Confusion and other nonsense from National City
I’ve been dealing with National City Mortgage, and the level of utter stupidity over there astounds me. I gotta share this.
We own a house in Roanoke. We moved to Richmond. Ergo, until we sell the house we’re paying mortgage and rent. It’s possible now, but it’s a stretch for us until my freelancing gets off the ground in a bigger way. (We’re looking at renting out the house as one option.)
OK, you’ve got the situation.
I went to the National City Web site and saw a link, “Having trouble paying your mortgage?” Ah, I thought, maybe they have some programs we can use to reduce payments or something.
The site said I had several options, depending on whether I wanted to keep or give up the house. But I had to fill out a form detailing my financial info so they could tell me what might work. (Link goes to PDF of blank form.)
I did this. The form asks for a listing of my income and my expenses, what the house is worth, a copy of the listing agreement with the Realtor, etc. Simple. I awaited a response.
I didn’t get it. Instead, my Realtor called to say that National City had called her saying we were short-selling the house and that they needed to get an appraiser in. (Short selling, which I had never heard of until that call, means that National City will take less than the full amount of the mortgage, but it would leave a bad mark on my credit.)
Huh? I had no intention of “short selling.” I just wanted info. Further, the National City rep said she was looking at an FHA loan for us to help do this short-sell thing.
Huh? Argh!
So I called National City and said, essentially, WTF? And I was told — seriously — that although the form I filled out said it was just an application for financial help, in reality it was starting the short-sell process even though it never said any such thing. (I have screen grabs of the whole process. It’s pretty clear.)
‘Stop this madness!’ I told the National City person (one “Mrs. Beasley”). I don’t want to short sell. I was just curious what options I might have.
Process stopped. Good. Well, no — I was ticked. So that evening I wrote to National City’s ‘elevated’ customer service address and said, basically, WTF? And: Did you apply for an FHA loan in my name?
The next morning, lo and behold, National City calls me back. This person explains that the online form I filled out is routed to the ’short-sell department,’ but no — they weren’t going to short-sell my house. The whole process starts with an appraisal and then they’ll tell me what they can do.
“You asked us to help you sell your house,” she said. Huh? What? I did no such thing! I asked for information about what help I qualify for, period! ARGH!
Well, she said, you told us that you’re selling your house and that you want financial help. Ergo, you obviously want help selling your house.
No no no, a thousand times no! All I want is information. Stop the $#%&@! process.
Process stopped.
Then I get a call from Thea Dodge, the National City rep who spoke to my Realtor. Of course we started the short-sell process, she said. It’s the only option you have.
Blink. Blink.
Then we took a left turn into a cross between the Twilight Zone and Catch-22:
Based on the information I gave them, National City has determined that we cannot afford to make payments on the house (despite the fact that we have and will continue to do so — it’s tight, but very doable).
Are you ready? Because National City thinks we can’t afford to make payments they will not offer us any kind of assistance.
In order to get assistance, we first have to prove that we can make the payments.
Yes, you read that right. ‘We cannot help you until you prove you don’t need help.’
“Isn’t that a bit backwards?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you want to help me because you think I need help?”
And then we come full circle. Or full something. The only way they can, er, are willing help is by doing a short sale. Ergo, based on this, they began the short-sale process.
Can’t I roll, say, two payments into the mortgage — let me skip a couple and make it up later?
“Which payments do you mean?” Ms. Dodge asks.
“April or May?” I suggested; we already made the March payment.
Nope. We can’t set up a repayment plan or a loan modification based on payments we haven’t made yet. Get this: In order to get that assistance, we first have to miss the payments, get the nasty foreclosure letters, take the credit hit, etc.
I can’t say, “I’d like to skip a payment, can you help.” I have to first skip it, then they might help.
So what about that appraiser they wanted to send? The rep I spoke with said that, before they determine what kind of assistance I might qualify for, the house has to be appraised.
Oh, no, said Ms. Dodge. “We only use the appraiser for a short sale.”
“So what she told me was wrong?” I said.
“Yes. I’ll have to let her know about that.”
Does anyone at National City know what they’re doing? Doubtful. At best, they’re all working with different versions of the same playbook, making it impossible for us to figure out what’s correct and what’s not.
Bottom line: We’ll continue doing what we were doing — paying the mortgage every month and either selling or renting the house.
And if the time comes that we want to do something drastic, well, that’s when we pay a visit to these folks.
Leland says:
The credit hounds make me crazy. The only logic the customer service trolls seem to serve is the logic that leads to higher interest rates and lots of service charges.
This might not be over yet. Never trust the telephone trolls.
Were I you I would send them a registered, return receipt requested letter explaining:
- Your inquiry was merely an exploration of options.
- There web site never hinted that this was a path to short selling the house.
- You have no wish to short sell your house.
- You have no intention of walking away from the equity in your house.
- There had better be not be so much as a hint of this on any credit report.
- Remind the lender that you guard your credit rating like a mother bear over her cubs and will cheerfully sue anyone that so much as thinks about placing unwarranted derogatory information in your file.
- In order to avoid any misunderstanding on either party’s part, all discussion on this issue will be conducted in writing from this poit forward.
Close it giving them ten working days to confirm in writing their actions and intentions on the matter.
The two or three dollar investment in postage may save you an incredible amount of time and
aggravation later. Give ‘em Hell Andrew.