I decided to move in with my boyfriend who was unemployed. I was still working for the outsourced call center, making minimum wage ($7.96/hr), and supporting my boyfriend and myself. My boyfriend decided he needed to get high speed internet. We started off with a low introductory rate and luckily we put it in my boyfriend's name. Time went on, stress levels rised, and then a phone bill came in the mail. It was for $2,000. I had stupidly not paid enough attention to my contract and did not realize that I didn't have a nationwide plan that allowed me to travel outside Portland and make calls. I panicked. There was no way I was going to be able to pay this. I called Cingular and they said that they would not waive the charge because I had been late on my bills in the past. I didn't know what to do. I was in a state of shock and panic. I decided to just pretend it had never happened. Eventually, my bill went to collections. I just pretended the notices were junk mail and threw them away. I started receiving phone calls from debt collectors. Eventually, a debt collector named Cathy started to call. She had such a warm, friendly voice and I didn't feel as threatened by her. I told her about my untouched $3,000 line of credit and she told me that I would be better off paying off the debt with AT&T because I could pay my credit card monthly and not be delinquent. It sounded smart to me, so I did it. I then received a bill from the credit card. The minimum payment was $200. I couldn't afford it! I couldn't afford anything anymore. I didn't know what to do. I broke up with my boyfriend and moved away to a different house. I didn't forward my address and I got a new phone number. I have no idea how much I owe now, but I'm scared to death to find out. I know it only started out at $2,000 that I owed, but who knows how much it has grown over the years. That all happened when I was 19. Now I am 24 and still as clueless and broke as ever. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/19-and-clueless Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:06:54 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/it-all-started-when-i-was-14 Ijust finished watching the documentary Maxed Out.  It had me crying myeyes out.  It should be required viewing for every American. Seriously.   Often,I feel as if I'm the only one who ended up in this mess of debt.  Afterwatching Maxed Out, I don't feel so alone.   Themovie made me think back to how I was sucked into living beyond my means oncredit cards.  I remembered slightly but pulled out my childhood diariesto see if I was right.  After the reality set in, that I was just a childwhen it all started, I wanted to share my story.  Itwas 1987 and I was 13 years old.  My Mother and I were at the Galleriamall in White Plains, NY.  It was the 80s and being a teenager there wasno cooler place than the mall, and this was MY mall.  We were in JCPenneyand there was a display table set up with teddy bears so I ran over.  Theywere giving away a free teddy bear that day to anyone who applied for aJCPenney credit card.   Isaid to my mother, "Please, mom, can I get the teddy bear?" and shesaid, "Sure, go ahead and fill out the application, there is no way theyare going to give a credit card to a 13 year old."  After filling outthe application, I was handed my teddy bear and weeks later, contrary to mymother's belief, I received my first credit card in the mail at age 13.   Theambitious New Yorker in me thought, wow, if I can get one that easily, I wonderhow many more I can get.  On the weekends, I ran around to every otherstore in the mall filling out applications for store credit cards.  TheA&S credit card was the next one to appear in the mail.   Asa 34-year-old woman typing this story, even though it happened to me, I can'tbelieve it is true, but it is. Fastforward to age 17 when I receive my first major credit card.  I spend thesummer in London, living beyond my means.  I spend the 1990s averaging anincome of about $27,000 a year but living as if I am bringing in $70,000. I went to London almost every year, paying for the whole trip by creditcard.  Hotels, airfare, concerts, expensive dinners and clothing all wenton the cards.  One year I bought so much clothing I had to buy a newsuitcase to bring it all back.   Therewere many months I couldn't make rent so I paid for it with checks from mycredit cards. Throughoutthis whole process, I still had good credit because I always found a way to paythe minimum due.  Pretty early on I learned the game of always switchingmy huge balance to the best intro offer that came in the mail.  I've beenbalance switching to the lowest APRs for my entire adult life.   Duringlaw school, I had to live off the cards again because first year of law schoolyou are prohibited from taking a job.  Oh, did I mention I did law schoolfull loans?   Atone point I had $20,000 worth of credit card debt, car payments of $352 amonth, medical and dental bills and almost $200,000 in law school loans. I have never known adult life without debt.  