The system is broken.....and I'm angry.......

I need to vent and thought that those on here would be willing to listen.

My wife and I have fallen on very hard times. Both my wife's parents' died of cancer in the fall and winter of 2010. My wife and both of her sisters saw nearly nothing from the estate sale.

February 2nd of 2010 was by far the best day either of us had as we welcomed our daughter into the world. But because of this, coupled with both of her parents passing on my wife was forced to "roll a hard six" and go part-time where she works. She was promised twenty hours but has routinely been given less than that. She applied for partial unemployment to collect the $200 she was promised and has been denied twice. Both times the *censored* *censored* at unemployment have cited, "you are not looking for work and must work full-time" never mind the fact that they have been told we have small children to take care of. Its like they don't listen. My wife has never claimed before in her life and has paid into a program to help her in times of need but yet, she can't get HER money.

As if that wasn't the only issue. The home we now live in was purchased during the housing boom. And now, several years after the crash the mistakes that the bank made to put us into this house are finally catching up. We have found out that our mortgage is in default and in the beginning stages of foreclosure through no fault of our own. Other than being put into a position where we can not make our mortgage payments no matter how hard we try. We've spent the past two years applying for refinancing and loan modification and have been denied time and time again. We are now looking to claim Chapter 13 and perform a "strategic walkaway" to cease from drowning.

Both my wife and I are angry. We're angry that the government has bailed out countless companies and bombed more countries but refuses to help its own people. I've been told that to qualify for the loan modifications you need to have a certain amount in your account at the end of paying your bills. We've qualified every time but have been denied every time. Doesn't make sense.

Are my wife and I the wrong color? Isn't this the land of opportunity? Shouldn't my family and I have a chance at the American Dream? At the Opportunity to prosper? More and more I grow angrier. I've often said in my youth that, "The British had the right idea", I'm beginning to believe that as I grow older and have more things working against me.

Everyday that passes and we fall deeper into debt because of this toxic mortgage we were issued the more I physically want to lash out and hurt someone.

I just need to vent. I scrape a living together to support my family and there is no relief, no support. I just want to run through the halls of the Whitehouse screaming, "*censored* YOU!!!" I honestly feel ashamed to be American, to call myself one anymore. What's so American about being raked across the coals by your own system?

Richard, I know I avoided the sensor. I ask that you forgive me and allow it. I'm just so fed up I need someone to listen. Because I know my government isn't.

I'm On Fire wrote:Richard, I know I avoided the sensor. I ask that you forgive me and allow it. I'm just so fed up I need someone to listen. Because I know my government isn't.

Please don't do that, I've edited your comment so it's correctly censored. The choice to censor words is an option of the member reading it, you can turn the word censor on or off in the control panel.

It's under Board Preferences >> Display Options or just click here:

http://nepacrossroads.com/ucp.php?i=prefs&mode=view


Since I'm not sure why this pertains to NJ I'm moving it to the political forum.

I feel your pain IOF.

I saw the signs that I was slipping on my mortgage and I was luckily able to short sell it. But even that took nearly a year to arrange with the bank. Almost seemed they'd rather have it foreclosed than take a little haircut.

I was going along pretty well trying to turn a negative into a positive and moved back to my fathers house to keep an eye on him after a couple heart attacks and a scrape with prostate cancer.

Then my job went to Mexico and the wheels came off the wagon.

Now my father is completely bedridden, and both I and my wife are trying to go back to school and hopefully come out the back end of this economy in a better place.

The housing situation I know is stressful. Any chance you can do what I did and find a family member with some room?

I wouldn't worry about getting rid of the house. Or your credit rating or anything else. Do what we all know the government needs to do and slash your expenses every where you can and then hang on until the crash is over. I fear things are going to get worse. I switched to the "every man for himself" philosophy a couple months ago.

Good luck and feel free to vent anytime.

Richard, I'm sorry. I won't do it again.

JPete,

Thanks. I'm glad I'm not the only one. In fact, my sister is in the middle of her hearing for Chapter 13 as well, her court date is August 1st. My wife and I are going to the lawyer's Saturday to start our case against Bank of America. I just feel like I've got no rights. That these banks have more rights than me. You should hear the things BoA has said to my wife and I. My wife also just got her second denial letter for partial unemployment today. You know what they wrote on the first line of the letter as to why she was denied, "...on the grounds that she was not available for work." and that she was denied because she refuses to work. What the *censored* is that? What is she, us supposed to do with our kids? Leave an 12 year old to take care of an 18th month old? This system can go *censored* itself.

