MORE HOMEOWNERS TURN
TO MEDIATION...
AS STARVING WELLS FARGO
RACES AGAINST THEIR OWN
TO WIN
HOMES FOR CASH
JUST AS FAST AS THEY POSSIBLY CAN.
RISE, FALL AND REBOUND? : Charts show the housing industry's boom and bust this decade and forecast the possible course of its recovery the next three years.
MORTGAGE RATES
National overnight averages Today +/-
30 yr fixed mtg 4.82%
15 yr fixed mtg 4.26%
5/1 ARM 3.82%
$30K home equity loan 7.48%
$30K HELOC 5.08%
By Jeff Schweers, USA TODAY
PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. — When Mark Weeks was laid off from his $90,000-a-year construction job 2½ years ago,he vowed to hang onto his family's house here, where he'd lived with his wife, their three children and two dogs for the last six years.
But his new job as a safety officer for a Cocoa, Fla., crane rental company barely paid a third of what he used to make, and he wound up unable to pay his mortgage. At first, he tried, unsuccessfully, to get mortgage-holder Wells Fargo to defer or lower his payments.
Wells Fargo filed foreclosure proceedings in December, when Weeks was six months behind on his payments. Weeks hired a lawyer to fight it and move the case to a court-appointed mediator — which he sees as the best last hope for getting Wells Fargo to agree to lower his monthly payments.
All foreclosures on primary residences in Florida automatically go to mediation."We just want them to work with us because we can't make it right now," Weeks said. "We weren't asking them to give us a home for free."
Teri Schrettenbrunner, head of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Communication, said the bank is committed to helping homeowners facing true financial hardship stay in their homes they can afford (the proof is in the pudding, Teri), but, as is the case with all lending institutions, it has to honor the terms of its contract with the investors. "We are bound by the contracts we have with ... whoever owns the loan on the back end to do what they find acceptable in modification," Schrettenbrunner said. (Blah, blah, blah.)
Kelly's Note: Forgive me Teri, I know you've got a job to do. But excuse me while I gag. I really can't stand all the lies. Over and over again, when taken to task (most often in Court) Wells Fargo admits their mortgage loans are owned NOT BY INVESTORS but by mortgage backed securities which in turn are backed by a list of "loans" which may or may not exist, and which certainly have at least in part been paid in whole or in part through insurance, credit default swaps and federal bailout.
There is so much fraud in this industry it is unbelievable.
1. Look at your Promissory Note.
The name of the lender on your CURRENT Note must match the name of the lender on your CURRENT Mortgage or Deed of Trust or Assignment of Mortgage or Assignment of Deed of Trust for the current mortgage or deed of trust to be an enforceable document. If they do not match, the Promissory Note is null and void.
2. Look at your Mortgage or Deed of Trust.
The name of the lender on your CURRENT Mortgage or Deed of Trust must match the name of the lender on your CURRENT Promissory Note for the current mortgage or deed of trust to be an enforceable document. If they do not match, the Promissory Note is null and void.
3. Look at your Notice of Default. Is the date on the notice before the date of default?
4. Look at your Promissory Note Assignment. Is the date it was assigned after the date it was sold?
5. Look at your Mortgage or Deed of Trust Assignment. Is the date it was assigned after the date it was sold?
As a matter of law, the right to foreclose goes away when the promissory note is “split” from the mortgage or the deed of trust that it is supposed to secure.
A pattern with Wells Fargo is they tell you they can't modify your loan because the investor won't allow it BEFORE YOU TAKE THEM TO COURT. ONCE IN COURT, they make the representation that they are the holder of the note and the investor, which is a blatant lie in most cases. Then AFTER they get the order they want, they admit that through “inadvertence” they misrepresented the facts to the court. Then they say it is not a material misrepresentation and they produce some additional fabricated documents like a limited power of attorney which upon close reading grants nothing to anyone, is subject to many conditions that are not readily determinable and is signed by party of dubious authority and dated under questionable circumstances, if the document existed before why didn’t they use it?
IF WELLS FARGO CAN'T MODIFY YOUR LOAN, WELLS FARGO CAN'T FORECLOSE UPON YOUR LOAN. If they do not own your note, they are only the "Servicer" of your mortgage. Your servicer CAN NOT FORECLOSE!! Wells Fargo MUST own your note to foreclose upon your loan. And if they own your note, they can modify your loan. END OF STORY.
DO NOT GIVE WELLS FARGO ONE SINGLE CENT WITHOUT THEM GIVING YOU A CONTRACT, OR AT THE VERY MINIMUM A SIGNED LETTER (NOT AN E-MAIL) ON THEIR LETTERHEAD, OUTLINING THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT.
