For National Publication by Susan Titour

I have lived in my home at 4712 Thorpe Ave., Orlando, FL 32804 for 14 years. I refinanced in January 19, 2006 with Long Beach Mortgage and they immediately “sold” the loan Washington Mutual Home Loans. I invested the $69,000 cash out into four day spa’s, which all collapsed within 3 months of opening. However, I still was (barely) able to make the increased mortgage payments. In September 2006, I broke my leg AND my fiancé ran up all my credit cards to max, stole all my money and left in the middle of the night, leaving me broke. Realizing that I was going to be in trouble soon I called WaMu to see about getting some temporary help.

On September 21, 2006, Washington Mutual’s solution was to refinance my second mortgage (with them also) to include my credit card debt (which I was paying $1,400 a month on). The refinance would only have added $30 per month to my 2nd mortgage payment, thereby saving me $1,370 a month. Although I qualified for the refinance on the 2nd (at 11.8% interest!!!!), after reviewing my income for the past 12 months the underwriter decided that I didn’t NEED the loan and declined it! Uh.... hello, all that income is GONE, I need to refinance so I can pay the mortgage payment! But denied. Not logical.

Upon being denied for the refinancing of the second mortgage (because I made TOO MUCH money,) WaMu suggested I refinance the entire amount, both 1st and 2nd mortgages. I discussed the loan with Linda Beltran, 1-800-488-8905 ext 8108. She is in the Consumer Direct New Loans department. They approved the loan for only 70% of the value of the home. Where was I supposed to come up with the other 30%???? That didn’t help.

After I was turned down for that loan, I then spoke to “Robert” in Customer Service (1-866-394-4034) to see if there were any other alternatives. He said that although there was be a late payment showing on my credit report, that he could do a “WAMU Credit Fix” once I paid the September payment. He said that WHEN I paid the September payment, they would take the late payment OFF my credit record and set up a payment plan for October, spreading October’s payment out over a period of six months. I finally scraped up the money to pay September’s payment and paid it on October 20, 2006.

On October 20, 2006 I called Customer Service to request that they take the late payment off my credit (as was the agreement), and they said, “oh! sorry! too late! Deal’s off.” WHAT??? I borrowed money from everyone I could to make that payment and preserve my credit!

Customer Service referred me to the Collections Department. I asked them if they could maybe put three payments at the END of the loan to give me a chance to get back on my feet. They said no, but they COULD spread the November payment over 6 months, which increased my mortgage payment from $2207.56 to $2575.49. I explained to them that if I couldn’t make the $2207 payment, how was I going to make a higher one??? They said it was my only option. I accepted it, hoping that my financial situation would change and I could somehow come up with the payment. I couldn’t come up with the $2575.49 by the November 27th deadline and the payment plan was cancelled immediately by WAMU.

Just in case I couldn’t meet the agreement of the plan, the only thing I could think of was to put my home up for sale, in case I couldn’t resolve the financing issue. On October 21, 2006, I put up my “For Sale By Owner” Sign, with an asking price of $394,000 (price arrived at because of the amount owed plus all the penalties to WaMu, plus closing costs, no profit for me).

Taking a chance, I called Countrywide Mortgage Company in November 2006, and they approved a refinance of 100% of the value of my home which would pay off Washington Mutual AND my credit cards and also leave me a “cushion” until I literally got back on my feet. They sent an appraiser, who appraised my house for $380,000 on December 7th. I was APPROVED for the loan, but by December 19, 2006, WaMu had NOT sent them a payoff amount! By December 20th, Countrywide was even willing to just see my payment history from WaMu’s online account, because there had been NO CONTACT FROM WAMU. WaMu won't give me any answers on the phone either. They are calling me 5-9 times per day for the payment and when I ask them for the payoff information they get snippy with me and end up hanging up.

On December 5, 2006, I received a “notice of intent to accelerate on loan 0697409852.

On December 20th, I accessed WaMu’s online account, which showed my 1st mortgage balance to be $274,703.77, and the 2nd mortgage balance to be $68,779.87, totalling $343,483.64. I called WaMu and spoke to Wendy Sanders at Washington Mutual, a supervisor. She said they faxed the payoff and payment history last week to a 407 area code fax number. I told her Countrywide’s fax number was 866-583-3649, NOT a 407 area code, and gave her my lender’s name for the attention to.

