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Setting The Record Straight-Our Four Year Battle With Wells Fargo Bank
invite response
2012 Jul 19, 6:46am 3,079 views 8 comments
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Thank you for clarifying. I misread your post about the 4 rentals.
As I read it you are unemployed and almost $1,000,000 in debt.
In 1775 you would be put in debtors prison until you paid this off. Luckily the American revolution ended debtors prison. Many Americans gave their lives for you have the right and liberty to walk away from this debt. It is your patriotic duty to walk away or else you mock those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for your freedom.
What ever your choice I hope you will be free of this trap.
Assets - Liability = Owners Equity.
PockyClipsNow
2012 Jul 19, 10:25am
hmmm something fishy here
1. why were all the debts NOT discharged in Bankruptcy?(probably because they cant be due to wife is working or there are other assets?)
2. How much $ did you HELOC from both properties and what did you do with it?(it doesnt really matter, we are just trying to determin if you 'bought at peak' or bought 15 years ago and 'lived off home ATM for years' - there really is no difference except the HELOC people win win win.
anyway you should move to a cheap cost of living area and enjoy life. good luck.
ohomen171: "you're morally obligated to repay the debt."
NO,NO NO! This is business. Both parties signed a contract where they should know the risk & their obligations. You can walk away at anytime.
To hell with others moral judgment.
PockyClipsNow
2012 Jul 19, 10:47am
yeah walk away is ok.
its the federal bailouts, loan mods, foreclosure moratorium that i have huge issues with. ALL the banks should have failed and went thru BK then the remaining ones would be healthy and prices would have gone down maybe a bit more.
Homeboy
2012 Jul 19, 6:24pm
I don't think you clarified most of the important points people asked you about. I think what's bothering people is you using your house as an ATM and then getting to keep that money without paying it back due to some legal trickery. I'm trying to wrap my brain around the fact that your wife didn't have to file bankruptcy but got a huge debt discharged. That's some fancy lawyering, there.
Anyway, I think the questions people want to know the answers to are:
1. What did you do with the HELOC money you borrowed?
2. I'm guessing you borrowed against the condo too, judging by the size of the debt. How much cash did you extract from the condo, did you get to keep that cash too, and what did you do with it?
3. Why are you trying to vilify Wells? It sounds like they reduced your mortgage payment by 68% for an entire year. Seems pretty damn generous considering the only reason your payment was so high was that you used your house like an ATM. Why is it wrong for them to want you to pay back what you owe? If your house had gone UP in value, would you have refunded the difference back to Wells? Somehow, I think not.
Homeboy
2012 Jul 19, 6:28pm
Before you get upset with me, please look at the billions of dollars in debt that companies like General Motors, Chrysler, American Airlines, United Airlines,Morgan Stanley, etc have walked away from in these hard times.
Believe me, I'm not happy with them either. Are you trying to be like them?
CashWillCrash
2012 Jul 19, 11:36pm
HELOC's settle almost always for 10 cents on the Dollar unless they know you have the assets or ability to pay more. And that's why (if you have assets or high income) I would never recommend applying for a loan modification. The only reason the banks let you apply for a loan mod is so that they can get all your financial information to see how much they can milk you. They rarely modify a loan, and if they do it's only temporary.
hidarez
2012 Jul 20, 2:42am
You should stop digging that hole, you won't get compassion from me or most people here. It's not simply the fact that you borrowed too much that you can't pay but your entitlement attitude that you expect people who you borrowed this $400k to be happy that you're not paying them. You're a scumbag and I hope the other side wins BIG.
I've been flattered by the big response I got to this web post. I need to clarify some points.
First I do not own five properties. I live with my wife in a house that is $100.000 "underwater" even after the settlement with Wells Fargo Bank. I also own a condominium down in San Jose that has a debt of over $536,000 and a current value of $136,500 as per Zillow. I'm $400,000 "underwater" on this property and trying to short sell it.
Second,like many other people in these hard economic times, I spent 30 years working in the international trade field. At age 62 I got laid off from a British natural resources firm that was working on a gold mining project in Colombia. When the project did not go to completion (due to no fault on my part), I was laid off. I found myself at 62 years of age and no job. I found out that age discrimination does exist. I found out that there were 5 qualified people like me seeking each job. After knocking on a lot of doors I took my Social Security pension and another small pension.
Like many other people I found myself with a mountain of credit card debt and mortgages. I agree with those of you who say that when you contract for a debt and they pay the money you're morally obligated to repay the debt.
If you do not have the income or the assets to pay off the debts, you have a problem.
I hired the Comfort Law Firm to help me with the financial problems arising from my layoff. They worked with my credit card companies, Bank of America, American Express and Discover. These three companies turned out to be ladies and gentlemen. After carefully looking at my assets and income, they agreed to settle the credit card debts for far less than 100 cents on the dollar.
We next worked with Bank of America Home Loans to get a loan modification on the first lien on our home. Bank of America Home Loans was vary nice but tough and skeptical. We had to submit some 2,000 pages of documents including tax returns for several years verified by the IRS, etc. After working almost a year we got a loan modification. Our adjustable rate mortgage was changed to a fixed rate mortgage and our payment reduced $900 per month.
Wells Fargo started out appearing to be nice to deal with. We first got our payment dropped for one year from $2,500 per month to $800.00 per month. After this good start,they began demanding all of the money or nothing. This set the stage for a long and a brutal 4 year legal battle. I would describe this lender and hard-nosed and not shy about intimidating people or spending large sums of money on lawyers. One US Bankruptcy Court judge in New Orleans agreed with my characterization of them. He fined Wells Fargo over $3.1 million dollars for rough and ruthless collection tactics against one home owner.
Before you get upset with me, please look at the billions of dollars in debt that companies like General Motors, Chrysler, American Airlines, United Airlines,Morgan Stanley, etc have walked away from in these hard times.
#housing