GMAC MORTGAGE Destroyed My Credit, Stole Thousands From Us, And Caused Us To File Bankruptcy Waterloo, Iowa

I want to tell my story of how GMAC Mortgage handled my mortgage. They stole thousands of dollars from me, destroyed my credit and forced us into bankruptcy. It all started back in Late 2002. A mortgage broker from GMAC Mortgage contacted us saying he could help us save money on our home financing. At the time we had a Mortgage thru if I recall correctly with Guaranty Mortgage which was a 30 year fixed at 8.625%. After speaking with the Broker from GMACM he convinced us that he could do better. We initiated the application over the phone and before we hung up he told us he could get us a 30 year fixed for 6.5% which was looking to save us a little bit over $400.00/month on our home. We agreed to proceed and he said he would lock us in at that rate.

A couple days later we received the initial loan packet in the mail that we were to go thru sign, initial and date each page and return. Since it had been less than a year that we had our loan with Guaranty they used that appraisal value which was $256,000. We had refinanced with Guaranty to borrow against our equity and do some remodeling and pay off our RV loan. Since we were just refinancing and not borrowing any extra this time we were just looking to get a better rate and reduce our monthly costs. Our payoff with Guaranty was approx. $214K and after fees and such we were looking to refinance with GMACM $217K which put us at approx 85% LTV.

As I was going thru the packet I noticed the PMI form which they were requesting us to pay Approx $380.00 per month for Private Mortgage Insurance. I contacted GMACM and told them we were not going to proceed further with the loan because the PMI amount was about four times higher than what we were paying with our current lender. Initially he came back with a counter offer around $200.00/month which at that point I told him if he was not able to provide us with an amount at or less than what we were currently paying we would cancel the application. Finally he came back with an amount of $94.08/month which was a couple dollars less than our current PMI payment. We agreed to that amount and a new packet was sent out which we signed dated and returned. Like I said that was late 2002 (Nov/Dec), after much delay and unexplained hold-ups we finally closed on our Refinance with GMACM in June, 2003. More than six months later, but we were happy at least to start paying less each month.

Things were going pretty well, we signed up with the Bi-Saver program in Feb, 2004 where we agreed to have half of our monthly payment deducted from our Bank Account every other Friday/Payday. That was really nice, we didnt have to hassle with mailing a check each month and it made monthly budget much easier as well. That same month I began undergoing medical treatments for Hepatitis C which I had contracted from a blood transfusion when I was a couple weeks old. The treatments were weekly in the form of a shot which side affects are very painful and hard on the patient. Just when it becomes bearable its time for another and the whole process starts over. As a result I missed quite a bit of work. The first few months were the hardest but became easier to deal with as time went on. But during the first couple months or so I was only able to work an average of three days a week. I was able to take an intermittent Family Medical Leave which allowed me to keep my job, and work on days I was strong enough to and stay home on days I wasnt without recourse. This was going to make things a little tight financially but manageable.

That same month Feb, 2004 as well GMACM did their Annual Escrow Analysis. For some reason we were more than $2500.00 short in our Escrow Account and. Our monthly Escrow payments were readjusted to pay the short fall amount and adjusted to pay the upcoming years Taxes and Owners Insurance. As a result they began charging us approximately $500.00 extra each month. I became aware of this when we went over our budget for the two weeks and over drew our account considerably not knowing they increased our bi-weekly amount $250.00. We didnt receive any notification prior to this happening other than our monthly statement that we received maybe a day or so earlier and we had not looked at it yet. Immediately I contacted GMAC regarding this matter and learned of the above details. What I couldnt understand was why. How could I be so short in my escrow account, I was paying nearly $400.00/month in there should not have been any shortage. After doing a little investigating over the next 24 hours I found the answer.

I was reviewing my monthly statements and noticed that approx $390.00 each month was being applied to other charges which turned out being PMI! I contacted GMAC Mortgage again and inquired about this and yes as it turned out that is exactly what was happening. The Service Representative was able to pull up my Loan Contract and did verify to me that I was only contractually liable to pay $94.08. So for the past six months less than $10.00 each month was being applied to my Escrow account and the rest was going to PMI. They did admit that there had been some sort of error on their part and that they would initiate the request to have this fixed. I was told it would be taken care of and that my monthly payments would be corrected back. But next pay they still took the additional $250.00. I contacted them again and this time I got a different story. They needed me to fax or mail them a copy of my closing documents showing the PMI amount of $94.08. I was confused because I knew they had a copy of this on record and the last person told me they were able to access my documents on their computer and did indeed verify that the amount they had been paying was wrong. But I just wanted this fixed as quick as possible because we were not able to add an additional $500 to our monthly costs at that time while I was going thru treatments.

