Why do homeowners facing foreclosures blame the banks? (salary, legal, lawyers)

[Freebird2007]

I mean, aren't they the ones who bought these homes that they couldn't afford? Why do they get pissed off at banks when they are the ones unable to make the payments?

just a thought as I read about how a homeowner has strapped explosives to his house that is about to be foreclosed on.

[LetsRock]

Some are mad at the banks who refuse to refinance at the lower rates that the banks are enjoying when they get the money from the Fed. The bank gets the money from the Fed for 1% and loans it out at 5% and assume none of the risk?

[KUchief25]

I think most are mad about how the government bailed out the banks but not the homeowners. Personally nobody should have been bailed out. Others are frustrated at the programs put out there to help struggling homeowners then you have the banks committing fraud and getting away with it in many cases which has caused such a backlog in the court system.

[SLCPUNK]

What is this premise based on? I don't think the majority of people blame the banks. Sure some act out, but that's the minority.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Freebird2007

I mean, aren't they the ones who bought these homes that they couldn't afford? Why do they get pissed off at banks when they are the ones unable to make the payments?

I am being foreclosed upon.

We bought a 'Multi-Family-Residence' [a single building with multiple apartments] in an area near to a Navy base where we knew that I would likely be stationed many times.

We planned on the rental income helping us to carry the mortgage payments.

For us this plan worked very well for 19 years.

During that period of time, two casinos were built within a 6 mile radius, and both of them were in competition to become the 'World's Largest Casino' [Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun/Moon]. This caused the local economy to change over a period of years, such that these two big employers became the primary focus of all the local economy. They imported new employees, and there was a housing boom.

When the economy collapsed, the casinos went through a series of huge lay-offs. With the layoffs people left the area, apartments were left empty, there became a housing surplus. My tenants lost their jobs. I lost rental income, and after 19 years I was no longer able to carry the mortgage.

I put the property up for sale. Our realtor found three willing buyers, who would each pay off the loan. I did not price it to make any profit. I only wanted to get out, get a buyer to pay my outstanding principle and take it so I could wash my hands of it.

All of this was submitted to the bank. They could choose which buyer could buy the property.

The bank refused to allow us to sell.

There was Obama-money to be had, the bank wanted to follow-through with a foreclosure so they could get the property to qualify for bail-out money. Instead of simply taking the cash from selling the property.

Apparently the bank thought they could get more money via the bail-out than simply the outstanding principle.

After a month of arguing with the bank, I signed a quit-claim deed and gave the property to the bank.

The bank's lawyers refused to accept the deed in that fashion.

The bank started a foreclosure, plus their lawyers filed a law-suit suing me for the principle, PLUS the deed, PLUS $10k in legal fees.

The bank wants to double their money.

The bank was calling me daily, wanting one set of forms filled out; then another set of forms.

It came out that the bank had messed up their paperwork, and could not process this property in the proper manner required to get the bail-out money.

So instead of the bank getting just the principle they were counting on doubling that figure. Since their paper mess-up lost them the ability to double the principle, they want to sue me for it.

I filed bankruptcy.



Now after my bankruptcy has been finalized, the bank still calls me to pester me, every time I refer them to my lawyer.

The bank still sends me letters. They have refused to acknowledge my bankruptcy. I divert all of their letters to my lawyer.



I have not contested their foreclosure. I gave them the deed to the property. It has been 18 months and they are still after me.

The bank has still not been able to finalize on their foreclosure. They are still in court over it.



I did buy property that had a mortgage payment more than my salary could afford. Now I am retired, so my income is even less.

Nobody predicted the economy collapse, I am at fault as much as everyone else is.

For 19 years I was able to carry that mortgage by using rental income and it worked.

I am not mad at that bank because I am not able to carry the mortgage any longer.



I am mad at that bank, for refusing to accept a buyer. They refused to take cash in exchange for their lien.

I am mad at that bank for refusing to acknowledge my bankruptcy.

I am mad that at bank for suing me in their attempt to double their money.

I am mad that at bank for continuing to pester me now.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I am being foreclosed upon.

We bought a 'Multi-Family-Residence' [a single building with multiple apartments] in an area near to a Navy base where we knew that I would likely be stationed many times.

We planned on the rental income helping us to carry the mortgage payments.

For us this plan worked very well for 19 years.

During that period of time, two casinos were built within a 6 mile radius, and both of them were in competition to become the 'World's Largest Casino' [Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun/Moon]. This caused the local economy to change over a period of years, such that these two big employers became the primary focus of all the local economy. They imported new employees, and there was a housing boom.

When the economy collapsed, the casinos went through a series of huge lay-offs. With the layoffs people left the area, apartments were left empty, there became a housing surplus. My tenants lost their jobs. I lost rental income, and after 19 years I was no longer able to carry the mortgage.

I put the property up for sale. Our realtor found three willing buyers, who would each pay off the loan. I did not price it to make any profit. I only wanted to get out, get a buyer to pay my outstanding principle and take it so I could wash my hands of it.

All of this was submitted to the bank. They could choose which buyer could buy the property.

The bank refused to allow us to sell.

There was Obama-money to be had, the bank wanted to follow-through with a foreclosure so they could get the property to qualify for bail-out money. Instead of simply taking the cash from selling the property.

