Homeowners Protest HAMP: 'It's Just A Scam And The Banks Are Getting Everything'

WASHINGTON -- Judy Stratton said she and her husband Harry have tried since January 2009 to modify the mortgage on their home in Stayton, Ore. after a drop-off in demand for Harry's floor maintenance services. In August, Stratton said, they received a rejection letter from their bank saying they did not qualify for help per the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program.

"This was a lie -- 100 percent lie," Stratton said. "We ran off the guidelines. We met every single qualification to get a HAMP mod."

Nevertheless, Stratton said a foreclosure sale is scheduled for Nov. 24 on the home they've lived in for the past 10 years. She reached out to her friend Peggy Merrill, who attends the church where Stratton is music director. "I got together with Peggy and I was in tears: 'We're losing our house over a pack of lies!'"

Merrill started doing some research into HAMP and did not like what she learned. "I was concerned about their house, but the more I got into it -- it's my tax money, $75 billion worth," Merrill told HuffPost. "It's just a scam and the banks are getting everything."

So they took to the streets. Merrill helped the Strattons organize what might have been the first grassroots anti-HAMP protest on Friday and Saturday. A group of six people picketed outside the state capitol in Salem, Ore. for six hours each day with signs that said things like "HOMES FORECLOSED - Your Tax $'s At Work."

Here's what the protest looked like at the state capitol in Salem:

Another:

HAMP was initially funded with $50 billion in Wall Street bailout money and $25 billion from taxpayer-owned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Struggling homeowners are supposed to be eligible for the program if they live in their home, owe less than $729,750, and their mortgage payments amount to more than 31 percent of their monthly income -- and they have to prove it. Qualified borrowers who successfully make three months of reduced "trial" payments are supposed to be put into five-year "permanent" modifications. It often doesn't work out that way, as mortgage servicers lose paperwork and homeowners discover that the foreclosure process has moved faster than the trial process.

President Obama said the program would help three to four million people modify their mortgages. But through September, 728,686 struggling homeowners have been kicked out of the program; just 640,300 remain, the Treasury Department reported on Monday.

In a separate report on Monday, a federal watchdog said that some people who apply for HAMP "end up unnecessarily depleting their dwindling savings in an ultimately futile effort to obtain the sustainable relief promised by the program guidelines," and that "even in circumstances where they never missed a payment, they may face back payments, penalties, and even late fees that suddenly become due on their 'modified' mortgages and that they are unable to pay, thus resulting in the very loss of their homes that HAMP is meant to prevent."

Judy Stratton said she has reached out to her congressman and her senators but she doesn't know what to do next. She said, "My gosh -- there's no help."

Comments

[PollyProcessor]

04:14 PM on 11/21/2010

For more insider info:

http://hampcramps.wordpress.com/

[theaetetus]

09:49 PM on 11/15/2010

banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

tj

[LeftyJen]

01:17 AM on 11/10/2010

I go to school across the street at Willamette University. I remember seeing this the other day. So sad to see this happen, especially because in tiny Oregon towns like Stayton, this is just one of so so many and they just get lost.

[Andy17]

10:33 PM on 11/06/2010

We should not be surprised that a program designed by the banksters is
benefiting only the banksters. This theme is being repeated over and over
by Obama Corp.

In CA, most distressed mortgages do not even qualify for HAMP because
of the $729K limit. For me (and others), there are no guidelines.
We are at the complete mercy of a heartless bank (Chase is one of the worst).
I have been trying for almost 2 years to get a loan mod. On my 5th application.
Chase likes to toy with me, ask for the same documents over and over, and
then simply drop my application from the system for 'missing documents'
and tell me to start over with a new application.

My advice. Get an attorney. Chase acts much differently on the phone when
talking to a professional who knows how to navigate past the BS.
Don't forget for a second that the bank has no desire whatsoever to help you.
They are only interested in ROI -- what they call 'loss mitigation'.
Do not pay the bank 1 cent until you get your loan mod. If you are going
to lose your house to foreclosure in the end, then any money given to them
is just wasted.

[Venus Louviere]

12:39 PM on 10/31/2010

I want to help you! Please get back to me.

[parlimentMike]

06:14 PM on 10/28/2010

This can't be, I just watched the president being oblivious last night.

