Immigrants hit hard by U.S. slowdown and subprime crisis

[Krikit 1,163]

Gosh. That is HORRIBLE, GEG. Just horrible. I am so sorry you had to, and are going through, all that. My heart goes out to you.

[greeneyedgirlfl 0]

Thanks for the idea, RJ, and when Darren comes over, we may look into it. I have been burned by a disreputable mortgage company (still in litigation over it) and, until that is resolved, I am not interested in owning.

Yikes. That's scary. Can you give us the name of the mortgage company or an idea of what happened? Things are so much different here than what I am used to, and that makes me uneasy.

The company had several names, but is out of business now...all of their assets are tied up in the same lawsuit (class action).

Just be careful if your mortgage is sold to another company. I had a fixed 30-year mortgage with payments (mortgage and escrow for insurance and taxes included) of $750 a month (in 2001). The original company (OC) sold it to a shell company which was owned by the OC. They didn't send me any correspondence to the change of status. This all happened right before the time of year that my insurance and taxes were due. They failed to pay my insurance, and since I "didn't have insurance" they "force-placed" insurance on me that was 5 times the cost my original insurance. The escrow was raided to pay the insurance; therefore, I had no money to pay my property taxes and still had money due for the balance of the new insurance. The new mortgage payment was about $1400, which at the time was only $250 less than my entire net pay. Since I live in FL, my old insurance carrier couldn't reinsure me since they were taking no new homeowner's policies. During this debacle, the mortgage was sold two more times to more shell companies of the OC.

Here's the kicker: the usurious insurance company was also owned by the same motgage company!

When the company tried to foreclose on me, I finally gave up trying to fight it and sold my house. I made a nice profit from it, but it has left a bitter taste in my mouth to buy another home....at least for the time being.

It's next to impossible in today's world to obtain a mortgage that won't be sold. It's just the way that particular business operates these days. I have had mortgages that were sold; one was sold three times during the several years I had the loan.

There had to be something else 'unscrupulous' going on with this lender's procedures, or else they would still be in business and there would not be a class-action lawsuit.

It probably sounds like I'm defending the lender - I sure as heck am not. I've been in the lending/legal business for nearly 25 years and my boss is on the ethics committee for the WV State Bar.

The biggest issue was selling the mortgages multiple times (mine was 3 times in the space of 4 months) and not informing us until they almost doubled our mortgage payments...the issue was not informing us of the sale.

[rebeccajo 14]

Thanks for the idea, RJ, and when Darren comes over, we may look into it. I have been burned by a disreputable mortgage company (still in litigation over it) and, until that is resolved, I am not interested in owning.

Yikes. That's scary. Can you give us the name of the mortgage company or an idea of what happened? Things are so much different here than what I am used to, and that makes me uneasy.

The company had several names, but is out of business now...all of their assets are tied up in the same lawsuit (class action).

Just be careful if your mortgage is sold to another company. I had a fixed 30-year mortgage with payments (mortgage and escrow for insurance and taxes included) of $750 a month (in 2001). The original company (OC) sold it to a shell company which was owned by the OC. They didn't send me any correspondence to the change of status. This all happened right before the time of year that my insurance and taxes were due. They failed to pay my insurance, and since I "didn't have insurance" they "force-placed" insurance on me that was 5 times the cost my original insurance. The escrow was raided to pay the insurance; therefore, I had no money to pay my property taxes and still had money due for the balance of the new insurance. The new mortgage payment was about $1400, which at the time was only $250 less than my entire net pay. Since I live in FL, my old insurance carrier couldn't reinsure me since they were taking no new homeowner's policies. During this debacle, the mortgage was sold two more times to more shell companies of the OC.

Here's the kicker: the usurious insurance company was also owned by the same motgage company!

When the company tried to foreclose on me, I finally gave up trying to fight it and sold my house. I made a nice profit from it, but it has left a bitter taste in my mouth to buy another home....at least for the time being.

It's next to impossible in today's world to obtain a mortgage that won't be sold. It's just the way that particular business operates these days. I have had mortgages that were sold; one was sold three times during the several years I had the loan.

There had to be something else 'unscrupulous' going on with this lender's procedures, or else they would still be in business and there would not be a class-action lawsuit.

It probably sounds like I'm defending the lender - I sure as heck am not. I've been in the lending/legal business for nearly 25 years and my boss is on the ethics committee for the WV State Bar.

The biggest issue was selling the mortgages multiple times (mine was 3 times in the space of 4 months) and not informing us until they almost doubled our mortgage payments...the issue was not informing us of the sale.

They are definitely supposed to tell you where to send your new payments. Each time my loan was 'churned' I was usually notified well in advance.

A pool of loans being sold 3 times in the course of 4 months is not the normal course of business. Something else was afoot, and I'd bet my right leg it had something to do with a predatory lender trying desperately to stay afloat.

[JoeCanuk 3]

It's just one more example of the greed and sleaze that has dominated government and business in the USA for too many years. The Robber Barons and crooks have had a field day with no responsible adult supervision in sight. No wonder the American people are so disgusted.

Peejay, usually I agree with pretty much everything you say BUT I have to disagree with you this time to a certain extent. Banks are not philanthropists....the onus is on the individual who took the loan. No one needs supervision when they're buying a house. If they want to get into all sorts of dodgy loans, that responsibility is on them....the bank is certainly not holding a gun to anyone's head.

Not until the person loses their job and is unable to make their payments...