Stealthmode - Latest Comments in An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

ruaninvestor — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:28:15 -0000

I think your blog is very impressive and smartness. I am sour visit again.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Garcia Nancy555 — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 23:51:20 -0000

Mr. President, please allow me to introduce you to America’s small business owners. They reside in every state and town in the country. These men and women are the backbone of the communities where they live. They represent the 20% that do 80%. They are the ones who serve on school boards and hospital boards, coach Little League, lead Boy Scout troops, serve in Indian Guides and volunteer in their churches and synagogues. They pay a disproportionate share of the property taxes that build the public schools and hospitals.Commercial Mortgages

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Peter Farrell — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:54:34 -0000

Those that are considering the purchase of a reverse mortgage should take the time to
find the right mortgage for their needs. While these mortgages are generally backed by
FHA, they are not all offered at the same rates and for the same fees. For that reason,
it should be taken seriously and should be considered carefully.

There are many companies that are offering these mortgages because they are just a
good investment for their needs. Yet, for those that are looking to cash out some of
the equity in their home, they are much more than just that. For that reason, it is
necessary for you to carefully consider how you get your reverse mortgage.
Commercial Mortgages

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

NANCEE — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 01:39:01 -0000

HI - I STARTED OTREADING OF SCOTT-COLES SUICIDE AND ENDED UP READING YOUR STORY - MINE IS SIMILAR I AM A REALTOR - GOT MY FARMERS ALL OUT IN O5,06 AN 07 BUT HAD MY SAVINGS IN LAND - EVEN THO MOST IS FREE AN CLEAR -THE TAXES ARE HIGH AND MURDER W/NO MONEY COMING IN- YOU DON'T MENTION SCOTTS 2ND WIFE -FUNNY HOW THESE GUYS [LARRY KING ECT]ALL THINK THESE LIL GOLD DIGGERS LOVE THEM -EVEN THO THEY BAIL W/A LOT OF MONEY -YOU ARE CHOOSEING TO IGNORE THIS PART OF HIS LIFE BUT YOU SHOULDNT - IT IS PART OF HIS STORY - LIKE-IT OR NOT -AS I TOO ADMIRED HIM - BUT WHAT A SHAME TO LET HER DO HIM IN - HIS SON NEEDS HIM -AS YOU AND I KNOW -FACING THE MUSIC IS HARD-------------------NANCEE COUSINS

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

hardaway — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:19:17 -0000

Here's my personal invitation to attend AZEC10 (http://www.azec10.com), the premier conference in Arizona to help entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. Here, VCs and entrepreneurs and resources meet and learn from each other.

This year's cast of characters includes Bay Area VC Dave McClure (@davemcclure), web strategist and industry analyst Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang), Infusionsoft founder Clate Mask (@infusionsoft), legendary entrepreneur/photographer Kris Krug (@kk) and a host of Arizona companies and resources,

Early Bird Registration is available at http://azec10.eventbrite.com, and I hope to see you there!

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Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

hardaway — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:17:27 -0000

Learn from experts how to start or grow your business, even in this economy. Come to AZEC10 (http://www.azec10.com).

I'd like to remind you that we have significant discounts for early registration at http://azec10.eventbrite.com

AZEC10 is the premier Arizona conference directly geared to entrepreneurs, and people come from everywhere (even Canada) to attend.This year's speakers include industry analyst and wen-strategist Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang); Bay Area VC Dave McClure (@davemcclure), Flowtown co-founder Ethan Bloch (@ebloch), Infustionsoft founder Clate Mask (@infusionsoft), and entrepreneurial photographer Kris Krug (@kk).

This is a personal invitation to you, to join me.

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Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

snoopy — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:40:41 -0000

Bravo o you. We did actually lose our home. My son has been trying to buy for months and can't because he is our son. Ironic. They are afraid we will pocket "extra" money. What extra money. There is none. We owe them 120,000 and they agreed to sell it to him for 120,000. He even had an agreement of sale from our company but no one would finance him. We also did not buy a house above our means -- a single family ranch 3/4 of an acre, at only 122,000. It is probably now worth only about 156,000. A real estate agent tried to tell me the house is worth over 250,000. Not llikey. No central air, 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Who is he trying to kid?