It has always been amassive burden that causes much stress and anxiety.   Iam proud to say that I have been "off the cards" for over 3 yearsnow.  I say it like that because I can admit now that I had a spendingproblem.  I was an addict.  I was addicting to living beyond mymeans.  One of the quotes I always loved growing up was "live eachday as if it was your last", no one tells you that if it isn't, the billshows up! Ifeverything goes as planned, in Dec 2008, I will be free of consumer debt forthe first time in my adult life.  I'll be 35 years old.  Sure, I'llstill have my law school loans but at least the credit card debt will be goneand most important, I'll have been off the cards for over 4 years and learnedto live within my means.   WhatI find frustrating is that, every day is a temptation.  I work in BeverlyHills and each day I bring lunch to save money.  My co-workers have calledme cheap for not spending the money to eat out.  I can't tell you theamount of my friends that mock me for "my budget".  They aresick of hearing me say, I can't do that, it isn't in my budget.  I'm proudof myself for living an honest life and only spending the money I have andpaying back what I owe.  I just wish it was respected more.   Ialways thought I made the healthy decisions, I didn't smoke, do drugs, Iexercise and eat well.  That is what made trying to figure out how I endedup in this mess so hard, I thought I respected myself.  It was my supposedrespect for myself that put me in this mess.  I thought part of living well was having nice things andgoing to impressive places. Growingup, I was raised to believe that I deserved nice things. When I lived in NYC mymother always wanted me taking cabs rather than riding the subway.  Ifsomething good happened, we always went out to eat.  I was at the moviesevery weekend. Every Christmas, we really did get what we wanted.  Infact, looking back at childhood photos, I'm taken back by the picture of mysister with her nine Cabbage Patch Kids dolls.  We had family vacationsevery year. WhenI ventured out on my own at the early age of seventeen, I just maintained theonly lifestyle I knew.  The credit cards allowed me to live the lie. It wasn't easy to change my thinking that if I didn't have all the newestand nicest things, I wasn't worth less.  Every single day is a struggle.  Thebiggest piece of advice I have is to live an honest life.  Live withinyour means.  Build wealth.  If you have debt, do everything you canto pay it off and never go back.  I was a junkie and the credit cardcompanies were my dealers.  They knew it.   I'dlove a home to call my own, children and even a dog.  At age 34 for thefirst time in my life, I finally make enough to pay my bills.  I can'tafford a mortgage though.  My friends and I joke that the best form ofbirth control is debt!  I'd love a dog but I'm working so much to pay thebills I wouldn't be home and can't afford doggy daycare.   Consumerdebt is changing a generation in more ways than we can even imagine. Share your story.  Tell others.  Live an honest life.  Getrid of the shame.  Free yourself.                         http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/it-all-started-when-i-was-14 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:05:13 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/obviously-fraud-and-not-incompetence My husband lost his job, though no fault of his own. We worked with several credit card companies to join a Credit Counseling Program. One credit card company, Credit One, refuses to work with the credit counseling program and has made our bill go up every month rather than down. They charge us over 28% interest and a "late fee" of $39 every month. We still make regular payments to them that are considered reasonable by the credit counselors. We have written letters, complained to the OCC, the BBB, the FTC, and Complaints Board. If we were the only ones this was happening to, I could write it off as incompetence, but if you look up the complaints on Complaints Board, you will see that it seems to be policy to defraud people deliberately. Also, there was a class action law suit for these same practices filed against this company before. They were known as First National Bank of Marin then. It seems that they changed their name so that they could continue these practices under the name of Credit One. I have contacted the law firm that handled the last class action suit against this company and hope to start another one. I sent a dispute form to the credit reporting agencies, but this did no good. They lie and say that the billing is valid. This has given me quite the feeling of helplessness against this company, but I will not let them get away with these practices. It would be nice if we had a government that helped me. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/obviously-fraud-and-not-incompetence Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:47:09 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/mortgage-loan-comparison-worksheet I am a former senior loan officer for a regional mortgage bank. It made me sick to see how we took advantage of consumers for thousands of extra dollars. Sometimes these were smart people who simply didn't know any better. