Citimortgage = Citibank = Bankers = Criminals

They Paid Off Their CitiMortgage Mortgage But Foreclosure STILL Continues

Why Bother?

Denver Post:

Foreclosure paperwork miscues piling up
By Aldo Svaldi
The Denver Post
Posted: 11/14/2010

Brent and Wendy Diers of Fruita thought their foreclosure nightmare would end in April when they sent a check to pay off their mortgage.

But more than six months later, CitiMortgage hasn't followed through on repeated assurances it would release the lien and give them title.

And despite a judge's ruling that they are not in default, the lender's law firm, Castle Meinhold & Stawiarski, continues to pursue a foreclosure sale.

"We are not in default and they do not have authorization to sell our house," a frustrated Wendy Diers said.

Although the Diers case is extreme, it is just one of several stories of borrowers in Colorado and elsewhere who find themselves trapped in a frustrating state of limbo.

A surge in foreclosures has strained the system across the country, creating problems of lost paperwork, uncertain ownership on mortgages, and sloppy processing that has forced some lenders in recent weeks to pull back.

And those individuals who fall through the cracks like the Dierses find it hard to get out.

In a phone conversation, the Dierses recorded a CitiMortgage employee in May telling them "rest assured, we do have the check. Everything is fine."

In July, the couple were told the title was being contested. Another CitiMortgage representative, named Jennifer, in late July tells them, "We have the title clear. The mortgage has been paid."

A Mesa County judge cited the recordings in rejecting Castle Meinhold's request to sell the home at foreclosure auction.

"Under Colorado law, we cannot and will not take further action until we have authorization from the court," Mesa County Public Trustee Paul Brown said.

Still, the auction date has been postponed, not dismissed. The Dierses said they can't figure out what is going on. Public trustees don't have the authority to throw out foreclosure filings a judge has rejected or to sanction law firms pursuing illegitimate claims, Brown said.

The inability of Castle Meinhold and CitiMortgage to straighten out the situation is bordering on harassment, the Dierses said.

Neither firm responded to interview requests.

The couple don't deny missing payments after Brent suffered a work injury and lost his job in 2008.

But unlike most people in that predicament, they had a relative willing to lend them enough to pay off the mortgage, more than $212,000 in their case. "We did everything we were supposed to do," Wendy said. "This is such a boondoggle of a mess."

Fees of $1,000 added

On a smaller scale, the Compo family of Colorado Springs also found out how difficult it can be to escape foreclosure.

The family wanted to modify their mortgage payments after their business income dropped. A worker with GMAC Mortgage told them they couldn't do so unless they had missed two payments, Susan Compo said.

The Compos started missing payments, but set aside the mortgage money into savings. After three different rejections for a modification, the family, whose financial situation eventually improved, requested a reinstatement statement.

That statement tells borrowers what they owe to get caught up and escape foreclosure. Compo said she sent a check for the amount law firm Castle Meinhold requested, about $17,200, due Sept. 30.

But after the check was sent off, the law firm added about another $1,000 in charges. The payment didn't arrive at GMAC Mortgage until Oct. 12.

The Compo family didn't find out about the added fees until GMAC rejected the check as insufficient.

"We don't have the money for the fees," Compo said.

Castle Meinhold didn't return a phone call from The Denver Post. But the firm did call the Compos offering to waive the additional fees, she said.

"I am giving them an opportunity to make this right," Compo said. "Let's see what they do."

Confusion over true creditor

Even when borrowers simply ask a lender to clear up confusion regarding who really owns their mortgage, they can face a major headache.

Most mortgages are sold and resold and eventually land in investment pools owned by thousands of investors. Several lenders and investment banks also collapsed in 2007 and 2008, complicating ownership.

A Longmont couple, William Hough and Jacqueline Resaul, faced that problem when they got behind on mortgages they took out with Washington Mutual for their home and two rental properties.

They received letters from Washington Mutual, JP Morgan Chase and LaSalle Bank all claiming to be the creditor on their loans, said Michael Wussow, an attorney with Stigler Wussow & Braverman in Boulder.

Hough, a developer, got into financial trouble after suffering a heart attack that put him into a coma.

LaSalle Bank, trustee of the investment pools that claimed to be holding the mortgages in question, initiated the original foreclosures.

Hough, who once worked as a mortgage broker, asked what he thought was a simple request — produce the original notes to clear up any confusion.

LaSalle's law firm in the case, Robert J. Hopp & Associates of Denver, failed to produce the notes, although it obtained an affidavit from JP Morgan Chase claiming LaSalle was the holder, Wussow said.

A Boulder County judge had enough doubts to throw out two of the foreclosures filed in that county. After months of legal wrangling, the foreclosures were refiled under JP Morgan Chase, which had inherited the note from the failed WaMu.

While Hopp was conceding in Boulder County court that JP Morgan Chase was the actual owner, Wussow alleges they didn't tell a Larimer County judge, who approved a foreclosure under LaSalle.

Wussow said he was so ticked off that he filed a motion for sanctions against the Hopp law firm and the lenders involved.

He wants them to pay the $52,000 in attorney fees his clients incurred because the paperwork wasn't straight.

"That is what I said all along — come with the notes and we are done. They made us go through a year of litigation," he said.

In a response to the motion, Denver law firm Kutak Rock, now representing the lenders, claims Wussow's motion can't be brought up under the limited scope of a Rule 120 hearing, where judges determine the merits of a foreclosure action. A call to the Hopp law firm was not returned.

After losing their home, Hough and his wife moved to South America, where the cost of living was lower, Wussow said.

But they fought because they felt it important to ensure the proper parties foreclose and to not let the big banks run roughshod over the system.

"I think there should be some sort of requirement that you show up with the original note or with a detailed document showing the transfers," Wussow said. "They should have the right parties foreclosing. They should have been recording documents."