January 28th, 2014 UPDATE
I received a 1099-C today from Citimortgage documenting that they’ve finally written off the debt and assigning the debt amount to my SSN to pay taxes on. I assume that’s what the $300 is going to cover? Either way, glad this sad chapter is ending.
APRIL 23rd, 2013 UPDATE
Over the weekend we received a check for $300. So a bank stole my house, humiliated me in front of my neighbors, killed the value of homes in my area, then tried to collect damages from me… and that’s worth $300. You’ve got to be freaking kidding me.
Leave me a comment and let me know what I should do with this $300. I’m thinking of buying more Citibank stock.
MARCH 22nd 2013 UPDATE
Today, we received a postcard in the mail from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency telling us we no longer had to do anything, no forms, no investigations, no risk… but to expect a check in the mail over the next 4-8 weeks. If you’re wondering if that is legit or just another scam, please read about it on the Federal Treasury website.
Original rant
<rant warning>
I got a letter today, allegedly from the Michigan attorney general encouraging me to sign on to a settlement. (148,000 other people got this, too) If I read the letter correctly, the 5 major banks are settling with foreclosure victims for whom they, the banks, willfully blocked a short sale to force them into foreclosure. Additionally, the payments are regarding litigation surrounding illegally signed documents, perhaps in lew of criminal charges. (This was one of the myriad of problems we faced.)
In our case, after stealing my home the bank then bought it from themselves and then sold it to a 3rd party, making $75,000 on the transaction, while at the same time taking a federal buyout of billions of dollars, crying to Congress that they got stuck with losses from people like me.
And now these same banks want to give me $840 as an I’m sorry– we’re not at fault — please take this money payment? As if, “Oopsies, we stole your house and turned your life upside down” is worth $840.
So, the banks get to ruin my credit score until 2016, these same banks get to charge me higher interest rates for everything from a credit card to a car loan and all the nastiness that goes with that, like getting denied credit for little things like say… my electric bill, forcing me to pay deposits.
And $840 is supposed to make up for that.
That sickens me.
I’m thankful that I was smart enough to take what was left of my IRA in 2009 and invest in these same banks. Between 2009 and 2011 my IRA made back the vast majority I lost in cash value from the house as they reaped the benefits of grand theft and federal bailouts. (Take that, suckers!)
But telling me I’m eligible for $840 in a settlement without fixing the main problems… is a slap in the face.
To summarize, Mr. Big Bank…. here’s why I think your settlement is a far cry from what is needed.
- You forced me to give up my house by refusing to fulfill your end of the mortgage contract and work with me on a short sale. I had multiple buyers with offers tens of thousands of dollars more than you eventually sold it for in foreclosure. Additionally, you refused to take a 1 time settlement with me for the balance of the loan at closing to avoid a short sale altogether. You weren’t going to lose a dime! But gave me no other option after months and months but to give up. How is this settlement fixing that?
- Literally, at the end of the day, you stole the house from me months before the foreclosure process had run its proper course, which would have allowed even the most inept person processing your short sales the opportunity to close. You forged paperwork, you sent me documents with “sign by” dates having already expired, you then sold my house at public auction before the foreclosure process was complete… it wasn’t even yours! And how does this make up for any of that?
- You had the nerve to tell me that I owed an additional $31,000 to cover the balance of a loan in full flat out denial of the fact that the house was collateral against the loan. (As clearly stipulated in the contract.) This has never made sense to me. Did you take care of that?
- You then sold that bogus debt to collection companies who have harassed me illegally since 2009. Every 6-7 weeks I have to put up with phone calls and letters from another entity for a debt I do not owe and will not pay. These companies give up and then sell that “debt” to another company, who calls and harasses me. One even offered me a settlement saying if I paid $1100 now it’d erase a $31,000 debt they can’t prove that I actually owe. Are you going to take care of that? It’s driving me nuts.
- You ruined my credit and will continue to ruin my credit until at least 2016. Are you going to take care of that?
- You forced me, a person who had never missed a payment, to go through the humiliation of foreclosing on a house I loved and invested every penny in. Further, your actions cost my neighbors money as this bogus foreclosure devalued their homes, making me look like a chump. How are you going to take care of that?
Seriously. $840.
For all I know, these banks have a deal with the attorney general of the state of Michigan which will somehow make me liable for something else by accepting a stupid $840 settlement check.
Trick me once. Shame on you. Trick me twice. Shame on me.
Never again.
So that’s what I think about the letter I got today.
</rant warning>
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