Documenting your payments.  (Posted by Arky Girl)

First, go to your post office and get several "certified mail; return receipt requested" stickers. Most of you are already using certified mail anyway. Get twelve of them (one year's worth)and take them home in order to ease this process later.

Fix your envelope (use a small envelope rather than a business-sized envelope) showing your return address and your mortgage servicer as the addressee. Peel the tracking number from the left side of the sticker and place it in the appropriate box on the green card. Put your certified mail stickers on the envelope in the correct area.  Fill out all information on the stub concerning where this piece of mail is going, but leave it attached to the “sticky” portion on the envelope.

Write your check.

Copy the envelope WITH STICKER AFFIXED (fold the stub out with it still attached and the servicer's name and address visible) AND your check onto one sheet of paper.

Mail your payment. The stub you receive at the Post Office will be dated...HANG ON TO IT AT ALL COSTS. This stub has your tracking number and proves mailing date. Put your stub with your copy (use a paperclip) and wait.

When you receive your signature card from the addressee in your mailbox, copy everything onto one sheet of paper. It is tight, but can be done if you have used the small envelope and don't have
business-size checks.

Now you have one sheet of paper that shows your check and the date it was written, the envelope proving that the article was truly mailed
to your servicer (the tracking numbers will match), a stub proving mailing date, and proof that the servicer received it.

Have it notarized. Most banks do this free as a courtesy to their customers.

Take this notarized sheet of paper to your courthouse and tell the court clerks that you want to enter it as an affidavit into public
record. There is usually a nominal per page fee (that is why you want to keep it on one page if at all possible). Ask for a copy of this after it has been stamped by the clerk and take it home with you.

Now you can do one of two things, depending on your situation.

If your servicer is doing a lousy job of recordkeeping (ha,ha) and hassling you night and day and you know that those payments are made, here is what to do.

Make a copy of your sheet showing all this info WITH the court clerk’s stamp and mail this copy to your servicer with a letter of explanation. Tell them since they cannot seem to keep good records that you are going to help them out by having these payments recorded every month at the courthouse as public record.

Try to do this civilly (gag) as you do not want to antagonize them. You only want to make them aware of what you are doing.

Tell them if they have questions about your loan payment from now on that the information will be available from the courthouse. Give them the mailing address of the courthouse and a telephone number for the clerk's office and ask that they direct any future questions to the court clerks.

As always, keep copies of all correspondence, but this does not have to be mailed certified mail. Do this the first two or three months and then skip it thereafter. They should know by this point that you are serious. If they continue to
call you, keep referring them to the court clerk's office. That way the servicer can verify that your payment record is truly entered.

If you are not being tormented but still feel you need to protect yourself "just in case", simply keep your copy and skip the letter to the sevicer.

Put these copies into a notebook or folder of some sort and keep it current. Attach your cancelled check to your sheet of paper when you
get it (or a copy of your bank statement showing the check has cleared).

If your servicer begins returning payments, carefully open their envelope, read the letter, and return the letter and the returned check to the envelope. Mark this envelope “#1” (assuming this is the first time this has happened). On the sheet of paper corresponding to the info about the mailing of that check, put “#1” and a brief explanation of why the servicer returned your payment.

If it happens again, do the same thing, but mark it “#2” and again match it with the correct mailing info and so on. This keeps everything correlated and in order. Make sure you leave both the letter and the returned check in the envelope. This also goes into your folder or notebook. ALWAYS keep the envelopes from servicer's mailings; sometimes dates are exremely important!

If the servicer tries to pull one of those sneak-attack foreclosures, you are armed and dangerous because your information was public record before theirs. If they are claiming that your payment six months ago was late or never received and you recorded that it was six months ago, well, gee, they will be embarrassed in court. Judges have to pay attention to public record.

If the servicer files any kind of legal proceedings, these affidavits will be the first thing to jump up and bite them because they are public record already.

This folder is also a powerful tool should you have to run to court to get an emergency injunction to stop a foreclosure. You will not have to dither about looking for records. It will all be there; proof of check number, proof of mailing date, proof of receipt. And anything
returned by the servicer for whatever BS reason they have for returning it.

You will have enough organized proof for any judge to be able to make a quick assessment and decision that you have indeed been mailing your mortgage payments. You will undoubtedly get your injunction.

