Help with IndyMac - Bay Area CA

[Joel Fraser]

First, I want to say that I am SO happy I found these forums, it seems like a helpful bunch of people and now I don't feel so alone in this...This story will be long, but I want to give you as much info as possible.We purchased a home in May 2005 for $485,000. We did 100% financing including closing costs, etc. The mortgage includes impounds.Both mortgages are in my husband's name, not mine, because at the time, my credit is really bad and more detrimental to have me on the mortgage.The mortgage is an 80/20. Both fully amortized. First and second both with Fremont Investment. About 6 months later, our mortgages were both sold to ASC (what a nightmare they were). I cannot remember currently the total monthly payment for both mortgages,but it was somewhere around $3500/mo. Sometime in February 2007, we get a letter saying our mortgage will be going up, because they had not taken out enough to put in escrow to pay taxes. With what the payment would be then, we cannot afford the mortgage, so we refinance in March 2007. He gets the first mortgage an interest only with IndyMac bank at 6.75% the payment in $3071.03. The 2nd mortgage is through National City Mortgage, fully amortized for $626.50/month @ 9.125%.That makes the total monthly payment: $3697.30. At the time, we are OK with making this payment. We are both self employed. I try to be placed on the mortgage when we refinance as I had cleaned up my credit, but I am told I can't, because my business had only been open 14 months and if I am self-employed, I need to be open 18 months.In the 3 and 1/2 years we have been in the house. we have done major improvements to it. So, our value had gone up.Fast forward to March 2008. The economy takes a hit, and we both lose business. On top of this, my husband gets an order for child support from his ex-wife. This after we had paid her a large sum of money and she signed papers in March 2003 saying she would never seek any child support from my husband again. The order is for $806/month. Which after 2 lost appeals he needs to pay for the next 2 years.We call IndyMac (and National City) in June to tell them our situation, and they tell us that they can't do anything until we fall behind. So, we had already made our June payment. We miss July and we call them, and there is nothing they can do for us, because we are not far enough behind. July 30th, we write this letter and send it certified:I am writing to you regarding loan #: XXXXXXX for my property at XXX XXXX street, XXXXXX CA XXXXX.I contacted you by email on July 14th, and did not receive a response. So, my wife (whom I gave you permission to discuss all matters concerning this loan) called you on Tuesday, July 22nd and spoke with Stephanie regarding our inability to pay on this loan any longer. Stephanie told my wife to get our financial information together and to call back with that information to see if we can get on any type of plan offered by IndyMac.My wife compiled all of our financial information, and spoke with Javier on the 24th of July. She answered all of his questions, and gave all of our financial information. He immediately told her that there was nothing that IndyMac bank could do to help us, because we had too much debt and not enough income. Why then, was it OK for IndyMac to give us a mortgage for $3,071.03/month in March 2007 with no proof of income?? My wife asked what we could do, because we do not want to lose our home. Javier first asked if we could work more. That is impossible, since we are both self-employed. I am currently working 6 days a week 10-12 hours a day in order to keep up with bills, and my wife currently works 5 days a week approximately 11 hours a day, offering childcare in our home. It is physically impossible to work any more hours than we already do. Javier then suggested that we try to short sale the house. This probably will not work out either. Since we currently owe IndyMac somewhere around $432,000, and our 2nd mortgage is around $76,000. We owe approximately $508,000. Houses in the neighborhood are selling for the low $200,000 range. Not only that, but they have been sitting here for months. So it’s likely that we would go into foreclosure before we actually even get an offer on our home. Our home has a couple of remodel projects currently in progress. It looks like a construction zone, but with no money to pay the mortgage, we have no money to finish those projects, so the likelihood of an offer on our house is very slim.We have been in our home since May 2005, and with IndyMac since March of 2007. Up until this month (July 2008), we were never late on our mortgage. But with the economy being so bad, I am losing clients. I am in the boating industry. So the first thing people cut back on in a bad economy is the unnecessary luxuries. My wife has also lost a child at her daycare to a parent’s job layoff and another child has drastically cut down his hours. My wife loves her job, but losing our home means that she will lose her daycare. Also, because of where we live, our daughter goes to a school that she loves. She will be heartbroken if we lose our home, and she has to leave the school.We are asking for help from IndyMac. We do NOT want to lose our home, but it seems that you do not want to help us. We understand that we are not the only people in this situation right now. But you have to understand that losing our home, means losing one of our businesses and taking our daughter out of a school that she is thriving in and that she truly loves.I know that today the president signed off on a bill to help homeowners. I know that part of that bill is allowing banks to write down mortgages for homeowners to current market values. Would this be a possibility?? I believe that this would allow us to stay in our home, with a payment that we can afford.If IndyMac