Mortgage Modification Nightmare with MetLife. Need Advice!

[bubbles7361]

[tkharvey]

What a nightmare!!!! I'm in the process of trying to get my loan modified with Aurora Loan Services....Sent in all my paperwork in April, made first new "lower" payment (trial period) in April and again today for May. Everytime I call to check the status, I get someone different, some knowledgeable, some not. It's very frustrating to say the least so I can understand your frustration. I don't understand why more can't be done to help people like us stay in our homes?? I'm not looking for a handout, just some help to get us through these tough times would be nice. Good luck!

[amei]

This really worries me. I am trying to work on a modification with GMAC. I've seen a lot of people complain about gmac with loan modification. I really hope that I can get through this with GMAC without a lot of trouble.

i wish you the best of luck. Hopefully you have a copy of your paperwork that you signed. If necessary I would seek legal counsel and let a lawyer follow up and deal with them. Maybe they will pay closer attention and actually deal with the problem.

[bubbles7361]

I called the "mortgage modification dept." back after about 5 hours of not hearing anything. I got on the line with a supervisor and she asked what I was calling about, I stated that it should be noted on the account and I was calling to follow up. She read the notes that the previous supervisor put on the account. "Customer concerned about modification and wants more information." Obviously he understated the point of my call and had no intention of following up with Loss Mitigation and calling me back as he promised. After telling the story to the new supervisor She said the same canned line "the only modification you qualify for at this time is the forbearance plan. She admitted she had no record of my previously agreed to and signed modification. When I asked for her to get someone on the line with MetLife that did know about my modification she refused and gave me the general customer service number. She asked me to fax the paperwork I had about the modification to her and she and "the floor manager" would review it and get back to me in one day. I faxed the paperwork right after the call but I have very little hope that anything will be done with it. I am starting to think that they are going to try to claim I never returned the packet or something in order to try to get out of the deal they offered me. Luckily I have all my copies. I will probably try to call this afternoon to give her a full day to do the right thing.

[DeadManCrawling]

Bubbles,

Aside from settling your issue in your favor and retaining your home, I wanted to point out:

There are so many violations of the UCC and Fair Lending Act here that you could quite literally amass enough money from sanctions to nearly retire.

No joke. You need to read up on some similar cases I have seen. One I recall is hauntingly close to what you describe, and ended with the borrower receiving over 500k in sanctions. It involved Bank Of New York, I believe.

I will try to dig through my bookmarks this afternoon and locate specific cases and rulings.

You should definitely be aware of the possible legal ramifications, though, and I hope, for all our sakes, that you pursue them if it makes sense to do so. It could save many other people from the same nightmare down the road.

[bubbles7361]

Thanks DeadMan, I look forward to seeing those links if you find them.

[bubbles7361]

Decided to try one more call before I gave up for the weekend. Finally got someone at Loss Mitigation to put me through to Laura's direct line for the first time in 2 days. As usual she didn't answer and this time her voice mail box is full and I can't leave a message. got kicked over to what sounded like a general corporate operator who tried to transfer me back to Loss mitigation but disconnected the call. Called Loss Mitigation back. I explained about the voice mail being full and he transferred me to "default Resolution" Apparently this is the "corporate office" Laura works in but they have never called it that before. The rep takes several minutes silently looking through my account and comes back with "I will transfer you now" I ask where I am being transferred and he says "There has been a process change and Mary (not real name) is now in charge of your account and has approved you for the forbearance program. I explain that MetLife has already committed to a modification and I need to talk to Laura since she is the one that set it up and no one else seems to want to acknowledge it. He says he will transfer me to Laura. I again interrupt to explain I just came from there but could not leave a message. He says he will try to get a hold of her directly (apparently she is working right now) and puts me on hold after a few minutes I get her voice mail which is no longer full so I leave a message.

I think I am done with this for the weekend unless they call me back, but I am not holding my breath. I will start fresh Monday. Might call and talk to some attorneys Monday too. I hate to do that thought. If I had money for an attorney I wouldn't need a modification on my mortgage in the first place.

[bubbles7361]

Just putting away my paperwork and my eyes fell on the first line of the letter MetLife sent me with the modification forms "This letter constitutes a commitment to modify the Mortgage (identified above)..."