GM and Chrysler, AIG, BoA all should've been left to die. The government is in talks to raise their debt ceiling? They are worried about themselves as their own people are losing their homes and jobs? *censored* them. *censored* Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq. *censored* all of 'em. I'm sick of them. I've never commited a crime, done any drugs. But yet, this system feels the need to treat me as a criminal because I'm forced into a situation I can not succeed. To hell with all of them. What's it honestly going to take to get the almighty US Government to notice that it's own people need help and honest help? Everyone to be out on the streets? Another depression the likes of the 1920's and those who experienced the "Dust Bowl". I can honestly say, I feel like a Vault Dweller from the Fallout series of games. You purchase a spot in a vault to survive a nuclear war with China from a company called Vault-Tec. Each vault is a control. An experiment. Designed by Vault-Tec. Some they pump gas into after a certain amount of time goes by, others play subliminal messages. While others have components in the vault fail. You are told from the get-go, they can not be opened. So, you are left with a choice, open the vault you are told can't be opened and take your chances in an irridiated wasteland or die inside the vault. Either way, your situation was doomed to fail anyway.

I always thought the likes of Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde were cool. But now I can see why they did the things they did. They are the real heros. They saw a corruption in a system that was failing them and decided to take matters into their own hands. We need more like them.

I know some of you may not agree, but remember, I'm pissed off that I'm 33 and have been stone walled on everything I try to do. I've been told, "Nope,sorry. Nope, sorry, Nope, sorry." So many times that the next person to say it to me is going to get hurt.

Everything I have I've worked for and now some sheriff's officer is going to come and take it all away. The American Dream. What a lie.

I feel your frustration and share your anger.

All in an effort to DO GOOD the government distorted the free market in housing, creating a bubble. The banks went along and made it worse. Under normal conditions the price you paid for your house would have been much lower and the interest on the mortgage higher. The bank also would have made sure you could afford it since their money would have been on the line.

If you wanted to open a whore house Acorn probably would be delighted to help. That's where our government is today. A level of corruption that organized crime could only dream of.

The only bright spot is you still have a job and you are both young enough to get through this. And you will.

You certainly have every right to be angry. The money fabricated out of thin air (though apparently to be eventually owed back to someone for some reason by this and many future generations) to bail out the big NY banks, GM, AIG, etc... and also bail out many of the the foreign banks and corporations to boot would have easily been sufficient to pay off every home mortgage with a balance across the entire USA. Can you imagine the amount of stimulus that would have given the nation, when people were free from their mortgages and could spend that money on the sort of things that would put everyone back to work again big time. But instead the to big to fails got cushy bailouts and massive raises, perks, and bonuses (instead of trips before a jury and then hopefully off to jail).

Your situation reminds me of why my basement and garage are full of my oldest daughters stuff right now. My heart goes out to you and yours, and I have said a prayer for you and your family.

The best thing too. My wife and I discussed packing up and renting a home. We found two homes in our town 2x the size as our current one to rent for less money than we are paying; correction...no longer paying for because we stopped paying the mortgage, for the one we are in now.

We were going to pack up, take the stove, our coal and move into one of these homes within the month. New Jersey really likes to screw people. It's a recourse state. If we just up and leave and say, "*censored* you!" to Bank of America they can still come after us for the difference on the house after they sell it. For 6%. So, if we bought it for $150k and only paid $50k on it and then the bank sells it for $50k they are still owed $50k and they'll come after us for it. How's that for, "I have rights".

Even if they just take the house they can still come after me 5-7 years down the road claiming "we lost money on the foreclosure you now owe us the difference".

lsayre,

Yeah, exactly, where is my *censored* stimulus? My TARP? My "golden parachute"? No where. That's where. I get a big middle finger from the Bank, the government. I have to fight to keep what's mine. I have to counter sue a bank to even get the government to take notice and say, "hey, this guy is in some real trouble." Now I'm forced to pay a lawyer to fight with me with money I don't have readily available. $2200 to secure or retain a lawyer to fight for me. Then after it's all done another $6800- $8000 for helping me. That's money I could've used to rent a home and walkaway from this one. But oops, NJ has it's dick in my ass for that too, "Recourse State."