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/mortgage-loan-comparison-worksheet Mon, 18 Feb 2008 06:15:46 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/wake-up I got into debt in college because I liked to party and spend money. I graduated from College with over $20,000 in debt and used my mother's home to consolidate all the debt with a 125% LTV 2nd mortgage on her home, for which I paid 10 points. I paid off the loan worked my ass off and now have a substantial net worth. I appreciate the opportunity given by the lender and chalk it up as the cost of doing business. Also, my identity was stolen and $1,000 was taken from my bank account that I traced back to an inside job at Washington Mutual (their call center). They credited my account and I hunted the guy down who stole my identity who had been on a "shopping spree". I stopped all purchases by calling all the creditors and threatened the scum bags life and his family when he called me back thinking I was a creditor. He stopped using my identity and my FICO is still +800. Come on killers, some of your stories are horrible, but grow up and take responsibility for yourself in life. A wise man once said, don't spend what you don't have, but don't blame others (oh, that was me)! http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/wake-up Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:30:55 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/overdrafted-to-death My wife and I have been with Chase Bank since they mergered with Bank One in southwestern Ohio. Our trouble all started with a fraudulent charge which put us in the red. There were then several purchases made on our debit card after which time we had already been overdrafted. At $35 per occurrence it ended up costing us $350 in November 2007! We currently do most of our banking online for convience. But, Chase Bank makes no effort to at the very least send an automated e-mail to us stating that our account is overdrawn. They also do not cap off their Chase Visa debit card once the account is overdrawn. I know it is possible for them to cap these cards to decline purchases due to the fact that you can set a per diem on such cards in which, once the limit is reached, you can no longer use the card. The previous overdraft, which occurred in November has caused a cascading effect and caused a further $140 in overdrafts in December 2007. I called and asked about having some of the overdraft fees refunded and was told they could not and that "I needed to be more financially responsible". They did however return the overdraft fee on the fraudulent purchase even though they told me it would take an additional 10 days to post the credit even though the fraudulent charge was posted as a credit to my account 2 days after it happened. My wife and I realize that banks charge overdraft fees to protect themselves, but $35 is very excessive. After just a few debit card perchases, the $35 dollar fee can get quite expensive. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/overdrafted-to-death Fri, 28 Dec 2007 04:52:19 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/victimized-twice-in-arizona I would like to tell my “nightmare” story so someone else will not fall into the traps I’ve found myself in. It all started with trying to get a loan that I really couldn’t afford. I was pressured by a relative who had a broker she said was so wonderful, and that he could get you a loan no matter what. So I proceeded to seek out purchasing a home. In doing so, our area, as most areas in that time, were inundated with home buyers, and the market was going crazy. If you wanted any kind of property you were sent into a first come, first serve basis, or a lottery for any kind of new home purchase. I found myself in the lottery, and was able to qualify for a small home. But due to not being on the job long enough, I found myself at a little bit higher fixed interest rate financed by the builder’s lender. I was going to back out, but my sister and her broker talked me out of it by saying that I should finance with builder to get into the house. After getting in the house, the broker friend of my relative would refinance me at a lower rate that I could afford. I wound up going along with this scenario and now I am in a high interest rate of 9.975% Option ARM, that is going to do nothing but climb. The broker lied about my income, he got an appraiser to inflate the value of my home for the refi , and he disguised his Yield Spread Premium. So now I am in a situation where I have a climbing Option ARM, a prepayment penalty, and an upside house in its value. The sad thing is… I wasn’t greedy. All I was trying to do is secure a home for myself and my adult brother who has learning disabilities, who has slipped through the cracks of the system, and has struggled his whole life. My brother is a guy that the governments does not recognize as disabled, due to not fitting