I HAVE PERSONALLY SEEN WELLS FARGO DO MODIFICATIONS IN 30 MINUTES. IT DOES NOT TAKE THEM 30 DAYS. THAT IS COMPLETE CRAZINESS. IF WELLS FARGO WANTS TO DO A MODIFICATION THEY WILL DO IT. IF THEY WANT TO SQUEEZE EVERY LIVING PENNY OUT OF A DESPERTATE HOMEOWNER THEY WILL DO IT.
DO NOT BE A DESPERATE HOMEOWNER.
Millions of working and middle-class homeowners are facing a similar predicament. An estimated 10% of all home loans are delinquent by 60 days or more, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this month.In Florida and Nevada, two of the states where the housing crisis has hit hardest, the rate was over 20%, the MBA said.
Court-ordered mediation may be the best last option for thousands of homeowners in the foreclosure pipeline, as programs targeting the estimated 6 million delinquent home loans have been slow to put a dent in the crisis.
"Foreclosure mediations hold out the hope of removing major obstacles that have hindered efforts to slow the spread of the foreclosure epidemic," says Geoff Walsh, a staff attorney specializing in housing, foreclosure and bankruptcy issues for the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) in Washington, D.C.
The Home Affordable Modification Program, President Obama's $75 billion initiative to prevent foreclosures begun last March, has granted 300,000 permanent modifications through April, according to the program's latest report, released May 17. The report also estimates 3.275 million delinquent loans are eligible for the program.
In addition, HOPE NOW, an alliance of 38 private lenders started in 2007, reported in April that 2.9 million permanent home loan modifications had been offered since the program began.
While foreclosure starts dropped 5% in the past year, the number of home loans that were delinquent by 60 days or more increased 40%, from 2.85 million to 3.99 million, says Faith Schwartz, executive director at HOPE NOW.
The biggest hurdle to getting a loan modified has been getting the loan servicer or lender to actually sit down and negotiate with the homeowner, says Sean DeVries, an Orlando-based loan workout specialist.
"There is no established path to get a good, sustainable modification," he says, noting that he went through nine fax numbers for a recent SunTrust client.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., introduced legislation in December that would require any lender receiving federal insurance to go into mediation. It has been assigned to a committee, but no further action has been taken.
Many states have already passed similar measures.
"It's been very mixed, because it depends on the way the state mediation program is set up," says Walsh.
NCLC looked at 12 new or pending state statutes, he says, and "The range is incredible." Some require nothing more than the servicer checking a box on a form that says they attempted to contact the borrower. Others require servicers to show on paper their calculations comparing what they'd lose by foreclosing on a house vs. modifying the loan, he says.
"That gives the homeowner the basis for challenging whether it's a reasonable foreclosure," he says.
According to a January NCLC report:
•The Nevada Assembly approved a mediation program that took effect July 1, allowing homeowners to request mediation on non-judicial foreclosures and appointing more than 150 mediators for the program. It requires the servicer to produce several documents, including evidence that it has the right to sue and documents showing how they calculated eligibility for a loan modification.
•Maine started a foreclosure diversion program in January, setting guidelines for scheduling sessions, granting stays of proceedings and determining good-faith participation. It also authorizes sanctions on the lenders if they don't follow the newly imposed rules, including dismissal of the lawsuit.
•The New York Legislature in November amended its mandatory settlement conference law "to include all foreclosures of loans secured by borrowers' residences."
It also requires the lender to bring documents to the conferences, including payment history and itemization of the amounts needed to catch up on and pay off the loan.
Florida is consistently in the top five states for foreclosure filings, with 350,000 a year. The Florida Supreme Court issued an administrative order in December requiring all its 20 circuit courts to adopt rules for mandatory mediation on all residential foreclosures, based on a task force's recommendations.
The 18th Circuit Court in Brevard County, Fla., made mediation mandatory in March 2009, before the state Supreme Court's order. In the ensuing 12 months, 59 of the 317 cases referred to mediation have reached a modified loan payment plan, said Ollie Lyons, the manager of the mediation program there.
"The main thing we've done is, people are able to sit down at the table and actually talk to other people," she said.
But it's stressful, she said. The state hasn't added money to the mediation programs, and there are not a lot of mediators for the overwhelming number of foreclosures, she said. "I am overwhelmed and burned out, like all mediation supervisors," Lyons said.
Eric Hammonds, a Fort Lauderdale attorney representing Weeks, said mediation forces the lenders to the table. "That's a good thing, because what happens in mediation (is) we get the actual contact person.
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