Apparently the bank thought they could get more money via the bail-out than simply the outstanding principle.

After a month of arguing with the bank, I signed a quit-claim deed and gave the property to the bank.

The bank's lawyers refused to accept the deed in that fashion.

The bank started a foreclosure, plus their lawyers filed a law-suit suing me for the principle, PLUS the deed, PLUS $10k in legal fees.

The bank wants to double their money.

The bank was calling me daily, wanting one set of forms filled out; then another set of forms.

It came out that the bank had messed up their paperwork, and could not process this property in the proper manner required to get the bail-out money.

So instead of the bank getting just the principle they were counting on doubling that figure. Since their paper mess-up lost them the ability to double the principle, they want to sue me for it.

I filed bankruptcy.



Now after my bankruptcy has been finalized, the bank still calls me to pester me, every time I refer them to my lawyer.

The bank still sends me letters. They have refused to acknowledge my bankruptcy. I divert all of their letters to my lawyer.



I have not contested their foreclosure. I gave them the deed to the property. It has been 18 months and they are still after me.

The bank has still not been able to finalize on their foreclosure. They are still in court over it.



I did buy property that had a mortgage payment more than my salary could afford. Now I am retired, so my income is even less.

Nobody predicted the economy collapse, I am at fault as much as everyone else is.

For 19 years I was able to carry that mortgage by using rental income and it worked.

I am not mad at that bank because I am not able to carry the mortgage any longer.



I am mad at that bank, for refusing to accept a buyer. They refused to take cash in exchange for their lien.

I am mad at that bank for refusing to acknowledge my bankruptcy.

I am mad that at bank for suing me in their attempt to double their money.

I am mad that at bank for continuing to pester me now.

"I did buy property that had a mortgage payment more than my salary could afford. Now I am retired, so my income is even less."


Yes you are to blame, nobody else! You basically started a business of renting and it was succesful for a while and you enjoyed it and when the "business" wasn't succesful anymore you started to blame others, but you are to blame for not selling on time and not the bank for not refi or allowing a short sale, etc.

It was an investment property and just as any other business that is failing you have to face the consequences....

You decided to do a quit claim deed and give the deed back which has "clouded" the title in your case and the bank didn't want to deal with it in that manor....it is not like you can decide to do whatever you want!

When you have a mortgage you are not allowed to change the deed in any way without lenders approval and you did....nobody else, just read the print of your mortgage! Stop whining!

[GregW]

Seems to me the bank tried to cheat this guy and apparently did a good job. Perhaps a countersuit is in order.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

"I did buy property that had a mortgage payment more than my salary could afford. Now I am retired, so my income is even less."


Yes you are to blame, nobody else! You basically started a business of renting and it was succesful for a while and you enjoyed it and when the "business" wasn't succesful anymore you started to blame others,

I did not blame anyone else.

... but you are to blame for not selling on time and not the bank for not refi or allowing a short sale, etc.

I did not blame the bank for not refinancing. I did not try to refinance.

I did not blame the bank for not allowing a short-sale. If you read my post I did not say anything about a short-sale.



[quote] ... It was an investment property and just as any other business that is failing you have to face the consequences.... [/quote

I agree.

... You decided to do a quit claim deed and give the deed back which has "clouded" the title in your case and the bank didn't want to deal with it in that manor .... it is not like you can decide to do whatever you want!

It was not my quit-claim deed that clouded the title. The title was clouded before.

I was actually advised by the bank's 'property intake' office that one of my options was to sign a quit-claim and mail them the keys.

I followed the banks instructions.

I even saved all of the email correspondence.

... When you have a mortgage you are not allowed to change the deed in any way without lenders approval and you did....nobody else, just read the print of your mortgage! Stop whining!

I followed their instructions.



You have been making assumptions here, and accusing me of doing some wrong.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by GregW

Seems to me the bank tried to cheat this guy and apparently did a good job. Perhaps a countersuit is in order.

When we were meeting with the bankruptcy lawyer, we learned a great deal about the process.

He said that he was handling 4 to 6 of these cases each week. And had done a lot of correspondence with mortgage companies and banks.

Their focus is entirely on increasing how much money they can get from the government. A lot of that is from legal fees.

Dragging the foreclosure out for as many months / years as possible means more billable hours, which all goes into the bail-out claim.

[Driller1]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

"I did buy property that had a mortgage payment more than my salary could afford. Now I am retired, so my income is even less."


Yes you are to blame, nobody else! You basically started a business of renting and it was succesful for a while and you enjoyed it and when the "business" wasn't succesful anymore you started to blame others, but you are to blame for not selling on time and not the bank for not refi or allowing a short sale, etc.

It was an investment property and just as any other business that is failing you have to face the consequences....

You decided to do a quit claim deed and give the deed back which has "clouded" the title in your case and the bank didn't want to deal with it in that manor....it is not like you can decide to do whatever you want!

When you have a mortgage you are not allowed to change the deed in any way without lenders approval and you did....nobody else, just read the print of your mortgage! Stop whining!

I heard no whining.....

Just a factual account of what happened.

Trust me, when businesses fail we all should think about it.

This was not poor management.

Just the "fundamental change" we were promised.