The Unbelievable Price Being Paid by the Prices: SLS and US Bank Need to Be Taught Some Manners

Part 2… In what hopefully will not be an ongoing saga.

When I wrote about Mr. and Mrs. Price, their mortgage servicer, Specialized Loan Servicing, and their bank, US Bank as Trustee, I have to admit that I was thinking in the back of my mind that this could not possibly be allowed to go on another day.  I mean, how in the world could any human being that reviewed the facts of the case possibly not do whatever it would take to right what had gone so terribly wrong. The Prices are still in the hospital recovering from the heart attack.

I know mortgage servicers are cold heartless SOBs in general, and specifically… and I know that the lawyers that represent them and their kissing cousins in the banking biz are, in my view, something less than pond scum… but I’m sorry to say that I had no idea.

We made calls to the Pasadena Sheriff’s department and luckily they were closed that day for some sort of special training day, and we also called Alan White, the SLS attorney, to convey our extreme displeasure at his not doing more to stop this travesty from taking place, or at the very least for not allowing the Price’s their day in court.

The good news?  The SLS lawyer, Mr. Alan White, granted the Prices a two-week extension on the lockout.  And that’s all he granted.  He is something else; I’ll say that for him.

On Wednesday, the Price’s attorney, Ms. Zshonette Reed, made an offer for a long-term stay.  She suggested the Prices make monthly payments into a trust account and if the Prices were to lose in court, the money would go to the defendant, SLS… and if they were to win, the money would be applied to the loan.  Seemed eminently fair to me, but what do I know about pure evil?

Friday that offer was rejected.  Then things got really ugly.  The SLS mouthpiece (I’ve decided that “attorney” is far to kind a title for Mr. Alan White) sent Ms. Reed a statement dated August 18, 2008, showing the August payment as being past due.  He then proceeded to accuse the Prices of fraudulently altering the August statement that they submitted to the court and committing perjury.  He then asked for certified copies of the front and back of the checks and certified bank statements because he said that he could not trust the veracity of the documents the Prices produce.

Go ahead… read that last part again.  In case you don’t remember, the Prices are in the hospital after one of them had a heart attack on the steps of LA County Courthouse last week.  These are the folks in their late 60s, that have lived in their home for 32 years and NEVER missed a single payment… NEVER made one late either.  But this clown can’t trust their documents?  It’s their documents that he has a problem with, not SLS’s?  Really, Mr. White… you jackass.  You are an obnoxious prick who bullies people who can’t defend themselves.  Others may think about taking you down in court, but you make me dream of fistfights during which I get to roll around on asphalt covered parking lots.  Those were the days, weren’t they?  Fun times.

As one might imagine, the Prices were devastated by his accusations.  They explained that they had received the statement showing the past due amount, but that they had called the bank and had been sent a corrected invoice, which is what they had submitted to the court.  Ms. Reed told the jackass that he could confirm that with his client, and regardless of the diversionary tactic, the Prices had provided PROOF that they made the August and September payments on time as agreed, so this point was irrelevant anyway.  Not only is it irrelevant, in my view, but it also shows what a dolt White is.

Then White claimed that SLS had been requesting copies of the front and back of the checks “for over a year,” which seemed weird as the Prices had never received a single letter from SLS, let alone a request for copies of checks, and Ms. Reed said that he would have to produce any such requests in writing, which he was not able to do.

And after all of that warm and caring back and forth, totally appropriate considering we have an elderly couple in the hospital who are clearly having their home of 32 years stolen out from under them by a mortgage servicer, the SLS rejected the offer form the long-term stay.  His letter to Ms. Reed states that if the Prices can produce the certified copies of the front and back of the checks and certified bank statements, which Ms. Reed says are irrelevant, then maybe SLS will consider the long-term stay.

Otherwise… they are scheduled to be locked out on October 1, 2009.

And just to add further insult to life-threatening injury, Ms. Reed also received an email from the attorney for U.S. Bank.  Apparently, US Bank doesn’t even want to see checks.  They simply and unequivocally reject any extension to the stay and say that two weeks is enough time for the Prices to vacate the premises.

US Bank… what’s their slogan again… oh yeah… F#@k You. I happen to have an account at US Bank… or rather I used to have an account at US Bank.  Anyone else used to bank there?

Ms. Reed is preparing an appeal and praying that the appellate court will provide some sanity and relief, so the Price’s nightmare can finally come to an end.

Stay tuned… I think it’s time for me to take an extended stroll through US Bank’s financials and filings… one never knows what one will find, now does one?  I wonder what kind of bonuses their senior executives received as a result of their willingness to steal… hey, that’s a good one…

U.S. Bank.  We make money the old fashioned way… We steal it.