into an exact slot in the system. When in actuality, my brother is the type of person who the system should be set up to help. So I am the one that needs to pick up the pieces. We have an ailing 87 year old mother who did not know how to handle my brother’s emotional and learning disabilities, so that’s where I stepped in. Oh well, that’s another story. But that is part of how I got into this predatory lending situation. I just needed a home for my brother and myself due to having only a 1-bedroom apartment where my brother had to sleep on the couch. If this wasn’t bad enough, I sought out the help of a so called “consumer advocate group” called Nations Audit Group after I realized what I had gotten myself into. They claim that they would help you out of the mess of being victimized by a predatory lender. They claim to do this by auditing your loan documents and if they found violations, you would be able to get an attorney that would prosecute your case (along with getting a stay of payments for up to 18 months). I can assure you... THIS ISN’T GOING TO HAPPEN. Attorneys are not taking these cases, and they are victimizing the already victims of predatory lending out there. What you get with this company is a “pat” report that lists violations in your contact, (which have no substantiation) and nothing more. So you wind up paying these people $995.00 of your precious dollars just to try to get some help for your situation. But what they are doing is taking advantage of people who are desperate to find some help, and they take their money and give them nothing to show for it. I have been in touch with the Better Business Bureau, and have a case with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to try to stop these people from victimizing any more innocent people. The feedback I got from one of the attorney’s I contacted to try to take my “predatory lending” case said that they are getting volumes of people calling their office saying that Nations Audit Group has referred them. They said that Nations Audit Group gives these people the impression that this is one of the attorneys who will help them with their situation, and that is not true. They are turning away more and more of the screaming, upset people that Nations Audit Group has referred to them. Please do not do any business with these people. I have been trying to negotiate with my lender (CountryWide Mortgage). But they turned me down due to the fact that I haven’t gone into default yet. I pleaded with CountryWide telling them that I can’t make the high payments, and that working with me before, not after default, would be in both of our best interest. But they are not willing to work that way. Therefore, I see CountryWide Home Loans (and I talked to several attorneys about this) as being a major part of the predatory problem. They do not want to work with the homeowners to see if they can salvage a bad situation. Instead they would rather ruin your credit first and/or pay thousands to take you through the court system in foreclosure action. Their CEO sends out e-mails saying that you are valued customers and they are willing to possible lower your interest rate and/or monthly payments. But that is not true! I can’t understand why our government is allowing this to happen to hard working Americans who have been severely victimized by all of these greed driven criminals. I know I will see a lot more horror stories written here. Because I know there are so many sad cases out there like mine! Audrey HealthConsc218@aol.com http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/victimized-twice-in-arizona Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:28:39 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/untitled Here is my story; We moved into our house approximately 8 years ago in 2000. We were leasing with an option to buy. After two years our landlord told us we would need to purchase the house or move. We have put a lot of sweat equity into the house as it was in great disrepair, bathrooms not working, roof leaking, appliances not working, etc. We agreed to purchase the house and in April of 2002 we purchased the house for $127,206.00 with closing cost the loan amount came to $133,000.00 and WMC Mortgage was our mortgage company. WMC sold our mortgage to Litton Loan Service and through a series of events where they (Litton) claimed they did not receive a payment or our payment was late and we did not have homeowners insurance (when we proved to them we did) they put us into Forbearance. Litton added a substantial amount to our payment which made it difficult to make the payment and we were afraid they would try to foreclose on our mortgage. We continued to make the payments while ignoring all our other bills, as a result our credit report and credit score began to suffer .A broker from Dana Capital Group contacted us and they got us a mortgage with Chase Bank USA closing in April of 2005. We paid over $13,000.00 in closing costs and we agreed to what we were told was our only mortgage option and that was a 2 year 6 month Libor ARM at an initial rate of 6.975%. At our first rate change date our mortgage went to the maximum of 9.975% and this was on June 1st of 2007. Our payment went from $1015.35 to $1300.80 a month. We just received a letter from Chase that states that the Libor index changed from 5.374% to 5. 