Now I can see why NJ makes it difficult for people to buy guns. There'd be a lot of bodies in Jersey.

I never thought I'd be glad to live in RI. It used to be a Federal law that you had to pay income tax on the amount of your mortgage if you shorted it or had it foreclosed on. I can't believe Chris Christie allows something like that to stand.

The Feds did away with the law when thousands of people were getting nailed with it.

How far up the food chain have you gone with unemployment? I shot myself in the foot with my unemployment and was getting the run around trying to get back on it myself when Ii happened to hear thhe head of the department on a local talk radio show. I called in, gave him my story and he asked for all my information. Within 3 hours, I had a phone call from the UE department and by the end of the week, I was back on the rolls.

You can rattle a lot of chains but nothing works better than poking the big dog with a stick. The government employees only want to make it through another day towards their retirement without having to do much of anything. When a complaint gets to their boss, it puts them on the radar and they don't like that.

I'd call at least the head of the department. Or knowing how well the governor and the public employees get along, I might call Christie's office. I'm sure he'd like to hear from a potential voter.

I am sorry for the family losses you and your wife have had to deal with. That isn't easy under any circumstances, and even worse during times of financial distress.

We have found out that our mortgage is in default and in the beginning stages of foreclosure through no fault of our own.

Your comment of "through no fault of our own" caught my attention. I understand that getting laid off due to an economic recession is out of your control, but how is it the bank's fault that you can't make the payments? I am not picking on you, I just don't completely understand that statement. When you go to buy a home, it is your responsibility to make sure you can afford it. When my wife and I went to buy our first home a few years ago, the bank pre-approved us for WAY MORE than I thought we could afford. If we had taken the maximum mortgage they offered us, I wouldn't have had $5 left for groceries. We bought a home for roughly half of what we were approved for, and it is still a lot to handle at times. If one of us lost our jobs, things would definitely be very tight. I still can't believe the banks were willing to offer us such a huge loan; shame on them for offering it, shame on us if we had accepted.

With that said, please don't think I am saying the banks didn't have a hand in this housing mess...they certainly did, but at the end of the day you had to agree to the payments.

Any chances of a short sale?

franco b wrote:All in an effort to DO GOOD the government distorted the free market in housing, creating a bubble. The banks went along and made it worse. Under normal conditions the price you paid for your house would have been much lower and the interest on the mortgage higher. The bank also would have made sure you could afford it since their money would have been on the line.

They are still doing it, from May:

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/ ... yment-rule

The Senate today rejected a proposal by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., to impose a minimum 5% down payment for virtually all home mortgages. The amendment to the broader financial regulatory overhaul bill, which failed 42-57, would have required income verification and an assessment of borrowers’ ability to repay as well.

Um hello Earth to Mars! Frankly 5% is far too little, should be in the 15 to 20% range.

jpete,

That's a good idea. Maybe I will call the office of Mr. Christie and lay into him as well, or at least someone in his office. I was told that the amount of homes the banks are sitting on that the odds of them actually turning around a suing under the Recourse State laws are slim to none but, given my wife and I luck for the past two years I'd say we'd be the first ones to get sued.

As far the unemployment thing, we've only talked to the monkeys in the branch office in our area.

Mark,

"Through no fault of our own" because the house was bought during the boom. My wife was told at the time of purchase, "Lie about your income". Then, after the bubble burst and the supposed "income" wasn't there you are basically backed into a corner making payments on a mortgage that aren't being applied because the bank claims, "its not a full payment" but they don't want to "adjust" the mortgage so you can afford it like the US Government has said they are supposed to. In order to fit into the "Loan Modification" process you need to have at least $1200 left in your bank account to "qualify" the bank is supposed to help you. My wife and I, since the market crashed and with prices for gas, food, utlities we are lucky to see $200 in our account every week. Now, you tell me, how am I supposed to pay an $2000 mortgage on $200 a week? Especially when my wife is now working part-time so she can raise our children while I'm at work and then I raise them at night when she is at work. So, we thought we were doing the right thing by sending the bank that $200 dollars plus whatever we could scrape together each month thinking it was at the very least being applied to some part of the mortgage. Instead, it's going in an "escrow" account and sitting there while we fqall further and further behind. And why is all of this? Because my wife told the bank she made $60k dollars a year when she only made $35 because she was told that in order to get into the home she was buying she had to "lie". Because, "through no fault of our own" means, she should have never been able to buy this house given her real income at the time. She was told, "it's ok to lie about it, all the cool kids are doing it, don't you want to be cool?" "Of course you do." But then the housing bubble burst and all of a sudden that $60k she was making isn't really there. All was good when the bubble was there. But now that its gone and everyone but the people have had a bailout the money just isn't there and the bank isn't going ot back a mortgage they wrote because they knew from the beginning, "it's going to fail." I may not actually understand how it all transpired, all I know is that someone is now holding a gun to my head and telling me to "PAY" but they are unwilling to help me pay.

