After my experience with Wells Fargo, getting denied by other borrower assistance programmes and not even getting a call back from the asshole lawyers I was referred to (Tom Stubbs and Mike Froman, to name names) today I decided to call a lawyer from the internet. Why the fuck not?
I start by doing some research about principal mortgage reduction – which turns out to be a pipe dream. The banks do NOT have to do it, so they don’t. I began to see that the banks have no incentives to work with anyone since it appeared that the mortgage bailout plans were all geared for the BANKS, not the borrowers. I was right. The banks WANT the borrowers to default. Why? Because they get paid in full by our illustrious government. Even as I read this, I was thinking “No way, this is surely not right! Why would the banks PROFIT from default? Why would anyone NOT just walk away? This makes no sense!!”
With those thoughts in my head, I decided to try another tack. I did a search for “principal balance reduction lawyer” and ended up at georgiaforcedloanmodifications.com. I called them up and got a CSR who immediately started soft selling me and telling me how great this lawyer was. First red flag. I told him our situation and after reminding me again that this lawyer was most excellent, he told me that our loan amount was “less than the payment to us would be”. Second BIG red flag. I said, “WHAT payment to you? Is this not a regular lawyer that you pay and he does a job?” Dude said, “Well, you see, you pay us a retainer that starts at $795/mo for us to find an irregularity in your loan so we can then force the bank to re-do the loan”. WUT? I told him, “That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” and hung up. SCAM!! SCAM!! SCAM!! The fact that this shit is allowed to go on AND the banks get paid for defaults is making me nauseous.
Disgusted, I then called up the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance to see if THEY had any ideas. The nice lady advised me to go to the Georgia Bar Association and find a REAL lawyer to talk to. So I did. I ended up at the Atlanta Bar Association’s search engine and I called up The Roberts Law Firm, P.C., which listed real estate as one of their specialties. The lawyer I spoke to was very nice and very sensible. I told him where we were with this mortgage (we are technically not responsible, but we pay it to keep living here, and we’re interested in getting a principal reduction to keep the property) and he told me flat out what I’d already surmised: there is no way that’s gonna happen.
It’s in the bank’s best interest to ignore pleas of borrowers so they can cash in with the government and get 100% paid on the defaulted amount. In our case, they make 100% profit, since the property is worth half of the mortgage amount.
The lawyer also told me that stopping payment is the best option when we are ready to go. Stopping payment will give you 6-12 months of living there without payment before the bank will get around do actually filing to get you evicted. Since we are technically not responsible now, it’ll probably be closer to 6 months than 12 in our situation.
So, yes, our feeling that we were being pushed into a corner by the bank is 100% accurate. Why should they bother with us? They can collect $93k from the government on a property worth $50k if we just walk. It’s better for them if we do! Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
The fact that we are not obligated on the loan in the first place is irrelevant. The bank *can* toss us out any time they like, but again, it’s in their best interest to keep collecting payments from us on a worthless property. And it’s in our best interest to keep paying until we are within 6-9 months of moving away. Then we just stop payments.
Is your head spinning yet?
Our government is paying the banks to continue destroying the housing market and tossing homeowners out on the street. It is severely fucked up and I think a clear indicator of this country’s ultimate demise. When the rank and file no longer have anything of value, they have no economic stability. When economic stability is gone, where’s the incentive to invest in communities?
I don’t know why the fuck things are like this, but I can tell you that it’s wrong. Every fibre in my being is telling me that it’s wrong for a government to destroy people’s lives in the name of corporate interests.
But what do I know? I’m just a rank and file citizen who will walk away from a perfectly good home, leaving it to the scavengers to rip out the copper and take the A/C unit. WTF ever. I hope Wells Fargo enjoys the spoils of their conquest. It just makes me SICK.
I am now grumpy and sad. And really despairing for this country. ;_;