I faxed a copy to them and did receive confirmation that they did receive it. I did follow up with them as to the status and they said that the request had been submitted to have it fixed and they were just waiting for the responsible persons to fix the error. They were not sure how long it would take but didnt see it taking too long since it was supposedly an urgent matter. Next payday again an extra $250.00 was deducted and this time I had had enough. I was very sick at this point, and really didnt have the energy to deal with this matter but I had to. It was now affecting our other financial obligations. I contact GMAC again and explained the current situation and also asked them to please reimburse me the additional funds I had paid in error. They said there was nothing they could do till it was fixed and that I would continue being billed for the amount till someone corrected it. I immediately stopped the bi-weekly automatic withdraws and told them I would just mail them my payment. They then told me that they would only accept the full payment due each month even though it was wrong. I was in shock when I heard this and figured that they were just saying that. I figured for my next payment I would just pay it over the phone, and pay them basically what I should have been paying them since I had already been told what the amount should have been.

My taxes did go up a little which really only affected my monthly payment approx $18.00 more. I was willing to pay them $20 for good measure but they would not accept it. I told them I just wasnt able to pay an extra $500.00/month especially since I was working about 30% less at the time. It just wasnt an option so I told them I would pay them when they fixed it thinking that might motivate them into resolving the issue. Well a month later they were still billing me the same and now I was full payment and a half behind. They would add fees to my balance due in the amount of around $170 for being 30plus days late. At that point I was physically sickly, my hair was beginning to fall out, I had lost over 40 pounds and stressed beyond belief. They were calling all the time insisting that I pay current on my loan. I finally gave in; we didnt have enough in our bank account to cover the amount due so I took a Loan out against my 401K to help cover the two payments due. I pleaded with them that this was wrecking us, we were also late on our two auto loans because we were being forced to pay this extra money we really didnt have.

I also was in constant contact with my other creditors as well and oddly enough, the only other company that was not really willing to work with me was GMAC Auto! They ended up repossessing my car. The crappy thing about that was, we were nearly 90days behind, and if we didnt make the payment by the certain date they were going to repo the vehicle. It just so happened that we had the funds from 401K and that date happened to be payday for me so we were able to pay current on the car. My wife called the payment in over the phone but she called at 4:40pm and the repossession department just so happened to close at 4:30 on Friday so even thought they took our payments which did post to our account immediately. They repossessed my car Sunday night while we were in bed! Then when I asked them to please bring it back, we were current they said I had to pay the balance in full which was around $10,000.00 to get it back!

GMAC Mortgage still continued over billing me thru August of 2004 when they finally fixed the problem. By then, I had lost my car, was again more than two months behind on my home. I had to take a hardship withdraw from my 401K which cost me over $3500.00 just to get a little over $5000.00 which helped me get back on track. They took from March thru August to fix the problem, which at the time I had calculated I would at least be getting close to $3000.00 back for six payment of $500.00. I also requested them to reverse any and all additional fees and charges that they charged me and if they would be so kind to reimburse my 401k Fees.

They sent me a check for $480 and change! I was absolutely floored and contacted them again for the several hundredth time and asked for a full account history report. I did receive one a week or so later and let me tell you, I could not make any sense of it at all. All these codes, charges, charge backs, etc. So I decided to get an expert from GMACM on the line and explain it to me. They could not explain it either. Honestly, I have no Idea how they can do this to people.

Had they not made this error, we would have not been lat on our house payments. Sure we would have possibly missed a payment or so on other things but we would not have lost our vehicles. It took us nearly six months to really get back on track with our mortgage because even after all that they somehow managed to say I stilled owed them a lump of money for charges that accrued I hadnt paid. When I do the math, it makes no sense but I know they stole from me!

We ended up filing bankruptcy which was discharged in July, 2009. We kept our home but had to give up everything else. Now we drive old beaters that I constantly am working on. We do have one used auto loan at over 18% which we hope to have paid off in the next few months. We were able to reestablish the Bi-Saver program for our home in Feb 2005 before we filed. We have not been late once since!

GMAC Mortgage sold my loan to NationStar in December 2008. We have been fortunate thus far with our new lender. They even sent me a letter last month that they were sending me a refund because I have too much money in my 401K! How funny is that, five years with GMACM and never once did I get an Escrow Refund! My taxes arent any less and my insurance isnt either! GMAC really scammed me