I Just Got a Call From My Senators Office This Morning (Sen. Bayh D-IN)

[RJ Connors]

Some here on DU have known about the struggles my family and I have been going through for the last several years which has led us into having financial difficulties which have been pretty daunting. To make a long story short we have had several issues, compounded by medical issues, compounded by getting hit by a drunk driver, which was further compounded by our mortgage company trying to steal our home through foreclosure proceedings for the last year now.

They have on more than one occasion tried to ram foreclosure proceedings through the court, of which there is some reason to think the court was complicit in helping them accomplish such, and which I have been unrelenting in fighting. Fortunately, I have some background in law and have at least a clue as to how to respond, but without having adequate funds to retain council this has been a major undertaking, as foreclosure proceedings has not been something I have kept up with over the years. (I tend to focus more on individual rights and liberties, rights of consumers, boundaries of governmental authority and particularly, criminal law, in recent years).

I have been working for the last year with a HUD contractor to try and work out a deal with my mortgage company but the mortgage holder has been completely unresponsive in that they won’t even return calls. In recent months I worked out a deal that if we could recast the payments for a short time (6 months – year) I would be able to pay them all of the back payments (minus penalties and interest)within about 6 months, and most likely be able to resume regular payments at that time. Which in these economic times I thought was a damn good deal! Particularly in light of the fact that the government gave them several billion dollars in bailout money, it would seem to me they should maybe be required to be a bit more responsive in helping their clients as well. Not on you life, never got a response from them on way or another on my offer.

So while I was figuring out how to counter their latest attack in court I drafted up a 5 page outline of our situation and how we got here and sent it off to my senator in the mail. I really didn’t expect to hear anything back for at least 2 months or so if I heard anything at all. In the interim I have just quit working with the HUD contractor as I wasn’t getting anywhere with her.

Much to my surprise I got a package in the mail in about 10 days with an offer from Senator Bayh to get involved with the mortgage company if I thought he could help. To say the least I was quite pleasantly surprised. Since the time I sent my letter to Senator Bayh I have brought the court to the realization that I am not going to give up my house without a fight, and with some additional filings I submitted I was granted a hearing on the matter in late April, buying me some more time to consider my legal options and to see what happens under the new administration. However, being granted this hearing assured me that at least my family is not going to get thrown out in the cold and if we need to liquidate and move I now have some time to work with. But I hadn’t got around to responding to Senator Bayh’s letter and letting him know that for now we were still in the game, but that I would like to preserve his offer for help in the future, should it become necessary.

Then this morning as I was getting everybody off to where they need to go today the phone rang. I assumed it might be the school calling saying that instead of a two hour delay they were just canceling school today due to the cold, as I usually don’t get calls in the morning. Much to my surprise it was Senator Bayh's office calling to follow up with me as they had not received a response from me to their letter, and they were very interested in my situation because they have, as she put it, many, many, complaints on this particular mortgage company just refusing to work with people and the senator is pretty upset by this.

I explained my current position with caller and how for now I am O.K, but that I would forward the mortgage information to them, but at this time I was still continuing court proceedings and didn’t want to take up the Senators time unless it was absolutely necessary to do so. She indicated that would be fine and they will look foreword to receiving my information and should I need the senators help in the future to give them a call.

I guess I was just taken aback somewhat as it was to a certain degree demonstrating that the process can work, at least sometime. I was glad my daughter was still at home to hear the phone conversation as it was a great opportunity for a civics lesson that you can work with the government to get help, at least in some instances. She was pretty knocked out that I was getting a personal phone call from a United States Senator’s office and I think it helped to restore at least some of her confidence that things may not be as bad as they seem and that there is help out there.

Anyway, as this is a story of things going right, I wanted to post for everyone to see that in the midst of all this turmoil we currently find ourselves in, there are still some things that are working like they should be.

[aquart]

1. Definitely send the mortgage information.

Did you ask if they are thinking of legislation to prevent this crap? Or punish it severely?

[RJ Connors]

3. Oh, I will send the information!!!

If nothing else that call this morning defiantly motivated me to get it too them. If I had any doubts that I was just getting a form package, although it didn't look like such, her call blew that away. Somebody in his office actually knows my name.

