I live in Oakland, California where my wife and I purchased a home in 2005 near the peak of the housing bubble. Unknown to us at the time, our mortgage broker and/or lender had forged and backdated the loan application, and to cover up their misdeeds, failed to provide all the legally required disclosures prior to our signing of the mortgage documents.
Would you sign on the dotted line if you knew someone had forged and backdated your loan application? Hell no, and neither would we. It was not until 2011 that we learned of the flimflam perpetrated by those who claimed to be working in our best interests. Since then the story has taken interesting twists and turns, and this blog will tell the story and hopefully educate readers.
Ralph Kanz
I just wanted to reach out and say I’m so sorry for your troubles. My story is a little different. My tax escrow changed and Bank of America failed to notify me. When I made my monthly payment, it was short by $79.16. They held the payment for 4 months refusing to return it or give me credit for it. They would not accept a payment of $79.16 to make it whole, telling me I needed to resend the whole payment, only they already had $2000 of it sitting in their account. They then tacked on another $2500 in fees and told me the only way to fix it was to apply for a loan mod. That was the beginning of my hell with Bank of America. 19 months later, I’m on the verge of losing my home that I can very well afford and wanted to keep. Now I’m stuck paying $220 a month higher in rent while my house sits vacant. They will not take payments, not let me short sale and its not worth what I owe. To make matters worse, they had their “property preservation” team go into my home to winterize it; however, they did it wrong. The radiators in every room burst causing $75,000 worth of damages to the home. It is now uninhabitable. The heating system is inoperable, the entire home is covered in black mold, mushrooms are growing in my living room and they STILL won’t take less for it. What a nightmare! I hope you are able to resolve your problems. In the end, it is only a house…sticks and mortar is all it is and its not worth the trouble sometimes. God Bless. Michele