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Now back to your regularly schedule
programming – lol. Okay, as I was saying, recently I found myself in just such a
predicament. I've owned my home for roughly 15 years. I've never been late with
a payment nor have I ever missed a payment. With the challenges of losing my
job, the car accident which rendered me unable to work, and subsequent health
issues, I found myself at the verge of missing a payment. So being the proactive person that I am I
decided to contact my mortgage company to see if there was anything they could
do to help a sister out. Well, actually my first letter to them was just pretty
much me asking them to take into consideration all the stuff I had gone through
and to consider offering me mortgage forgiveness. I know you're thinking, “what big balls you have Yáminah” lol.
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Open your local newspaper on any given day and you will find it is filled with countless foreclosures. Walk through your
neighborhood – how many empty/vacant houses do you see? There are 95 houses in my
neighborhood. Fifteen (15) of them are vacant. Most of them have been
vandalized or the local teens have set up shop in them. Banks/mortgage
companies really don’t gain/benefit from foreclosures, especially in this
economy but nobody of influence has figured that out yet or if they have, they
don’t care because it really ain't their money.
Anyway, as I was saying
before I ran off on that “chain of
thought”, I sent a couple of letters to my mortgage company requesting
assistance or at best, for mortgage forgiveness. Up until recently, my
interactions with them had been minimal at best. Being a proactive person, rather than wait
until my situation became grave, I opted to reach out to see what alternatives
or options were available to me. At the end of April I wrote them a second letter detailing the hardship I was experiencing as a result of health and economical
issues, and my desire to stay current with my mortgage payments if in fact
mortgage forgiveness was not an option. What I got in response was a brief voice
message from one of their staff members the week of May 20th. Upon
returning her call we discussed in details my situation, i.e., that I was
unemployed, did not have any income since 2/5/13, was disabled due to a car
accident on 6/6/12, was waiting for a ruling on my disability application, and my desire to keep my home. She then indicated that she had sent
me a package in the mail and that I should complete and return it as soon as
possible. A few days later I received the envelope containing an application
for the Making Home Affordable Program. On May 27th,
after completing the application I hand delivered it to the agent along with the supporting
documents.
During
that meeting with the agent, I again shared my situation and my desire to save
my home. She shared that she would give
my application to the underwriter and hopefully have a decision for me by that
Thursday or Friday. That did not happen. Giving her the benefit, I waited until
the following week (June 3rd) before visiting the office. At that
time she apologized for not getting back to me citing preoccupation with
foreclosures as her reason for not getting back to me. She then indicated that she would have a
response for me by that Friday (June 7th). Again, she did not follow
through. It is important to note that not once during our conversations did she
indicate that my application was contingent on me being delinquent (a fact that
she already knew was not the case as I am and have always been up to date with
my payments since the onset off my loan). In fact I was led to believe that
based on my situation, assistance was almost guaranteed. My options were
either: 1) a suspension of payments for a period of 12 months; or 2)
partial/reduced payments with the latter being my preference as the first
option would affect my credit rating. I
had no idea that any of this was considered a formal loan modification as I am aware
that you have to have income in order to be considered for that, or that this
process was a part of “loss mitigation”.
Nothing in those terms was ever mentioned. Truth is I thought this "Hope" program
was a similar program to the "Home Safe Georgia" program – a program for which I
was a participant the year before.
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Even if I was to give her the benefit of the doubt that she was not
aware of the eligibility requirements for the program; that she neglected to
research the program’s requirements prior to mailing out the application shows
a deficit in her attention to detail and speaks volume to her lack of
dedication for what she does.
To add insult to injury, her letter dated
6/13/13, which I have determined is a form letter generated by their
system, insinuated that there was still hope for me when it included the following sentence: “Although we cannot process your
request at this time, this does not mean your situation is
hopeless.” As such, I wasted no time calling her to inquire about what
other alternatives were available, only to be told, interestingly enough, that
there was nothing else available because all other programs requires that my
account be delinquent or that I had some form of income.
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My main frustration with this whole ordeal is
that there appears to be no consideration/relief for people like myself who pay their bills on time but find themselves in a similar predicament due to no fault of their own. It
appears that in this country we promote/reward people for “abandoning” their
responsibilities and punish the ones who don't but instead does the right
thing. It seems like the people who are delinquent in paying their bills or who
run up huge debts and then file for bankruptcy as an umbrella to keep the stuff
without having to pay for them, get more assistance and are catered to more so
than the ones who try to do the right thing. Personally I think the system is
strategically designed by the bureaucrats who run these agencies to keep the “poor”
poor in an attempt to ensure job security.
Think about it, the less
people there are who aspire to get off or stay off welfare by working to support
themselves and/or get a college education, the less people they (the bureaucrats) have competing for their jobs. I
remember hearing my mother say when I was a little girl that welfare was
designed to keep the “poor” poor. As
a result my mother did not participate in their programs but rather chose to
work hard to support her family even though accepting welfare would have made
our lives so much easier. I too grew up to denounce welfare and follow in my mother’s footstep to work and
support my family.
All my life I strive to uphold the
principle/concept that was instilled in me by my mother at a young age, which is that my
reputation and my credit were the two single most important things that I
possess and that I should protect them at all cost. A principle/concept which I have embraced
and I am very good at. Even now, faced with no income and no job prospect in the
foreseeable future due to my disability I continue to make great strives to
keep a roof over my head and food on the table. An effort that is in no way an
easy feat by any account. However I remain vigilant that the God I serve is
leaning towards me and that He will continue to make a way where there is no
way.
I am not sure how this will end but it is my
hope that it will end in my favor. I am not at all opposed to
receiving my deed in the mail as a gesture of good faith.
In the meantime, it
is my hope that the mortgage company will take steps to train their staff in
the areas of providing good customer service which includes among other things,
providing all pertinent information to clients prior to subjecting them to
submitting applications for programs that they are otherwise not eligible for. I’m
just saying – I got issues. What about you?)i(
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The views and opinions shared here are by the Author and are the property of Todos Escribe.
The views and opinions shared here are by the Author and are the property of Todos Escribe.