Thursday, July 22, 2010

HELP! Save the MaxiPad (WHY?)

JOHN, HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS MESS?:
A few years ago when this and this happened... I got a little depressed. I sort of gave up on life and for several months did nothing but lie around and wallow in self pity. I got behind, on a lot of things, most notably my mortgage. Once I started getting back on track I called my bank and started working with them.

To correct the 6 months of past payments and all the fee's that went along with it, they told me they would review me for a "modification or other workout option." Which really meant that they kept telling me they were going to do something and then for months they would call me, and yell at me for being past due. Until I reminded them that they are reviewing me for a workout to which they would respond, "Oh, yes it is being reviewed."

In January they stopped accepting my payments, and told me that I had to be on an approved modification or reinstatement before they would accept any more payments. I sent them my paystubs and bank statements every three months upon their request. I waited for them to approve me.

When they told me that they would no longer accept payments. I started putting payments aside for the day when something, anything was approved.

I called them every couple weeks to see what was happening. Every call either being told that my modification is being reviewed and to call back, or to send them more documentation, i.e. a bank statement or a pay stub and then to call back.

In June I called and was told that the minimum they would accept for a workout was $6500. I had $5000 at the time and the woman on the other end of the phone said that my foreclosure was tentatively set for sometime in late August. I told her I could send the $6500 in in July and she said that would work.

In July they posted my home for foreclosure sale (one month earlier than they told me they would) When I called and said, I have the $6500.00 they told me this,

"As of June 1st 2010, once a property has a foreclosure sale date scheduled we will only accept full reinstatement, which is your past due payments plus attorneys and late fees."

My past due payments are $15,434.88. Once they added all the additional fees and the attorney it came to whopping $21638.02

I have called them nearly 40 times in the last 48 hours and they have strictly advised me that there are NO EXCEPTIONS.

Actual conversation:
JOHN: I can send you $6,500 right now.
BANK: We cannot accept that.
JOHN: So you'll send me the money back.
BANK: Yes.
JOHN: I can send you $10,000 tomorrow.
BANK: We cannot accept anything less than the full amount.
JOHN: Less than a month ago you told me you'd take $6500.
BANK: That was before the foreclosure sale was scheduled. Once the sale is scheduled we can accept nothing but the full amount unless there is a death in the family.
JOHN: So you can stop it?
BANK: No.
JOHN: You are capable of stopping it? If someone died you would stop it?
BANK: Did someone die?
JOHN: No, but I now know that you can stop it, so work with me like you said you would a month ago.
BANK: We had a change of policy as of June 1st 2010, we will not accept anything less than full reinstatement.
JOHN: So a month ago you would have worked with me.
BANK: Yes.
JOHN: ...Did you send me a letter or something informing me of this significant policy change?
BANK: No. We are not required to inform you of our foreclosure guidelines.

I can cite the many issue's I have with this, like, HSBC dragging my modification review out for 27 months, or HSBC refusing to accept partial payments for this entire year, or HSBC telling me I could do something (pay the $6500) without educating me as to their "policy" changes... I could waste time mentioning those things, but I wont go there.

So that's how I got into this point. Do I deserve a loan?

You be the judge. I have watched many movies, eaten over-priced condiments, been on several dates, gone out of town for the weekend when I could have been hunkering down and saving and pinching every penny to send to HSBC. Instead of watching Season 4 of Dexter, Season 6 of LOST, Season 6 of Entourage, the entire Twilight Saga (that one night with my girlfriend) and the 2010 World Cup I could have been working down at the Home Depot or Maverick or some other part time gig to get all caught up and paid off.

I recognize that I should not have trusted HSBC to help let alone do what they say. No I should have spent zero money on any non-necessities while past due... that's what you would have done, right?

So if while reading this you're thinking, "I'm not sure if he deserves my $5/$10/$20 to get out of this mess." then I say to you, you are right.

I suggest however, you think of it this way, "Even though he doesn't deserve it, it would be pretty cool to see a video of him light his car on fire and possibly be arrested. That's a venture I can get behind."

Questions? read the FAQ page

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am going through the foreclosure thing now, awaiting the "modification process" to run its course, so how could I ignore a plea for help? Not much help, but hopefully you meet your goal...good luck!

Anonymous said...

Please don't burn your car. My husband died last year from a tumor. It was totally unexpected. I'm pregnant with our fourth child and I have no money or worldly possesions. I have no family. Do you know what a 500 dollar car would do for me? and you want to burn one? You think you have it bad with a foreclosed home? Try not knowing how you will feed your kids dinner. Thank God for the Mormon church or I'm sure I'd be homeless. I can't believe how ungrateful you are.

Yuri said...

Hey John,

Just so you know I think you're absolutely amazing for putting up with 27 months of stress and bullshit from behavior that's typical and almost we've come to expect of banks. Secondly, the nerve it must have took you to put this on a public forum to ask for help and admit your own faults is astonishing. Third, if I had known about this before today, I would have sent you money, even though I'm in a state of financial hardship myself. Fourth, your witty, and still positive take on such a scary situation is deeply admirable. Thanks for sharing your story with the world and good luck with the house in the future :)

Anonymous said...

Love ❤️ that you saved your home! You are obviously a wonderful person, father, husband, and giving back to a community out of the kindness and gratitude in your heart. Thank you for the positive vibes😇🥰