Is there anything I can do to help my mother, they are about to foreclose on her home.?

A few years ago my mother fell prey to a predatory lender. Her mortgage was bought by several companies and finally landed with IndyMac Bank. About a year ago her mortgage reset, making her monthly mortgage out of reach. To complicate matters further she suffered a heart attack around the same time and lost some time from work. Obviously not helping the situation. She did the right thing and contacted IndyMac Bank at once to try and resolve the matter before it got out of hand. Since then it's just been a nightmare. Her house was set to be auctioned back in May, but I helped her with the paperwork and was successful in getting IndyMac to consider a modification. We filled out 29 pages of documents, got together her income taxes, pay stubs and all of the other information they requested. We faxed it 3 times, mailed it overnight twice. Yet here we are over 3 months later and they say that they do not have all of the documents. And the documents they claim they are missing are ones that I personally placed in the envelope, not once, but twice. I just don't get it. So anyway, they did finally send modification papers, but really didn't do much to make the payments reasonable for her. When her mortgage reset the new payment was over $1,600 a month. Her pervious payment was around $1,200. Which she could afford. Her modified mortgage was $1,530 a month . If they simply locked her into a 30 fixed at 5% she'd be at $1,200 a month. They just won't work with her. To make matter worst every time she calls she speaks with a different agent, frequently in a different state, and they each say something different. The other day she called IndyMac and a very nice girl told her that the foreclosure was postponed again pending a modification, she was ecstatic, she immediately called the law firm handling the foreclosure to see if they had gotten the information on the postponement, well they had not. So still hopeful that they would be notified once databases were updated etc, she waited. She called IndyMac the next day and was told that the foreclosure was still scheduled. I was present for both phone calls. I just can't believe how disorganized IndyMac is, ok, well maybe I can, but what is going on here? So, She's lost all hope. She's called HUD, she's been given other people to call and has been on a merry-go-round of phone calls. And she's not going anywhere but in circles. I feel terrible as this truly isn't her fault. She is a trusting soul and never imagined that someone would take advantage of her trusting nature and get her into this mortgage situation. While she should have not been so trusting and she should have read her mortgage loan documents better, she was taken advantage of by someone she thought she could trust. For a little background: She took in a family friend who was going through a divorce. He was"helping" her with her finances as he was an accountant. She had been making a few mistakes with her bills, forgetting to pay some, paying some twice etc, so she he offered to help her, she was very thankful for the help. He recommended that she refinance her house to pay off her credit cards and do home repairs. He showed her all of the money she'd save and how she could get her roof fixed, new furnace etc. It sounded good to her, so she went to a mortgage broker friend of his and refinanced at a low FIXED rate 30 year mortgage. (Had she read through the papers she would have seen it was fixed for 5 years). Well after the refi was done and the check was deposited the family friend disappeared along with all of the proceeds from the refi. Yes she did go to the police, but he was very smart and did it in a way that covered him. So she was screwed. After I had looked through her accounts I realized that in addition to the refi money he had been skimming money from her for quite some time. In total he made out with nearly $50,000 all told. I now handle her finances, I just wish I was living locally at the time, perhaps this all could have been avoided. But I know her finances and could pretty much guarantee that her mortgage would be paid. (I say pretty much, because as I'm sure as we all know, situations can change very fast, but I can help her if needed and I've told IndyMac about this it doesn't seem to matter.) So now, as if that wasn't the worst of it, she's now dealing with the mortgage being reset. She was hoping to refi again before it reset, but as a result of several factors her credit had suffered and she was unable to refi before it reset. So now I feel terrible, I was not there to protect her before, but I'd like to do anything I can to help her stay in the home where she raised her family, the home that she worked hard for. It's been her home for many years and she had expected it to remain the family homestead for many years to come. So is there anything I can do to help her? Is it too late? The auction is scheduled for September 17th. It truly doesn't make sense for them to for She did miss a few payments while recovering from her heart attack, once she got back to work and her regular paycheck she started paying the $1,200 or more if she could. She has now been told in writing that they will not accept any payment below the $60,000 (that figure comes from her original mortgage, it was a ballon payment due at the end of her mortgage) they now say they need the balloon payment now to consider any further action on her account. And even paying the $60,000 would not guarantee a modification. In addition they will be adding a $21,000 ballon payment at the end to cover the $6,000 she's behind in the mortgage and $15,000 in legal and other "fees". She's been trying to find a boarder to help fill the gap, but has been unsuccessful. I'd move back home, but I've got my own home and selling in this market is not an option. I looked into it, I bought 3 years ago for $265,000, current value: $170,000. She owes $225,000, at auction they'd be lucky to get $75,000.

3 months ago - 3 answers