Wells Fargo and the case of the confusing pre-payment
If you’ve read AGBeat for any number of years, you’ve read endlessly about cases wherein banks foreclose on the wrong address, homes that no longer exist due to storms, or worse, when a payment is made early. Yet another homeowner has gotten the dreaded, nasty foreclosure filing papers on his Orlando door, according to WFTV because he overpaid.
Having never missed any payments, the man is likely in disbelief as he says he was offered a loan modification last year, and should he make four consecutive monthly payments on time, a permanent modification would be awarded and a lower rate would be given. During the trial period, he overpaid, so Wells Fargo would no longer accept payments and began the foreclosure process.
Wells Fargo takes a harsh tone
“When he came in and showed me all of the documents, it was just unbelievable,” says the homeowner’s attorney. “Who gets foreclosed on when they’ve made all payments on time?”
Often, in these types of cases, banks typically say they’re “looking into it,” but Wells Fargo didn’t take that position, no, they told WFTV “For some loans, completing trial payments is a significant step toward a permanent modification; however, in this instance, the loan was part of a mortgage-backed security and in a protected pool, with specific payment guidelines. We are working with [the homeowner] to explain the guidelines and explore options that may help.”
Also in Florida, in 2011 we told you about an elderly homeowner who was foreclosed upon for paying Bank of America a few days early under the same federal program which was designed by the Obama Administration to save struggling homeowners. Servicers apparently did not get that memo, as if any homeowner is off by even a penny below or above or a day early or late, their payment is not within the parameters of the program guidelines and the payment is kicked out, automatically subject to foreclosure.
During the robosignature debacle which cost banks billions after moving forward with foreclosures without any human review of cases, there was an air of deniability, but in this case, and possibly others, the bank is unsympathetic and appears to disregard the very spirit in which these modification programs were designed.