The information I got was that yes, he is specifically looking into this company, which also motivates me to get the information to them, but I didn't want to get too pushy about what Senator Bayh's plans were.

[SharonAnn]

2. Thank you for the message. There's at least some hope. I also thing Re. Marcy Kaptur's

recommendation that people demand the foreclosing organization to "produce the note" can help some people.

It's amazing that these companies bought and sold, sliced and diced, and traded mortgage back securities and now claim the authority to throw people out of their homes without proving that they are the legal holder of the actual mortgage.

So, "produce the note" can at a minimum stall some proceedings.

So glad to hear that you're working aggressively on this and hope that it all works out well for you.

And, I'm glad to know that a Democratic senator in what's been purported to be a conservative state will still do the right thing and not be compromised the the right-wing.

[RJ Connors]

7. Sharon, see my responce at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=296&topic_id=7966&mesg_id=7972

addressing the issue you brought up and thanks for your responce.

[ChiciB1]

4. NOW Is The Time To Get In Touch With Congress About Financial Problems!!

I have been trying to recover around $9,000.00 from Bank of America for fraudulent charges on a credit card for FOUR YEARS NOW! I hired a lawyer and can't tell you how much paper work and constant communication I have had with them. It's ALWAYS a run around. This AM I called Senator Bill Nelson's office and they assigned me a representative to help out. Since the fraud company is located in CANADA I left a message on their phone about this. Waiting for a reply now. My Congressional Representative said I should contact NEWSPAPERS and "out" Bank of America since one thing they DON'T want right now is to see their name in the papers.

I gave them both of the numbers I used to contact the above people and "hope" this will finally be enough to jar them into paying MY MONEY! If not, I'm going to have Senator Nelson's person to continue on my behalf. The really ODD thing is that in the beginning they DID send me a check for the fraud charges, but then called the next day to tell me NOT to cash the check because they decided it was an "inside job!" These people are corrupt to the core!

Anyway, just sent a letter to the two Bank of America dolts who seemingly think we are just going to "go away" if they keep ignoring us!!

Now is the time to put PRESSURE on our Congress for any and ALL help!! Good luck to you, and so sorry for all you've had to endure. At least I'm only trying to collect what's mine, you are having to fight to keep your head above water and I can't imagine the stress you must be living through!

Me, I'm just livid to the point that my OCD has kicked in and is going into OVER-DRIVE and keeping me awake at night thinking of "new" ways to get them to SHOW ME THE MONEY!!

[Celebration]

5. re: "produce the note"

Is the mortgage company able to do that?

[RJ Connors]

6. Yes, actually they are, and that is unfortunate.

That really is an old approach that has been around a long time, it is just now experiencing a resurgence because of all of the foreclosures that are going on. My company, which I have been with for going on 11 years now, is the same company that I took the loan out with. So in their initial filing they included the original note with the filing. But when I heard Rep. Kupter mention that, as it has been many years since I learned that, I checked just to make sure.

One thing Rep. Kupter did say that I found interesting, in that this is a big problem I am up against, is insuring people have legal counsel through these proceedings to level the playing field. It has come to my attention, and I think my mortgage company may be one of the one's doing this, is that they are trying to foreclose as many homes as they can to get them on their books as asset's so they look more desirable when the apply for more government handouts, I mean bailouts.

In the county I am in, which is crimson red and very affluent, it would not surprise me if they already had investors lined up to purchase these homes at fire sale prices and the judge is getting a cut in the action too boot. If they turn the property's over quickly instead of just showing a house asset, that is steadily going down, they can show cash instead making them look more viable.

But I don't know that for a fact, but it would not surprise me in the least. This is a serious (R) good ole boy's network in these parts. An attorney would be able to help me size that up more accurately.

[earcandle]

8. Thank for sharing your story. It is good to know some senators are actually working.

[MrsBrady]

9. good on you

and good on Bayh


I would say take the help.

[jaundicedi]

10. Who was the loan with ?

[pengillian101]

11. Senator Wellstone helped Veterans big time!

That's their job! Just too few Senators do their job, eh?