<sigh>

[DeadManCrawling]

Bubbles,

Here is the grandslam court ruling that an attorney may be very interested in. It deals with "covenant of good faith and fair dealing" in addition to UCC matters as I noted, Fair Lending, TILA, RESPA and so many other things that look applicable to you.

http://www.goodwinprocter.com/Files/CFSA/rm_Nosek.pdf

Here is another source of many rulings that have peripheral relations to your issue:

http://www.abiworld.org/committees/newsletters/consumer/vol6num4/Consumer_Sept_2008_NE08_Messing_Mortgages_Cases.pdf

Note that the first case, which seems likely to be a case-law reference for your attorney to use in court, applied hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in sanctions, all based on the idea that the lender was basically. . . behaving like an idiot and not honoring their agreements, while attempting to mislead the court.

[DeadManCrawling]

They also awarded emotional damages. While the details of your case are a little different, the context sounds almost exact. I hope you look further into this.

the Court
finds that Nosek is entitled to actual damages for her emotional distress as well as
punitive damages under Section 105(a) for Ameriquest's violation of Section 1322(b) .
The Court finds that its previous award of $250,000 .00 for Nosek's emotional distress is
appropriate and hereby awards that amount under Section 105(a) . The Court already
found in its previous decision that Ameriquest's inability to properly and timely apply
Nosek's payments caused her emotional distress, which was supported by testimony from
herself, her therapist, her psychiatrist, her primary care physician, and her pastor . Nosek,
2006 WL 1867096 at * 15 . Nosek testified that upon seeing her incorrect payment
history:
I felt like somebody hit me in the stomach . . .and you know, suckerpunched
me. . .so when I saw that [this payment history] doesn't represent
my payments post-petition, . . . and to get another mortgage, they need to
see that I was making the correct payments . . . and this doesn't show that . I
was devastated. I felt there was no hope . . .I became tremendously
depressed and really since then I haven't been able to get my feet under
me . . .
Id.
The Court was outraged by Ameriquest's actions and found that its failure to maintain
accurate accounts exacerbated Nosek's emotional distress, something this Court can
remedy by assessing damages under Section 105 . The Court cannot award Nosek other
actual damages because the Court already found that she failed to prove any . See Nosek,
2006 WL 1867096 at *6, 15 (explaining that Nosek failed to proffer any evidence tha t
7
Ameriquest's inaccurate accounting prevented her from refinancing her Note on more
favorable terms) .
As for punitive damages, the Court finds that Ameriquest's accounting practices
are wholly unacceptable for a national mortgage lender and hereby awards $500,000 .00
under Section 105(a) . The Court considered punishing Ameriquest's conduct in its prior
decision, but was precluded from doing so because the remedy was erroneously based on
the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, under which punitive damages are
not available . Nosek, 2006 WL 1867096 at * 15 (stating that "punitive damages are not
recoverable although the concept is tempting to the Court considering [Ameriquest's]
egregious behavior") .
In awarding punitive damages, the Court notes that "Ameriquest is one of the
largest and oldest home mortgage lenders and loan servicers in the U .S. It services home
loans in 48 states . As of July 2006, Ameriquest service[d] approximately 437,000 loans .
Of that, nearly 7,200 involve borrowers that are currently Chapter 13 debtors ."

[getmeoutofhere]

me too

Bubbles-
I to am in the middle of a loan mod with MetLife. I have the mod documents in front of me. I need to sign and send back with a cashiers check by Friday.

Questions:

Did you get the following documents from them (I did):
Acceptance of Offer for Modified Mortgage
Federal Truth-In-Lending Disclosure Statement
Loan Modification Agreement
Notice of no oral agreements
Errors and omissions compliance agreement

I have to send a check for $4,388.96

Misc fees: 422
Late charges: 1161.44
7/1 Payment 2805.52

New loan agreement:
12 Payments $2,433.30
12 Payments $2,905.03
297 Payments $3,403.11
1 Payment $3,481.49

My original mortgage payment was $3885

My concern, I don't want to get dinged on "late fees" and Missed Payments. According to my "offer for modified mortgage", This is what is stated:

Current Principal: $510,000
Capitalized delinquent interest 24,801
Capitalized escrow 2782
The new modified principal balance will $537,723

This amount, $537,723 is also the amount financed on my truth-in-lending statement. I have not made a payment since august of last year.

