by Sheryl L Sutter

Created on: November 05, 2008

MORTGAGE FRAUD IS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME: One Family's Struggle<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

All they wanted was a fair shake and an honest transaction; what they received was deliverance into hell. They wanted to live the American dream and they, now, like millions of other Americans are suffering from the greed that has enveloped their mortgage industry over the past decade.

In this case they were coming out of a bankruptcy that could not be seen to fruition due to a job loss stemming from revenue sharing cuts within the state. They had just suffered a horrific year ranging from job loss; to a son in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Baghdad; to the death of their beloved son-in-law and three year old grandson.

Upon discharge of their bankruptcy they discovered that they owed $10,000 more on their home than they did when they first went into the bankruptcy seven years prior; they also discovered that the $75,000 they had paid into bankruptcy had went mostly to interest and administrative costs. The only way to save their home at this point was to get a new mortgage. Due to the fact that they were coming out of bankruptcy they ended up in a four month run-a-round to obtain a mortgage with a company that ended up receiving a Cease and Desist Order from the State of Michigan less than five months later, due to unscrupulous acts. They would not discover this for another two years.

A year after obtaining the mortgage, that had been sold twice by this point, they fell a month behind on their monthly payment. To ensure that they would get no further behind they made sure to pay all late fees associated with each month's payment so that they would never get further behind than the actual one month payment. At one point the mortgage company sent back the late payment check(s) and stated that they did not accept partial payment, so the following month they mad sure that they paid the additional fees that they had shown, still keeping us owing only one months payment. In September of that year my son was getting married so they had to go out of town; when they came home they discovered that the current mortgage company had begun foreclosure proceedings against us.

Their only option at that time, albeit against their better judgment, was to file, again, for bankruptcy. This was devastating to them; especially over a bill that should have been less than $1,000.

When the current

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