She then started SCREAMING at me that they will foreclose on January 4th if I don't get this payoff in. I told her in a calm voice to please not scream at me, and that was the reason I didn't want to deal with WAMU any more. She got that real sarcastic tone in her voice and said, "get us paid off or we will foreclose on January 4th. Thank you. Have a NICE DAY." and she hung up on me.

Later that day on December 20th, I called several people at WaMu and I talked to a person who is actually NICE at WAMU. She says the back door number to the payoff department is 866-394-4034. Countrywide then called that number to try to get a payoff.

On December 21, a woman from WAMU called me. They wanted their payment. I told them I was refinancing and they would get ALL their money probably next week if they would just get me the payoff amount. She got real snippy with me and said, "if we don't have our money by December 31st we are FORECLOSING on January 1st." In ONE DAY the foreclosure date went from January 4th to January 1st.

On December 21, 2006, I received a letter from Washington Mutual offering a Loss Mitigation Work Out plan. I called 1-866-244-1369 and told them I was refinancing and would not need the Loss Mitigation Work Out plan.

On December 22nd, Countrywide finally got the payoff figures from Washington Mutual. Countrywide said the pre-payment figures were ridiculously high. On December 27th, 2006, Countrywide informed me that they had to decline the loan because the WaMu payoffs put the amount OVER the appraisal by approximately $10,000.

So to recap, my 1st mortgage balance was $274,702.77; second mortgage balance was $68,779.87, equalling $343,482.64. The Appraised value (Appraisal in December 7, 2006) was $380,000 (which is what Countrywide was willing to lend). Once WAMU finally came back with the payoff, the late fees, pre-payment penalties, attorney fees, etc. were $10,000 MORE than appraised value a whopping $36,517 penalty. Countrywide said I would have to PAY $10,000 in order to refinance my home (which of course I couldn’t do), so the loan was denied.

On January 11th, out of frustration, I wrote a letter to Washington Mutual bank officers David C. Schneider, Kerry K. Killinger, Stephen Rotella, Larry McNair, and to the Default Department. The letter included the problems I had dealing with their collections department, the attempts I made to refinance with them at a lower interest rate but was denied, logical solutions to the problem, that with their cooperation I could keep my home and they would get their money. I received a telephone call on January 23, 2007 from Demetrice Blackshear, Executive Response Team, Default Correspondence Servicing Center, Jacksonville, FL.

Ms. Blackshear was extremely helpful, and suggested the following: (1) a repayment plan that would allow me to repay the overdue amount over a defined extended period of time. (Remember, that in October I tried that and all they did was RAISE my mortgage payment by $500 per month!). (2) Loan Modification - to change the terms of the mortgage and bring the loan current. (3) Pre-foreclosure sale, in which the letter claims “Washington Mutual may assist iin the sale ven if the sale proceeds are less than the total owed.” (4) Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure, to voluntarily convey my property to Washington Mutual to REDUCE or CANCEL your debt.

On January 23rd, I opted for (2), a Loan Modification, to change the terms of the mortgage and bring the loan current. Ms. Blackshear sent me the required form. I returned as much information as possible.

On January 24, 2007, the “Employee Lending Sales Admin” department ran my credit, and (big shock!) my credit score was only 486 (only because of the late mortgage payments... before that my score was 675) so I was turned down for the Loan Modification due to my credit score. How illogical! Of course my credit score was low, otherwise I wouldn’t need the loan modification!

On January 29, 2007, I received a letter stating that I was a potential candidate for a Loss Mitigation Program (again!). I sent them my income information (average $8237 per month), and my monthly expenses (average $6472 without a mortgage payment), which would leave approximately $1800 a month to pay a mortgage payment. Their conclusion was (duh) that I didn’t make enough money to pay the $2207 + $667 mortgage payment.  Yes, we knew that. I needed them to refinance the entire loan to make the mortgage payments $1800 a month. They said they couldn’t do that because I couldn’t afford the $1800 (THIS IS SO ILLOGICAL! THEY KEPT PUTTING THE HIGHER MORTGAGE PAYMENT IN MY EXPENSES COLUMN!!!!!) The collection agent actually asked me if I could buy less groceries to reduce my expenses!

On February 5, 2007, I received a notice of Intent to Accelerate on loan number 0697409993.

