Fairbanks bought my second mortgage from Equicredit in february.My first notice was when i saw a woman walking around my yard in May.She said she was sent by Fairbanks to assess and find out why i wasn't paying my mortgage.I was, to Equicredit.She gave me a number to call, I called and got a mailing address for payments, which i sent to the address.I finally got my first statement in AUGUST.I continued to send my payments and as far as i knew everything was fine.

In December i got a notice from Fairbanks saying i was four months behind and in danger of being foreclosed on.WHAT WAS THIS? I immediately sent them two payments(all i could afford),and two weeks later sent them two more payments.I figured that once the four payments cleared i would have time to call them and straighten things out.I was NOT behind.But i couldn't afford to lose my house so i sent the payments anyway.(I panicked).I called their so-called customer service when i saw that none of the checks were presented.I played phone-tag with a 'Laura' for about a week until she finally decided to be IN her office.(I was told she was handling my account).

When i finally talked to 'Laura' she said that fairbanks was foreclosing on my house so they wouldn't accept my personal checks.But i could stop the foreclosure if i immediately sent a cash payment by western union equal to the four checks and entered into a forebearance agreement which they would have drawn up by the same Cherry Hill lawyer who was foreclosing on me.I could not afford representation so i felt i had to agree to save my house until i could fight this.I was told by 'Laura' that when they recieved my cash payment that the four checks would be returned to me since they would not accept my personal checks.I was told that everything had to be done by 12-31-02 or else.

The forebearance called for a set-amount payment to be paid by CERTIFIED CHECK ONLY from january until june and then a lump sum at the end of june for an additional 3390.What choice did i have? If you can't afford a lawyer, your stuck.

I sent the cash payment equal to the four checks by western union on 12-20-02.I then recieved the forebearance agreement,signed it and returned it by Fed-ex.

My family saw my predicament and lent me 1000 so that i could pay some of the bills that i had to put off so that i could save my house.OK, i deposit the money and write some checks to pay some bill payments.Things are looking up and soon i will be able to afford to pay a lawyer to give me some advice on how to fight this, right? WRONG!! I start getting BOUNCED CHECK notices from my bank at 32.00 a pop.WHAT IS GOING ON???

Fairbanks Capitol Corporation returned TWO of the FOUR checks and the greedy !#@$^$#'s cashed the other TWO.On TOP of the cash payment i sent them.I called 'Laura' and asked her what was going on.In the ensuing 20 minute conversation she called me a 'liar' in 'not so many words' and put me on hold twice saying i was being irrational.She said i should have put a stop payment on the checks(like it was my fault).I even explained that the forebearance agreement clearly states that they would not accept personal checks from me.Finally she said 'we thought it was your January payment'.'if you have a grievance fax it to this number.GOODBYE' I have gotten no response to the fax.Since she didn't tell me what place i was faxing to and the fax number is in pennsylvania for all i know it was faxed to a library.

Since i now trusted them as far as i could throw a building i decided to cover my butt and send the january payment by certified check anyway.SURPRISE! SURPRISE!! I just recently recieved a notice saying that they haven't recieved my January payment.Now supposedly when they cashed the two checks they weren't supposed to they 'thought it was my january payment', then i sent the actual payment called for in the forebearance agreement and still they say they haven't recieved any payments.I also sent the February payment in february(both january and february by USPS next day air with return reciept).

Between 12-26-02 and 1-24-03 i paid them 2654.22.(the cash payment plus the two checks they weren't supposed to cash).LESS THAN 350. WAS APPLIED TO THE PRINCIPAL AND THE REST WAS LISTED IN AN 'OTHER' COLUMN.

The icing on the cake: I talked to a prominent lawyer here in New Jersey today and he told me that basically if i fight it i will spend more in lawyers fees than the actual cost of the money they are ripping off of me.So I should wait and keep paying the payments and when they foreclose(an eventuality),i should hire a lawyer to show that i made the payments.But i will NEVER get the bounced check fees back and they don't have to disclose what the 'other' fees are unless i hire a lawyer.

By the way, along the way on the foreclosure papers Fairbanks also decided to install themselves as my First mortgage holder, which isn't true and will surprise my true first mortgage holder(Aurora financial,which i haven't had ANY problems with.recommended)

ISN'T LIFE GRAND!!

Joe
glassboro, New Jersey
U.S.A.

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