Complaint Review: Full Spectrum Lending - Pasadena California

In January of 2004, I contacted my mortgage company, Countrywide, to let them know that I knew I would have trouble with my payments for the next four months or so. They told me that they could help, and a few days later I received a letter from Full Spectrum Lending. I called them, and they assured me that I had a lot of equity in my home, and they would give me a second mortgage. I explained that I was going to have problems with my mortgage payment for awhile (3-4 months), and they again assured me that I had a lot of equity, they could do the loan in a short time, and that they would catch up the payments, and after that I wouldn't have a payment until about June of 2004.

The first time they did the numbers, I was going to be able to catch up all mortgage payments, pay off my credit cards, my car, and have $26,000.00, cash out. They assured me again that this would be no problem, and would be finalized by noon the next day.

What happened the next day, and for 7-8 weeks after that, was a nightmare! They kept calling me back, two -three times a week, asking for more information, and everytime they called, the numbers would change. I kept getting less and less, yet the person always assured me that "this time it will definately go through, and we will have it done by noon tomorrow". I was told this 2-3 times a week. When I asked why it kept changing after I was told everything was ok, she told me it was the underwriters fault, and that everytime my request went back, it went to a different underwriter who wanted different information, and different payoffs. During all this time, I would ask about my mortgage payments because I was falling further and further behind. She kept telling me not to make any mortgage payments because it would all be taken care of by tomorrow (again). I was also behind in my car payments, and had called Toyota to let them know that I were going to pay off the car in full when the second mortgage was completed.

By the fifth week or so, the numbers had changed so dramatically from what they told me in the beginning, that they were now telling me that instead of getting money back, I had to come to settlement with money to get this done! Every single time I talked to Full Spectrum, the numbers got less and less, and so did the payoffs. During the sixth week, Toyota came and repossessed my car. I had to borrow $10,000.00, from my family to get it back or I could not work. When I informed Full Spectrum about this, I got another call the next day telling me I had to come to closing with $10,000.00! I asked her how I was supposed to do this and she wanted me to take the money I had borrowed from my family to get my car back, and give it to Full Spectrum! I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

In the space of 7 weeks or so, I had gone from having my car paid off, several mortgage payments made, paying off my credit cards, and getting $26,000.00, cash out from Full Spectrum Lending, to having only a couple of bills paid, not having my car paid, and having to come to settlement with $10,000.00. To top all this off, the last time she called me, she inadvertently slipped and said, "I'm sick of hearing from you". And she had called me.

The result of all this is that now I have my house listed for sale as I was never able to catch up on the mortgage payments. I just have to hope that it sells before Countrywide tries to foreclose. As soon as I am able, I will definately get a lawyer. If anyone who reads this can give me any help, or an idea of where and how to start, I would be very grateful.

Sharon

Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.