CitiMortgage: Does Not Play By the Rules

And now, we are getting screwed. I’d like to make this short and sweet, but cannot due to the nature of the problem. We have a Fannie Mae loan, which I didn’t even know we had, but anyway. My husband lost his job in August. He is in construction and the field is just about non-existent here. Hundreds of hard working men and women in the labor field are without a job. They don’t qualify for anything other than a labor job, this is all they know. Again, but anyway.

In July I started to reach out to creditors, and our banks to see what can be done to defer payments, etc…because we just could not keep up like we used to. They of course cannot help unless you are late paying them. We filed the paperwork for CitiMortgage and their hardship program. I called them August 17, 2009 and informed them that our income status has changed, that my husband was now out of a job. Oh, lucky for me the gentleman (Roger) says on the other end, we have been approved for a loan modification! Much to my surprise, I felt a sense of relief, like the skies were opening up a bit and things were going to be ok! We would work this out and be ok! BOY was I so wrong! I was told that I would have to fill out a packet of information, sign and sent it back to them, I should have that within 5-10 business days and it would come UPS. At that time, they could work out what my new loan amount would be. I was told to pay 612.66 and be on time, for October 1, 2009, November 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009 and by January 1, 2010 I would have my new loan amount. Wow, that is amazing, thank you!!!!

Screeeeeeeeeech! The tires burn and you come to a complete stop after that! I waited patiently and excitedly to find my packet of papers at the door, only they never came.

I received an account confirmation form to assure them that my contact information has not changed. It stated that if all the information was correct, to do nothing with the form. I filed it away. That was dated 9/1/2009.

I called CitiMortgage back again on 9/22/2009 and explain my situation again. Told (Dion) that I never received my paperwork to move forward with my approved loan modification. I was told that he would put in the request to have it resent, and again, it would be there in 5-10 business days.

Funny thing, I never got that packet either! Now it is 10/1/2009, called to make my first trial loan payment of $612.66, Matt told me he was ‘locked out of the system” and transferred me to Mandy. Mandy told me her system was down and she transferred me to Roberto who was able to process my phone charge and waived my processing fee. A letter dated 10/2/2009 was sent showing the payment was accepted by Western Union.

It’s now 10/10/2009, still no paper work. I called again, spoke with Shawna. She told me that she didn’t even see a request for paper work to be resent. Interesting!!! Well, she said she was go ahead and put the request in right now while I was on the phone, (bless her heart) and that if I didn’t receive it within, yup, you guessed it, 5-10 business days to call back and speak with a supervisor.

10/16/2009 – I call CitiMortgage —why? Because I am now in a default status as per their letter. We are now behind, $3,478.59 WTH??? Ok, so I speak with Sandy tell her about my loan modification problem and she says she will look into it and places me on hold. After 30 minutes 5 seconds of being on hold, I get disconnected. So, I call back. Speak with Julie, didn’t get into details, just asked to speak with a supervisor. Sami is on the phone now. I was assured by her that my credit will not be harmed by this and that she will fix it. She placed me on hold to speak with the loan modification department. Comes back and tells me, that my loan modification papers will arrive UPS in a big packet, with our income/debt statement and a page for us to sign and fax back. Yes, again, it will arrive within 5-10 business days. Guess what, it is now October 27, 2009 and I still do not have ANY paper work. I am NO where other than almost 3 months behind in my mortgage payments and I am, at risk for losing my home.

MY home. A home that three children lay their heads at night. Because we are facing a hardship, and there is something seriously wrong with our government, our banking system, the loan modifications that our President assured all of us would be beneficial and helpful to us, is just creating more havoc, more stress, more sleepless nights, and more foreclosures. What in the world does it take to make people realize that this country, the richest country in the world is such a money driven society that it would allow for it’s people to walk the streets hungry, to have no place to call home, to have children scared and feeling unsafe. How selfish are we? Why does everything we do have to be money driven. Where is the sense of spirit here in the US? We are all dying and drowning and no one, not one person sends out a life raft to help pull us in, instead they throw it out there, dangle the rope in front of you, tease you and then leave you to float out to sea, all alone, in the dark. I have done my research and I am not the only one who shares these feelings. I am not the only one in this situation. I am trying to work with my lender and play by the rules, but I am tired of being taken advantage of and lied to. I won’t and can’t do it anymore. It is time to put a call into action.

CitiMortgage, you should be ashamed of yourself for taking advantage of people in dyer need. Law makers, you should be ashamed of how you are allowing them to do this to hard working, tax paying citizens.

I will be calling CitiMortgage on 10/27/2009, and sadly will call (and tweet to) my local media, my state representatives and yes, I will even write our President (fellow Chicago native) to let him know how much I appreciate all his hard work in keeping Americans in their home.