cannot help us in any way, we will have no other choice but to mail in our keys and foreclose on our home. We do not want to do this.You may contact either myself, at XXX-XXX-XXXX or my wife XXX at XXX-XXX-XXXX to discuss this.I hope to hear from you.Sincerely,XXX XXXXSo, I call a 2 weeks later after not hearing anything frm IndyMac in regards to this letter. I get a woman on the phone who cannot find the letter, and also says that she does not have permission to talk to me.Well, IndyMac emailed us a card on July 22, that my husband signed and authorized them to speak to me about anything regarding this mortgage. This is after they originally sent us the card in 2007 and he signed it and they conveniently never got it.Anyway, I finally get her to find the letter and see that it says that they are allowed to talk to me in regards to the mortgage. She looks at the financial info, and says "We have no plans available to help you" I ask what we can do, she asks why we can't cut down on things like food - yes SERIOUSLY she told me to cut down on our groceries!I explained that the rest of our bills are mostly student loans that we cannot consolidate anymore, and we only have one car payment for my husband's truck that he uses for work to transport equipment to job sites. My car is a 1990 VW and is fully paid for, so it's not like I am sitting in the lap of luxury over here.I get NOWHERE on that call. Come August 30th, I call again, because there is now info on the IndyMac site regarding the FDIC working with people to modify mortgages as of August 30th. I call again, I get the same answer "we have no plans that you qualify for" I ask them about the FDIC modification plans and they tell me that we "don't qualify".Fast forward to this past Tuesday, my husband calls the New HOPE/IndyMac hotline, because we receive a letter in the mail telling us that they have partnered with New HOPE and have plans available that may modify our mortgage and stop foreclosure for 30 days if we call them. He calls and guess what?.....we "don't qualify". . So, my husband says "Well, if we don't qualify, then I should just mail you the keys?" The woman says "No No NO! We want to be able to work with you." Someone will call him in 7-10 days to discuss it with him. HUH?!?! I thought they couldn't help us???About 5 minutes after he gets off the phone with them, he is at the desk in his home office that faces our mailbox. He sees a man walk up to the mailbox who looks at my husband through the window and sneaks a paper into the mailbox. My husband goes outside immediately to ask the guy who he is and the guy says "The bank sent me to inspect the outside of your home". My husband looks at him and reads the paper which says that "A representative on IndyMac Bank has called on you in regard to your mortgage. Please call us to discuss what plans we have available to keep you in your home" My husband just looks at hims and says 'You called on me? You saw me sitting right there in the window, you looked at me and tried to sneak this in my mailbox and you called on me?? and if you are here to inspect the outside of the house, did you go in the backyard??The guy told my husband that he was not allowed to go in the backyard. So my husband just says "Well then you didn't inspect the outside of my house, did you?"Since I am the one who went through and figured all of our monthly bills initially, I call yesterday to make sure he didn't give them the wrong info and to find out what we need to do to qualify. I get Shayna on the phone who was the RUDEST woman I think I have ever spoken to.I give her the loan # etc, and tell her who I am, and she says that they have no permission to speak to me. I told them that they do and that I have been the primary one they have been speaking to since June. I tell her to look at the letter and she does and says that it doesn't say anywhere in there that I have permission to discuss the mortgage with them. I tell her to look at the bottom line where it says they can contact my husband or me. She says "Well, that says that we can contact you, it doesn't say you can contact us" YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!I said that they also had the card on file, and that the person I spoke to on August 23rd spoke to me. She said that she had no idea what card I am talking about and that the person who spoke to me on August 23rd without permission was jeopardizing their job and she was not about to do that and that she was not going to go back and forth with me about it.So, I just told her to have a lovely day and hung up.I have NO idea what to do. They continually call my husband and he answers the phone and they don't answer and they hang up. He knows it's them from his caller ID. There were 6 calls last night like this. Then it says in our file that they can't contact us via phone.We have made numerous attempts to contact them and get some type of help and they won't do anything and won't give us an answer as to why we don't qualify for their plans.I am afraid we are going to be foreclosed on, and I don't know how much time we have until we go into foreslosure. They won't tell us anything.I feel like we are hitting a brick wall every time we speak with them and I feel like it's just a big game with them.FYI our expenses. income, etc are as follows:MONTHLY INCOME: $7843.83MONTHLY BILLS INCLUDING 2nd MORTGAGE ONLY: $5808.81That leaves us with $2035.02 to pay a mortgage that is $3071.03I have no idea what to do, or whom I should contact at this point. Any "higher ups" in the company? are we just doomed to foreclosure? If we have not paid since June, when will we foreclose? In reality, how long do we have to stay in this house if they begin foreclosure proceedings?I am at a loss, and utterly amazed at IndyMac's lack of help.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks in advance.-Lisa