How many people understand that banks do not make loans out of deposits? For the most part they do not. Instead, for at least 90% of the loan they are merely fabricating the loan money out of thin air. Due to the legalized scam of 10:1 fractional reserve banking, they literally only need to show on their books that 10% of their loans are backed by actual deposits. Therefore if I deposit $15,000 into a bank, the bank can make some magical book entires and subsequently conjurer up and offer someone a $150,000 loan, since this fully meets the legal requirement of 10% being kept on deposit for every 100% that is out on loan. Then they sink their deposits into stocks and TBills and other potentially money making machines intended to increase their returns. They quite literally do not ever make loans out of deposits. It is all a big racket, and your legal agreement to let them hold the home as collateral and then to in addition pay them interest for 15-30 years on money they did not ever really have to begin with is just the "icing on the cake" part of the fractional reserve banking racket. Then if you can't pay they foreclose on you and make it appear as if they are somehow suffering a loss just as you are, when really it is nearly all gain for them either way (whether you pay or they foreclose), since they have put up almost no (ok, 10% perhaps) earnest money (or "consideration" in legal terms) of their own in giving you the loan.

The only way the banks lose money is when they subsequently place the mortgage they just fabricated onto their books as an asset instead of as a debt, which it actually is. Then suddenly they have $150,000 more deposited assets (in the form of your mortgage note) and they can loan out yet more fabricated money. But if they have it on their books at $150,000, and it devalues to only $120,000, yet they have fabricated $1,500,000 out in new loans using the $150,000 initial assumed value to be an asset on deposit, now they have only $120,000 on deposit and legally they can only have $1,200,000 in loans out against it to maintain the 10:1 fractional reserve ratio. Thus they are now $300,000 in debt and they need to rake in $30,000 of real money to make up for (I.E. hide) it. Multiply that by many hundreds to tens of thousands and then millions of house loans that are now worth on average perhaps $30,000 to $50,000 less than they were when issued, and every bank in the USA is clearly in bankruptcy. That is why the law was recently changed, and they can carry their "under water" mortgage debts (ahem, assets) on the books at whatever fictional value they desire, rather than the former legal requirement of having to mark them to market (to their current real market value). Mark to fantasy is the rule now, and without it there would not be a bank left standing. The 10:1 rule is really a 10:1 leveraging of the only real money they started with. If their debt/assets (mortgages) decline by 10% they are wiped out since 10 x 10% = 100%. Did I hear somewhere that the average home in the USA is now worth 30% less than it was in 2006? The banks are then triply bankrupt.

And that is why the Fed gave trillions of dollars to the banks, and nothing (but the claim check on the new debt) to the people.

If you don't believe the above, then read this.

http://realneo.us/content/money-debt-debt-money-intertest-economic-slavery-jerome-dalys-man-who-humbled-federal-reserv

Given a shrewd lawyer on your side and the sentiment of juries these days, this might be worth a shot for you IOF!!! Have a jury decide if the bank actually put up any real "consideration" in giving you your loan. If they did not, then technically they have no part in the mortgage contract and it is null and void.

Famous economist and author John Kenneth Galbraith said (and I quote):

"The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled."
Chapter III, Banks, p.18

I was talking about this with a guy on another forum and being an accountant, he couldn't understand why I thought the economy was based on "a wing and a prayer" and my utter disdain for "generally accepted accounting practices" that seem to have failed miserably yet this guy doesn't see a problem.

I'm glad someone else understands the smoke and mirrors our economy is based on.