I Hate Citi, Part II

The cretins at Citi are as about as useful as a hubcap on a tractor. I called them again today before I realized they were trying to screw me. This time I got a guy. Another transplanted New Yorker who thought he'd find paradise in Southern Cali . He sounded like Joe Pesci. Anyway, I told him I got cross-wise with the lady the other day. Actual conversation:

Joe: "Cross-wise? What's that?"
Me: "Uh...she was rude and we got into it."
Joe: "Oh. I'm not familiar with Oklahoma slang."
Me: "She was rude."
Joe: "Okay."
Me: "Listen about this agreement..."

Anyway, Joe says I gotta have the goods no later than September 30th or the deal is dead. So I said okay. Then I plug some numbers into a spreadsheet. That's when I realized that Eric Estrada from the other day quoted me a different number than what's on their documents. In fact, they now want $3631.39/month plus $3k up front and not the $3269.99 number I was quoted. That's like 53.3% of my monthly take home and it's not happening.

So I faxed them this letter:


To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to you regarding the above-referenced loan which you have apparently referred to foreclosure. I say apparently as I have not actually received any documents alluding to such action from your institution. The reinstatement amount is reported to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $17,354.00.

Allow me to share with you why this loan is delinquent. My former husband, Mr. Cantaloupe Balls, and I refinanced the mortgage on this property in July 2007. On November 30, 2007, my former spouse left his job of ten years to open a bar. His former salary was in the neighborhood of $93,000 per year while mine was $75,000. On March 24, 2008, my former spouse did not come home to the subject property and I have not seen him since. This was after he withdrew over $14,000 from our joint checking account. In the time between his departure and when our divorce was final on August 12, 2008, he has not paid anything towards joint marital debt.

At the end of April, I received a raise in pay to help with expenses caused by his departure. I will not trouble you with the details but I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what bills were due and the amounts. He was responsible for bill payment and thus many bills were behind. I have called your institution numerous times to set up payment arrangements and was told that partial payments were not accepted. Granted there was an occasion when a stopped payment was issued by my bank but that was merely so the payment to you would not be insufficient. I was facing a choice of feeding my children or paying the mortgage. Meanwhile, the amount due steadily grew until it was impossible for me to pay the full amount.

In the interim, my former spouse received the property in the divorce. He agreed to begin a deed in lieu procedure should the house not sell and was supposed to contact your institution. Obviously, he did not and now it is too late for that avenue. This brings me to why I am writing this letter to you.

I am actually writing this letter to complain about your “Customer Care” Department. Obviously when I have a representative of your institution flat out ask me why I, “can’t come up with $3000 in two weeks,” as I, “make plenty of money,” I am insulted. I am insulted when the same representative asks me why I haven’t saved any money, why I allowed it to get behind, etc. Excuse me but I do not feel that questions of that nature are any of her or your business. I merely called to tell you that the $3,000 upfront and the additional $1000/month added to the monthly payment is not possible. If I can’t pay $2650 per month then I certainly can’t pay $3631.39 per month. I moved out the house last month because my former spouse was supposed to take possession but has not and I am currently renting another home.

I asked instead for a modification of the loan and said representative said I did not qualify for modification due to my debt to income ratio. Obviously, if I had a lower payment and interest rate, I would move back into the property and not continue to pay rent where I am currently living. I would be more than happy to pay a monthly payment of $2000.00 or so. However, I was not offered a reduction in payments or the option of adding the past due amount on to the end of the loan. The only option I was told was to sell the house. The house has been on the market since May. The market, even here, is very tight so the chances of it selling, either now or as a foreclosure, are slim. It is obvious that your institution is not willing to negotiate. I would have thought that in these economic times, your institution would do what was necessary to keep the property in the hands of the borrowers. Apparently, this is not the case.

Obviously, I will not be able to fulfill the terms of the Forbearance Agreement as it currently stands. If you are willing to renegotiate, please contact me.

Bastards.