133% when I read this I became excited that our payment would go down. Then I read farther! It seems that even though the Libor index goes down our interest rate continues to rise, this time from 9.975% to 11.125%. As a result our payment would go from $1300.80 to $1418.25 per month beginning with our January 1st 2008 payment. Our rate is calculated by adding 6 percentage points to the current index. Our documents state that our rate cannot increase or decrease by more that 1 and1/2 percentage points at any rate change date with a cap of 7% over our initial interest rate. We questioned this when we got the mortgage but we were told that if we made our payments on time we could refinance at the end of the two year period. We have never been a day late in 2 and ½ years, but when we tried to refinance with Chase they said we did not qualify. I also tried to get them to restructure our loan but they said we could not qualify for that either. My credit score has dropped to the 540’s and after numerous attempts we have not been able to refinance with another lender. We were also told by the broker that there was no prepayment penalty on this loan but there is and it is in the amount of $6,000.00 until May of 2008, this is also hampering our refinancing efforts. We have done many repairs to the house including putting on a new roof, new central heat and air, a complete bedroom/nursery and bathroom remodel all the way down to the studs and joists, new entry door, replacing joists and sub floor in the living room and new living room carpet. I am in the process of putting on a new deck to replace the one that was falling down and painted the outside trim last week. I also plan to replace the siding and remodel two additional rooms over the winter. With the exception of the central heat and air I have performed all the work myself. So as you can see I have a very personal stake in this house I have put my spare time and lots of sweat into improving the house. My Mother is 84 and in failing health. I plan on moving her in with us in March so we can take care of her but I wonder now if we will have a house for her to move to. I know I can’t afford the new payments! Our family consists of myself, my wife Judy, 15 year old daughter Kandice and 2 year old Isaiah.I realize we should have been more careful and now I know what to watch out for but we don’t deserve this. I have a good job with a great company and make a good living but with our medical bills and the mortgage increase I don’t think we will make it, but I will somehow continue to pursue the American dream of home ownership and will continue to take care of my family because that’s my obligation and what I love to do. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/untitled Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:45:02 -0500 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/wachovia We had acquired a second mortgage that was bought by Wachovia. Initally it belonged to my husband's ex-wife after the divorce but she defaulted on the loan. Since she had it linked to the house, we had to bring it up to date or lose the house. We did just that and have been paying on it for 12 years. It was supposed to be paid off this month. I was checking the account online and it stated we still had a balance of approx. $1700. Yet our payment book had already been used up and had not heard a word from them. We went to the bank and they gave us a list that showed a payoff of about $1200. Here we're thinking we are done with this crap and next we get a letter saying the balance is $1700 or if paid by November $1525. We argued with them about all the discrepancies to no avail. They said we had been late on payments, yet the detailed report never showed andy late fees. I have never missed a payment. My husband was so disgusted he paid the $1500 ( to stop the interest) and demanded an audit. I warn all who inted to do business with WACHOVIA to stay away!!!! If you are already with them or have a loan, get out of it or transfer it to a credit Union. