We are trying to stop the foreclosure... they are not listening

I have been dealing with First Franklin for some time now. We fell behind on payments due to job layoff and cut in pay. They offered a repayment plan to keep us out of foreclosure. We met all the repayment payments. Then they promised to do a loan modification to give us a payment that we could afford. When we got the paper work for that the payments were higher then we were paying and they wanted $2000 in cash and they gave us 2 days to do so. Then we found out that they never stopped the foreclosure. So we still may lose our home and now we can not get a hold of anyone from that bank and have seen a lawyer and found out there are several claims against them.

Are having problems with First Franklin such as I am. I would like to hear from you if so and possibly form a group for a class action suite if possible. Please give me your contact if possible. Or feel free to contact me.

Regards

Frank

Am in a similar situation with First Franklin. Foreclosure has been filed, even though my husband and I have been communicating with their Loss Mitigation Dept. The foreclosure attorney had already filed Motion for Summary Judgment, and we only just received a repayment agreement from First Franklin this week. We are very leery to sign it. We initiated the Loss Mitigation in Jan of this year, and have only just been able to speak to someone who seems remotely familiar with our file. We are concerned that once we sign the repayment plan and comply, that the terms of the mortgage restructure will not be as they say it will, and not only will we end up back in foreclosure, any monies that we pay them will just be lost. Then there is the fact that foreclosure proceedings that remain ongoing. Since First Franklin is just the loan servicer, not the holder of the note, and the Foreclosure attorney represents the holder of the note, we aren't sure what is the right thing to do. There is also an issue as to the original note. We have an 80%, 20% mortgage. In the foreclosure documents, it is stated that the original note for the 20% mortgage has been lost or accidentally destroyed, so they are petitioning for reinstatement of the note. In my research on foreclosure, it states that the original note has to be presented in court, not a copy. How do we know they submitted the original note for the 80% mortgage? This is all very stressful and confusing, so if anyone has any insight, please post.....

Thank you.

~ Evelyn

I stumbled upon this site yesterday, frantically looking for some information that might help me decide what is in our best interest with regards to our foreclosure / repayment / mortgage restructure situation with First Franklin Loan Services.

I was surprised to see so many comments about FF and I have learned a lot from reading the posts. For the most part, it seems most people who post are in similar situations to mine, so in a way there is a lot of commonality. I am, however, dismayed at the number of really nasty posts that I have run across.

I'm just shocked at how many people love to kick other people when they are down and are passing judgment, although they don't know their entire situation.

I don't think that is the purpose of this blog. Believe me, I certainly do not like airing my dirty laundry in public, but there comes a time when you need to be able to reach out, and the last thing we need is to have someone ridicule, judge and persecute us. None of us intentionally ended up like this.

We are all in tough situations, no matter what the causes, and its not really very constructive to tell us how stupid or pathetic we are and even criticize spelling as I read in one post.

If your life is perfect and your credit is too, that's great, good for you. If that's the case, then why are you wasting your time reading this blog?

Please, we need some constructive ideas if there are any, and if not some compassion would be helpful.

Thank you.

~ Evelyn

By the way, Frank, if you ever do file a class action law suit against FF, I'm in. The more information I read and the deeper I delve into my loan documents, I am learning how deceptive my loan representative was when we were working on getting our mortgage. In all honesty, defaulting on our loan may have not been such a bad thing, if we can work out a restructure, but I am very leery about their restructuring program at this point. I couldn't trust them with the initial mortgage, so how can I trust them now?

Thanks.

~ Evelyn

It seems we have all had similar experiences with First Franklin. I was actually told by someone from loss mitigation to "just sell your house." Not exactly the answer I was looking for. If anyone has suggestions on other avenues please let me know. Did anyone refinance with First Franklin and fail to have them tell you it was an ARM? I actually asked during the initial refi stage and still have the notes and original paperwork sent to me, all of which say fixed rate, but somehow at closing that was all changed. My fault for not reading closely I know, but it may be a heads up for someone else.

My husband and I have a loan with FF, we were never behind until his job cut his hours back in August,due to the economy. He works in a warehouse that stock goods, the vendors were about to go bankrupt. We fell behind on our mortgage, kept trying to get in touch with FF for help way before we ended up in the situation we are in now. We tried to refi, we got turned down, we tried to do a modification, they waited a month in a half to tell us we didn't have three consecutive payments. They knew that before I even submitted my mod application. They turned us down for that.We kept paying our regular mortgage, until recently my husband got really behind, not to mention our interest rate is 11.75% payment is 1831.00 they are not trying to do anything to help. Like someone else mentioned they told me to sale my house b/c it seems as if you can't afford it. I was shocked. I can NEVER get a hold of the same person or the person in charge of out second mod request the "negotiator" I don't even know if such a person exist i requested it back on 3/14/08 no answer. I call stay on hold for 4o+ minutes for them to simply tell me no decision has been made yet. I have about six different ext no one ever picks up or ever call back. I have received two foreclosure letters. I don't know what to do or expect because I cant' get any one on the phone EVER.

Hi Tonya:

Make sure when you call FF that you ask for the Loss Mitigation department. They seem to be the only ones who can help, if they indeed do help. We are still trying to decide what our options are at this point, as I am extremely leery about signing the repayment agreement, since it does not give all the answers. We have no guarantee of what takes place after we complete the 90 days of repayment payments. So, its a distressing situation to say the least. I have contacted a couple of attorneys locally and of course for a nice "fee" they would be happy to help, but I would rather keep my money and put it toward the repayment agreement, should we finally to make a leap of faith and go for it. I don't know if anyone follows the finacials, but from what I have read, Merrill Lynch (who purchased FF from National City Bank in 2007) announced on March 5, 2008 that they are closing FF. Home Loan Services will be sold eventually, which was also part of FF.

Our loss mitigation rep says that Home Loan Services is not associated with FF, however, our repayment agreement has FF name and address on it, so I'm not sure what's going on and who we are working with.

We have submitted letters to the foreclosure attorney, FF, Home Loan Services, LaSalle Bank (who filed our foreclosure) just to see if we can get some clarification and to ensure that any repayment agreement and/or loan modification is actually sanctioned by LaSalle. I'd hate to pay up nearly $8000 throughout the 90 days of the repayment agreement only to find out that the bank does not honor it and lose the house anyway.

Should we opt to sell, it will deifinitely have to be a short sale. LaSalle stands to lose a lot of money, since our house has already dropped $128,000 in just one year. We can't refinance because of it.

In our letter to all parties, I requested that should we not be able to come to some agreeable terms, that we be allowed to do a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" and pay the legal fees.

We are rapidly running out of options, so I'm just trying to come up with something that is going to the least amount of damage to us personally.

According to the foreclosure attorney, they can't even get a court date to hear the case until August, so we have a little time, but court dockets change as cases are settled, dropped, etc., so we also have to keep that in mind.

Until then, we are going to work toward saving the house, but I am also prepared to let it go, if we have no other choice.

Ours is a 2 yr fixed adjustable rate. Somehow my husband neglected to tell me the adjustable part when he put this deal together. Had I known, I never would have signed. I took his word for it - dumb on my part. I guess he just wanted to have our own house so bad, that he was willing to take the risk. The terms were different from what he was told as well - it was supposed to be a 50 year mortgage and its a 30 year with a gigantic balloon due in the 30th year that is almost as big as the mortgage itself. Somehow this was not discussed at closing and he said he was never told about the balloon. So we are pushing really hard for some major loan modification, since its our only chance to reduce costs. I found about the loan terms and adjustable rate after the foreclosure action started, when for the first time I not only looked at our closing documents, but actually examined them very closely. Even my husband didn't know the full extent of the loan. Hind sight is 20/20, they say and yes, we should have really read the documents at the closing. It was so tense that rushed that we really just signed.

My husband's grand plan was to refinance in two years and he didn't count on our home losing value so quickly and property taxes tripling, making that part of the dream a nightmare. He also didn't count on our family experiencing a financial melt down within that time stretch. Now here we are.

Good luck to you and please try to speak to someone in loss mitigation, if you haven't already. They have to be able to help you.

~ Evelyn

Update - FF and/or Home Loan Services, has agreed to allow us to reduce our initial repayment payment to $3200 from $3700, so I guess that is progress - now if we could just trust them....