Cancelled checks alone are no good as the servicer will simply claim that you did not mail it until the day your payment was due (or
after). They certainly will never admit that they "aged" the check in order to create bogus past due fees!

Anyone can write any date on a check, after all, and you need rock-solid evidence. Half the battle is to have clear, chronological records that prove beyond a doubt that you have made every effort in good faith to live up to your contract.

Then you cannot be held responsible for the servicer "aging" your payment and all that other nonsense they pull. Once you have mailed
your remittance in good time it is up to the servicer to get its work done in a timely manner.

Servicers are notorious for sending out BS letters claiming that you did not do this or that with "funny" dates on them. That is why they are so aware that dates can be fiddled with. If you are entering this information monthly, they will not have a leg to stand on in court. Your proof has already been filed.

Then there is the insurance scam that they like to pull. If this is an issue in your case, enter a copy of your private policy into public record as well to prove that you have always had insurance. It is a good idea to get a printout of some sort showing the history of your policy from your agent in order to show that you have been covered all along. Then just enter it twice a year or so to stay fairly current.

The servicer counts on making the borrower into a nervous wreck by pulling fast ones at the last minute. By doing this you should have all the ammunition necessary to take them on and win!

Since you have covered your bases already the servicer will then be forced to explain to the court how they bungled things up so badly. You have prepared a kick-butt offense, which will force THEM into the defensive posture instead of you being there. It is always better to be on the offensive in legal matters.

After following this procedure for two or three months you will get the feel for the flow of it and it will not seem so difficult. Once you find out the fee for entering the affidavit into the record, ask the clerks if you can mail it in monthly with the fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope for your copy to be sent back to you if getting to the courthouse is a problem.

If every soul being held in captivity by these servicers would do this, I do not think it would not be too long before a noticeable drop in
foreclosure rates would be noticed.

Judges tend to believe whatever these servicing companies say. Perhaps they cannot comprehend the lies and deceit these companies will engage in once you have been targeted. Perhaps they feel that large companies keep better records. Perhaps they buy into that "all our borrowers are deadbeats" mantra. Who knows.

After catching the servicers in a few attempts at fraud and perjury, this particular judge will now make them double prove everything! Nothing makes a judge more irate than being played for a fool in his/her own courtroom.

Eventually the judges, YOUR most powerful ally, will see that the “deadbeat” label the servicers glue on their borrowers is not always fact. We need to shift the entire judiciary’s thinking processes; it will be slow, long and tedious, but enough people following this method can help bring that about.

I hope this helps some of you.

Believe me, this is the absolute best way of protecting yourself if you should become a target. The servicers will gnash their teeth if you are doing this and you will feel much more secure.

I am still looking into what constitutes a target. It seems to be a combination of ethnic issues and the desirability of your property for various types of development. Since no one yet knows, there is no way to predict who might become a target at this time. So, be prepared.

Even if you never have a problem, you will sleep better at night for the entire life of your mortgage!

Good luck!!

A classic story of how you can get scammed.  (Posted by Mark)

Fairbanks acquired servicing rights from Ocwen.  When the rights transferred, Fairbanks wouldn't accept a payment for their first month.  They claimed they couldn't accept payment for thirty days after they notified me of the change.  I tried to pay Ocwen.  They wouldn't accept payment either, saying they no longer even had me in their computers.

As instructed, I waited the thirty days Fairbanks, then tried to pay again.  Now Fairbanks said: “I didn't need to pay, my account was current.”  I was dumb in those days, and thought they would come screaming for a payment when they found their mistake.

Three months later, Fairbanks started claiming I had bounced payment checks.  Of course, I can prove I didn't bounce checks.  Their real ace in the hole when we get in court will be the payment I didn't make.  Just to be complete, and try to discover why Fairbanks reps told me my account was current when it was a month behind, I asked Ocwen for a copy of my payment history.  Well, they stalled and tried to fake me out and a bunch of other stuff, but I finally found someone there who didn't know I wasn't supposed to get a payment history, and they faxed me one.  Ocwen falsified my payment history for two months after Fairbanks took over.  Of course, this was part of the plan.

Now, when we get to court, Fairbanks can blame everything on Ocwen, and back and forth.  It is a mess.  I need to prove they cooperated. 

Another part of our problem.  (By Clyde Knight Jr.)