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/wachovia Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:05:19 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/greedy-town I purchased this house in 2005 using Huntington Bank and Re Max realty.with a HUD approved FHA loan...at first my payments were fine at 550.00 per month..then the city raised taxes and my payment went up by 4.00 per month..that I could live with...now the city has raised taxes again and my payment has jumped to 646.88 per month..all this from a city that says it wants to help people stay here...In January 2007 I suffered a stroke and have since had 2 more strokes..which have made me unable to work at this time...I cannot find any help in this area.I have applied for S.S. benefits but that takes up to 4 months..I have also applied to family services but they will only give me 162.00 per month in food assistance and 212.00 in cash assistance and medical but I must wait 30 days for that also...hardly enough to cover a house payment of 646.88 per month...luckily my interest rate is locked in at 6 percent..but at this rate I will fall behind very quickly...I am at the point of keeping whatever cash I have on hand and telling the bank to shove thier house down the Holland City council throat...and just run as far as possible...I am at the point where I do not even care about my credit any longer..because with my medical problems I will most likely die before they can get thier money anyway So any one thinking of moving here should think about all of this before buying a house in this area http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/greedy-town Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:12:28 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/capitol-one well I did have 2 seperate capitol one credit cards which I was paying at at least twice the minimum payment ...then when I became disabled I knew it was time to get rid of the cards ..so I called and cancelled both cards and continued to pay them off as quickly as possible...ca capitol one decided to bill me for new annual fees...after I cancelled both cards...so I just payed off the cards then complained about the charges..they sent me a letter saying I would recieve a refund within ten days...it has been almost a month and I am still waiting for my refund so I called them again today (and of course waited on hold for 15 minutes )..just to have them tell me it had to be processed...so I said why the hell did you send me a letter saying I would recieve my refund in ten days...then I demanded my refund of un warranted overcharges and finally got a promise to speed things up......we will see http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/capitol-one Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:46:23 -0600 http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/hsbc-beneficial-predatory-lending-practices My husband was involved in an accident on the job and severely broke his ankle. He was out of work for three months due to the fact that he had to have surgery. We were trying to make ends meet with workers compensation and my part-time job. Things were beyond tight and bills were not being paid. Then, like an answer to a prayer, an unsolicited loan check came in the mail in the amount of $7,000.22 issued by Beneficial Utah Inc. The check was cashed so we could save our home and feed our three small children. Prior to making our first payment, we recieved a letter in the mail from Beneficial telling us to contact them, they had great news and would like to discuss various financial solutions to meet my financial needs. Due to the fact that the current interest was 29.9% we met with them and they lowered our interest to 25.8%. Which I found out later that it took our principal from $7,000.22 to $7,999.65. I made five payments to them in the amount of $238.95 totalling $1,194.75. In June 2005, I was contacted by them again, they offered me a credit limit of $9,000 under a revolving loan agreement. They didn't inform me of the fact that if I agreed to this my interest rate would go up to 28.9% or that I would now have a $50 annual fee. They paid themselves (to pay off the existing loan), $7,727.03 plus $50 annual fee and issued me a check for $1,222.97. My credit limit is $9,000 however, my principal sum is now $9,624.25. I have since paid them $1,361.00. Beneficial has called my home 10-20 times a day. It's not that we don't want to pay this arrangement, but their loan terms are impossible, in spite of their explanation of how much better this new agreement will be for my financial needs. I have made payments as my income would allow and understand that the payment history on this loan is not good, however, we have attempted several times to work out other payment arrangements and requested that they lower our interst to a more manageable amount and they just refused to work with us. After two years Beneficial is mow seeking a judgement against us for $9,624.25, plus $5,010.06, plus $775.00 attorneys fees and any additional interest that has accrued since June 2007. Their desired action is to garnish wages, garnish bank accounts, and put a lien on our home. It is apparent that the $2,555.75 we have paid since the beginning of our agreement with Beneficial has not touched the principal balance but rather their exorbitant interest rates, annual fees, and administrative fees. I always believed that loan sharking and price gouging were illigal, however, it is apparent that Beneficial has found a legal way to prey on desperate, low income families who are desperately seeking ways to take care of their families. http://www.affil.org/get_active/borrower_blog/borrower-blog2/hsbc-beneficial-predatory-lending-practices Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:22:43 -0600