Homeowners claim bank prefers FDIC bailout over house payments
ELK GROVE, CA - A couple facing foreclosure from OneWest Bank has joined the growing number of homeowners, attorneys and real estate professionals who believe the bank would rather foreclose than modify a loan.
"It comes down to money and greed. All they want is your home," said Tom Cravalho, who with his wife Mona has been working for nearly two years to get out of an adjustable rate mortgage.
The Cravalhos said their original lender, IndyMac Bank, agreed to a loan modification in the summer of 2008 that would have offered them a 3 percent interest rate for five years. But then IndyMac was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which sold the bank's assets to a group of investors who formed OneWest Bank in March 2009.
Tom Cravalho said OneWest Bank has refused to honor the original agreement or discuss new terms. The Cravalhos' attorney believes OneWest is more interested in reimbursement from the FDIC for the bad loan under a so-called "shared loss" agreement than it is in modifying the Cravalhos' mortgage.
"They're going to make a lot more money getting Tom and Mona out of their house than they would leaving them in their house. A lot more money," said attorney Sean Gjerde. Gjerde explained that under the shared loss arrangement, OneWest could resell the home, collect an FDIC reimbursement, and actually end up with more money than it paid for the original IndyMac loan.
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