~ Evelyn

Well I see I'm not the only one dealing with these stubborn butt heads. They always say what they can't do. Never what they can do. This company is simply stubborn. Why?

Yes I have also had the same problem when they say one thing and yet done another. Or the person simply is not available. Try again.. Oh were sorry... Let me see what we can do. Told the story. Oh I'm sorry those notes are not on your account. Or another time hey we need just a few days can you help us out. We can make the payment on Monday. Person says oh I'm sorry but if you do that you will be in foreclosure.

These people have no flexibility at all! They could care less. The ignore any opportunity to avoid problems. They can care less if you go into foreclosure. I just don't understand these people.

At this point we are in for closer. So we stopped any payments and it has been our 3rd month coming up on our 4th payment behind. We have only gotten phone calls. Which I have ignored. Recently got the total amount due $16k. Oh they also never leave a message. Often trigger the machine yet never a message. They are simply looking for money.

We have simply given up. Waiting to see what is going to happen. I have been told they have 4 months before they send the real estate agent saying we need to get out. Yet this could take even longer. HUD said we could contact them and ask for money to move out. As long as the place is in good condition. Which it is. Oh for FYI they use a 866 number and often call around 8am no later then early 9am. Then again 6pm area. Sometimes I think they use a unknown or blocked number.

If you guys do a class action against them. You let me know I will be there! Everyone keeps talking about country wide. I think these guys make them look like saints.

If you guys find further info please let me know.
thanx

I am totally surprise to all of us are somewhat in the same situation and FF holds our mortgage. I was heading toward foreclosure - when FF placed me on a repayment. At the time, I just on it - not wanting to lose my home. However, my mortgage payment is much GREATER than it was prior to the repayment plan. I was paying 2650.00 a month. Now I'm paying 3570.00 which does not include my taxes. My total monthly household income is 4350.00 a month. I sought help, and a loan officer from countrywide called me and my husband and asked us to consider a reverse mortgage. We agreed! Started the process, and was approved for only $198,214. My current mortgage balance is $331,220. So, I called FF to ask if they would consider a short sale. They told me first of all, it may take up to 4 to 6 weeks to get approved for a quick sale, and that I may not be qualified for it. In the meantime, I must maintain the 3570.00 monthly payment. Countrywide, of course may not mind waiting the 4 to 6 weeks for FF to approve us for a short sale. My concerns are - if they say no. I'm force to continue to make the high payments, which is causing me to be late with other bills. After paying my mortgage I'm left with less than $900 a month. My taxes are more than 6,000 a year. I don't want to file for bankruptcy, I rather pay my obligation to FF, but if they say no to the quick sale, then I shall proceed for bankruptcy - Which is not something I want to do, but may be force to do. My hands are completely tied. I need room to pay other bills. Any sound advice from anyone?

Thank Ann

That is my fear with the repayment plan. We can't get them to give us a set payment amount. They want 90 days of consecutive payments then they will re-evaluate our income / debt and give us a figure then. What if its off the charts? It already is at over $3200 a month and going to $3800 next may. I don't know if they just try to get something in from the debtor before the whole thing falls apart or what the deal is. Our rep says maybe between $2300 and $2500, but without having that written in stone, we don't know if that is the truth.

We are seeing an attorney on Monday to see exactly what our real options are, as we are running out of time. She handles loan modifications and foreclosures, so hopefully this will be a good thing - or she will just scare me to death with the harsh truth. You may want to speak to an attorney or contact HUD or some other free assistance and get some real help. We have been trying to do it all ourselves and I think we made a mess of it, just because we got scared. Keep your wits and find some help. Good luck. Post a follow up and let us know how things work out.

~ Evelyn

I've got another FF update.

Firs of all, my meeting with the attorney was very enlightening, it just change things. The attorney was very thorough and answered all of our questions and even questions we didn't think to ask, but basically for us its really too late.

Next bit of news is, FF is no more. Merrill Lynch closed that part of the company down, laying off over 600 people. Home Loan Services is now handling the mortgage servicing, so I'm sure if they were short staffed before, now it must be really bad.

It turns out that all this time that we have been going back and forth with FF / Home Loan Services has been a farce as far as a true repayment plan and loan modification. They are working soley as a debt collector on our specific account, mainly to collectr legal fees for the foreclosure. None of the money would have gone toward the mortgage.

To make matters even worse, we were told by a Home Loan Services rep that there would be no guarantee that we would even be offered or qualify for a mortgage modification once the repayment plan was completed.

I was very aprehensive about signing the agreement in the first place, so I am glad we didn't, and we didn't send them any money.

The rep told us that their job is to collect the legal fees and if possible the arrearages. They are not authorized to make modifications to the mortgage, except for what is contained in the repayment agreement, which really does not address modification.

So, basically we are toast. The house is going to foreclose and we are going to have to move. Don't know where yet. We are looking, but not a whole lot of landlords want to rent to people with foreclosures on thier credit reports.

We'll be fine and move on. I just wish I had known all of this early on, so we would not have wasted our time. I sort of caught on to them being in collections when my husband left a message on our reps voicemail - before his message played letting us know he was away from his desk a collections disclaimer message played saying "Loan Services is a debt collection, any information obtained will be used for that purpose". That is the standard collection agency disclaimer. I tried to explain it to my husband, but he didn't get it. I did. I work for a medical billing company and we have an in house collection agency for delinquent accounts, so I know some of the language and knew when I heard that something was not right.

They bill themselves as the Resolution Team of the Loss Mitigation Department, but are really collectors.

I sent a letter to our last rep informing her that we were in receipt of her updated payment arrangement and that as with first one she sent, our attorney advised us to not sign it. That's when they realized we were not going to pay them according to the repayment agreement, so the next call was from her supervisor (I had mentioned in my letter that if she could not help us come to some sort of resolve, that maybe we need to speak to her a supervisor or manager).

I am really very upset. This is so unfair. To string us along, promising loan modification and they had no intention of helping to modify the loan. Its deceptive.

I have been writing letters. I wrote to the governor of my state (Florida), the owner of our mortgage note (LaSalle Bank), the president of Merrill Lynch (who owned FF and owns Home Loan Services, the foreclosure attorney handling the case (a basic foreclosure mill). I plan to file a complaint with the Florida Attorney General, send letters to congress and the sentate and whoever else I need to in order to get someone to pay attention to what is happening to homeowners.

If they would have worked with us early on when we first had trouble, we could have avoided the foreclosure and helped to make the mortgage more affordable.

I will not stop until I get someone's attention. Someone is bound to finally read the letters. There are so many people involved in these mortgages and mortgage companies, so many layers, but eventually I'll reach the right one. May be too late for us when I do, but by God, someone has to take responsibility for how they are conducting business at the borrower's expense.

I certainly do hope that Home Loan Services or Loan Services as it says on their disclaimer, is a licensed collection agency, licensed to work collect in the state of Florida. I looked them up and didn't find their name, but I'm sure they have it registered under some other company, but I will find out. I obtained the entire list of collection agencies licensed in the state of Florida, and no matter how long it takes me, I go through the list and see if there is a connection to any company involved in this mess. If it turns out they are not licensed, I will report them.

Well, I hope everyone else has a better outcome that I do. Its sad, I'm scared and I'm just tired. This is a grueling experience and its not over yet.

Please, whatever you do, make sure you know who it is you are dealing with when trying to work with your lender. Ask questions, and if you hear a collection agency disclaimer when you call, ask for a supervisor and find out what's going on.

I am also going to try to pursue a class action law suit against just about everyone involved in our situation. Predatory lending, deceptive practices, etc. Whatever I can come up with. Not sure how far I will get - Merrill Lynch closed FF down and has plans to sell Home Loan Services, but they can't escape their involvement and their responsibility.

Take care everyone!

~ Evelyn

Hi Evelyn,

I had a feeling that that was the likely out come of the loan modification process when they offered it to me. As I was starting to see a pattern. Unless I could come up with the $12k. There was no way I would ever get them off my back.

My wife and I figured why keep struggling with these people who ignore the federal guidelines to help reduce foreclosure. I figure there has to be some under minded reason why these people simply don't care and often lie or mislead. In order to help cause the foreclosure process.