Bravo to you and I for one don't believe you are asking for a handout. I feel fair is fair. Our loan modification --- when I sit back and think about it --- they made it for MORE thant the mortgage payment actually was. It's a long story and all I can say is my husband and I work 7 days a week 12 hour days. He is self=employed and I help him. I work full time to get benefits as well. We have no life so no we aren't asking for a handout either. It angers me that people assume the worst. His business went down the tubes with the economy as well. It is creeping back up but the key word is creeping.

Anyway, thanks for letting me air and good luck

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Jeff01 — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:43:45 -0000

Hi all,
I just really love your article thank you for giving us such an article.
====================
Jeff
Finance

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

hardaway — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:16:30 -0000

I don't know anything about citibank, but I have written two more
recent posts about this. Please see the archives

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Sueout4justice — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:04:37 -0000

Are you still reviewing/ monitoring this? My family is very much in this same situation with Citibank. I have been going crazy trying to deal w/ them and at the same time find or reach out to others in this same predicament. This is dated a year ago... mine is NOW. I'm sorry to say I am not very internet savvy. I'm trying to find blogs or other chats or something to see how many folks, especially in and around my area in South Florida are battling the same issues. I believe in the strength of "numbers". It is absolutely criminal in my mind that the banks are getting away with forcing people from their homes or giving no alternative to struggling families to ruin their credit by defaulting on 1st or 2nd mortgages (if you happen to have 2 like us).
Is anyone out there that can direct / help me find the "numbers" of folks battling this right now?

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

hardaway — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:24:30 -0000

Actually, there are now modifications available for these kinds of loans.
The best bet is to call your servicer. I actually spent one year working
with mine, but it looks like I got a modification. I did what you did; moved
people in with me.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

mike552 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:04:31 -0000

Interesting blog. I found it as I was searching for a solution to my situation. Very similar, but on different levels.

I have actually moved friends into my home to help pay bills and have maintained my 720+ plus credit score. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and I know my rates will go up at some point and there will be nothing I can do about it.

I wish I could better understand how the banks allowed these mortgages to be sold on the open market. They offered insanely awesome deals that I ignorantly grabbed onto and now I am trapped. I don't mind paying the price for my mistakes as long as everyone that made mistakes pays with me. I do find it frustrating that the banks received bailouts and they get to go upon there merry way.

To answer everyone's question, my mortgage was sold on the secondary market. There are NO modification programs for this type of loan. As I was told.

I'll eat beans and rice to pay my bills, I would just like to know what's the best direction and if there is a chance? Do I really need to let everything go before I can get help? I would much rather take my medicine. After all, I'm a Marine, there is not much I haven't endured.

At some point when rates climb, I will be stuck, that's the realistic part. No equity and upside down. Stones are welcome, but direction is preferred. Thank you.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

MN — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:59:23 -0000

Such an excellent, well composed letter and eye opener!! Thanks for sharing it.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Eric — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:46:35 -0000

While I sit here an read everything, all the comments and not one person states the true facts.
The fact of the matter is we as a society have allowed the lenders to promise the world without any just believable reason that all would come true.
I will be the first to admit that some of the problem lies at the foot of the borrower, who for whatever reason allows the lenders to think all will be ok. The truth of the matter is all MAY and I mean MAY be ok should things keep rolling along and all promises made live up to their protential. Reality is this is very rarely the case. Lenders allow borrowers to get in way over their heads and the repercussions are they go bankrupt and the lender forecloses. No foul right?
Of course there is, the lender should be looking out for all involved and that also means me the investor,
A lender who looks only at the best means of making a buck without looking at the long term implications do not deserve the right to foreclose or cause harm.
One only needs to look at how messed up this world has become, we have lenders sitting there begging college and university student who are just kids to go into debt up to their eyeballs, without even blinking an eye. Our children are being taught, debt is a good thing. Just look at the average student loan in any country. Most students without well off parents who can afford to send their children on to higher education are in debt for 1000's of dollars before they even get their first real job.
The sell job is borrow now, when you get out you will be making enough money to easily pay off these debts. Then the crash hits, no jobs to be had anywhere, certainly not for a student just out of school with no real experience to speak off. Now the students the same as the over extended borrowers can not pay their loans, the lenders cry foul and beg for tax payer relief and get it, but the poor borrower who may or may not of ever been given the loan loses all.
The arguments heard here make very little sense to me, to say one person is at fault because a lender has allowed them to get to the point of no return does not wash, a lender should not be lending money unless they are willing to take the loss period. If in the real world all at fault paid the price maybe things would not be were they are today. For each loan unpaid just adds another payment to those of us that can pay. The lender forecloses, all the cost and loss that the lender entails just gets dumped onto those that can pay. It can be in the form of tax relief to th lender, a bailout or just increased fees because the lender needs to make up for its loses.
In the end we are the ones paying and therefore should have some say in what is happening to the credit market. I for one would sooner see people paying whatever they can and keeping them in their house, even if it means morgages with no interest.
Lenders need to be found accountable for the actions they are doing. We need to get back to reality where those who do not have the means to pay, do not get the loans.
People who feel I have do everything right, I live within my means, I own a smaller house or rent etc.
Reality is that currently you may live within your means, this does not mean you always will.
Rents can skyrocket, interest rates can skyrocket, taxes can skyrocket and honestly all of these things will happen if we are to get out of this mess, just the facts of time proves this. A correction will need to be made at some point in time.
Just in the last 3 months at where I am employed 750 employees were let go, all with 20-25 years of stellar service. Ask anyone of those 750 people if they ever thought this would happen to them?
I would dare to guess that not one of them would of.
How long before these people begin to run into the same problem with their credit ratings?
Do we just blame them?