I was misled into bankruptcy by my previous attorney Ed Pontiex of the Virginia Beach base legal clinic Berg and Associates.  The lawyer and the mortgage company worked in tandem.  Mortgage Company then filed false claim with Veterans Administration and USBC for failure to make payments.  Mortgage Company then placed ads in newspaper with auction date for my home in preparation for sale.  I was forced to relocate my entire family - Wife, kids and our dog.

The US Bankruptcy Court held a Hearing.  Judge ruled after it was proven that payments were in fact withdrawn from my bank account by Mortgage Company, and requested the Mortgage Company and I come to some type of settlement that would allow me to move my family back home to Virginia.

USBC VA Trustee Frank Santoro and USBC VA Judge admonished previous attorney for inaction and failure to properly represent client.  Veterans Administration then stated that said foreclosure was removed.  Mortgage Company is Homeside Lending, a.k.a. Washington Mutual Bank.  USBC Trustee VA and USBC VA and their Accountant are recorded in court transcripts and are witnesses to Homeside Lending's Predatory servicing practices. 

Mediation Attorney Robert Roussos is also a witness to Homeside Lending’s Predatory Business Practices and is willing to testify to that fact.  Witnesses don't understand Homeside Lending's refusal to settle case.  

Since 2000, Homeside Lending has made it increasingly difficult for us to make our payment.  And even when we did make our payments, they falsely claimed that we did not.  Judge Adams referred to above, advised us to seek a Litigation Attorney.  HLS continues to use their unlimited resources to drag this case out.  I attempted to mediate, but HSL made offer that did not reflect our court ordered mediation session.  Their offer was just another attempt to take possession of our home by predatory servicing practices.  I then refused said offer.

With all the different Attorney Generals in different states around the Nation that are suing HSL on behalf of their constituents, I don't understand how HSL is getting away this type of behavior.  I am a NYC Police Officer.  I purchased the home to retire to in a few years and I moved my family from NYC to Virginia with this intent back in 1998.

To date, it seems that no attorney wants to touch this case because of the unlimited resources of the mortgage company and the complexity of the circumstances.

We are still homeless.

From stoplittonloannow@yahoogroups.com, "Dusty Pilot" wrote:

Problems start when loan transfers to Litton Loan.

I had a loan with Ameriquest.  I missed one payment November of 2002.  I talked with them and they set up a plan that I would pay $200 more each month, in addition to my regular payment, for 8 months which would bring everything up to date.  I could afford to do that, and we agreed to the plan.  Then, BEFORE the first payment was due, I received a notice from Ameriquest that they sold the loan to Litton.  I received papers from Litton along with temporary coupons

They said they would send a payment book later) for payments.

I made my first payment to Litton on time, and then the next month's payment on time.  Then they contacted me with a threat of foreclosure because they said I wasn't making my payments.  They were starting foreclosure proceeding, so they said.  I contacted my bank for proof the checks had been cashed by Litton.  When Litton was contacted with the proof, they said they would look into it.  I received a call back and they said: "We did find the money--but it wasn't posted to your account."  They said the only remedy was forbearance, and I had to pay $1200 for quite a few months to cover their court costs, attorney's fees, etc.  This is when more problems started.

I was served papers from a law firm in Twinsburg Ohio, and the following day I called them, but the attorney that had sent the forbearance letter was no longer with the firm -- they would get back to me which they never did.

I tried reaching people at Litton but could never reach a real person.  Left many messages, with no response.  In the meantime, they had a man come out to photograph my house, but before I could get to him and ask what he was doing, he jumped in his car and took off.

This is when I turned the mess over to my attorney.  It took him almost a month to find out what was going on because he had the same problems I had -- everyone he talked to at Litton didn't have an answer other than we'll get back to you, but never did.  The same was true with the law firm they hired.

After all the problems began, I was hospitalized three times due to anxiety over this situation.  I also suffered a minor stroke.

My attorney filed a lawsuit against Litton, which turned out to be Deutsch Bank National Company.  Then he started getting somewhere.  We now have a pretrial set for the 15th of January 2004.

Several weeks ago Litton, or Deutsch (hard to tell who you are dealing with) changed counsel -- now another attorney is involved.

I have found many web sites on Litton, filled with complaints very much the same as mine.  The first complaint I found was at http://www.selegal.org/litton_loan_servicing.htm.  As I read the story, as with many other stories about Litton since then, I felt like they were describing my story to a "t".

