"Disorganization at Banks Causing Mistaken Foreclosures"

A great article on the website Pro Publica discusses how mass disorganization within banks is causing homes to fall into foreclosure when they shouldn’t.

Anyone who deals with these lenders on a regular basis is likely all too familiar with the details of the article. Whether it’s a lenders collections department not communicating with their own loss mitigation department, or the lender themselves not communicating with the attorney’s they’ve hired to advance the foreclosure process, to say it’s a mess is an understatement.

We see it firsthand all the time.

We’ve had to request a redemption period reinstated, when the law firm representing the lender accidentally shortened it without checking with their client first. The short sale was still being reviewed.

We’ve had short sales rejected due to missing information that had been confirmed received, only to see the rejections reversed when time-stamped faxes were submitted.

We’ve seen clients foreclosed on when the short sale was approved and simply awaiting the closing date, due to internal miscommunications.

I could go on, and on, and on…

While many of the problems we run into are organizational issues, many are employee issues as well. Show me a loss mitigation employee and I’ll show you someone who really wants to let you know that you did/sent/said something wrong and that they can’t help you. Neither can the next 12 other people you’ll be passed on to, before being disconnected. I generalize of course – some of the loss mit reps we speak with are very good at what they do and we’re very quick to pass that on to their supervisors. Unfortunately, that’s only happened five times.

It’s a shame. A lot of people are in desperate need of a job and could do far better than those currently employed. Bank of America has had such a difficult time processing short sales, that they’ve reverted to having all short sales submitted online into a system called “Equator” - where a customer or their agent can initiate a short sale through the website and then respond to prompts for additional documentation until eventually (hopefully), a decision is rendered. It is a totally impersonal process, so best of luck trying to speak with your negotiator should you need to. And you almost always need to.

The amount of disorganization we experience is completely unacceptable and websites like Equator are unnecessary. Hire people who can do their jobs. Hire people who can function without a script. Hire people who better resemble the actors in your commercials promoting your customer-first-we-care-we-promise slogans and the disorganization will be greatly reduced…