We now only get collection phone calls. We have yet to see any mail besides the monthly bill from these people.

After some research and talking with some local real Estate agent. We have found some new information about cash for keys. It seems that in order to keep the house from being torn apart that they are offering more money then ever. according to LA Times they have been offering as much as $6000. What often happens is that it takes 4 to 6 months before anything really happens. That's after you start the foreclosure papers. Then after that time a real estate reposesor knocks on your door. You can go ahead and talk with them.

Ok this is where it gets fun. Your negotiating tactics will come into play. They will simply offer you $1000 to move out before eviction. You have to tell them that that is simply not enough money to move with. Tell them that you have to make the security deposit and first month rent. As well as moving costs including transfuring utilities to the new location for your family. Don't get an eviction as that's bad news where ever you try to move.

Also after talking with HUD. They told me that the key to getting a new place would be showing the credit check before the foreclosure hits your credit report. Then you can explain what happened when you are looking for a new place.

Watch out as some companies try and take advantage of people in this situation. They offer houses for rent. Yet they want you to prove they you make 3 times what the rent is. So $1500 being the average house in my area for rent. They want you to earn $4500 a month. I looked straight at the owners of that business and told them if that was the case then I wouldn't be renting. So just watch for those. Look for people who are not part of a real estate or property management company.

Also HUD warned about people showing up trying to quote help but really causing a rip off before the foreclosure happens. So don't fall for that. Including people showing up at your door step all time of the night and day.

So stay strong and set money aside for moving. Expecting the 4 to 6 month time frame.

Please keep us informed on any class act suit or possibility if one.

Thanks for the enlightening information.

We were served with the foreclosure papers on New Year's Day of this year (nice way to kick off the new year!!), so we are already 4 mos into the process.

We only learned the most recent information after they received my letter where I said we weren't signing the agreement and they realized we were not going to pay the repayment amounts. At least this guy was honest about it.

It put it into perspective for me. They are not interested in helping the homeowner. There must be something that they benefit from that the average person can't see that makes foreclosure better for them than saving the loan.

I feel bad that we were lead on for so long. Its taken us nearly 5 months to learn all of this. We have been tearing ourselves up over this with worry and stress.

I wrote to the actual note holder on our mortgage and then I wrote a really nasty letter to the president and CEO of Merrill Lynch, who bought First Franklin and Home Loan Services in early 2007. Doubt if it will help, but it was kind of therapeutic getting it all out on paper.

We are looking at rentals right now. Its really tough. Looking at property after property and not sure what to do. We'd like to just move out and get it over with and put this behind us.

My husband is not healthy enough to face the sheriff at the door serving a 24 hour eviction notice. We need to move on, because this is so all consuming.

Thanks for the info. If someone comes knocking offering us money to move out, we'll be ready for them. I don't see that happening here. In South Florida where we live the sheriff comes to the house and says its time to go. Sometimes they post a 30 day notice and sometimes its just 24. We may have a rental, but we are just trying to buy a little more time to get organized.

Thanks for the reply and good luck to you!

~ Evelyn

I did a quick search and found information and for foreclose cash for keys in Florida. Using those key words in a Internet search.

So even Florida has cash for keys program. I would do some research. Call a real estate agent as they would know best.

I looked up cash for keys, also. It all depends on the lender. As uncooperative as our lender (FF)has been, I don't know if they will offer it, but I guess it would not hurt to try to negotiate it. I just don't want to tip my hand with them. I'd like to have a place to go first and we are still looking for one. I don't want them thinking we are going to cut and run. We will inform them when we plan to leave, but I don't want to do anything to expedite the process at this point.

I saw the evidence of why this would be a good thing for lenders. There is a house across the street from a rental that we looked at yesterday. Its abandoned and in great disrepair just from looking at the outside. Its a foreclosure property, and before leaving the homeowners destroyed the inside, including ripping the cabinets off the kitchen walls and tossing them in the living room and taking a hammer and smashing every piece of ceramic tile in the house and smasged the bathroom facilities. Its just sitting there.

The following is from ForeclosureFish.com

"Cash For Keys"

A "cash for keys" option is something your lender may offer after the foreclosure process is complete. If you have exhausted all of your options and saving your home is no longer possible, your lender may offer you a fee to walk away from the home peacefully. Unless your lender offers this automatically, this is something that will need to be negotiated with them. In general, lenders will offer about 1% of your home's value if you are willing to walk away quickly and peacefully.

Many homeowners report receiving these types of offers throughout the foreclosure process.

Thanks.

~ Evelyn

Do you all go back and read your comments after you write them?
Probably not. I say that, because if you did, you would realize that you are all whining and complaining about a self made situation.
It's very easy for you all to try and place your blame on your mortgage company, but let's look at the facts as to HOW you all fell into these situations.

1. You failed to make your payments. Hence the reason you are in a Foreclosure or headed to a Foreclosure. Granted, sometimes situations change--you lose a job, reach a rough spot, etc. HOWEVER--where there's a will, there's a way. If you wanted to keep your mortgage current and out of foreclosure you COULD.
Get a second or third job. Borrow funds from family or friends. If you cared about the home and keeping current, you wouldn't be where you were--but again, it's easier to fall into this and blame someone else for your lack of responsibility.

2. You didn't know what you were signing. Everything in reference to your mortgage terms is laid out in your contract. I understand there's a lot of information there and it's a fairly large packet, but why are you people willing to sign your name to a large loan for 30 years WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING? Again...you're irresponsible.

3. You borrow more than you can afford. What made you think it was a good idea to take out a loan with large monthly payments that you can't afford with all of your other bills? You know what you pay for each month, you know how much you make each month...did you think that would change? Shame on you for not being rational and budgeting your funds.

I could go on, but I feel like I've made myself pretty clear.

You all did this to yourself.

Sometimes you have to step up, be an adult, and realize that the world (and the mortgage company) isn't out to get you.

Quit crying foul and make a move.

You made your bed. Now lie in it.

After Thought---Why are you all paying for internet (a luxury) so you can sit here and blog about your injustices when you can't afford to make a payment on your house (a necessity)??....Just further proof of point

You know I really hate people like you with no heart for what others are going through. We didn't choose this. We simply tried to deal with it.

I used to make the money and then some. Now I don't. I tried to find alternatives.

You try making hundreds of thousands then suddenly you have to deal this making a small income again after that. Try making ends meet and have something to eat.

I really hate arrogant pie holes like you. As they simply open that pie hole with no consideration of what the other person has been through.

Find another place on the Internet to be a pie hole. As we are hard working people who ran into a bit of bad luck.

You think it's easy to do what you said. I have been through everything you listed. Still unable to make things happen. You think we didn't try? Hahaha... You think we over extended hahahaha....

I guess you can foresee the future. Maybe your a rich itch. What ever it is I think you have no heart. Maybe some day you will be given circumstances that are beyond your control. I would love to be a fly on the wall when that day comes. As you would deserve all the karma you dish out.

Thank you Pie Hole for that...thought provoking response filled with nothing more than some name calling and more "woe is me" attitude!
I am hardly rich. And I do have a heart. I just find it ridiculous that everyone here thinks their mortgage company is to blame.
How is it the mortgage company's fault that you are living beyond your means?
Look at it this way--without that mortgage company, you wouldn't have had a house to begin with.
That's what makes me angry...everyone looks at this and immediately wants to place the blame on "the man", when really, you were given on loan a large sum of money to start a life, to buy a home. If you're in foreclosure, it's because YOU DID NOT UPHOLD YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE LOAN!
What, you think the bank should be nice and just let you slide?
THIS IS BUSINESS, FOLKS!
The bank says "yes, we will lend you this money, but you have to pay us back, or we will take back the collateral."
You say "why thank you bank, I'll gladly take your check and pay you back...where do I sign?"
And then you take the check, and stop making payments...YOU KNEW THE CONSEQUENCES OF THESE ACTIONS.
I understand what you are all going through is difficult. I understand that you feel "helpless".
But you also feel entitled to some kind of charity because you "f"d up.
And that isn't right.
You folks don't deserve anything more than what you were given. You couldn't even handle that opportunity.

