Ross, of Salem County, New Jersey moved into a home with his wife Jackie in 2005 when they were able to get a loan with an interest rate that was the lowest they had ever heard of. Ross worked full time at a local plastic factory making minimum wage.

In June 2009, Ross lost his job and he and his wife couldn’t keep up with the monthly mortgage payments. Plus, a month earlier, his interest rate shot up, making it even more difficult to make the payments. They defaulted on their loan.

Ross called his lender, Wells Fargo to see about refinancing or obtaining a loan modification.

He sat on hold for over an hour before a representative took two seconds to tell him to find the application online then hung up on him.

Ross sent in the application for a loan modification a week later.

Two months went by before Ross and Jackie heard back from Wells Fargo. But, with good news- they qualified for a loan modification. In the following weeks Ross and the representative went over the loan modification agreement.

But, shortly thereafter, Ross got notice of a sheriff sale, and the bank rescinded their loan mod agreement.

The bank had dual tracked him. While one department was working out the loan modification agreement, another was beginning the foreclosure process. He ignored all of the foreclosure notices because he had believed a loan modification was already in order. Once the sheriff sale was scheduled, the loan modification department could no longer proceed with their file.

They told Ross and Jackie that since the loan mod was revoked, their only option was to pay a lump sum to catch up on all of their missed payments and fees. If they didn’t catch up on all of the missed payments all at once and pay the fees, their home would be sold at a sheriff sale.

Ross and Jackie didn’t have the money to do so.

Their home was sold at the sheriff sale and they were evicted.

 

To read more about the corrupt practices of banks/loan servicers, click here.