To whomever this may concern, November 24, 2010
Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself.
My name is Derrick Marquis and I reside in Corona, California. It is here I live with my 16 year old daughter and my loving wife of 19 years. I am 39 years of age. I am a full time employee of 8 years at a company in Irvine where we manufacture precision investment tooling for primarily Aerospace and Medical components. My job title is: Tooling Engineer.
Sixteen years ago when my daughter was born, my wife and I made a decision that it would be better for her to stay home and raise our daughter and I would be the one who brought home the money. We made many sacrifices throughout the years to make that happen. It was and still is a very good investment. Because of our decision my daughter is now a spiritual, responsible straight "A" student with strong morals & focused goals.
As parents who continue to survive so many odds against us, we could not be more proud of those choices that we have made.
Years ago I remember standing on my balcony at an apartment we rented in Huntington Harbor and with tears in my eyes telling myself that one day I'm going to buy a home for my family. This will be a home we can call our own. A piece of the American dream.
Myself coming from a broken family and constantly moving from place to place I never had that security that so many people had growing up. I was dedicated to not allowing that to happen to my family.
For several years we rented a small beach cottage home in Huntington beach just a mile from downtown. At the time my place of employment was only two miles away. This house was just next door to my In-laws whom I adored. We were very fortunate to have lived right next door to family for so many years. It was there my wife's mother Susie (our neighbor) passed away due to complications from Cancer. Not to long after Susan passed we were served a notice that the places were being sold and we had 90 days to move out. This news came very hard to both us and Timothy, Susan's husband. It was at this time in our lives that we decided to purchase a home.
A dear friend who at the time was a real estate agent quickly set the gears in motion. As with most home buyers we looked at a few places in surrounding areas but nothing caught our eye price wise. Knowing that time was of the essence heavy prayers set into place. Our real estate agent found a place in Corona. We got into the car and headed east. With only MLS pictures in our head we pulled up to the property and instantly fell in love. We were proud first time home owners within only a couple weeks of being served the papers at the place in Huntington Beach. It was meant to happen. The power of prayer!
We made a great sacrifice which changed our lives in many ways. Work wasn't 5 minutes away anymore. My daughters school wasn't just down the block. Timothy was 26 miles away not just next door. It was a tough transition but for the better.
Through hard work and dedication I was able to make that dream come true for my family.
We moved in on July 10th 2004.
In the years we have lived here we have spent tens of thousands of dollars on home improvements. All of these improvements were paid for with my earnings. I believe it is the cutest house on in the neighborhood.
Like so many people did when the equity in their home was substantial they took out seconds and bought cars and boats then when the housing market turned they were stuck with huge debt forcing them into foreclosure. In the years living here I have never re-financed even when the market was high. We took on a mortgage we could afford based on my income at the time.
Now, the bad news.
I don't want to bore you with all the details however if all the details are required by "you" the reader I would be more than happy to provide you with that information.
Reminder: All of my testimony from this point on is truthful backed by receipts, documents, dates, times and names of people my wife and I have spoken with.
May, 2009
Work slowed down and I fell behind on my mortgage payment by 2 months. Mind you from July of 2004 thru February of 2009 we never made one mortgage payment late. Being behind we immediately called Bank of America (BOFA) and explained to them our situation. We were told. "We had to be 3 months behind in order to qualify for the Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP)". After we had lapsed into 3 months delinquency I was asked by BOFA to fax them a long list of documents i.e.: 3 months bank statements, 6 months payroll, tax returns, expense breakdown, letter of hardship and so on. Later we were told by BOFA that "We qualified for HAMP" and that our file is currently under review. Note: We were never mailed a HAMP Packet. Two months after faxing BOFA all the documents they requested, we never heard back from them. At this time I was 5 months delinquent. I was receiving foreclosure notices in the mail and one even posted on my door, documents from Recon Trust were showing up in my mailbox and strangers were showing up taking pictures of my home. Perhaps BOFA had their fax machines hooked directly to the shredder.
My wife and I were sick from stress and with BOFA not at all working with us, we had no choice but to hire a company to help us out of our situation.
July, 2009
I did some research and decided to hire Pacific Loan Solutions (PLS) owned and operated by Jeffrey Torrez and Wassam (Sam) Ismail out of Riverside. The attorney on staff was Zachary Gonzalez LLC. I went to their location for a free consultation and they said they specialized in loan modifications, I qualified based on my criteria and they said they would be able to help me with a loan modification. I paid the company $5407.00 to do the work (1.5% of the total amount of the loan to be modified). Strange I thought but desperate. Over the course of several weeks I emailed and faxed them all the information they requested.
Months and months and Trustee sale date postponement after Trustee sale date postponement went by and nothing was happening. I was getting further and further behind on payments. BOFA would not even accept payments at this time until I came up with the full arrears. Months later after hiring PLS I got a one page form letter from BOFA stating *** MODIFICATIONS ARE NOT AN OPTION *** that our loan was non modifiable due to the fact that the investor (Wells Fargo) will not allow it. Did Pacific Loan Solutions know this and not tell me to scam me out of my money? The answer in yes. The company had an "A" rating with the BBB when I hired them and now an "F" rating. PLS shut their doors and Jeffrey, Sam and Zachary disappeared. Once again we were at a complete loss with seemingly nowhere to turn.
