Financially Strapped Idaho Couple Has Home Sold Out From Under Them, Despite Following Servicer's Loan Modification Instructions & Making Payments

In Boise, Idaho, the Idaho Statesman reports:

• Last April, [Zijad and Hata Rudan, refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina who moved to Idaho in 2000] applied to their loan servicer, MetLife, for a loan modification. The family said MetLife offered in May to let them pay $1,052.68 a month - a 38 percent reduction - through a three-month trial period while they were considered for a permanent modification under the federal Home Affordable Mortgage Program.

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• The Rudans made two more full payments for March and April, with late fees. In June, they said, the payments were sent back to them. Zijad Rudan said he called MetLife to ask why. He said he was told not to be concerned because the application for modification was still being processed. MetLife told him to start paying the reduced amount, he said. So he did.

• The next month, the Rudans received a notice of trustee's sale. Alarmed, they called MetLife again. The Rudans said a representative again told them not to worry, saying the modification process was moving forward and they should throw the notice in the garbage. The family was told that their July payment had been received and that all was well.

• They continued to make the required modified payments each month. As MetLife continued work on the loan-modification application, it sought more information. The Rudans faxed numerous documents, such as paycheck stubs, sometimes several times, the family said. On Feb. 8, they wrote another monthly check. MetLife still had not notified them of any decision on their permanent loan modification request, they said. But the check returned Feb. 17.

• Once again, the couple called MetLife. They said they spent the morning calling the company and reached only recorded messages, so then went to a MetLife office in Eagle for help. The local MetLife representative called the parent company. MetLife again asked the family for more information and pay stubs. The Rudans said they faxed the documents that day.

• The couple called March 4 to check on their status. They say they were told the modification was still being processes and they should call back March 10. Instead, they called on March 8 and were told that their files had been turned over to a different department, and that a foreclosure sale had been scheduled but postponed. The Rudans said they were told not to make payments for February and March.

• On March 12, a representative of Gorilla Capital Inc. showed up at their door. The Oregon company buys homes at foreclosure sales and says it sells them for about $20,000 less than comparable houses in the market. The Gorilla representative said he'd bought the house at a foreclosure auction at 11 a.m. that day for $111,201, just $1 more than MetLife bid on it. The home is assessed at $195,000, said the Rudans' attorney, Richard Eppink of Idaho Legal Aid.(1) The Gorilla representative started eviction proceedings against the family that day, court documents say.(2)

For the story, see Owners say their Boise home was sold without their knowledge (A Boise family fights eviction after what its lawyer calls a botched loan modification).

(1) Idaho Legal Aid Services is a nonprofit law firm providing legal assistance for low income people statewide.

(2) Reportedly, a recent court hearing to evict the family was postponed for a week. Their attorney also filed a District Court lawsuit against MetLife Bank, Transnation Title and Gorilla Capital Inc. to undo the trustee's sale and declare the Rudans the rightful owners, the story states. "We're trying to stop the eviction process until we get this sorted out and get everyone into court," attorney Richard Eppink reportedly said.