On March 5th, I wrote to Demetrice Blackshear regarding the progress (or lack thereof) in selling my house. I spent $4,000 repairing and updating the house, landscaped the yard, took out ads in our daily newspaper and our monthly newspaper, put up a website (http://www.4712Thorpe.com), etc. To date I have had 98 open houses with only 6 visitors. In October 2006 The City began construction and has torn up my street to put in sewer lines and no one can get here due to the road construction.

On March 16, 2007, I received a letter advising me that Long Beach Mortgage Company has initiated foreclosure proceedings on my loan, and listed Spear and Hoffman PA (305) 670-2299 as the attorney. Why Long Beach Mortgage??? What relation are they to Washington Mutual????

On March 19, 2007, I received the exact same letter.

On March 21, 2007, I received a telephone call from Wantaise Wilson (866-288-7383 x 15564). She explained to me that I could do a “short sale” on the house. She claimed the bank would be willing to accept $215,000 as a settlement. I asked her if they would then sue me for the balance and she said “NO.” She told me to put the house up for sale for whatever I could get, offer the bank $215,000 and I could keep whatever was left over. WHAT???????? I want her to put that in writing!!!! No, she couldn’t do that, but she said I would have to hire a Realtor. I asked her why, if the bank would take $215,000 from a Buyer, why wouldn’t they just refinance the house TO ME for that price??? On a 30 year fixed mortgage at 6.375% the payments would only be $1,341!!!!! I could DEFINITELY make that! That is what a rental house will cost me when I have to move! I’d rather pay it on MY OWN HOUSE. But she said No, I can’t have the house at that price, only a Buyer could have it at that price.

In the meantime, Demetrice Blackshear disappeared and all my communication was with Wantaise Wilson.

On March 26th, So I contacted a local realtor, Anne Rogers Realty Group. Anne Rogers specializes in my area. Anne Rogers personally spoke with Ms. Wilson to have her explain how the “short sale” and the Hud1 form worked. Ms. Wilson explained to Anne Rogers that no matter how much the house sold for, ONLY put $215,000 as the OFFER on the Hud1 form. Anything above that would have to be a CASH transaction between the buyer and me to pay the realtor and closing costs. Ms. Wilson explained that the bank DID NOT WANT TO SEE any offer over the $215,000, or they would TAKE THAT EXCESS MONEY as well.

Ms. Rogers explained to Ms. Wilson that sounded like Bank Fraud, and she feared losing her realtors license because of it. Ms. Wilson told Ms. Rogers that wasn’t the bank’s problem. Anne Rogers was astounded that a bank representative would insist that she and I commit bank fraud. Needless to say, Anne Rogers did NOT list my house. I was left on my own to figure out what a “short sale” was, and was very frightened that Ms. Wilson was lying to me and that I would still be held responsible for the balance of the loan and/or be arrested and jailed.

I am now having to take anti-depressants and cannot work, because I have had a nervous breakdown.

On March 27th, I received a Summons dated March 20, 2007, stating that a lawsuit had been filed against me by Deutsche Bank National Trust Company as Trustee for Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust 2006-2, attorneys Spear and Hoffman Pa, (305) 670-2299. The complaint is an action to foreclose on the mortgage on my house, claiming the sum owed is $296,013.76 (1st mortgage), penalties equalling $21,013. Nowhere on the document is Washington Mutual mentioned.

On March 29th, I spoke with Wantaise Wilson regarding the summons and she said not to worry, a SALE DATE had not yet been filed. She instructed me to continue to try to sell the house for $215,000 plus whatever cash I could get from the buyer. I faxed her a picture of the construction in front of my house so she would know why it hadn’t sold yet. I also attached an article from CNN’s report on how 2.2 million families are in foreclosure, and a recession is imminent if banks don’t help people like me. 

On April 10th, 2007, Wantaise Wilson disappeared and Tracy Patterson began as my contact person. Her number is 1-866-288-7383 ext. 15555. She attempted to do a Loan Modification and came up with the same results as the previous representatives (the illogical inclusion of the existing mortgage payment in my expenses, hence a negative income). She too, advised me to sell the house on a short sale for $215,000 and make a separate contract for any cash above that amount to keep for myself. I told her I believed that to be Bank fraud.  She said that wasn’t her problem. I asked my roommate to listen in on the telephone call to witness what she was telling me. She was telling  me that bank would “probably” accept $215,000 as a complete payoff for the house, that the bank would NOT sue me for the balance and that the 2nd mortgage would just be “forgiven,” and I would NOT have a foreclosure on my credit record.