July 2010
After several attempts trying to explain to BOFA our situation they still were falling back on the excuse that Wells Fargo does not allow modifications, I was forced to hire another attorney. Through the state bar web site we found a reputable firm, Keefe Roberts & Associates. After a consultation Keefe was convinced that BOFA was up to something strange. We paid Keefe Roberts $2000.00, in which every dime they earned only to have BOFA send a letter to them stating that my loan was non modifiable and it wasn't an option because the investor Wells Fargo doesn't allow modifications. Keefe Roberts was even confused. Keefe and I started talking about different options, i.e.: (Lawsuit against BOFA) not an option as it would cost me ($10, 000.00) or more, Restraining order against the Trustee sale ($2500.00), Chapter 13 ($4000.00) or Short sale, ($1500.00) or of course walk away.
Don't get me wrong, Keefe Roberts is a good fair attorney but why is BOFA making me go through this nightmare? You would think BOFA would like to start getting payments from me?
My wife and I decided that we want to save our home and a chapter 13 seemed to be the best way out of this mess so we took that course. I put Keefe on the shelf and went after Zachary in hopes to get my money back so I could pay Keefe for the chapter 13 fees.
August 2010
A friend of mine and I found where Zachary Gonzalez (former PLS attorney) was practicing and confronted him in a public arena demanding my money back. He refused to refund me stating he simply did not have it, and an argument ensued. Police were even called. Finally Zachary offered to provide me the services for a Chapter 13 and court representation free of charge. I scheduled an appointment with him and the contract was agreed upon. The contract stated that Zachary Gonzalez would perform the services required for a chapter 13 free of charge. I contacted Springboard and paid the $45.00 fee to complete the online certificate course for pre-petition counseling for chapter 13. I wrote him a check for the amount of $274.00 for a chapter 13 court filing fee. Relieved I waited patiently to hear back from him.
Well that's just great now I have to call Keefe Roberts and tell him, "you know Zachary, that guy who stole fifty four hundred bucks from me, well now he's going to represent us in court". After notifying Keefe about what had happened I had a sense of relief that Zachary would make good on his promise and maybe things were starting to look up for us. Rightfully so Keefe probably thought we were nuts, however I had no choice and I did not have $4000.00 to pay Keefe for a chapter 13.
A couple of weeks went by and I had not heard back from Zachary so I decided to leave work early and go down to his office in Riverside. The secretary of the building told me she had not seen or heard from him for a couple of weeks and a lot of people were coming in asking the same question. Weak in the knees and a stomach ache I went home and later on found out he was disbarred. Evil forces are working against us once again.
Soon after, the court dismissed the case because of non activity. Thanks Zachary oh and thanks BOFA!
Now without an attorney to represent me in court and the lack of knowledge and paperwork it took to represent myself in court and the fact that 95% of all chapter 13 cases that are self represented are denied by the courts I turned back to Keefe Roberts. I wrote another check to Keefe for the amount of $2000.00 in which he continued to try and get BOFA to modify our loan to no avail.
At this time Keefe Roberts wanted to continue on with a chapter 13 but without BOFA Working with us by modifying my loan and adding my arrears to the back of the loan it seems to heavy of a burden for me.
Keep in mind by this time I am $9726.00 plus numerous days off work trying to get BOFA to modify my loan when all BOFA needed to do was help me out with my mortgage back in May of 2009. $9726.00 is 6 months of my mortgage payments to BOFA!
Why didn't BOFA tell me that modifications were NOT an option up front. Instead they lead me on for months and months allowing me to believe something was happening when actually nothing was happening. If I would have known up front that modifications on my loan were NOT an option (which I don't believe this as being true) then I could have taken a different course which would have landed me in a much better situation now.
A simple one page form letter from BOFA stating modifications are not an option is simply not enough information for me or my attorney for that matter. I thought that BOFA by law was suppose to work with the buyer by modifying their loan (if necessary) providing they have income. Wait according to BOFA you don't even need to have an income for them to work with you. Sure my hours got cut for a while but I never lost my job!
I went on (http://homeloanhelp.bankofamerica.com/en/loan-solutions.html) and here's what they say.
"If you're having trouble paying your mortgage, the following home loan assistance programs were created to help homeowners stay in their homes and make their payments more affordable. Let's work together to find a home loan assistance solution that's right for you."
Option 1: Refinance
Option 2: Home Affordable Refinance
Option 3: Home Affordable Unemployment Program?
Option 4: Home Affordable Modification
Option 5: FHA Home Affordable Modification
Option 6: Home Affordable Second Lien Modification
Option 7: Forbearance
Option 8: Home equity Assistance
Option 9: Reverse Mortgage
My wife and I even spoke with a HUD counselor who said she would take our information and give it to BOFA and that she would get back with us. We never heard from that lady again.
Of course this letter is an abridged version and I left out many small details, but in a nutshell you get the idea. Over the course of the last 18 months of hell starting back in February, 2009 I have learned a lot about a lot of things that most people should never have to know in their lifetime. I understand that it was I who fell behind on my mortgage payments back in February of last year but I never thought it would come to this. Further more I thought that's what the HAMP program was all about, Making Home Affordable Program? I am a hard working middle class American who does not rely on free government handouts to get from day to day like some people do. It was my understanding the Federal Government bailed out BOFA and set up laws forcing BOFA to use the money to help folks like myself. I was never offered that opportunity. All I ever wanted was to get back on track and current on my mortgage and to build up that sense of security I had before this nightmare occurred. It seems to me BOFA wants my home because they have no desire to work with me and start receiving payments?
I will not give my home to BOFA without a fight.
Well, once again, here we sit with a December 2nd trustee sale date looming over us and again at a complete loss with seemingly nowhere to turn.
Do I pay more of my hard earned money to high priced attorneys or would Bank of America rather have it?
Thank you for reading this letter.
Derrick L. Marquis
[email protected]
