Forced Placed Insurance Drives Central Florida Homeowner Into F'closure; Loan Servicer Backpeddles On Initial Demands After Inquiries From Local Media

In Port Richey, Florida, WFTS-TV Channel 28 reports:

• A Port Richey homeowner nearly lost his house not once but twice to foreclosure. Mark Poulsen said it had nothing to do with his payment history, but rather a new insurance policy.

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• About the same time when Mark lost his job, he says, CITI bank attached a $5,000 wind policy to his home. "My normal payment was $749 a month and the next statement shows $1,886 a month,” he said. Poulsen fell behind, and within months the bank served the family with foreclosure papers. “It was devastating I could not sleep at night.”

• Mark's story then took a cruel twist. He says CITI worked out a deal with him. He paid them $3500 they were suppose to bring his account current and drop the foreclosure. Months later, this homeowner claims CITI called and backed out of that deal. "It was a nightmare, a total nightmare.”

• After listening to Mark's story, [ABC Action News consumer advocate] Jackie Callaway emailed CITI bank's corporate office and asked them to review the account. A spokesperson responded in an email saying, "If the property owner does not maintain this and other required forms of insurance ... we will obtain lender-placed gap insurance on the homeowner's behalf. Failure to reimburse us for coverage can result in delinquencies on the account.”

• Weeks later, CITI bank put another offer in writing. They excused Marks' delinquent fees and made his account current. He now has his own affordable wind policy on the house that meets CITI’s requirements.

For the story, see A man nearly loses his house in a mortgage insurance mess.