As an attorney who assists borrowers with mortgage relief, loss mitigation, and foreclosure matters, I have dealt with many mortgage loan servicers and lenders, and come across all sorts of outrageous situations. Unfortunately, PNC may have added itself to the list of mortgage loan servicers behaving badly. Whether this situation involves intentional fraud and deceit as opposed to shockingly bad communication skills remains to be seen.
To briefly summarize, we obtained a mortgage loan modification from PNC on behalf of one of our clients. That loan modification offer specifically states, in writing, that accepting the modification (verbal acceptance qualifies, according to PNC) by August 2 and making the first payment by September 1 would cause PNC to “suspend foreclosure”. The offer warned that failure to comply, however, may result in foreclosure proceedings continuing.
PNC had been instructed to communicate with us as opposed to our client but of course, ignored that instruction and sent the modification offer directly to our client, who only received it a few days before the August 2 acceptance deadline. On July 30, we contacted PNC and accepted on behalf of our client. However, PNC stated that it would not acknowledge our acceptance, despite long knowing that we were involved in the case and having a properly executed limited power of attorney/third party authorization on file. On July 31, our client called directly and accepted the modification offer. The acceptance of the modification offer was in reliance on PNC’s specific statements in the offer that the foreclosure would be then be “suspended”.
The payment due by Sept 1 was made in full and on time, by way of certified bank check and certified US Mail, return receipt required and obtained. However, despite the written agreement, PNC is refusing to suspend the foreclosure process, including this client’s foreclosure hearing which remains scheduled for later this month. It should be noted that the point of a foreclosure hearing in North Carolina is for the mortgage loan servicer/lender to get final permission to sell the home pursuant to a foreclosure sale.
When confronted with the fact that it is refusing to suspend foreclosure despite making a legally enforceable offer to do so upon acceptance of the modification proposal, PNC stated “it is not our policy to stop foreclosure proceedings until a modification is final.” This, of course, is in complete contradiction to the written and legally binding offer PNC made to the client and the client accepted. Making a false promise in order to get an opposing party to agree to something is commonly referred to in the legal field as “fraud in the inducement”. In other words, one party makes a fraudulent promise in order to deceive the other party into agreeing to something that otherwise might not be agreed to.
So, PNC, are you engaging in fraudulent conduct or is this simply another “miscommunication”?
McGrath & Spielberger, PLLC provides assistance to borrowers in need of mortgage relief services, such as mortgage loan modification, foreclosure negotiation, refinancing, and deed-in-lieu or other negotiated settlement resolutions.
McGrath & Spielberger, PLLC provides legal services in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The firm offers full scale representation, as well as limited scope services.
We live in Kansas, so I know you can’t help us. I just want to let you and your clients know that we are caught up in the middle of the same mess with PNC Mortgage. We are five months behind on payments. We sent in a payment in Feb., 2013, and they sent it back, said they don’t take partial payments. Well, we obviously don’t have $3,000 on hand, so we’re essentially screwed. We have filled out two hardship packets, with them telling us they don’t participate in the HAMP Program, that we don’t qualify because they service our loan on behalf of an investor/group of investors. Now we have a new loss mitigation guy, and he says he can’t tell us anything about anything before he took over as our rep. Now he wants a new packet with all our information again. We’re doing it, but we’ve received a letter from PNC saying they’ve turned our loan over to an attorney in Overland Park, KS to initiate the foreclosure proceedings, all the while, they keep saying they’re here to help. When we mentioned the different options they have such as forebearance, repayment, modification, DIL and short sale, our rep knew nothing of it. We read those options off to him from a piece of paper they had sent us in the hardship packet. We are at wits end. We are going to lose our home, don’t know when, and we have no place to go. I truly hope you and your clients beat these cheating, lying thieves. Take down the whole rotten, fraudelent outfit!!! Best of luck to your and your clients.
Karen, I am truly sorry to hear about your challenges with PNC, although I am not surprised. In the case I referenced, PNC then brought in a Chicago law firm, and the lawyer did not have a clue as to what she was doing.
I encourage you to file a complaint with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (you can do it pretty easily online). You may also want to see if the Attorney General or anyone other state agency will accept complaints.
I wish I was able to represent you. I do wish you the best of luck.
Karen,
Good luck. They have lead me on for 3 years. My husband left, so I needed to modify my mortgage. I wanted to pay. I wanted to honor my debt. I was willing to work with them. I sent paper after paper to them. I jumped through all of their hoops. We decided to sell the house. My son and I left our home and moved into an apartment that costs almost as much as my mortage. We didn’t get any buyers and it sat and ate up our equity. For the past year, we have been trying to do a short-sale. They have refused at least 5 offers on the house. It was supposed to finally go to sheriff’s sale at the end of March. They decided to delay it for two months more. Meanwhile, expenses are adding up. I was just notified that they accepted the last short-sale offer. I am doubtful that it will come to fruition.
I really hope that you are able to resolve your issue with them before you end up like me and hundreds of others.
We just meet with an attorney today to deal with pnc, were deal with the same issues after a17 month
We just meet with an attorney today to deal with pnc, were deal with the same issues after a17 month