Dusty Pilot

  Tery’s Story

We bought our home 3 years ago while I was pregnant with my daughter.  It was a fixer upper and we have put everything we had into fixing it.  Our money and our hearts.  We are just about done.  I am now pregnant again and we are in the process of redoing the nursery.  This has nothing to do with my story it is just explaining why I am so desperate to keep my home.

My story is much like everyone else.  Soon after we bought the house, our loan was sold to Fairbanks Capital.  We never received any notification of this, so we sent our regular payment to the old company.  It was sent back stating they were no longer our mortgage company.  It took us forever to figure out who was, and then when we did -- they would not send us a statement or an address to mail the payment to.  We were still arguing with them trying to get the information when we got a notice that our payment was late.

Fairbanks fixed that for us by allowing us to pay over the phone with a $15.00 fee.  We tried to set up automatic payments from our bank, but they told us that was not an option.  We went about the next year or so making payments.  Every once in a while our payment would show as "late" again, and we would have to go through the late fee pay by phone thing again.  My husband and I were starting fighting because I thought he was not mailing the payments.  I took over sending the payments myself, but almost every month the payments were again showing up as late.  Fairbanks were always willing to let me pay over the phone and only pay $15 to not incur more fees.

We also kept getting letters about the forced insurance although our insurance agent continued to send faxes to prove we had insurance.

In Feb 02, my husband was hurt in an accident at work, which eventually resulted in him losing his job.  He was drawing worker’s compensation and when that ran out, he went on unemployment until he recently found a new job.

During the time he was off work and before the worker’s comp started, we got behind by one payment.  We called Fairbanks and tried to explain our situation. We had heard there were companies who would either let you pay the interest or work out a different payment plan.  Fairbanks stated they did not offer these options and we needed to be 3 months behind in order for them to make us a deal.  We were advised to put that money in the bank, wait the 3 months, get behind, and then they would make us a deal.

That sounds incredibly stupid now, but we are young and this is our first experience with anything like this.  So, we did it.  The 3 months were up and it was time to make our deal.  

When we called to make our deal, we were told there was no deal -- and that after fees and attorney’s, we owed them almost 4 thousand dollars!

While we were trying to come up with this money and figure something out, we continued to make payments to them.  What we did not realize was they were not crediting our payments, but putting them into escrow.

In Sept 03, our basement wall caved in.  Our insurance company was going to cover it, so we hired a contractor.  In October, the repairs were finished, the insurance company sent our checks and we thought everything was OK.  We received two checks.  One written to us for our belongings.  We signed our check over to Fairbanks in order to make our account current.  They verified this would make our account current and we could go about making our payments.  We were told our payments would be adjusted to add in the extra fees we still owed.  They told us to wait and they would send us a statement.

They still had our other insurance check.  We thought everything was fine with the house and our payments and we went about trying to get the insurance check.  The work was finished in Oct.  The check was sent from the insurance company in Oct.

We did what we were supposed to do.  The check was also made out to Fairbanks because they have the loan on our home.  Made perfect sense.  They were supposed to get an inspector out here and then release the contractor’s check.

After almost a month, we called them to see what was going on.  They said they didn't have the right paperwork and we needed to send it again, so we did.  Our contractor and insurance company also sent their paperwork again.  Still a month later and nothing.  We called them again and were told they had to have an original estimate from the insurance.  We tried explaining that there wasn't one because at first the insurance company wasn't going to cover it.  We were told they had to have it, but they would settle for a letter from the contractor and one from the insurance.

We sent all of that and waited some more.  Again no check.  We contacted them yet again and were told they still needed an original estimate.  This is when the insurance company and their lawyers got involved.  Then the contractor and his lawyer got involved.

Fairbanks said if the contractor would just send some more forms, they would get the inspector out.  So, he did all of that and still nothing.  When we tried to confront them again, we were told they were only in the office on certain days at certain times.  We were hung up on and never allowed to speak to a manager.  When I asked for a name, we were accidentally disconnected.

Finally, they told us they were setting up an appointment with an inspector.  He came a few weeks ago, signed off and everything was fine.  We called Fairbanks and were told we would receive the check before 1-12-03.

Nope still didn't get it.  This was on a Monday.  I figured it was the mail and gave them until Tuesday.  I still had not received it.  Now my contractor is threatening a lawsuit.  He is out of pocket money and he came out on Sunday and helped us when no one else would.  So on Tuesday, I started calling again.  I was told I could only talk to one-person because no one else knew anything and that person was not there for the rest of the week.

