Ameriquest/Citi Residential

[Joel Fraser]

the story I tell is my moms. I am writing you on behalf of every homeowner that thanks you for trying to implement a resolution to help those in desperate need to save their homes. Unfortunately it may work for some, it does not help everyone. I am writing on behalf of my mother. A resident of maryland who's lived in the same home for 33 years. My mothers worked hard to maintain herself, shes done everything wonderfully in the 34 years I've been on this earth and I thank her every single day. My mother refinanced her home into what she thought was a great deal loan and it turned out to be her worst nightmare. My mother paid this loan consistently on time every month. My mother got sick and suffered a heart attack that took her out of work for weeks but she got herself back together and back on track. My mother suffered this huge setback in her life but she kept on. We began to hear rumblings about predatory loans through the mortgage company AMC, which was her company. Shortly after she received some correspondance relating to predatory loans and that my mother was not only a victim once but twice by AMC mortgage. When my mother started questioning the situation, AMC had nothing to say. The next month my mothers loan went from an amount that she could handle to a rate that was unbelievable. When my mother called them, she was given the runaround. She was told to check her contract, she said she never got copies of that contract and asked for new copies of them and they refused. My mother struggled to pay this exorbanent amount. My mother making the same amount from the time she refinanced to that time when the payment they said "adjusted" had just enough to pay the mortgage but nothing else to pay her bills. When I called AMC they laughed and said she knew the situation, not their fault she couldn't pay. The next month it went up again, this time it was to $1175.74. My mother was still making $300.00 a week, same as she had been since signing the contract. My mother stopped taking her medicine because she couldn't afford it, the medicine to help keep her arteries open so she wouldn't have another heart attack. My mother in desperation borrowed from friends, family and her job and then the ultimate, She borrowed money against the car she had already paid off, a scam of a car title loan a loan that had 360% interest and a car that she no longer has because they took it. She was 2 months behind, she received the letter from AMC saying she was in foreclosure. They sent information about their third party company that would be the go between we could talk about getting a reinstatement, I took her to a HUD approved counselor who said that she would do everything she could to fix the situation. She gave us the run around for months, until October 31st we received a letter saying the house was going to sheriffs sale. I called her up and asked her to help. She asked me to pay her $3000.00 and I told her if I had it, it would have gone to AMC. Shortly after that, my mother had to file Chapter 13 to stop the sale of her home. My mother got a lawyer and explained to the lawyer reguarding the issues with the loan and how it was predatory. The lawyer seemed to be able to help and finally put an end to this sad situation. The lawyer stepped in and didn't address the issue with the loan and the fraud. She just wanted her money and left my mother out in the cold. My mother received the Ameriquest settlement papers and the lawyer advised her to fill them out and the lawyer rewarded herself because the money went straight to her. When I called the lawyer, she said that there was nothing she could do and I haven't heard from her nor has she contacted my mother. My mothers Chapter 13 was thrown out because the lawyer said to wait on paying because she was finalizing the information reguarding the fraud, she never did anything. I found out about the HOPE program and thought it was a godsend, finally someone to help my mom who knows how people are struggling. I contacted them, I got all the information only to be told my mother didn't make enough money. Even with my husband and I now living in the home but my husbands income didn't count. I then contacted another company run through HUD, and they told me I needed to give them $50.00 so they could run my mothers and my husbands credit. We didn't have time for a run around the new sherrifs sale was in a week. I had to refile Chapter 13 for my mother to stop the second sheriff's sale on her home. Now shes in Chapter 13 again, AMC no longer exists. Citi Residential is playing stupid and doesn't have but certain papers in reguards to the original loan. We found out the fraud that AMC started has gone to county level, AMC reported when they did my mothers loan that it wasn't her primary residence but it has been her home since 1975 and we've come to find out that every year that my mother has paid her county taxes, last year was the first year she realized that the paperwork said it wasn't her primary residence. She's overpaid her property taxes and the tax division said theres nothing they can do. I've been contacting Citi Residential now for 2 weeks, my mothers worker assigned has not returned a call or responded to requests for information. I asked for the HUD 1 settlement statement that is required to do a forensic audit 3 months ago, they sent the HUD 1 agreement. When I spoke to a nice lady (one of the first) last week when I was inquiring about why this Annette woman wasn't calling back, she basically told me that in some cases the paperwork is missing and they have nothing to send. Now when I signed up here I was waiting for my account to be approved, I did some searching and found the email addresses for the heads at Citi Residential. I repeated the story to them, a few days later I was contacted by one person in the "security" department. Then I was contacted by a woman in the presidents office. I was sent copies of both loans my mother had with Ameriquest. She said there was no legal recourse I could take against Citi because they didn't originate the loan, the don't even OWN the loan they're just the go-between for Deutchse (sp?) Bank because all of Ameriquests loans are in a security pool. I proceeded to go over paperwork with her about some things I questioned, like the apprasial. 2 apprasials done a year apart and both different. Neither company came in the house but knew EVERYTHING inside but it was all wrong. Then the biggest thing of all, when they did my mothers application, the put her down as an african american woman, and she is caucasian. When I asked the lady about that, she was shocked and offered me a chance to do a loan modification right there on the spot. What was that all about, I wondered. I read that when you joined into the class-action lawsuit, you have no legal recourse but some laws don't apply to you in foreclosure. Is there any way to fight this or am I just wasting time? My mother got a bum lawyer that was out for money nothing more nothing less. Oh and incase you thought the same as I did, Ameriquest still exists. Its under a different name. The nice lady at Citi told me that.