Life is hard enough without those who sit in judgement. Yes we all fell behind for whatever reason or another. Yes, we all reached out to our lender, as we are supposed to. Some of us were fortunate enough to get some assistance and cooperation. Some of these loans were disasters waiting to happen. Mine certainly was.
I'm not looking for charity. I could just throw my hands up and walk away, all of us could, but we don't, because we want to do the right thing.
Unless you have gone though a financial hardship, whether from illness, lost jobs, whatever the reason, you could not possibly understand and you don't belong here. You live is so wonderful and perfect that you have nothing better to do in your perfect world, with your perfect finances than to check out the foreclosure blogs?? I feel bad for you....
This is a place for people who are faced with a tough situation, maybe one of the toughest ones in their lives, to come together and offer some advise, or a shoulder, ideas, a kind word or just to be allowed to vent. This is not a place for ridicule and just really mean spirited comments.
Its not junior high, okay? We don't need bullies. So, if you have nothing positive to offer or nothing constructive to share here, then just go away. We don't need you.
~ Evelyn

You know, you have no idea what we are dealing with when trying to contact this lender. It can take weeks of daily calls, sometimes several times a day, before you can actually get a person on the phone. Once we are fortunate enough to get through, we are faced with untrained basic customer service reps who we are told are loss mitigation specialists.
I realize that First Franklin has imploded, but its because they over sold the sub-prime loans. At the same time, people who need to speak to someone within their organization are entitled to speak to someone who knows what they are doing or saying.
We were SOOOO misinformed by our loss mitigation specialist, that if she had given us accurate information, we would have completed our repayment plan and had our loan modification already in place, but she gave us misinformation, so we were reluctant to sign the agreement, since we were told that the foreclosure remains in place until the third payment is complete, where we could face the foreclosure order being signed before we completed the repayment plan, so we were faced with the possibility of still losing the house, and the repayment money and would have depleted our finances and not have anything to use for a rental. It was not until I wrote a letter to the president and CEO of Merrill Lynch, the owner of First Franklin and their replacement, Home Loan Services, that I got some useful, truthful information. I was assigned a customer advocate and he proved to be very helpful. He told us that upon receipt of the first repayment payment, the foreclosure action is stopped. We may very well be able to prevent foreclosure, if we had known this from the beginning. Now we are racing the clock in one last effort to prevent the foreclosure.
Problematic accounts or not, foreclosures or not, lenders owe it to their customers to have trained qualified people working their accounts, who give accurate information and if they don't know the answers, then they need transfer you to a supervisor or manager, period.
So, don't come here with your nasty comments making people who already feel bad feel worse.
I would have rather been turned down for the mortgage, to be quite honest. We tried to walk away from the deal multiple times, because they sounded so negative about it, and they kept dragging us back in. One day it could not get through underwriting and when we said we're done, all of a sudden problems and obstacles along the way were no longer problems or obstacles and we got a closing date for the next day. Miraculous. How does this happen?
Bottom line, we got a bad loan - a really bad loan. Now with the market drop, our plan to refinance at a better rate is not going to happen, because our house has lost $130,000 in value and we owe much more than its worth. So we have to shoot for a loan modification. Its our only hope. Or we could just chuck it all and walk away like many are doing.
You don't understand and could not comprehend it, since you apparently are doing well. I hope that works out for ya.
God forbid you end up needing to be visiting a foreclosure blog instead of just looking for a place to spread your nasty comments from your perfect little world.
Thanks for nothing.

~ Evelyn

So you tried to walk away from the loan? You weren't comfortable with what was presented...it looked "negative"?
THEN WHY DID YOU SIGN IT???
Nobody forced a pen in your hand to sign on the dotted line.
Now, let's look at a few more facts that, out of courtesy, I initially didn't want to point out, but since everyone wants me to be the villain, I will
First Franklin is a SubPrime Mortgage Lender. SubPrime. That means that ALL of you, walking into this, were high credit risks. Why were you high credit risks? Cause other companies gave you credit cards or loans for something else and YOU DIDN'T PAY THEM EITHER.
See what I'm trying to point out? Do you see that there may possibly be a pattern developing?
Getting in over your head, screwing yourself over, finding yourself in a less than stellar situaion?
Please don't think my life is perfect and I have no financial issues. Nothing could be further from the truth.
But the difference between me and all of you, is that I take responsibility for my actions, I own up to what I've done to put myself in my situations, and I do what I can to rectify it.
I don't waste time and resource crying to strangers online about how everyone has done me wrong.
The self pity card is pathetic and childish.
You accuse me of being in Jr. High, I accuse you of acting like a kindergartner--throwing a tantrum when things don't go the way you want it to.
And you all want to hate me for judging you. And that's fine.
You say I don't belong here, I don't understand. That's fine too.
But welcome to the world wide web, where anyone can go anywhwere, read anything, and throw their two cents in.
It's a hard world out there, I know that. I understand that. But that does not alleviate you from your contractual and financial obligations.

You are just mean, aren't you? I shutter to think what must have happened that made you so hostile.
What is your problem anyway? Why are you on this site judging, preaching and ridiculing us? Don't you have other things to do????
I don't have to explain myself to you or anyone else. Not everyone with credit problems is a bad person. Life happens. In my case, my husband had open heart surgery in 1999 and was in the hospital for 3 months and rehab for a month and off work for 6 months. Imagine what no income does to your credit.
Like I said, I don't have to explain myself to you. It would just be appreciated if you would keep your nasty comments to yourself. We are all going through a rough time and the hostility is not needed or wanted. You came here all preachy and nasty, what did you expect us to do? You are wasting our time, so please, just let it go.
~ Evelyn

Evelyn,
Firstly, I am sorry to hear about your husband's surgery. My father underwent the same surgery, so I do understand how difficult that is and the fact that he was unable to work.
But how does that relate to no income? Why is it that you were not working to supplement (even partially) the income that was lost during your husbands illness?
We've come full circle--it's easier to find an excuse than face the facts.
That's all you people have are excuse after excuse after excuse--I had a hardship, someone was sick, I lost my job, it was a bad loan!
Okay...are these things beyond your control? ABSOLUTELY. There is no denying that.
But how the hell does that make it the mortgage company's fault? Do you think the mortgage company WANTS to foreclose on you? Do you have any idea how much that costs the company? Do you think the collection department likes having to call you every day to try and get a payment? Do you think the customer service department likes to have to take your call and listen to you whine and complain about the company and how mean they are when really, if you're payments were made, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE AN ISSUE?
It all comes back to the agreement you made.
The bank agreed to lend you money, and you took it, no questions asked, cause you were just so ecstatic that someone would entrust you with that loan. WITHOUT YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY YOU WOULD NOT HAVE YOUR HOUSE.
And your failure to upkeep your end of the bargain landed you in the hot water you're faced with.
So whose fault is it that you're in foreclosure? Who's fault is that your credit is in the toilet? Who didn't make the payments as they promised to to?
I'm sorry that you think I'm mean, preachy and nasty.
I consider myself a realist.
Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade, and that's what I'm trying to do.
As for having nothing to do but ridicule you--do you have nothing to do but sit here and blog about your injustice and how your feelings are hurt by what I say?
Again, welcome to the world wide web...if you're gonna put your thoughts and complaints into the world, someone is going to respond. I just happen to be that person. If you don't like it, IGNORE ME.
I'm still wondering why you indulge in the luxury of internet when you can't make your mortgage payment....

You know what, have a nice life. I've had enough.

