GMAC Mortgage Don't Quit

January 31, 2011

GMAC Mortgage Don't Quit

It's a "Foreclosure Machine," says Attorney

Imagine making monthly mortgage payments and never missing a payment - not one, and never late - yet home foreclosure is nonetheless attempted by various mortgage lenders on three separate occasions.

That's what happened to Ohio couple Michael and Pamella Negrea.

The Negreas' mortgage took quite a journey, as have many other homeowners' mortgages, starting in 1998 after the Negreas refinanced their home. The mortgage was sold to Advanta Mortgage, then Nation's Credit, then Homecomings Financial.

Fairbanks Capital serviced the loan as it made its way through the now-notorious buying and selling process. Fairbanks went on to earn its share of infamy with foreclosure fraud when in 2003 the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development settled a lawsuit that charged Fairbanks with unfair and illegal practices.

Fairbanks agreed to pay $40 million to settle the suit. (Fairbanks has since changed its name to Select Portfolio Processing--presumably in an effort to shed its less-than-stellar reputation.)

One example of Fairbanks's unfair practices was failing to post mortgage payments--and homeowners wouldn't get credit for them. Fairbanks failed to post two of the Negreas' mortgage payments, leading to the first foreclosure attempt by Homecomings Financial in 2001.

As the Plain Dealer's Teresa Dixon Murray reports, Michael Negrea tried to speak with a Fairbanks representative, but his efforts went nowhere. "They'd never call you back," he said.

GMAC Mortgage was the next loan servicer after Fairbanks. Since the Negreas were in foreclosure, GMAC refused their mortgage payments, which only exacerbated the situation.

But the story is just heating up.
GMAC Keeps Going, and Going, and Going...
The facts and timeline get complicated, so try to keep up:
-The Negreas settled the first foreclosure attempt in 2003, wherein all penalties for late payment would be eliminated, and the Negreas would be responsible only for what was owed
-GMAC then sent two default letters in 2004 asserting that the Negreas were behind again on their mortgage (they weren't), then apologized for its mistake, but...
-GMAC failed to cash the December mortgage payment and initiated foreclosure in 2005
-The Negreas counterclaimed, went to trial, and won enough money to pay off their entire $200,000 mortgage (it took three years for the settlement check to arrive)
-Meanwhile--despite the fact that GMAC lost--it went after the Negreas for $50,000 in attorneys' fees
-Having failed to snatch away the home, GMAC turned to a new obsession: asserting that the Negreas didn't have homeowners' insurance and charging $700 for home inspections every month to ensure upkeep
-And most recently, in 2009, GMAC failed to post the Negreas' mortgage payments and initiated foreclosure proceedings in federal court
-Trial date: January 2011

What do average consumers like Michael and Pamella Negrea do when caught in the crosshairs of a company like GMAC Mortgage?

We say seek justice. Homeowners should do all they can to prevent foreclosures.

Article provided by Sobti Law Group
Visit us at www.americanrescuesolutions.com