On April 10th, I faxed Ms. Patterson a proposal, requesting that the bank refinance my house for ME, including my credit card and auto debt ($18,760) at the short sale price ($215,000). The mortgage payment would then be $1,555.21 per month. Saving the $971 per month credit card debt would leave only $584 difference for me to pay towards the mortgage. A roommate paying $600 a month (which I already had lined up) meant that there was ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that I could pay that mortgage payment. Her response was “we do not do financing here. We are a debt collector.”

On April 12th, 2007, I received a notice that I once again have been identified as a potential candidate for the Loss Mitigation Program. What a waste of time. They have already used faulty math several previous times, what’s the point? And Ms. Patterson AND Ms. Wilson have already stated that the Bank will NOT give ME my own house for the short sale amount. She also stated that I did NOT have a sale date at that time. However, she referred me to Larry McNair (fax 407-849-9414, phone 407-843-2043), to whom I explained the Hell I have been through trying to deal with Washington Mutual. He requested that I send him the original letter that I sent to all the Washington Mutual Officers in January 2007. I did so, and he said he was going to refer the letters to his supervisor, but I have never heard back from him.

On May 3, 2007, The Law Offices of Spear and Hoffman, PA MAILED me a letter which was a “NOTICE OF HEARING” set for May 29th, 2007 at 9:15 a.m. in room 800.02 of the Orange County Courthouse. The Hearing is the Plaintiff’s (Long Beach Mortgage) Motion for summary judgment and motion for attorney’s fees. The case also included an “Affidavit in support of Motion for Final SumnmaryJudgment” by Mark Cardinos. They claim the amounts due and payable total $302,146.92 plus attorney’s fees of $1,200, totalling $303,346.92

On May 7, 2007, I faxed to Tracy Patterson a CASH offer from a buyer in the amount of $215,000. I had several questions that I asked her in order to complete the transaction. She did NOT respond, and I called her EVERY DAY only to get her voice mail. She NEVER called me back.

On May 15th, I faxed her again, with the buyer information, the offer, title company information, and informing her that the buyer wants to close TODAY. I received no response. I called her several times throughout the next few days only to receive her voice mail and no return calls.

On May 17th, 2007, I received a call from Lisseth Farhan, 1-866-288-7383 ext. 61357, who claimed she had never heard of Tracy Patterson (even though their telephone numbers are the same), and that there have been NO additions to my file since April 7th. In other words, ALL communication I have had with Washington Mutual since then was lost. She said she was going to try to contact Tracy, but has never gotten back with me.

On May 22, 2007, I received a contract to purchase said property with an offer of $215,000, with a closing date of May 29, 2007. The offer, with an approved buyer, has been made to the bank but no response has been received from the bank.

On or about May 23, I called Demetrice Blackshear to explain to her what was happening and see if she could speed up the process of the sale of the house. I told her Tracy Patterson was not returning my calls/faxes. She said she would have someone get in touch with me. Later that day, Waintaise Wilson called me, acting all snippy and she told me that Lisseth Farhan would now be handling my file. I’ll bet she was acting all snippy because in my letter to Demetrice Blackshear I mentioned that Wantaise wanted me to commit bank fraud

May 28, 2007, Received a call from Kim Smith, (904-886-1308) who informed me that I needed a Preliminary Hud1 along with the signed offer. She was in possession of an OLD offer that was no longer valid, so I faxed her a new copy (fax number 972-906-6524). I asked her how I can get a Hud1 if the bank won’t give me any figures??? She kept insisting they needed one. Catch 22.

The bank claims if I can’t sell the house, my only other alternative is to give them the Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure to “save my credit.” HOW CONVENIENT FOR THEM. They then get a house that is appraised at $380,000 when they wouldn’t take the short sale on $215,000. So now I just give up my deed in lieu of foreclosure because they wouldn’t respond to my Buyer????? Believe me, THAT won’t save my credit, because THAT will be listed on the credit report and it’s the same as having a foreclosure on the credit report.

I consulted several local foreclosure attorneys and they all told me that the day I go to court (May 29th), the bank could feasibly claim all my belongings that were in my home, including my clothing, computer, furnishings, etc. Although I could not find any statues pertaining to this, I erred on the side of safety and moved all my belongings out of the 4712 Thorpe Avenue house and moved into a rental house (paying first month’s rent $1250, deposit $1250, $1113 in repairs to the rental house, $300 moving costs, deposits on the utilities, totalling approximately $5,000.))