~ Evelyn

reading through these comments, i found that i am in an exact situation and same response from the mitigation department. i am in for class action suit

There are a lot of people in the same or similar situation. None of us have the answers, but I feel a responsibility to share information when I have it. Our First Franklin loss mitigation department is not very responsive currently, partly because they have imploded. They have turned accounts over to their sister company, Home Loan Services and I believe that the large number of defaults and foreclosures have them overwhelmed. That makes getting qualified people on the phone a daunting task at best and you can go for weeks without being able to speak to a human being. I got tired of it and wrote to the president and CEO of Merrill Lynch (the lender's parent company) and that was the first real helpful response I got. I was assigned a customer advocate to investigate the matter, who proved to be extremely helpful and VERY knowledgeable, and really works the follow through / follow up. Thanks to him, we received the repayment agreement that we had requested, that incorporated language regarding a loan modification upon completion. We will be sending the signed document this week and hopefully will be on the way to saving our house.
Its really a good idea to talk to an attorney. We did. I found one who would evaluate our case for us for a small evaluation fee - unlike most who want anywhere from $1500 - $5000 just to evaluate it. She had a lot of good advise and was able to provide a lot of insight. She was the one who urged us to not sign the first repayment agreement, as it did really nothing more than cover attorney fees of the foreclosure, and it did not address the loan modification. She basically told us we would be better off to walk away. She says she doesn't normally advise that, but in our case, where the repayment agreement was not what it needed to be, where we have lost $128,000 value in our home in just the last year, she felt we were in a situation we could not win.
Even so, I continued writing letters and copying everyone involved in our case / account and finally got heard.
So, if you don't get attention from the loss mitigation specialists, who in the case of First Franklin, are apparently not fully trained and can pass on inaccurate information. Ask for a customer advocate, supervisor or manager when you call. I have also noticed that these loss mitigation specialists do not accurately note the account regarding when they talk to you. and the notes may not reflect exactly what was said. Write letters. Investigate your mortgage company and find out who is the president and start writing to them. That's what finally got my voice heard. Follow up phone calls with letters, addressing everything that was discussed, and hopefully they will respond and give you something in writing.
I do believe there should be a class action law suit for these predatory lenders who prayed on people who do have some credit problems or issues - whatever the reason. Its better to be turned down, I think. I had no idea our lender was a sub prime lender. I didn't really know such a thing existed. We were told by our broker, who worked for G.M.A.C Mortgage that we had a conventional lender.
I hope you can get some resolve. I know its not easy to go though. Its torn my family apart.

~ Evelyn

Could someone please let me know how to get in contact about a law suit with this compamy. As we are having the same problems with First Franklin. Can not get anywhere with this company. I am like the others here getting deeper in the contract and found out what a rip off they are. Someone please contact me about this buelabound1@aol.com. I know maybe should not put email here but what ever. Can not be hurt any more than I am already am.
Husband lost job and now has a lower paying one. We are in the same bolt as many others. HELP.....

Hi Evelyn,
I just read your story and I do not think it's too late for you. I am in a similar situation with First Franklin. We are supposed to sign repayment plan documents on Monday. They said it will put off the foreclosure; so we have agreed to it. Just keep fighting...do not let them win.

I am also in the same situation as everyone else. I just don't want to loose my home. I can't get a hold of anyone from FF that can help me. My negotation officer won't even return my phone call I left 1 month ago. I am so disappointed. I thought they would want to help so the property won't go into foreclosure, and they would lose more money. Any advice, I'll take it. Thanks.

Like the comment before your's says, don't let them win. I almost did.

Keep calling them. Call as many times in a day as you can, everyday. Write them letters - send certified. Copy everyone involved, including the foreclosure attorney if you are at that point.

We almost walked away because we felt we had no other options, because we were so misinformed by our loss mitigation specialist. It was not until I wrote to John Thain, president and CEO of Merrill Lynch that they finally started to pay attention, and I wrote to him out of pure desperation. I just figured I'd write to the one person that would be the most irritated by a letter from a borrower, and in my case, it worked. Don't wait for them to call you.

We literally signed a lease on a rental just to have somewhere to go, certain it was basically over.

We got a letter from a customer advocate, who said he would investiate it, and when my husband called him, he was readily available, helpful and really followed through.

Thanks to him, we got a new repayment plan, that incorporates the language we were looking for regarding the loan modification after successful completion and have sent in our first repayment payment.

First Franklin has imploded, that's why you can't reach anyone. Merrill Lynch has closed down that business and their work has been handed over to Home Loan Services, a sister company also owned by Merrill Lynch and I just think they are overwhelmed, between the huge number of defaults and foreclosures and the new workload they have all had to take on, its a lot.

We pushed for a loan modification mainly because we have lost so much value in the past year, there is no way we can refinance to a lower rate and it could be many years before we ever could, if ever. They are saying that the Florida real estate market may never really come back and it may continue to drop, down to what it really should be, and if that's the case, we will lose $200,000 total - we have already lost $128,000, which was verified by FF, as they recently had an appraisal done, so this is our only chance to make an affordable change.

Hang in there. I know its hard to make these calls with jobs and all, but its something that you have to figure out how to squeeze in the time during your work day. Home Loan Services has people working until 9 PM, so if you have to call after work, so be it.

Good luck to you and hang in there. I know its really frustrating.

~ Evelyn

As Evelyn has stated. You MUST call the First Franklin office everyday. The # is 1800-622-5035. They will put you on hold for sometimes what seems to be an eternity. But, I believe these are training tactics mixed in with a company being incredibly short handed. Call everyday, so that the representative you are talking to can document what was said. You should also keep a list of people who you spoke to and what was said. If you do not get any satisfaction write a QWR or Qualified Written request, which is a history of the loan. You can find more details about this on www.loansafe.org Awesome site for people in need. Good luck to all and keep your head up. Do not give up!

I have read thru all the comments and all of these comments are completely incorrect and inaccurate. I work for a mortgage company and the last thing we want to do is foreclose on people, it cost the company 40k for every loan that is foreclosed on, not including all the money that is lost in interest because of non payments. As far a them not wanting to help, this is further from the truth. We are here to help but you also have to understand that if you cant make the pymt on your current income how do you expect to get on a repayment plan with a higher payment and be able to afford that, we will gather your financial information and if we see that you are paying more out than what you make then obviously we know that you are not going to be able to afford the payment and we will tell you to sell your house. I understand the current economy is horrible and no one is to blame for that, so do not blame your mortgage companies. Like the previous comments state you guys signed to these mortgages without reading the documents first, and you say there is not enough time at closing, do you remember the 3 day right to recession they give you after signing the docs to change your mind, therefore you have 3 days to read these documents and if you dont agree with the loan terms then tell them i dont want the loan. You get a loan and loan type based of your credit therefore you qualify for the loan that we are able to give you. The situations you people are facing is not the mortgage companies fault. Evelyn, you have been on here saying they are not willing to help but you said so yourself they were willing to do a repayment plan to keep you out of foreclosure but you decided to not sign it because you knew in reality that you were not able to afford the regular payment and you definitely were not going to be able to afford the repayment plan so how is that your mortgage companies fault they did offer you something you just chose not to take the help that they were able to give you. Also do you think we like to call people and ask for their payment that is the last thing we want to do however this is business and you signed a legal binding document stating that you would make your payments and you defaulted. Just like a car you have to make the payments or they will come and take the car back.
We can only offer you what you are able to qualify for therefore if you cant qualify for any assistance we will tell you to sell your home, it is better than having a foreclosure showing on your credit report isnt it.

You work for a mortgage company. Not this mortgage company exactly. So what you know is your experience with that mortgage company not this one we are talking about. So you know nothing of this company and there bs tactics. This company is worse then country wide. All they were interested in was money and how fast you can get it to them. They made it as difficult as they possibly could. They often said things then they never put the notes down. Then you couldn't reach that person after the fact.

I had one time where they said that it would be ok to make the regular payment. Then so I did just that. Only to get several calls that said I need to pay the extra amount or go into foreclosure. Then when I asked. Oh that's not in my notes. They said I don't know what they promised you but we can't do that. You need to pay by this date or you will be foreclosed on.

I don't understand why they were so hell bent on money. So finally I said screw it as I was on the border line every month and it was becoming a loosing battle. There was no way I could continue to make the extra payment to get caught up. There was no way to get back to the regular payment, at all.

So if they wanted the house so badly. That's exactly what they will get. So now that they pushed so hard for money to cause more problems they have more houses. Where if they didn't push so hard then maybe I could have recovered and kept the house is I was allowed to make regular payments and get caught up later. Or put this problem in the rear of the loan. But know that wasn't an option.

If there was a option to let me recover. Allowing me to help my wife get her papers finished and get a job. Then there might have been a chance.

Yet these people were hell bent on money. So they can have the house and my bad credit report. I tried enough. I am sick and tired of trying. I will fix my credit report over time. I don't need the stress of trying to keep a house that this company seem to bent on taking back.

So later I will have the house I want. As my new found family builds houses for a living. Allowing me to have affordable housing.

This time I will research the mortgage company and see what others say about them. Before I sign any papers.