On Thursday 1-15-04, our local paper came out and the foreclosure notice was in it.  It said the house would sell on 1-30-04.  It wasn't until the next day that we received the letter from Fairbanks.  Actually, it wasn't a letter of explanation, but a copy of the foreclosure notice that appeared in the paper.

I still did not realize Fairbanks were crooks.  I thought my husband and I was just young and stupid or just crazy.  Everyone I knew thought I was lying and I guess they thought I kept the contractor’s money for myself too.  No one believed me and thought I was too stupid to not have proof that my bills were paid.

We called Fairbanks again and were told that the almost $4,000.00 (Four Thousand Dollars) that we gave them, had been put in escrow.  They said it could not be put toward the account until the account was made current.  We tried to explain that that is what the money was for.  We were told that we would need to talk to someone else who would not be in the office until Tuesday 1-20. This would only give us 10 days to stop the foreclosure.  We were also told if we were to make the account current we would get our $4,000.00 back with interest.

We were also told that the contractor’s check for around $15,000.00 would not be released until the loan is made current.  I could not understand this because so many times we were told it was in the mail.

So we waited thinking there was nothing we could do until Tuesday.  I decided to get online and do some research on Fairbanks.  That is when I found all of the information about what kind of company they are and all of the lawsuits against them.  In a way, it made me feel better because I knew I was not crazy or lying, but in a way, my heart sank.  Almost every story I read was exactly like mine.

Before we found all of this info on Fairbanks, my father offered to pay the money that it would take to stop the foreclosure.  He wanted it in writing that this would stop the foreclosure and release the money for the contractor.  We figured that this would also release the money we gave them  -- we would pay my dad back and go about making our regular payments.  We are also trying to refinance the house and I think this is when it all started.  From what I have read of others stories, when you try to refinance is when they foreclose.

Now I am worried.  I don't know if I should let my dad pay and risk that they are lying again, take his money and still foreclose.  I just don't know what to do.  I will do anything to keep my home.  I can't explain to my daughter why she cannot go home.

I am sorry this is so long and probably confusing but I appreciate you reading it.  It is nice to know that I am not alone.

Tery

A Feel Good Story In The Making.  (posted by bill)

In an earlier post, I wrote about one of Homeside Lending’s pending foreclosures in Illinois. The homeowner is on active duty in Iraq and cannot be reached. The foreclosure would put the homeowner’s elderly and legally-blind Mother on the street.

Well guess what… she is getting help as I write this post!

I would like to thank Eric Schuller, with the Lt. Governor’s Office in Illinois. Eric requested all the information so he can take it to the Illinois Attorney General. He wants this issue dealt with ASAP! Eric has shown what it is to protect the people of his state and I think more will stand up and follow.

To me, this is a huge victory for us all. We need to stand up and give this woman a round of applause because she is the strangest person I have ever heard of. It all starts with one person. Lets keep the snowball rolling. It doesn’t matter who the fight is against or who we are fighting. All that matters is that we stand united, no matter who our servicer is.

This case is about Homeside and mine is Fairbanks – same scam – different faces. If what worked in this case, who is to say it won’t work for other cases or lead a path of light for someone else. There is power in numbers and we need to show our numbers.

A long time ago, I said we need to look for solutions outside the box and that is how this issue was resolved.

I didn’t know how to get the court to stop the foreclosure, so I started looking for people to help her if she was kicked out on the street. I called the USO to see if they could find her a new place to live. After talking to Lisa Moeller, Assistant Director of the USO, she contacted the Lt. Governor’s office and it snowballed from there.

It just goes to show that maybe we are looking in the wrong places for help. We need to look at the whole picture, even the back of it, and go with a road that makes sense but isn’t traveled as much, or isn’t subjected by political influence.

Let’s keep the war going and see who we can help next.

Thanks to Dee, for making me look at things in a different way. And to Moose, there is a grim reality in what you say, and for some reason it works to make things look clearer, so I thank you for your insight.

Greg Collins should be looked at as a Superman. He lived in his car for two weeks, 1500 miles from home to help Linda. To me, the man should be recommended for Sainthood!

Lets take the fight to them instead of waiting until the last minute. We can do this! We just have to work as a group, no matter what are differences are.