You won’t get anywhere calling E-trade. E-trade is the investor, the servicer is CLC servicing, which is a division of PNC bank. So you should be contacting PNC short sale dept which is probably where Alicia Smith works. There are other blogs on the web that discuss CLC/PNC servicing of e-trade helocs. They are tough to negotiate with but the bottom line is, most of these are in CA and non recourse.
I am in a short sale situation where by Bank of America holds the first mortgage via countrywide and that note is for 234K, E*TRADE holds a lien in the form of a HELOC for 49K. The house once valued at 350K is now barley worth 195K on a good day and dropping. BofA agreed to a short sale which netted them 191K, mind you that we have kept E*TRADE in the loop since the beginning, we offered to transfer the HELOC over to our primary property a year ago but the E*TRADE representative said that E*TRADE is no longer in the home loan business and that such a move would be impossible. This whole deal has been in the works for 14 months now with the buyers hanging in there and me scrapping by, current with E*TRADE but months behind with BofA. When we sent the offer sheet over to E*TRADE and asked them what they wanted (I would have done about anything) they replied asking for paystubs, income statements and then they ordered their own BPO. This all the while the deadline imposed by BofA is getting closer. E*TRADE said that they would have an answered in 5 days after all the paper work was in, took them a month. Their demand send me to the floor, they wanted 54% of the HELOC or 26K+ at closing and the option to sue for the rest. I offered several thousand at closing and to transfer the lien to a secured property buy that fell on deaf ears. Talking to my contact over there ?Al? was like talking to a stump, My Lawyer advised against transferring the E*TRADE HELOC over to our primary for obvious reasons and he was stunned that E*TRADE did not jump at it the day we offered it up given that for all practical purposes it unsecured right now. Foreclosure is looking all too real right now because of E*TRADE and I don?t know what they expect to get in that. That?s where we are. I’m told that i should have been way behind on my E*TRADE loan, that might have brought them to the table. anyone with E*TRADES collections stratagies
These are the stories I find most frustrating! You are being very reasonable and it is hard to believe that they are not jumping on your offer. It is now time to escalate this up the chain of command. I would take this all the way to the CEO if you must. I would also write all of this down and send it off to your local elected officials (Senators, Congressmen, Supervisors). This is the type of story that their staff can sink their teeth into and help you to escalate this up the chain of command. I have personally been involved in situations where this has worked. It does take some effort but can be incredibly satisfying when the power play works. Sometimes it is just the right phone call to the right person and then mountains get moved.
If for some reason you cannot get this approved and you do end up going to foreclosure I hope that you will still make all the calls and send emails to your elected officials. This is the type of lender behavior that all of the government programs are trying to prevent.
Yep, we went through this (see prior story). I can’t believe they are asking for 53% as a lien release. With us, they initially wanted 60% to settle in full or 40% for a lien release. Six months later and after going late (we had spotless credit) and several rounds of back and forth, they were willing to release the lien for 10% and we were finally able to get a paid in full settlement for 35%. Etrade was awful and wouldn’t do a promissory note or anything. I had the feeling they would come after us for the balance so I really wanted to settle in full. Our buyer came to the table with some more money as did we and it worked out, but not before having to go late.
I?d like to be perfectly clear on this, we (my wife and I) never asked PNC to write off the HELOC or for it be forgiven in any way. We are simply asking PNC to transfer it to our primary home that has in excess of 100K in equity. The house here in question was a second home that we bought at a bad time with blood money. The Contact at PNC ?Al Lubaway said that transfer is an option but it would take 3 to 6 months to do. I asked why? He said that, that is the way things are going now in the industry. I called several lenders who said that they turn an Equity line around in a week if all goes well and never more than ten days. The closing attorney who works for my realtor said that a simple drive by appraisal and my signature would be binding enough for PNC to release the lien. They would have none of it. E*TRADE/PNC is hell bent of forcing foreclosure for some reason. They must feel that they are better off coming after me that way rather than just accepting cash and an equity transfer. Please know that if it were not for the added burden of the second house with no rental money coming in and the effect it has on our debt to income ratio, I could get another loan and payoff E*TRADE, they don?t even want to hear that. As of right now they want 26K and we offered 10K just last week, no word back yet and I don?t expect to. I believe that Al Lubaway is just a conduit for others because when you talk to him he has no answers, talks in vagaries and often times just sits there quiet. It?s weird
I have a interesting case. I would appreciate any comments.
