On February 9th, 2009, a settlement was reached between The State of Colorado and Countrywide Home Loans! The state of Colorado alleged that Countrywide engaged in a series of deceptive trade practices by placing borrowers in high-cost loans that carried an even higher risk of delinquency and default. The parties decided to settle, rather than fight the suit!
This is just one State among many, which have ongoing lawsuits against Countrywide, with similar accusations. In November, Countrywide realized the tide of bad loans would soon wash over their portfolio, so they 'DECIDED' to 'REACH OUT' to 400,000 borrowers, offering them solutions to their delinquency.
They started the 'Countrywide National Home Ownership Retention Program'. This program is supposed to help you 'streamline' your modification with Countrywide. On their web site, they detail what 'qualifications' you need to have, and give you the formula which they use to determine which borrowers 'qualify'!
You can get more information on their site: countrywide.com/media/HRPFactSheet.
Hip, Hip, Hooray! Finally, a lender is 'reaching out' to its borrowers, to 'help' them pay their mortgage! Finally, any homeowner who has a mortgage with this lender should have the easiest time modifying their loan, right?
WRONG!!!
All you have to do is run a search online, to see that Countrywide is the worst company to deal with, and finally, today, I found out why...
It's no secret that anyone who has a mortgage with Countrywide Home Loans has had a very tough time. With Countrywide, you are only 'qualified' if your LOAN PAYMENT IS MORE THAN 42% OF YOUR NET INCOME! This is an extremely high number by itself!
But 'QUALIFYING' is not the problem. The problem is what they call a LOAN MODIFICATION! Modification in their opinion, simply means putting the arrears onto the back of the loan. They do not reduce the interest rate, they do not reduce the principal. And since they call this the 'streamlined' process, their 'offer' is final. There is no room for negotiations.
Then we come to the department which they created to 'HELP' the homeowner called the 'HOPE' Department. You would think that with a name like that, that there would be some sort of help. But their 'HOPE' department is simply supposed to 'explain' the documents. They cannot discuss the reasons for the lender's 'ridiculous' offer! No, their offer is final!
To top this all off, their decision takes 30-60 'business days' to get back to you. So while you are waiting patiently for this to happen, they eventually give you a call letting you know that this is the best that they can do! We found this out the hard way, when 15 of our files came back (after 45 days) with no change in payment, and 2 actually went up!
Their are so many people who have a Countrywide loan, that I guess they believe they can simply 'bully' these folks into taking what they can get! Then they can always state in their defense, that they did 'modify' the loan. Well it still doesn't solve the underlying problem of a payment which is too high!
We have lots more to say on this topic, but I have to keep it short here. Let me know what you think... Do you have a loan with Countrywide? What has been your experience? What do you think of their practices, even if you don't have a loan with them?
We are seriously considering a call to action, and if we get enough response, we will consider taking our concerns to a higher level.
