Like many Americans we applied for a modification to our home mortage. We originally had Countrywide but you know what happened to them, and the guy with all the gold chain and the tan who is basking somewhere warm on his multi-million dollar golden parachute. So B of A now holds our mortage and since we have a 7% loan we thought why not ask for a modification. Rates are down and we are hearing how all the banks are trying to help the struggling homeowner.
So we asked. Last September. Today we got a packet requiring everything but our DNA. Due by April 15. We applied six months ago and now have 3 weeks to comply. But wait, it gets better __ the next days mail brings an "escrow account notice" from the same friendly people in B of A's load modification department.
We did not have an escrow or impound account with our mortgage. Lenders sometimes require one (if you made a small down payment for example) so that the property taxes and home insurance bills can be taken car of by the bank in order that the lender is protected from liens on the home if these bills are not paid by the homeowner. Thus for the borrower who has an escrow account attached to his home loan, taxes and insurance are added onto the monthly mortgage payment.
B of A had apparently decided that by the mere act of asking for a loan modification, we were a bad credit risk and without telling us, created an escrow account all on their own. This sentence was buried in the notice: "BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP is required by law to inform you that this communication if from a debt collector." Huh? A collection agency is after us? Where did B of A go all of a sudden? No phone number is shown and the mailing address in Los Angeles is appended with "Remittance Processing" so don't bother writing a complaint to that post office box.
By asking for a better interest rate in other words that would lower our monthly payment, our mortgage bill will now be $300+ more each month until or unless they grant that lower rate and there is no assurance they will. Or that they will even respond before Christmas. And, if we did agree to all this and paid the $300 each month, can you imagine what it would take to get it refunded and back to us paying our own property taxes and insurance? Would we be alive to see it?
Big companies apparently get to make their own rules. Big drug makers, big health insurance conglomerates, big banks wield so much clout in our government that the rule of law doesn't mean much to them anymore. Last night on the evening news we learn that 16 million Americans are behind on their mortgages but only 168,000 have been given loan modifications to help them stay in their homes. If I remember right, the law requiring lenders to offer help has been on the books since last fall and now, six months later only 1% of those who need the help got it. This really sits well on top of that visual image of the lady who is the CEO of one of the major banks who answered a Congressman's question that her salary was $7 million.
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