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CALL FOR ACTION: Mortgage problem fixed
CALL FOR ACTION keeps a Collier County couple in their home and saves them thousands of dollars.
By
Melissa Yeager, WINK News
Story Created:
Apr 30, 2009 at 2:57 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Apr 30, 2009 at 7:32 PM EDT
NAPLES, Fla. - Mariano and Elisabeth Martinez own a condo. Like a lot of people, they needed to refinance. The bank promised the payment would stay steady at $900. So when they received a bill for well over $2,000 they called CALL FOR ACTION for help.
"I said you know what, I'm gonna call somebody from the TV station," said Elisabeth.
Elisabeth Martinez and her husband Mariano had a fixed-rate mortgage, but their payments kept going up thanks to rising homeowners association dues.
"There's 20, I think 20 condos that foreclosed last year," explained Mariano, "We had to pay a special assessment."
Not wanting to foreclose themselves, the Martinez's called the bank for help. The bank dropped their interest rate but added ten years to their mortgage all in an effort to keep their payment affordable. The Martinez's thought everything was going to be OK.
"Then this month I got hit with a $2,000 bill," said Mariano.
"It was scary. We didn't know what we were gonna do," said Elisabeth.
Mariano, who spent a year trying to get the bank to renegotiate new terms his loan, was angry.
"We've been dealing with this for over a year almost. You can sit here for days and days and days on the phone and nobody knows nothing," he said.
That's when his wife decided to call CALL FOR ACTION, "I called WINK and I got a hold of Melissa and she was great"
WINK News called their lender, Citi, who told us they'd made a mistake. Even though the Martinez' paid refinancing charges in advance, the bank charged them a second time.
"That same day the mortgage company called me 'oh there's been a mistake on your account'," said Elisabeth.
The bank told us they would fix it.
The Martinez's still aren't happy about the mistake.
"How can you run a company where you put mistakes on a bill?" said Elisabeth.
They are relieved they can afford their payment and wonder about others facing the same problem.
"I grieve for everybody else going through some problem like we were having," said Mariano.
WINK News found out about the Martinez's problem because they called us for help. WINK NEWS CALL FOR ACTION has a team of volunteers that help people just like you with consumer problems. You can reach them at 1-800-795-9465 Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Calls are free and confidential. You can also follow everything we're working on here at CALL FOR ACTION by following us on Twitter.