So I will go back to renting as that is what I can afford. As well allow me to recover and think about what I want to do. Instead of what I'm being forced to do.

I couldn't ever consider paying for this house right now. Maybe in a few months I could consider it. Yet not right now. So if they want the house by all means come get it. If these papers allow them to bully me into giving them money. Allowing them to lie and deceive then please take this house back.

I have tried over a year to hold on. Never have they offered to help besides a repayment plan. Just offering me foreclosure as a alternative.

Why save the house? I mean really. The house is a loss of almost $100k compared to what I signed up for. I couldn't move or anything if it came down to it. As well maybe be stuck upside down forever at this point. What are predictions of the housing market recovery now 2012. Before I could break even.

Well enough for now. What's done is done. Now it's just a matter of time.

Marge:

We appreciate a posting from the other side, so to speak, but as was said in the posting following yours, you do not work for our mortgage company, therefore you do not know what we have been through.

It would be nice if life was always perfect, however it is not. Bad things do happen to good people, occasionally. We get labeled as having “bad credit” and being a “bad credit risk”, even though the reasons behind our “credit problems” might stem from something that was not our fault – illness, lost job, robbery, identity theft, etc. We’re not blaming the bank. Moreover, we are just asking for some help. None of us want to be in a situation like this. We all had good intentions. We all just wanted a place of our own to live in with our families.

When you referenced my posts and my situation, you said something inaccurate. I did not say we could not afford to make the repayment payments, I clearly stated that there was no reference to the loan modification - and I'm not asking for a promise, just a mention that it may be considered or an option - plus, we would like to see more of the money going toward the mortgage and not to the legal fees, as was discussed with them previously. Sure, the initial payment did seem high, but that was not the main reason we did not want to sign the repayment agreement.

We did not receive the hardship paperwork until a few months after it was promised, so we lost quite a bit of time, needlessly. I was promised by our loss mitigation specialist that she would have an answer for me within 15 minutes after I faxed her our application and supporting documents and I never heard from her again. It took us a month to get another live person on the phone, after calling multiple times daily. The next person who worked on our file, said that our file was empty – THERE WAS NOTHING IN IT AT ALL – so where did my tax return, pay stubs, property tax information, homeowners insurance information go??? They have lost more than enough information on us that could be sufficient for an identity theft situation, but we seem to be the only ones concerned about it, so oh well. We still had to REFAX EVERYTHING.

Again, we could not get our loss mitigation specialist on the phone, even after calling multiple times, daily. Eventually we were passed on to someone else, and guess what – I HAD TO REFAX HER EVERYTHING, AGAIN (that makes two sets of our personal information that was LOST) and it was not until after about a month and a half before we received the repayment agreement. When I read the language contained in it, I did not want to sign it, neither did my husband. We at one point hired an attorney to evaluate our foreclosure case documents and she advised us to not sign the repayment agreement, so we did not. Our attorney felt that the fact that the foreclosure remains open and active throughout the entire repayment process, as we had been informed on several occasions by our lender, that it would not be in our best interest to sign it, plus she stated that more money should be going toward the loan.

We requested a new one, asking for some language to be incorporated it just to address the loan modification, and while we were at it, negotiated the initial repayment amount down somewhat, but the language remained the same, and we were again informed that the foreclosure remains open and active throughout the entire repayment process. So again we did not sign it. At that stage of the game, that far into the foreclosure process, the odds were greater that the foreclosure order would be issued prior to our completing the repayment process, so what incentive did we have to sign the agreement?

The whole idea of going through a repayment plan is to establish good faith, and it was good faith that we were looking for on their part as well, to actually provide us with factual information and some help in a timely manner.

My husband contacted the mortgage company as soon as our financial hardship began, and forbearance was the only option offered – raising our monthly payments, that due to a financial hardship we were having difficulty doing. Did not help, as it added and additional $800 month to our payment and we would have had to pay that inflated payment for 6 months, which far exceeded the amount we were behind, which at the time was only one month, which unfortunately was not something we could afford to do, so of course we fell behind again. We were told we had to be in default in order to be considered for a repayment plan or loan modification, which we learned later to be untrue. What happens when you default? You get served with a foreclosure suit, hence our present situation.

We are trying very hard to be reasonable, and we made every attempt to inform our mortgage company of the problem immediately and to request some help, WHEN WE COULD REACH THEM!!!

Not being able to get a human being on the phone dragged this entire situation out way too long. Then of course, there was the misinformation about how our loan was sold (it was not, it is still with Merrill Lynch, always has been), foreclosure does not stop until after the final repayment payment (not true, stops with the first repayment payment), and if we had not been insistent, we would have certainly lost the house. We were to the point, I mean literally, ready to put the key in the door and just walk away. My husband was checking the foreclosure dockets monthly to see when we finally make it on the docket, so of course we started looking for a rental. We actually signed a lease on a rental and scheduled a moving date, because we really thought we had reached the end with no way out in sight. My garage was filled to the ceiling with empty boxes to pack everything up in – we were supposed to move in on July 5th.

Out of absolute pure desperation and total frustration, I wrote a letter to the President and CEO of Merrill Lynch detailing our situation. I tried to think of who I could possibly write to that would be irritated by receiving such a letter, someone I knew could get some action. Finally, miraculously, we were assigned a customer advocate to investigate our case. With his help, and only through his help and stepping in, were we able to get some accurate information and get our questions answered. He was articulate, intelligent, and diligent. He kept his word – if he said he’d call you back in 10 minutes, he called you back in 10 minutes. He was able to dispel the inaccurate information we had been given, and help us and the loss mitigation department to come to an agreement on the repayment plan, that surprisingly contains exactly the language we were looking for. In addition to being able to help us and answer all of our questions, he also informed me that the second and third repayment payment amounts are normally about where they feel the modified payment will be, so he was extremely informative. Had someone done this initially, we could have settled this situation several months ago.

We had no idea when we bought our house that the bottom was going to drop out of the real estate market. Its not our lender’s fault that this happened, but certainly they need to take this into consideration at some point. Our lender had an appraisal done on our house recently, and we have lost about $128,000 in value, so they are aware of it and they are aware that because of it we will not be able to refinance, so I’m sure they are aware there is not a lot of incentive to stay if you look at it that way. And still we were interested in saving it, even so. If ever there was an incentive to walk away, that coupled with our property taxes that have tripled, and we are in a really bad situation from an investment stand point, and yet we still wanted to retain the property.

We have jobs and when you have jobs, you obviously can’t be on the telephone constantly trying to save your house from foreclosure, other wise you will lose your jobs and really not be able to afford your house. We just wanted to be able to reach a human being that had some idea of what they were doing and advise us and help us through a rough situation.

We have finally signed the agreement and sent in our first repayment payment. We’ll see how it goes from here. I hope we can make it work out, but if we can’t, I’m somewhat prepared for that as well, in my mind anyway. My husband is far more emotionally attached to the house, so I really hope we can make it work, for his sake. Since this situation escalated to this level, I have kind of detached myself from it, thinking it may make it easier to let go of if and when that time comes. I’m not terribly optimistic, but after living with this for so long, its hard to be optimistic.

If it turns out to not be a workable situation for us, I will know we have done everything we can within our power to save it. In the mean time, I will try to enjoy living in my home, taking it one day at a time, and maybe not quite have both feet on the ground, just in case.

Yeah, you are right, we should have read the loan documents. We absolutely should have. IT was stressful and chaotic, plus my husband was sent to the bank to get a cashiers check, since they ran short of money needed to close, money we were not expecting to have to come up with, and no one even called us to tell us it was needed, so the closing was to say the very least, tense. Considering that they used our deposit to pay off “revolving debts”, this was not something we felt was necessary for us to do, but we didn’t argue about it. Maybe we should have. Maybe we would not have closed and maybe we would not have ended up in this situation.

We put too much faith in the mortgage broker and the closing attorney, and our realtors. The mortgage company, after evaluating our finances determined that this mortgage payment was within our ability to pay, however, they did not seem to take our other financial obligations into consideration and personal expenses such as food, so the first time there was a financial disaster, we had problems making the payment. Like I said, bad things to happen to good people. It did not need to reach this point, is my point.

