I despise banks.

[ChicksterJo]

I have disliked banks for a very long time, but the bank that I dislike the most is Chase. My parents bought a house a few years ago and now wanted to modify their loan so that it would be lower (since the assessed value of the home has gone down). Anyway, their loan modifying agent told them that it would be ok to stop paying the mortgage. Long story short: the agent was incompetent and my parents told her that they would be able to pay the mortgage if Chase would modify the loan amount. My parents then started looking for a new house because there are many houses for sale here that would offer a lower mortgage.
We spent so much time looking for houses and it didn't help that my parents' realtor lives 45 minutes away, so she only came to show houses during the weekends. After more than a month of looking at houses, now the realtor tells my parents that they can't get the loan because my parents filed their tax return jointly. Since my mom's name is on the title of the house we live in now, the bank (Bank of America) doesn't want to give my dad a loan. I guess it doesn't matter that my dad is the one making about 80% of the money and is capable of paying a $1200/month mortgage.
I'm just angry, I guess, that Chase ISN'T helping them 'save their home' like they have claimed on their commercial. Chase claims that they saved 200,000 homes nationwide - doesn't help that there are thousands more people who lost their homes. It's not like they can't pay their mortgage. After all, the modifying loan agent told them that they shouldn't pay the mortgage so that Chase would respond to their modification loan faster.
I was wondering if people who have had a similar experience could share, and if there's a way out of this rut. I don't know if the house is an approved short sale, but the bank is apparently not going to foreclose it. They will short sale it instead. Just had to get that off my chest. I feel like I'm living in limbo, and it's a bad feeling.

 

[classicsredone]

I hate banks, too. B of A bought out our loan, and they were awful. At first they started holding payments and not transferring funds on the day it was supposed to go through. That made our payment late, and we had to pay late fees. Then we found out from our HOA that they weren't paying our dues from the impound account. They said that we weren't paying enough for it to come from impound, even though that is what was in the contract. We started paying more, and instead of paying the HOA, they held onto the money. I lost my job and we never were able to straighten out the HOA dues. B of A wouldn't even talk to us. They'd call non-stop, and nobody would be on the line when we picked up. (They use an auto-caller.) When we'd call, they wouldn't answer any of our questions and wouldn't even look at redoing the loan. They're still calling even after foreclosing and filing bankruptcy. They wrote it as a loss on our behalf, so legally we don't owe any money. Unfortunately, they aren't required to disclose what the criteria for loan modification is, so you can't even contest an error. Everyone one I know that has had a loan get messed up through them has had no luck getting it straightened out. If you can, I'd recommend talking to a lawyer about getting the loan redone.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

There is no reason for non-millionaires to do business with banks. They get special discounts and Private Banking. Everybody else gets robbed.

Join a Credit Union. I did. Moved my business accounts there too. No regrets!

 

[YYZ]

With so many banks out there......i guess they try their best to lure new customers. THEY OVERLOOK THEIR LONGTIME CUSTOMERS AND TREAT THEM LIKE CRAP.

 

[ChicksterJo]

A very serious side story to kind of answer your post, classicsredone:
My mom's co-worker was also losing her house but she wanted so badly to keep it. Apparently these banks don't think about how people plan to live in their homes for a long time. Anyway, my mom's co-worker went to a lawyer that said he would help her save her home. She fell for it, for the giant sum of $8,000. She gave the lawyer $2000 already in cash and he was supposedly working on getting her loan modified, but he actually wasn't getting anywhere. His promise of "saving her home" wasn't going to come true, but he was still asking for the rest of the money. Good thing this time the co-worker paid using a check. She was crying at work and told my mom the outcome of the story (because she asked my mom if she'd like to work with the same lawyer too!! Good thing my mom declined even though she is getting desperate for options). My mom told her she should stop payment on the check. After all paying $35 is better than paying $4000 to a bad lawyer. So my mom is wary of people telling her they can help "save her home." They are just as predatory as the banks.

 

[GiddyMoon]

The bank system in itself is an evil one and our founding fathers warned us greatly about it..but we didn't listen. Chase is a huge supporter of a new world order. Wake up people..

 

[Balefire]

agree

 

[ChicksterJo]

I definitely agree...
What's the best option? Just give up and start over? If it were up to me, I'd buy some land and build a cordwood or cob house and have no mortgage. But in this case it isn't up to me.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

DO NOT stop paying on your mortgage! Any payments made will help prevent or delay foreclosure.

If a loan or modification was not approved, something about the credit score of your parents was the cause, not that they filed jointly when the house was in one person's name. Tell them to get copies of their credit reposts from all three credit reporting agencies and review them for accuracy.

If the realtor will not set up appointments anytime other than weekends, find a new realtor--most are available any day. But realize that it could be your parents who want to schedule on weekends.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

PLEASE CONSIDER THIS:


http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/2008/06/19/produce-the-note-how-to/