[Cranmer1549]

03:02 PM on 10/28/2010

We handed over billions in TARP money to the big banks and asked nothing of them in return. Sorry, but that wasn't a good deal. If you have a mortgage, commit a strategic default.

[Alien Nation]

10:21 AM on 10/28/2010

The banks aren't modifying anyones loans for any reason. If you can find a person that actually got some sort of deduction or change I would like to meet them. They are 1 in a million and should probably pay the lottery.

[Nafisa Abbott]

04:40 PM on 10/28/2010

Yeah they gave me one after I filed a monster counterclaim against their foreclosure complaint. But get this... I went from 1987.00 to 1847.00 and of course they got to capitalize about 20,000.00. I do have a plan B and if it works... I'm going to blast it around the entire world! I'm so sick of these jokers!

[outtopastur]

08:39 AM on 10/28/2010

Oops We Lost Your Docs So You're Going To Foreclosure (Continued):

"...She told me that she was going to send my case to an "escalation specialist" and that the letters would cease while they looked into this matter. She also put in her referral to them that they had it documented in their own system that I had returned the documents and that there was no problem with them until October 5th. I asked if there was anyone that I could talk to sooner rather than later as I do not want my house going into foreclosure as I have done everything that they have asked. She stated that there was not. I have since received 2 more letters that stated my house in going to go into foreclosure as I have not made payments. I called again today and spoke with [redacted]. She informed me that I would probably have to wait up to 30 days for an escalation specialist to review my grievance. I informed her that this was unacceptable to me as they had lost the paperwork and the letters I have received say that they are going to start foreclosure on the 7th. She stated that she would put in another escalation request but that there was "nothing else she could do."

http://consumerist.com/2010/10/oops-we-lost-your-docs-so-youre-going-to-foreclosure.html

[outtopastur]

08:35 AM on 10/28/2010

Oops We Lost Your Docs So You're Going To Foreclosure

"...In July I received a FedEX package with my final modification documents. I had a new payment amount to make beginning in August, returned the paperwork and tracked it to make sure that it had arrived. In August I began making my new payments and was assured by the customer services reps that my loan was being processed and that it was in the closing stages that would "take about 60 days. I called in less frequently to check on my status due to believing them. I have continued to make these payments even though it has been past the time frame that I was initially told. On October 8th I received a letter called "Notice of Intent to Accelerate" stating that if I did not pay all of my past due amounts by November 7th that foreclosure proceedings would ensue. I immediately contacted customer service and spoke with Shannon after being trasnferred to 3 different departments. She did some research into my account and discovered that the person who was assigned to handle my closing had discovered on October 5th that she/he could not find my signed and notarized documents and that my loan has been marked as me not paying as agreed on and that was why I started receiving these letters....." (Continued, below):

http://consumerist.com/2010/10/oops-we-lost-your-docs-so-youre-going-to-foreclosure.html

[Anna Cuevas]

11:38 PM on 10/27/2010

Great article Arthur! 1.2 million people will lose their homes this year, and the only thing anyone with the power to do anything cares about is keeping the foreclosures moving.....
This is what I am seeing over on my site www.askaloanmodguru.com people suffering and no one listening. I wrote about it in my latest HuffPost article, check it out.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-cuevas/home-affordable-modificat_b_770918.html

[oilfield]

10:10 PM on 10/27/2010

another successful government program! i love big brother.

[brooklyncitizen]

07:54 PM on 10/27/2010

Maybe Obama thought this would be a good program but the Banks aren't held accountable and they do pretty much what they please even if they get all that money from us. THere was no "good faith" to this arrangement at all.

[Venus Louviere]

01:31 PM on 10/27/2010

Hamp can work and did work in my case. Think like the lenders when your filling out your paper work!

[ItsHipToBeGreen]

09:40 PM on 12/02/2010

Please contact me or tell me how to contact you.. Your the only person I've heard that had gotten a HAMP.. How can I get my e-mail address to you?

[debowen]

03:05 AM on 10/27/2010

Of course there's a SLOOOW process in HAMP, it does't have a Credit Defaut Swap "bet"
against the mortgage. CDS's require the mortgage to fail so the holder can collect! (usually
the bank that issued the mortgage) When you recognise this is what is actually happening
then you can see why the HAMP process is either so slow as to run the home owner out of
time or stuffed about in the processing to achieve the same end, foreclosure!!!!