It was a health condition that caused a financial disaster for us several years ago and sent our credit into the toilet. We didn’t set out to have bad credit. There was a time in our lives when we could walk into any bank and come out with a loan or credit cards. My husband used to make a phone call, and a new car was delivered to the house. So I know what its like to have good credit and be a good credit risk. All we wanted was a place to live. The house we were renting before we bought this one was owned by a nice person, great landlord, however she was interested in us doing a lease purchase after three years of renting it and wanted an outrageous price for it, so we started looking and set off this whole chain reaction. I would have happily stayed there as a renter, if she had not tried to pressure us and take advantage of us. We had no problems paying the rent there for the entire 3 years we lived there, never late one time. Of course, when we bought our house, the mortgage was nearly twice what our rent was, but we got a much better house than the one we were renting was, and had we gone for her deal, the mortgage would have been considerably more, considering her asking price (which was not negotiable) was much higher than what our current house cost, and it was not even updated inside. So if she had not been hard pressed to sell, we would never have looked, and I would not be posting on this or ant other foreclosure forums.

Our entire banking industry needs to be looked into and retooled if you ask me. The fact that they could put this type of loan product out there for troubled consumers is ludicrous. You take people who have had some financial problems, and what do you do? You charge them HUGE interest rates, and better yet, make them adjust, so that if they could afford the original payment with the HUGE interest rate, make it keep on adjusting until they can’t afford it. So, with that kind of a plan, what makes you think the banks don’t want to take the houses back??

As I have said many times, I would have much rather been turned down by the bank than to be in this situation.

Thank you for your enlightening post, but as it says in the post following yours, you do not work for our lender, so you do not know how they work. We do. Apparently there are many of us out there. So, please do be judgmental or preachy when you post comments to us. We have been through horrific situations in the name of having a place of our own to live. We don’t need to be condemned. We are already in pain, so please don’t kick us when we are down. We need help. We need serious help.

We are not blaming the mortgage industry for our situations, we just need help. While it may seem to some readers that we are blaming the lenders for our problems, if you would please just take the time to read our words and not be so quick to pass judgment, you may gain some insight to what we have all been experiencing.

Thank you.

~ Evelyn

I hope they go bankrupt. We might as well borrow from a guy named "Vinny"......I have a 13% ARM that ballons up to 18%. They will not work with a person, their only option is "Short Sale". I told them I could afford a 9% payment, and they would rather foreclose on it. 9% is pretty good right??? I am bitter after dealing with them for over a year, I never missed a payment, was never late....but I knew I was going to be struggling so called for a modification, but they said, "you've never missed and never been late".......so when I missed my first payment, they said "we can't work with you until you're 60 days late", so when I was 60 days late, and my credit went down tremendously, they said, "your credit is too low to work out alternative financing".......If I lose this house, all they are getting is a shell. It is my house until it forecloses.....my copper, my wiring, my drywall, toilets, sinks, cabinets, trim, water heater, furnace, AC......if anybody needs anything for their home, there is a sale on anything and everything the week before eviction. They want to be difficult and unreasonable, lets all be difficult and unreasonable. As for the guy that posted all the "responsible" and "it's your own fault" comments, YOUR TIME IS COMING!! Peaks and valleys buddy, and you are about to fall off your peak....your wifes gonna leave you, or your company's going to go bankrupt, your kids will despise you.....you just remember when your sitting there losing your house, it was because of the insensitivity you showed toward others.

Well we just got our notice today. They are going to auction our house on july 29th at 11:30am. So I called the title company which is in charge of this. The title company said after the auction if it sells then we will likely get a notice from the new owner saying we have 30 days to move out. So I asked if there would be any move out assistance as we are really struggling right now. We just got nailed for a unexpected large bill leaving us with $175 in the bank. So I said hell with it. I was trying to be nice and keep the house up a little. I turned off the water to the yard. Why pay it if they are not going to even help us. With the up keep of the place. So eye sore here we come.

I really having a bad day. I am thankful that family is helping. As the first thing that crossed my mind was homeless, yikes.

I really understand this move out rage now after everything going through my mind today.

Hope everyone's having a better day then me.

I'm so sorry you have to go through this situation. No one should have to. I wish I could help you. I will pray for you and your family, though.

We were told the same thing when we called to tell them we were having a financial problem. They said you had to be in default, before you can even discuss loan modification. Problem is, when you default, they sue you for foreclosure. Its really stupid how they do it. I mean, you take the time and trouble to notify them of a problem or potential problem thinking they will work with you, but that's not how it goes. Everyone says the bank does not want to foreclose on your house, but they why are they so quick to act on it and not work with the struggling homeowner?

They are finally working with us (as long as we make the repayment payments on time, anyway). Still don't know about the modification yet. I'm not really overly optimistic.

I honestly was ready to walk, but my husband has some kind of psychological connection to the place for some reason, so I guess we will continue to do battle as long as we can. I just hope we can manage it, is all.

As for those idiots who post those nasty comments, they don't belong here. I can't for the life of me figure out why someone with a perfect life would feel the need to peruse the foreclosure blogs - is it for amusement or are they just that sick? Seems to me if I had a perfect life with perfect credit, I would certainly have better things to do than to say vile, hostile things to people who are so obviously hurting.

I know its cliché, but this will pass. When we consulted an attorney a few months ago, she informed us that home foreclosure does not have quite the stigma attached to it as it once did. It used to take 7-10 years for your credit to start to come back, but now its possible for it to start coming back in 3 years.

I know, still sounds like a long time, but its something, anyway.

I'm sure there are better days ahead for you, so please have faith.

Take care.

~ Evelyn

I have been going through the same thing, with a few exceptions. I am waiting on my second foreclosure notice, so I know when to move. That's right, they didn't work with me, or they wouldn't work with me, it is relative now. So, I filed bankruptcy. Now it is a waiting game to get a second foreclosure notice before I know a date to leave. I as all of you did everything in my power to work with them. I even as you tried to work with them before I was even late with my first payment. But, as you know to get help with Modification you have to be 90 days (they told me) behind. So, I submitted my hardship package right away and they sat on it for 90 days just to tell me that I didn't make enough money. Can you believe it? I make more now than I did when I bought the house. I know this was a subprime loan, but that has nothing to do with why I fell behind. Just FYI, I had a pretty decent credit score, but no down payment. I, like many of you thought that I would take the Adjustable rate and then re-fi in two years. Right before the two year mark (a month or two) I had open-heart surgery to replace a bad valve. I would have died had I not done this. No choices, I just took off work and concentrated on my health. I was home two days from the hospital and I was paying bills, including my two mortgages. I had surgery in April, and did not fall behind until September. I worked very hard to stay a float, but to no surprise here I am. It is all the same story as many of you have spoke of. Calls to my home phone everyday. I worked with them up until I had no choice but to bale. They are liars, cheats and it is not a surprise at all that Merrill Lynch is selling them off. They are a hot potato, no brains, and the worst customer service I have ever witnessed in my life. There is no Modification available, it to is a lie. They would rather foreclose than work with you. But know this, a short sell is also not the greatest of Avenues to take. There are great tax consequences that you are not told about. Straight from my lawyers mouth. I am all over the place with this little blurb, but it just gets my blood boiling to talk about them or even think about them. By the way I tried to re-fi with other lenders, but by the time you get to needing to do that your credit is screwed. Not to mention the market went South. I will gladly jump on any band wagon for a class action suit, so keep me informed. "I DO NOT JUDGE, SO PLEASE DO NOT BE MINE"
Heartbroken in Oregon
Dar~

