LOAN MODIFICATIONS: IS THIS WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE??
Originally posted in May 2009
IS THIS WHAT I’M TO UNDERSTAND?
You don’t need to hire anyone to help you negotiate with your bank for a loan modification.
You don’t need an attorney, you don’t need a mortgage expert, and you don’t need a fraud examiner.
All of those people, the lawyers, the mortgage experts, the fraud examiners… they’re all scammers because they CHARGE for their services.
And everyone knows that loan modifications are FREE… like water in a stream, or the air that we breathe.
Banks, on the other hand, have plenty of lawyers, mortgage experts, credit specialists, underwriters, and professional negotiators.
You, however, should come alone.
Who says you should come alone? The banks say so, that’s who.
The banks are looking out for you. The banks are going to help you. The banks are on your side. You can trust the banks.
The same banks that put you into mortgages where the payments double as soon as the prepayment penalty period ends.
The same banks that blame you, the borrowers, for the meltdown, and have already foreclosed on millions of homes.
The same banks that just lobbied congress to kill the bankruptcy reform bill that would have allowed judges to modify mortgages in bankruptcy so that people going bankrupt could have a chance to keep their homes.
The same banks that just lobbied congress asking for a top allowable interest rate of 500%, and got 390%, while they charge you 29% on your credit card.
The same banks that fraudulently packaged mortgage backed securities as AAA rated bonds and in doing so destroyed the bond market, and left the world’s financial systems in ruin.
The same banks that paid their executives untold billions in compensation and bonuses as the entire country was sliding into the deepest recession since the 1930s.
The same banks that have received TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS in taxpayer money. TRILLIONS.
Those same banks are now going to help you … as long as you come alone to the negotiation. Don’t hire anyone to help you… and they’ll help you.
And our President and our government agrees.
But the FACT is that banks are REQUIRED BY LAW to negotiate in the banks best interest, not yours. The law says that the bank MUST do what’s in the bank’s best interest, not yours.
It’s called a “fiduciary duty,” and it means that the banks MUST do what’s in the best interests of their shareholders, or their shareholders can SUE them for lots of money.
Those are the facts. And while you are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own set of facts.
Here’s another fact: The banks don’t want you to have representation. They’d prefer you come alone… without help… without an attorney… without a mortgage expert. They’d much rather negotiate with people who are scared, emotional, and unknowledgeable. It makes it easier and better for them.
But the 5th and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution state that:
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
This can be viewed as a person’s rights to fair governing.
In the United States of America there are two types of due process of law, “procedural” and “substantive”.
Procedural due process of law means that the procedures used by government in making, applying, interpreting, and enforcing laws be reasonable and consistent. Substantive due process of law means that the government cannot make laws that apply to situations in which the government has no business interfering. It means that the “substance” or purpose of laws be constitutional.
The Fourteenth Amendment continues and later talks about the “equal protection clause”. It states that no state may “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The Fourteenth Amendment’s original purpose was to create a society in which all people were treated equally.
There have been three Taxpayer Bill of Rights passed by the United States Congress in the last 20 years. Here’s what the first right in the first Taxpayer Bill of Rights states:
Taxpayers have the right to legal representation similar to that of a criminal defendant. Taxpayers have the right to have the IRS processes explained to them. Taxpayers have the right to sue the government for damages caused by IRS officials.
Shouldn’t taxpayers have the same rights as homeowners when negotiating with their banks to avoid foreclosure and keep their homes?
How many scammers are there? No one knows. How many mortgages have been successfully modified with the help of a private sector law firm or mortgage firm? No one knows.
The government says we must protect homeowners from “scammers,” because homeowners can’t tell whether a given firm is a “scammer” or not. So, the banks and the government say they are all “scammers,” and you can tell because they charge a fee or retainer in advance of the work being completed… which is exactly the way all attorneys charge for every single case they take on.
Is it the scammers who cause the scam, or is it the homeowner who is in a panic? It’s the panic.
And who is causing the homeowner to be in a panic? Who defrauded the financial system and caused the housing meltdown and worst recession since The Great Depression? Who broke the bond market by selling bonds that were fraudulently packaged and sold to investors? Who put homeowners into loans they did not understand and could not afford?
The banks did all of that. The banks caused the panic. The panic leads to the scams.
SO, WHO ARE THE REAL SCAMMERS HERE?
Yes… that’s right.
SO, MAYBE IT’S TIME WE STOPPED LISTENING TO THEM. GET YOUR OWN REPRESENTATION BEFORE NEGOTIATING WITH YOUR BANK OVER A LOAN MODIFICATION. NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE TELLS YOU.
USE YOUR HEAD. THIS MESS WASN’T YOUR FAULT. POOR PEOPLE WHO WANTED HOMES DIDN’T CAUSE THE WORLD’S BANKING SYSTEM AND WALL ST. TO FAIL.
DON’T BE A SUCKER FOR THE BANKS… AGAIN.
In a related story…
Wells Fargo Bank killed a man recently. The man was in jeopardy of losing his home to foreclosure. He had raised his family there. He lived there with his wife. They lived in Agora, CA. He was trying to handle the negotiations himself. Because that’s what he was told to do…
The bank was refusing to work with him. They wouldn’t modify his loan. They told him he had to come up with tens of thousands of dollars or he’d have to get out. They were nasty with him. It was taking a toll on him. The stress must have been unbearable. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing what he had worked his entire life to protect.
Nothing worked. Now there was only ONE WEEK before his home would be sold in a foreclosure sale. He couldn’t stand it.
He had a massive heart attack.
He was 62 years old.
His widow buried him. She was scared that she would have to move from their home.
She hired the law firm of Serge, Rodnunsky & Jones in Woodland Hills. They called Wells Fargo and today they got the bank to agree to delay the sale until September. They’re confident they will be successful in obtaining a loan modification for the widow.
That’s all they needed… a loan modification.
But he is gone. Someone’s husband of decades. Someone’s father. Someone’s grandfather. A life ended.
Because the bank couldn’t modify the loan. A few dollars.
He worked his entire life in this country. His tax dollars made it possible for Wells Fargo to get bailed out by the government. And they killed him. And they didn’t and don’t care one bit.
And I will never forgive Wells Fargo or any of the banks for this. Never.