Everyone needs to give their heads a shake and ask what can we as a society do to improve things and lay the blame where it belongs on the lenders who are so eager and willing to loan money out like it was water, without once looking at the person they are lending too!
JMO

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Charles Jeffrey Danoff — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:02:04 -0000

Linked today from an old Dave Winer post to your piece. Wonderfully written piece, examining a complex, difficult issue in a logical way.

What was the fallout of your request?

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

hardaway — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:38:23 -0000

Sucks, Vickie. Your story is everyone's these days. Here's what I've learned: 1)the US does not have debtor's prisons, and it's no shame to be in bad financial shape during this period. 2) All the money keeps going to the fat cats -- banks and mortgage companies 3)If you quit struggling and worrying, you will live a longer happier live. That's what I decided.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

vickie — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:31:51 -0000

sorry for your troubles. i am currently in a hopelessness mode (hence no caps because it's easier to type this way). I need to just talk because if i don't i might do something stupid. my husbands' father screwed us big time with a prior business. he sold it after he a family discussion and left my husband out of the loop. we received nothing except all the debt. while my husband and his dad made up (which was a good thing because the old guy died 4 years later) we had and received no money. the business wasn't a big deal but when we purchased our house it was enough money to pay a 700.00 mortgage a month. we had trouble finding jobs. without going into much detail after aabout 3 years we were bringing our life back to somewhat normal. we still a back payment of 2000 on the house but had a plan worked out with the then current mortgage lending. ocwen took over and our livves went down the tubes . they refused to honor the agreement asked for money we didn't have and wow after 15 years of hell and a tremendous amount of ruined credit -- we declared chap 13 numerous times to stop them worked deals but they were always way more than we could afford. we tried but we lost the battle after the last hastely put together deal they gave us a payment they thought we could afford. everyone or most people jump at the chance to keep their homes and we agreed but i believe we have the war. we are not blameless -- but we are certainly naive in the ways of the financial world. it is the most frustrating thing when the mortgage company is in another state and you don't know each other. we are not bums or lazy or irresponible we were told to sue the "parents" but how can you do that? we owe back payments of about 20,000 on our house with interesst penalties etc. etc. etc. etc. whatever ocwen wanted to do they did. attorneys told us it was hopeless and no one cares. i guess they were right. i am in the gutter now feel totally hopeless and thank you for the oppotunity to air this

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

maggy08 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:07:31 -0000

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Susan

http://pay-dayadvance.net

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

maggy08 — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:58:22 -0000

Susan

http://pay-dayadvance.net

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Bilger — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:51:51 -0000

Wow!

"I guess I don’t have to create jobs anymore for you guys, because you are safe with your 30-year fixed rate mortgages and don’t need me to take anymore risks on your behalf."

You seem to have a passive/aggressive victim complex combined with delusions of grandeur and a nice dose of paranoia. Get over yourself.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Rob in Gallup — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 06:40:56 -0000

Look, I realize you're in a tough spot and I'm not trying to take a cheap shot while you're down. But you put this out in a public forum, and as a member of the general public, I'm going to take that as permission to share my thoughts.

I'm an entrepreneur, too, and I don't buy it that your bank needs to rescue you.