This all looked VERY official to me, but you have given my some concerns. Anyone have any advice? I CAN afford the new modified payment and would like to keep the home

[bubbles7361]

I can't say it has been fun, but I think we have stuff back on track today. I called again this morning and now, no matter what number i call, my call is routed to Mary's voice mail. Mary called me right back and answered most of my questions. The modification is still in effect and was sitting on her desk. She is the on that gets assigned the account after the paper work has been signed and actually implements the modification.

My impression is that my modification just happened to occur at the same time they were changing their process for handling modification accounts. In essence, i fell through a crack in the system. I have lost a lot of trust and will not entirely trust things are OK until I receive my first statement. The paperwork said I should have received it in 30 days and it is well past that but Mary says they are waiting on one more thing to come through with the mortgage insurance and then it will be done.

[bubbles7361]

Getmeoutofhere:

The paperwork that was sent to you looks exactly like the stuff that was sent to me, all the same forms and whatnot. Your numbers a a bit bigger though


I would definitely go ahead with it. I hope you or anyone else dose not have to go through what I did the last couple weeks. I have a feeling a lot of my problems are coming from a very overworked and under trained staff in the middle of a change in how they handle modification accounts.

Make sure you double check all the numbers on your paperwork. I had two problems in mine that I just found today. I have already signed them so I am not sure if I have any recourse.

1. Laura failed to mention to me that the payment she quoted me and was reflected in the paperwork was only principal and interest and did not include escrow account payments. Mary told me I should have been told this and even received a letter explaining it. I wasn't and didn't. In fact, The amount on my Truth in Lending Act sheet says my first years payments are $992.12 but with escrow added in they will actually be $1324.40.

Then, after I got off the phone I realized:

2. The amount of delinquent escrow that is capitalized into my new principal seems way off. It is listed as $6226.94. I have not paid in 9 months and my escrow payment is $324.20. That should only be $2917.80.

My loan carries mortgage insurance. Mary said the only thing they are waiting on is a payment from PMI for the escrow account. I asked if MetLife is making a claim on the past due escrow payments and she said yes. Right after I got off the phone I remembered that the past due escrow is rolled into my new principal. Sounds like there might be some double dipping going on.

I have left a message asking for explanations for these new questions but have not heard back yet.

[bubbles7361]

well, it looks like I am back at the beginning again. I can not even express my frustration level. Apparently everything Mary told me has turned out to be incorrect.

I called today to find out how to make my July payment (my first payment under the modification) since I have not received a statement. My modification has been sent back to Laura who is now making "changes" to it and going to send me some new paperwork. No idea when i can expect the new paperwork. No acknowledgment whatsoever about what Mary had told me or even that I had ever talked to her. The person I talked to today, told me I can wait for new paperwork or agree to proceed with a foreclosure.

I truly hope others going through Mortgage modifications with MetLife don't have the problems I have had. That being said, if it is legal in your state, record all calls with them, keep written logs of all calls and copies of all paperwork, and don't put any faith in any information or promises made over the phone or in writing (even ones with signatures on it) until you absolutely sure they have came through on those commitments.

61 days since signing and sending in my modification paperwork and payment and still no modification. No information on what is wrong. No communication on when I can expect to know anything. MetLife is refusing to take my payment that is due July 1st under the signed modification. I wait for "new paperwork" to show up with no idea what it will contain.

[getmeoutofhere]

update

Bubbles-
Similar situation with me as well....signed my paperwork and mailed in with my first payment. Received a statement in the mail with the "old" terms. Called to find out when my new statement would be available. After an hour on the phone, ended up back with the person who did my mod. She said that my next payment was not due until August 1st, however, there was an error on the paperwork and they would need to resend to me. The error? My original mod had the interest rate changing every year for year 1, 2 and 3. She said that was incorrect and that the interest rates would be fixed for 3 years. What the result would be is that my payment will be the same for 3 years instead of just the first year. I confirmed with her that I was not at risk of forclosure...she said no risk. I checked with my attorney and basically, they deposited the check which was tied to the mod agreement, so therefore, we have a binding agreement....