Friday, August 31, 2007

SAY "NO" TO COUNTRYWIDE

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.- -- Eleanor Roosevelt

This week has been a very hectic, busy one. Our insurance - State Farm - has deemed there has been sufficient time for the house repairs and they will not pay any further hotel expense. (Although we have not been in hotel this entire time since May 10. We had four weeks in a motorhome.) I understand the insurance company feeling this way, but it really isn't fair. At the end of January, our county was declared a disaster by the governor due to the freeze. When we had our catastrophe, we called many contractors and they were too busy to help us because the freeze caused all contractors to be overloaded. Furthermore, our insurance company has written us several times stating, "Do not begin work until your contractor's bid has been reviewed by your agent." The insurance did not accept the contractor's bid until July 31, as you already know from the post I made that day. Although the contractor had stated it would be a three week job, it doesn't mean he was waiting by the phone for the bid to be accepted and running the minute they called. He is an excellent contractor and is also in high demand. By the way, our contractor is Joe Banuelos of Banuelos Construction of Hanford. He is an excellent contractor and has been very kind and generous to us. Joe has been ready and willing to work, but our insurance monies are being held by our mortgage lender. They have had our money for a month and have yet to release any funds. (They sent the checks back once asking us to endorse them and they were already endorsed. That's the kind of stupidity we have been dealing with.) I will scream their name - COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS. PLEASE DO NOT GET YOUR MORTGAGE FINANCE THROUGH COUNTRYWIDE. If they treat everyone the way they have treated us, it's no wonder they have been in the news about to go belly up. Everything was smooth when we needed a lender but we have found out through our insurance agent and experience, they are the most difficult to deal with during a catastrophe. No matter who we talk to in their offices, no one knows anything about dealing with such situations with the exception of Dee from the Santa Maria office. We finally spoke with a manager from Dee's office and she promised we would have money by noon today. I will have to see it to believe it. We have never had one late payment in 12 years and you would think they would treat us better. Can you believe they made us sign a paper stating we want the insurance monies to go to the repairs of our house instead of our principle balance??? DUH!!! Do I hear anyone screaming a good attorney's phone number? Most lenders stamp the checks and hand them back to you for immediate use. Our contractor is at a stand still waiting for money and a mortgage lender inspector to come, and I have been furiously trying to clean plaster dust from the upstairs bedrooms so that we can at least sleep in clean beds and, if we accidentally drop a piece of clothing on the floor, it will not turn white with dust. We will be moving back to the house tomorrow. This will be really interesting trying to dress five year old Bryn in the mornings and keep her from stepping or falling on carpet tack strip that is all through the house. More seriously, Blake has chronic sinusitis and asthma and I hope I can get enough dust out that he can breathe. We thought we would be able to use an industrial vacuum when the house was completely empty of furniture. It will be interesting for five people to share one toilet and shower when they are used to three, and keep the exposed wood floor from getting too wet from so many showers in the one bathroom. Fortunately, Trout's Floor Covering of Visalia will go ahead and place the order for the carpet and tile believing that payment is on the way. As soon as the carpet and tile are in the warehouse, we will get a big U-Haul and move our furniture into it. Then, the painter will come and paint the house in two days followed by the tile layers. As soon as the tile is down, the toilets will be set and the carpet installed. Just maybe we will see a conclusion within three weeks. This I promise - if my kids get sick or hurt because of this, I will most definitely contact an attorney because mama bear will be really upset. I feel guilty venting all this frustration to you, but hopefully you will forgive me. In the meantime, at the top of this post, I have a left a quote for your to review. Have you ever looked fear in the face? Tell me your story.

11 comments:

  1. Jana, what a nightmare...

    Hey, we look forward to seeing ya'll tomorrow.

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  2. MY LORD!!! What is the deal with these people. Yes, this is a nightmare. You are still in my thoughts and prayers.

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  3. Hang in there, Jana. You will make it. Sounds as though you are nearing the end.

    Love,

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  4. Hang in there, Jana! I can only imagine the frustration you're feeling, but "things are going to be better afterwhile"! Your home will be like new and you'll get to enjoy it once again.

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  5. Mark - you really know it's a nightmare because you have been there and saw the sight. UGH! It will be fun to get together with you, Debbie, and Sheldon again. What dear friends you are to us.

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  6. Ronda, Shirley, and Linda - thanks for your encouragement. As I thought, we did not receive funds today. If we don't have any Tuesday morning, Brian is calling our attorney. We know Countrywide is in a rough place, but that is our money, paid by our insurance, and they must give it to us for the needed repairs. When we talk to them, they apologize and promise to get things taken care of, but they can't offer any explanation to why we are having this difficulty with them.

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  7. Sometimes I feel words are inadequate to express my heartfelt concern, but this nightmare will end. Just keeping "singing!" Praying for you!

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  8. Hi Jana, I know this is very frustrating for you. You'll be in my prayers. Love, Helen

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  9. Ooooohhhh. I am so sorry. I'm praying for you guys.

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  10. Sis. Allard, this is not good. It makes me mad. I think the devil hates you guys, no? That's ok look him in the eye and sing Hallelujah any how I'll never let my troubles get me down. When ever trouble comes my way I'll lift my head up high and say Hallelujah anyhow. You are in my prayers and I'm singing You better look out satan look out, you better look out satan look. For I come to you in the name of the Lord, so look out Satan Look out.

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  11. Debbie, Helen, Tena, and Jolene - thanks for your kind words. I am really frustrated, but trying, Debbie, to keep singing. Although the songs going through my head aren't nice. LOL Something like "Take your loan and .........." Okay, I am human! I will try to do better with my very poor attitude.

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