This is exactly what happened to me. I lost my job on 9/10 and while making a phone payment one day I heard a robo message that said I might be able to get help with my loan. It was the biggest mistake of my life.
The (first) rep that called me back (Andrew Berger) said that he could help and would send me the paperwork ASAP.
By 11/10 still not having received anything yet I called and of course his voice mail comes on, I decide to ask another rep and have to go through the whole identification process again.
I finally get the papers to fill out with a checklist and fill them all out and send them in.
I called about 3 weeks later and a rep explained that Andrew needed more paperwork, I explained to the rep that nobody had called and asked for any but she quickly replied we're asking you now. I spent money faxing 18 documents for $18 so that I could expedite the issue.
Again a couple of weeks go by and I call again just to be told that they needed more documents, by this time I'm in a bad mood to say the least.
I send in the supposedly last page and specifically ask the rep if that's it and she replies YES WE'RE GOOD TO GO.
A month goes by and nothing, I call Andrew 3 different times and always get his voice mail.
I finally call the main number and get another rep and have to identify myself all over again, the rep tells me Andrew is no longer with the company and there's a new rep working with my case her name is Yuen (not sure of spelling).
I contact my new rep and get her voice mail (what a surprise!!!) and left her my whole story.
She called me back surprisingly and heard about the whole story and would have an answer for me in 24 hrs.
Well when I did not receive a call back I called her and left her a message twice.
At this point 5/13/11 I decide to go to my local Wells Fargo bank to see if they can help me. The young lady got a hold of someone and handed me the phone. The rep asked if I could hold on so that she could locate my rep. She came back on 5 min later and told me that the rep was just terminated that morning.
I just lost it, the rep explained that her manager was in a meeting and could not help me but would call me back Monday with an answer for me.
Come this Tuesday 5/17/11 and still no answer I decided to call. Once again I have to tell my whole story to yet another rep (Susan SWK) and she tells me that a new rep has been assigned to me as of 9:41 am but she could not see the name or contact number yet.
She promised she would let them know the situation and have them call me ASAP.
Today 9/18/11 I get a phone call from rep number #3 (Adam S.) and as all the numerous reps before him proceeds to apologize and says he's here to help me out.
Now get this, they need the whole forms again since it's past the 15 - 30 day mark. I had to ask at this point without loosing my f...ing mind what about all the forms I sent in.
He tells me that they're no good and need to update them. He starts to explain to me what a loan modification was (something no one yet had explained to me) and from what I got from it was :
Ex: Monthly mortgage $977
Ex: Monthly after modification $177
Ex: Balance carried over $800
This goes on for 3 months after that if you're back to work and up to date your next payment is $977 plus balloon payment of $2400 ($800*3=$2400). ARE YOU KIDDING ME HOW DOES THAT HELP ME!.
Adam goes on to say that if you're still unemployed we can do another extension for the next 3 months and I quickly reply "then I will owe $4800 balloon payment right". He replies yes but...
I just tell him that if someone had told me this 8 months ago I would have NEVER asked for help. I told him to shove it all up their ass and hung up.
I called them back a few minutes later and spoke to Adam's boss (Josh) to ask him if this is a joke. He proceeded to repeat the same garbage and adding another tidbit.
They would not be able to help me right away because they have a backlog of foreclosures first to work on and since I was current I would have to wait for help or apply for a different plan.
So the jist I got is that unless you're in foreclosure they don't give a shit and if they do give a shit that kind of help is not helping you but them instead. I have 10 years left on this mortgage and I'll do the best I can but Wells Fargo can kiss my ass.