Large banks in America had always been resistant to change - especially change that doesn't result in an increase to the bank's bottom line (read, increasing of profits for executives and shareholders).
While doing my daily news search, I came across this little nugget of information courtesy of MSNBC, and decided to do a little digging - not only because of the topic of the story, but also because of my own experiences with one of the banks in question.
To read on is to understand why Americans are so entirely fed up with the way that financial institutions across the country are doing business to benefit only themselves, and the debtors be damned.
More below he fold.
MSNBC has published a story today that deals specifically with the amount of loan modifications that banks have done since Obama's plan to help homeowners was enacted.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
The pace of offering help to homeowners in trouble is quite clear -
As of July, only 9 percent of eligible borrowers had seen their mortgage payments reduced. And a progress report on the plan Tuesday showed that 10 lenders had not changed a single loan.
9 percent. ONLY 9 percent. People are losing their homes to these wolves, yet they have no vested interest in trying to keep people from ending up on the street. And there are some that have yet to even sign on to the plan...
There are 38 companies participating in the program, and some noticeable holdouts that control 15 percent of outstanding mortgages. Litton Loan Servicing, owned by Goldman Sachs and HomEq Servicing, owned by Barclays PLC, have yet to join.
So, once again, Goldman comes into the conversation. No surprise there.
Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. — which have received billions in federal bailout money — were below average. BofA, which did not immediately comment, modified 4 percent of eligible loans, and Wells Fargo 6 percent. And Wachovia Corp., which was taken over by Wells Fargo last December, modified just 2 percent.
And this is where 'the rubber meets the road' - Wells Fargo is (soon to be was) the mortgage holder on my house. I've been fighting with them for two and a half years to get the payment lowered on the house. Every time we think we have it nailed down, we get denied and have to start all over again. The last refusal, on April 15 (tax day - go figure) was due to the 'parties involved being unable to come to an acceptable agreement on terms'.
Bullshit.
Well - since the terms weren't amicable in the bank's favor, we're having to short sell the house. During this time, it's also gone into foreclosure. Wells Fargo is a company where the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing. The departments don't talk to one another - they all work independant of each other (or at least that the way it seems to myself and Mrs. Dingodude.). Now the realtor gets to do all of the talking with the bank for us. :)
The banks don't think that they've commited any wrong, as evidenced by this spokesperson executive for Wells Fargo...
"We know we've fallen short of our customer service goals in some cases," Mike Heid, co-president of Wells Fargo's mortgage unit, said in a statement. The company aims to sign up most borrowers for the Obama plan with one phone call and plans to send customers a trial offer within two days.
OK...where's my phone call? Where's this 'help' your company is promising? I'm not holding my breath there, Mike, 'cause I know it ain't coming. I'll turn blue in the face before I see any assistance from your company. As long as we've been working with you to try to keep this house, I don't see it happening - it was a mistake to agree to mortgage the house through your bank - a mistake I won't be making again.
Housing advocates cite numerous cases in which companies haven't followed the program's rules. And when borrowers are denied, they often aren't told why. In response to such complaints, the Treasury Department says Freddie Mac will be doing random audits to see if borrowers are being improperly rejected.
While the story states that the government has been partially to blame for the slow rollout of the program, I still find a tremndous amount of fault with the banks. I'm sure that a number of variables which made implementation of the program somewhat cumbersome, but lenders can only fall back on that for a short amount of time. After that, it comes down to whether or not they're going to work with homeowners that are struggling to keep their homes from falling into foreclosure.
As one of those who has now become a statistic, I implore those who wish to become new homeowners to do your homework first. Don't fall prey the way that myself and my wife did - we were screwed from the time we signed on the dotted line. We didn't want to walk away from the house, or mail Wells Fargo the keys, but in the end we still lost our battle to save our house. Seven years of mortgage payments down the tubes. I cry every time I think about it.
But - I have my family and a new place to live. I have my health. I have my friends. And, I have all of you.