Morons of the Week: 'Indymac' (OneWest Bank)

Indymac and the people who work on the mortgage modification programs at the bank have to go down as the morons of the month. Apparently, even under the services of One West Bank, it is still an utter failure as a financial institution.

Background: There was a time when we had equity on our home but with the real estate bubble burst, the property has gone from $710K to $250.

In the past year, due to the recession, we have lost more than 50% of our gross household income. It is no longer possible to pay $3.5K per month as mortgage, especially with a similar property tax figure per 6 months. And there is nothing to gain from foreclosing. But Indymac and Citibank–our two house mortgage loan owners–have been relentless in their pursuit of God-Only-Knows-What.

(Citibank actually wrote a letter this past June saying that they would send someone to our property to inspect whether we are still staying here, and we would have to pay for it. Our attorney took care of that ridiculous proposition).

After months of negotiating–filing and refiling the same paperwork, calling daily to ensure that all paperwork was in order, filing addition unnecessary forms and being given the worst run-around, Indymac decided to give us a balloon payment offer in mid-June. We were hesitant–it would not forgive the principal and make us pay close to a $1million at the end of 28 years, but it was an immediate relief in terms of payments. Why not? 28 years is a long time and we agreed to their offer after some deliberation, making sure all was in order and filed on time.

Just yesterday (August 5), we got a letter in the mail from the crooks at Indymac saying that they were withdrawing their offer. Reason given: We were late in filing. Of course, there is ample evidence that we filed on time–including the fact that both my mother and our attorney called to check that they had gotten the documents on time–so that cannot be the reason. And by the way, why does it take a month to determine that someone was ‘late in filing’ in order to reject them?

What is Indymac up to? Do they really want to foreclose our house, lose $500k now rather than gain $750k later? Is the Obama home mortgage modification program paying for banks to be selfish (and stupid)? Who would have thought that a system which lacks accountability and transparency would not work for everyone? / end sic

I did some research. The treasury just reported that banks are slow to modify mortgages. Oftentimes, banks actually stand to gain more from foreclosing than they do from modifying loans. Whose looking out for our homes?

Anyway Indymac, you really aren’t getting our home. Quit while you are ahead.