They are lying to us all! There is no more modifications, or repayments...or anything. They are debt collectors, and they are hired by the lenders to recoup as much money or property as they can in a small amount of time...these mortgage servicers have strict guidelines to follow, even quotas to foreclose on certain homes, in certain areas, in certain time frames. They do this so First Franklin can redeem themselves in the eyes of their investors. Don't you understand that they actually make more money from you being in default, the longer in default, the more money they make.National City sold its mortgage wholesaler division...exiting the business of third party subprime loans, back in august of 2006. First Franklin was their mortgage wholesaler. National City did this because FF wasnt making any money, securities fraud lawsuit was looming, stocks were starting to fall. Lets face it, sub prime borrowers are the scape goat. The only way for National City to look good again to investors and everyone else, is to start pushing forward with all those sub prime loans, they knew would be defaulted on, they knew, they knew! heres the catch, they can foreclose after 1 payment, they have the right to, because we signed the damn papers allowing them to do so. They hire foreclosure specialts to handle the sales, and these companies are efficient and make millions every year. I lost my home on July, 16. I was never in default, I paid my payments, yet because they said so, or had paper work to show it, it diddnt matter. I had no idea, until The sales company hired by theur lawyers sent a letter stating a court date to record the sale of my home. I show up to court, stunned the judge, and was slammed for not showing up to any of the previous 9 court dates. He gave me one week to get lawyer. No lawyer would even talk to me and the one that did said I dafaulted, it says so right here! I reasearched found my case filings on local county court website, and they filed foreclosure back in sept of 2007. It's not just the mortgage servicers, or the lenders . This is a huge conspiracy involving, judges who deal with the same lawyers every day, these lawyers keep them in business. The lawyers use the same sales companies, not the local sheriff's department either. Let me just tell you, when I was in court those two times...First Franklin's lawyer had about a 3 foot stack of papers..foreclosures, and she was stating her case, and most of the time the judge diddn't even look at their evidence. Each foreclosure was given about 30 seconds, if that. The lender has mortgage insurance, and usually a guarantee by fannie mae or freddie mac to pay for these loans if they are defaulted on. I have document after document showing my payments, showing them lying...and i never recieved my due process. They naturally assumed, sub-prime borrowers, couldn't be smart enough to figure out the bigger issue here, or thouoght they wouldn't care. Most people have no idea what their rights are, I know I diddnt until I started researching.In some instances, these lenders goo looking for loans already in default...and how do you think they find those? Heard of M.E.R.S? Mortgage electronic registration system? Look on your loan papers or your deed, then google it and go to their website. Every loan, Every Lender,is on this software. Customer information, property info, credit ratings,think about it. What about mortgage brokers? Not all are crooked, but they know the areas they work better than anyone, they sell the lenders your loan in a bundled package, and make lots of money. Do research on the people who created this M.E.R.S software...you might be suprised. Please, they truly are not wanting or willing to help. we were doomed from the start, while people were making millions, and blaming the little guy

I also wanted to add that I did a search using my pin number for my legal property description, and the case number issued by the court and on a pre foreclosure website, there was my home, pics and all. The date that it was posted to this site...was september 22 2007. Also, with this particular website, someone has to pay in order to list property for pre-foreclosure. I also found they were charging my escrow acct for placed hazard ins. twice in 3 months...over 3000.00 . My ins never lapsed, and they started applying my mortgage payments to this escrow account. I signed against having my escrow set up this way, and they never required this as a stipulation for the loan. This is how they were able to show I was deliquent. In Illinois, if you miss court or dont answer to a foreclosure complaint, the judge sees that as your agreement with the plaintiff, and he will automatically award judgement against you. I had no idea of any summons. But going through my case filings there are several instances where there are lost document affidavits that were filed. They never said anything, were still accepting payments every month, and a judgement of foreclosure was awarded to for 129755.00, when my note was 114500.00. That was on 11/28/07....I had no damn idea! Then apparently when it went for sale, It was offered for cash for 129755.00, no one bid on it, then First Franklin bid 137000.00 and bought my home. There was no surplus and no deficeincy, and I will say that with all the empty houses in this neighboorhood, property values are not what they were, and it is not wort that much.

Did you know that if the mortgage servicers (Home Loan Services) meet the foreclosures quotas given to them, they receive compensation...is that considered a bonus? If they don't meet these quotas, the investors receive some sort of compensation, or kickback..what like a discount? What kind of game are these people playing?

That is just crazy. I wish we could expose them for who and what they do.

I am dealing with trying to get a place with my rather screwed credit. Oh yea!

WOW,
Just found this site. Didn't realize there were so many people in the same situation with the same company (First Franklin). We went to an attourney and were told to walk away due to the deceptive practices. When we told her who our mortgage company was she said forget working a deal. One thing we were told by her also and some of you who have a 80/20 mortgage ought to be aware of is the forclosure most likely will be for the 80% part of the loan only and that the company will come after you a few years later to get the other 20% so beware. I hope that made sense. Good luck to all,

Glenn

Dealing with FF is a total joke. The attourney that told you to walk away should be dis-bared. I'm taking FF to court and making them show me the NOTE. I know they don't have it. They will tell the court they lost it. We all know they sell them. Most people don't fight them and let them take their home. Its the LAW that they have to show me the NOTE. If the court lets them slide I will just go to the higher court. Their are a lot of judge's that are in the pockets of the mortgage companys so make sure you put up a good fight. Don't give up. MAKE THEM SHOW YOU THE NOTE!!!

I would like to know more Richard as I would file suit against them rather than give it if I can afford the legal fee's can you tell us more as they are not going to do anything till October

I have a friend doing the paper work for me. I will rep myself in court. All I will be asking the court is for them to show me the NOTE. If they can't (I know they don't have it)I will ask the court to tell them to leave me alone until they can show it. If and when they do come up with it I will take it from there. They will say they lost it or it was stolen. I'll be ready for my day in court.

I just want to wish you the best of luck in your battle.

Please let us know how it goes for you.

Take care.

~ Evelyn

Evelyn.......would you plaease contact me @ norma_OK@yahoo.com. We are dealing with First Franklin.

Thank You.

I too am interested in joining in on any class action. My days are numbered here, mine goes on the auction block August the 14th. My bankruptcy lawyer says they will most likely give me about 30 days to vacate after that. Hard to save money to move when you still have to live. I tried soooooo hard to work with them, I too wrote a letter to Merrill Lynch but have heard nothing back as of yet. I am very sad, this forces many changes in my life that I am not prepared for. I wrote a bit above on what brought me here to this point so I won't hammer it out again, but lets just say I am a bit bitter and very sad. All you know what will hit the fan in regards to this company very soon, you just wait and see. If someone wants to contact me feel free to do so, I can be reached at dardonaho@msn.com
Good luck to all of you and God bless you, try and hold your head high knowing that you did all in your power to make it right. As for me I am looking forward to better days. As far as cash for keys goes, I have been offered nothing and I am down to the final days.
~Not so fine in Oregon~
Dar

Well after the auction date I was contacted by remax. They are offering me cash for keys. I was shocked. As I was told that wuld not be offered to me. So we shall see how much they offer.

My wife and I decided to get a room 4 rent and let the dust settle a bit on everything. We are just putting everything to storage until we get our own place again.

How long did they give you after auction until you have to vacate the property? I know it is different according to State law, but I was just wondering. I hope they offer me cash for keys that would lighten the burden a little bit. Good luck!
Dar

Hey Dar

I was told by the title company that there would be no cash for keys. That I would just be given a 30 day notice. Yet that is what was common. That's what the lady told me when I called the title company soon as they sent me a letter. It was a two page document stating the date of the auction.

After the auction we wondered what happened. A few days later we got a notice that we were tresspassing and blah blah blah. Nothing about 30 days or anything. So I called the guy as he had a card with the notice.

So I call the guy and he was nice enough. He was with remax. He told me that we are being offered cash for keys and told me what they expect when I move out.

Now something to consider. If your already taking a hit with credit and everything else. If you file BK. That will stop the auction. Just filing the papers stops the auction cold. This also means they can't come after you after the dust settles. You get to live there until the paperwork runs it's course. How ever long that process takes. All calls will also stop. Everything about bills simply stops.

This wont mean that you wont still loose the house. Yet it will give you time and clean out your money trouble. Yet it wont stop any tax problems as I understand. Also consider the BK laws are federal not state. They will look at everythying you won and determin what it's worth as if you had a garage sale.

My parents recently did this. They lost there RV, fully restored 1914 model T, car trailer and a 04 Larrent diesel f250 fx4. They kept there house and ever thing in it. As well as one old car. As well a older ski boat.

So consider that if you have enough creditors after you. Yet this might save your house. It takes a few years to recover. Yet many recover fairly quickly.

This process to start the BK will take a few hundred to get filed. A few thousand to finish. Yet time is not a real problem when the paperwork has to be finished.

I have considered this. Yet my problems are a bit larger. Yet if first franklin try comming back to me for there lost profit. I will file it the next day!

So I hope this gives you some options you might not have thought about as well maybe a few thi