On May 29th at 9:15 a.m. I attended the court proceedings for their Final Judgment of Foreclosure in the Orange County, Florida Court House, room 800.02 to be heard by the awesome Judge Maura T. Smith. WAMU’s Lawyer, L. Joseph Hoffman was contacted on the telephone for the hearing. (Hoffman is an associate of of Spear and Hoffman, P.A., Dadeland Executive Center, 9700 South Dixie Highway, Suite 610, Miami, Florida 33156). In the Final Judgment, they were asking for $5,520 “penalty interest,” which Judge Smith asked the lawyer, “what is that?” His response was, “I would be happy to remove that from the case.” No explanation from him. The bank wanted the foreclosure date to be July 6, 2007, but after I explained briefly the circumstances and that Washington Mutual had in fact thwarted my attempts at refinancing and at selling the house, she graciously gave me until July 27, 2007 before the foreclosure date. A final Judgment of Foreclosure was entered, with the total owing being stated as $295,709.34.

Seeing that I had more time, I hired a Realtor to list the house on the Multiple Listing Service to again try to sell the house before the foreclosure date. But now, instead of being able to sell it on short sale (remember the $215,000?), it now had to be sold for at least $295,709.34. If I couldn’t sell it for $215,000, how was I going to sell it for $296K + realtors fees???? But none-the-less, I listed the house with a Realtor. No one has even looked at it. The roads are still torn up due to the sewer pipes being put in right in front of the house.

On June 7, 2007, a “PAYOFF STATEMENT” was sent to me by the Law Offices of Spear and Hoffman, P.A. The “payoff statement” stated that I now owed $297,932.07, which is $2222.73 MORE than the final Judgment. Hello???? Final means Final!!!!! They were just tacking on additional late charges, more attorney fees, “Misc. charges,” Payoff Statement Fee (it costs $30 to print a 2 page statement??????).

On June 18, 2007, I wrote a letter and faxed it to Lisseth Farhan, Washington Mutual, 866-288-7383 ext. 61357. I also faxed the same letter to Demetrice Blackshear, (tel. (904) 886-5659). Since I had no luck in selling the house (10 months on the market), I decided it was time to give Washington Mutual the Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure in order to save my credit. I had mentioned this several times to each and every one of the representatives who were my “case workers” through out the entire proceedings. I asked Ms. Farhan how long it took to fill out the paperwork for the Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. She said it took 30 days.

Woah! We better get  moving! This is June 18th and the foreclosure date is July 27th!


During this week I paid over $1,000 to keep the utilities on and the yard mowed and the pool maintained at 4712 Thorpe Ave., still maintaining the house hoping for a buyer.

On June 22, 2007, I got a telephone call from Demetrice Blackshear. She stated to me that she had forwarded my letter regarding the Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure to Kim Smith, (904-886-1308) (See May 28th notation). I did not receive any communication fromKim Smith or Lisseth Farhan.

On June 26, 2007, Demetrice Blackshear called me and told me that the case had been sent back to her, and that it was too late to give them a deed in lieu of foreclosure. TOO LATE??????? Does it take 30 days to sign a piece of paper, save my credit???

I informed Ms. Blackshear that I will be going back to the Clerk of Court in the morning, and I will be SUING Washington Mutual et all, including personal civil suits against every case worker who tried to get me to commit bank fraud and who lied and misled me. I am going to inundate them with motions for unfair business practices, violation of the provisions of Regulation Z that implement the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA), contact the Federal Trade Commission, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, HUD, Housing and Equal Rights Advocates and more.

I will send this document to EVERY WASHINGTON MUTUAL STOCKHOLDER.

I will implement a class action suit against Washington Mutual to protect the interests of many other people who are being unfairly treated in the same manner as I have been. I will cost them so much in attorney’s fees that they will wish they had just GIVEN me my house free and clear.

I will have Washington Mutual  investigated by every government agency that regulates home mortgages. I believe that current protections are inadequate to protect consumers from abusive lending practices in the subprime, nontraditional and reverse mortgage markets. I intend to blunt the impact of these practices, which at best, rob unsuspecting consumers of millions of dollars in valuable home equity and at worst, propel homeowners into a downward spiral towards default and foreclosure. Washington Mutual’s predatory lending practices must be curbed immediately and they must pay for the stress, time and energy of all those from whom they have defrauded and stolen. Washington Mutual is a recipe for Disaster.