I make decent money, enough to provide for our four children and to allow my wife to stay at home, go to school, or have a career as she sees fit. We live within our means, which means not having massive debt over our heads that we might or might not be able to pay later. We chose to live in a house we could afford, not a house that we thought we could afford "monthly payments" on. That's called living within your means, and it's kind of a radical concept in America.

Now, of course, even though our house is nice and is adequate for our family, we too aspire to bigger, better and nicer, so we continue to put money away toward buying a larger house eventually. The difference here is that we won't buy it until we have the money in hand rather than relying on fictitious money (i.e. credit, the polite term for incurring massive amounts of debt) to pay for what we want but can't afford.

So I have a really hard time buying into this argument that you were somehow smart about things. Smart is not saying, "Well, I have enough money to get banks to allow me to incur over half a million dollars in debt (on a SECOND HOUSE, no less) and since I can presently afford the monthly payment, I'll go for it." You don't automatically qualify as smart, either, by being wealthy enough to receive large amounts of credit, or by being an entrepreneur for decades, or by being a good writer (which, to keep the ego in check, you're not a bad writer but you're no Hemingway, at least not from this open letter).

And I don't buy that you're just caught up in bad circumstances. Being the victim of a bad situation is being paralyzed and no longer able to work, or having to spend your life savings on medical bills not covered by insurance, or having your home destroyed in a natural disaster. But counting on future income that you haven't yet earned, then recklessly incurring massive debt, and then being unable to pay back your debt when inevitable economic changes occur is not being a victim. That's called making poor choices.

And I daresay it's these common, but nonetheless poor, choices that many Americans like yourself have made that are responsible for the financial meltdown we're witnessing.

As for my family and me, we may not have multiple mansions, but we're largely unscathed by what's happening in the financial sector because we haven't set ourselves up to be affected by it. I'm not going to lie, that's a really good feeling.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Gavin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:24:57 -0000

I have a lot of sympathy for anyone facing the loss of their house. It is not an something I have ever faced or would wish upon anyone. Having said that, this post highlights to me two of the fundamental problems that helped create the economic crash we all face.

Firstly, buying anything on credit without the income to support the loan is a big risk. Admittedly, this is a tough one for the self employed. I also work for myself. Not every self-employed person will have sufficient confidence in always being able to earn enough to pay the mortgage. If in doubt, rent.

Secondly, and most crucially, a home can never be a speculative asset. It is worth nothing. You cannot sell it. Its value to you is purely as a means of warmth and shelter. Far too many people in this country (I am in Scotland) bought their house, and a lot more beside, because prices were rocketing skywards. Nobody seemed to recognise that if the property is sold at twice the price it was bought at, the owner is only going to have to pay the same amount for another house!

So I say to you Francine, concentrate on your business. Develop that and if necessary, find an accountant to help you manage your cash. It doesn't matter what your neighbours are doing. Your house is your home. You live there because it suits you to do so, not because it has a market value of this or that.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

Scavenger — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:21:49 -0000

I feel sorry for you but in a different way. Your simply a victim of your own greed.
Did you ever think that that the other 600,000 or so you borrowed to finance your castle, was actaully money that someone else scrimped and saved?
I am Canadian, the same thing is happening here, only two years later than the USA, and god help us is all I can say.
I listened for years to all the fat egos, living in luxury, bragging at the cocktail parties about thier rising property values trading ,up constantlytaking out equity in thier grossly inflated house prices to finance lavish lifestyles, living in mansions with vaulted ceilings, buying cottages for 'investment" etc.
These same business people scream at the municipal politicians to lower thier damm business taxes, then they take the money they saved and spend it on winter vacations. I dont feel sorry for anyone, in fact Im laughing at how stupid you all look now.
And whats worse, you people who overpaid for yoru houses, were victims of the con artist mortage and real estate brokers, now send all your "toxic assets" overseas so now the entire world is a victim of the rapacious greed of Americans. phooey...
Sell the damm castle and live in your means, even of it means renting a tiny apartment.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

wildpen — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:35:44 -0000

I have a comment still sitting in moderation too.

Re: An Open Letter to my Two Mortgage Companies

antediluvial — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:51:23 -0000

"However, Obama got elected, and I kept on paying. I did make a call to you at Aurora in December, asking if I could get some help, and you advised me that you couldn’t help me because I wasn’t behind."

Enough said. Your an idoit looking for big fat government for direction. Grow the fuck up. Send the keys in the mail and let the market figure it out.

Your responsibility is self preservation.

Our country would be a lot better off if we esteemed self reliance.