Another Homeowner Driven Into F'closure Over Misapplied Mortgage Payments; Bankster Refuses To Admit Error Until Media, State AG, US Senator Intervene

In East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, The Patriot News reports:

• Citimortgage received a $20 billion government bailout on grounds it’s “too big to fail.” Fortunately, Citi isn’t too big to admit a mistake — although not fast enough to impress Myrna Hoke, whose daughter nearly lost her East Pennsboro Twp. home over an error by Citi.



• "It’s been unbelievably stressful,” said Hoke, 65, who spent months untangling the situation and sweated until minutes before a planned Jan. 4 sheriff’s sale.



• Hoke’s daughter, Christina May, went through a divorce and bankruptcy several years ago, and Hoke and her husband took over the $880 monthly mortgage.



• In 2010, Citi mistakenly applied mortgage payments to bankruptcy-related legal costs that had already been paid and declared the mortgage in default over missed payments.



• Hoke didn’t know anything was amiss until a foreclosure noticed arrived in late 2010. She spent months figuring out what went wrong, proving the mistake to Citi, and fending off sheriff’s sale of the house where her daughter and three grandchildren have lived for 11 years.



• It took the involvement of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, which helped obtain a refund of the five mortgage payments Citi had mistakenly applied to legal fees.



• Still, in order to reinstate the mortgage and call off a sheriff’s sale scheduled for early December, Citi wanted an immediate lump sump payment covering all missed payments since Citi stopped accepting them in 2010, plus late charges. That amount eventually topped $14,000.



• Citi turned down requests from The Patriot-News to discuss the situation. Hoke said she wouldn’t pay the fees, on the grounds the situation was Citi’s fault. Hoke, who has a mortgage of her own, further argued Citi should tack the missed payments onto the end of the loan, rather than require her to pay so much at once.



• Citi called off a sheriff’s sale scheduled for early December at the last minute as Hoke frantically argued her case and The Patriot-News also pressed for information.



• After reading about the situation in The Patriot-News, the staff of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. also contacted Citi, which eventually said it would waive late charges and accept $12,481 to reinstate the mortgage and call off the sale, now scheduled for Jan. 4.



• But Citi wanted the money immediately, and told Hoke that, otherwise, the home would be sold on Jan. 4. Hoke had to cash in an investment and use much of the Christmas bonus of her husband, an electrician who supervises trades workers at a nuclear power plant in Mississippi, where he spends much of the year.



• After agreeing on the $12,481, Citi called almost daily to ask when she would pay, Hoke said. She said she wired payment to Citi late on Friday, Dec. 31 — just before the New Year’s holiday. But she said she was surprised to call the Cumberland County Courthouse early on Jan. 4 and find the house still scheduled for sheriff’s sale.



• That prompted another round of panic for Hoke, along with calls to Citi and Casey’s office. It turned out Citi had tried to inform the Cumberland County sheriff’s department by fax the previous day, but the fax hadn’t gone through, said Jody Smith, the chief deputy. However, a lawyer who arrived to represent Citi on several properties said Citi had informed her the sale of the East Pennsboro home was called off.



• Meanwhile, Hoke said she was appalled by such behavior on the part of a company that received so much taxpayer aid. She contends Citi should have taken more aggressive steps to resolve the problem, and removed the threat of sheriff’s sale as soon as it realized its error caused the foreclosure “They should have said, ‘We were totally wrong, we have to do what we need to do to stop this foreclosure and do what we need to do to correct this,’” she said.



• In responding to one of The Patriot-News’ requests to discuss the matter, a Citi spokesman said it would require Hoke’s permission. But after Hoke granted permission, the spokesman said it was Citi’s policy not to discuss such cases.

For the story, see East Pennsboro Township woman nearly loses her home over error made by Citimortgage.