Another Foreclosure Screw-Up As Lender Approves Short Sale, Then Locks Out New Owner From Home A Week After Moving In

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, The Journal Gazette reports:

• [First-time homebuyers Brian and A.J. Spitznaugle] had arranged what is known as a short sale, an increasingly common transaction these days. The owner of the house was in default on the mortgage, so the bank that held the mortgage, Chase, agreed to sell the house to the Spitznaugles for slightly less than was owed.

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• Slightly more than a week [after the closing], the couple got the shock of their lives. Brian Spitznaugle arrived at the house on a Saturday morning to find it cold and dark. The bank, it turned out, had contracted with a company named Safeguard Property Management, which in turn hired a company called B&CG Services to go to the home, turn off the water and electricity, drain the pipes, winterize the home and padlock it shut. Oh, and before workers left, they’d rifled through all the boxes in the garage.

For more, see Bank sells house, locks out buyers.

Go here for other posts on improper foreclosure lock-outs and other lender screw ups. ForeclosureLockOuts