Calling Countrywide's Bluff

Countrywide seems to take twice as long as any other lender I've dealt with. I'm sure they have no intention of causing buyers to walk, homeowners to damage their credit further, or houses to foreclosure as a result of their delays, but that is the way their current process works. But don't think you can't take back control of the process despite the slow, non-sensical policies and many times unhelpful, hands-tied customer service reps.

I currently have a file that was referred to me late in the game - in fact, I'm just handling the loss mitigation part of the deal as a favor for a realtor and to get future business. About a month ago, I was able to get another appraisal ordered. Unfortunately, the appraiser never called to get into the property. When I called the loss mitigator about this problem, they informed me that they give the appraiser 10 days to make an appointment. Of course, this never happened. I then tried for 2 solid weeks to get in touch with the loss mitigator to no avail. And neither the customer service reps nor short sale dept. would do anything on the account until 12 more days had passed "without notes on the account".

After 12 days had passed, I called to find out that the file was closed and they were proceeding with the Trustee's Sale scheduled to occur in a week. What the f&%k, right? I immediately asked to talk to a supervisor and was informed that 2 appraisals were recorded to have happened on the property within the last 2 weeks that were MUCH higher than the offer submitted so the offer was declined without a counter. I replied, "Really? That's interesting because I'm the only one with the keys to the property and I was never called by an appraiser." The supervisor said that they have two appraisals in the computer occurring on such and such dates. I said, "Great, then why don't you send them to me. I'd like to see the interior pictures."

Anyway, I was able to convince the supervisor that any appraisals done on the property were bogus and must be discounted. I was also able to get a new loss mitigator assigned and a real appraisal ordered to take place next week. Net-net......If I wouldn't have put my foot down and known exactly how to handle the situation, the property would have been foreclosed upon and a homeowner's life changed for the next 5-7 years.

Situations like these just reconfirm in my mind what a valuable service we are providing to homeowners and how we're part of the solution when so many others on the sidelines are part of the problem.