I took out a HELOC from ELoan for 62K on my home in Arizona, I soon received a job transfer out of state and due to circumstances we ended up doing a short sale. In the meantime, the HELOC was sold or transferred to E-Trade. After 1 year of the short sale, I was contacted by a thrid party collections company demanding the balance from the HELOC. I have a Deed of Release from ELOAN (not Etrade) listing as Beneficiary, “MERS as nominee for E-Loan, Inc” and me as the Trustor.
Does anyone have a clue on what this means? Is this form irrelevant since ELoan had transferred the note to ETrade(Although as I understand it, the 2 companies are part of the same corp)? OR could it mean that they HELOC is considered paid in full. On my credit reports, its listed as an Etrade loan and “written off”.
Thanks for any advice.
You would need to go back and read the short payoff demand from your short sale. They may have agreed to release the property and accept the short pay amount but they may have not given you a full satisfaction release meaning that they can come back and collect the difference. It is so important to read the short payoff agreement and look for the full satisfaction language prior to closing on your short sale.
I went back to the documentation regarding above but found no such agreement. I went back to the company who represented me on the short sale and they insist that there is nothing Etrade can do about it based on the fact the property was in Arizona?? They also point to the fact that the Deed of Release I mentioned before states, “Paid in Full”. But again, its for ELOAN vs ETRADE. After playing hardball with me for a few days the collections agency hasn’t contacted me again in over a year. I did send them, based on advice from a RE attorney, a letter of validation, certified, which they did not respond to. But I’m afraid to contact any of the parties as I don’t want to open up a can of worms. Thoughts?
Check the paperwork you got from the title company. They would have needed a written payoff demand (short payoff) to close your escrow. If you do not see a copy contact your title company and let them know you need a copy of the payoff agreement for the 2nd. The title company should have had you acknowledge this payoff statement. Read this carefully and look for that full satisfaction language.
Thanks for all the advice. Last thing. What do you think the odds are that they will try to sue prior to the 6 year Statute of Limitations (4 years left).?
I am not certain that they need to sue. I believe (and you will want to verify this) that as long as they are attempting to collect there is not statute of limitations. You may want to try to settle with them (possibly for pennies on the dollar) so that you can begin to repair your credit and ultimately be able to buy another house. I have heard from one source that they wait for you to rebuild credit (when you are no longer a candidate for BK) and then they put the pressure on for payment. If you can negotiate with them it may be the best bet to deal with it now then have this hanging over your head for the next few years.
Thanks again for the response. The statute of limitations for this type fo debt is verfied as 6 years in Arizona. The only thing that will restart the SOL clock is if I send them any form of payment…no matter how small. But again, they havn’t contacted me in over a year…andy my score has improved to 700. When they did offer a settlement last year it was for 40% ($24K) and insisted it be paid in a lump sum. Living payched to paycheck that’s not anywhere in my future. I guess all I can hope for is the SOL passes.
Thanks for the info on AZ SOL! So the activist in me says to keep excellent notes on any communication with them. Since you have clearly tried to settle and they have been unreasonable in their demands for a LARGE lump sum payment I would make sure I kept excellent notes of dates, times, names and conversations. If they do come back and try to demand payment I would take this to my elected officials so fast it would make their head spin. I have seen some remarkable things happen when you use the political power play. If you keep notes and show that you have tried to resolve the matter and they have been unreasonable I would think that this would be something that the bank would not want to be broadcast or have some politician use it as the poster child for bad lender behavior. The squeaky wheel gets the grease in this case. Of course that is just my opinion on the matter.
Just today E*TRADE (PNC) agreed to release the 2nd lien, accept 14% at closing about $7000 on a 49K HELOC. They said that they will go after deficiencies however. Bank of America is putting in 4K and I?m handing over the rest. This short Sale has been in the works for 17 months now; it?s been a very manic ride. The buyers have been very patient. My 1st started out as a Countrywide mortgage then BofA absorbed them and it took months for BofA to put Equator in place. From March of 09 until April of 10 virtually nothing happened but phone calls long waits and nothing new. In April BofA accepted the short sale and we started dealing with PNC. PNC wouldn?t talk until BofA took the deal. E*TRADE (PNC) wanted HUDS, hardship letters and new BPOs. They dragged their feet on the BPO. And then asked for clarifications and amendments made to the HUD. All this took 4 months, E*TRADE. E*TRADE (PNC) was difficult to deal with but cordial and professional every time that I called. They are very slow. If you have an E*TRADE second mortgage hanging off your first plan on offering no less than 10% at closing and made sure that all your ?I?s are dotted and ?t?s crossed. Be patient but keep on them. They would have you think that they are ?indifferent? in terms of whether or no you are foreclosed on in terms of them getting their money but they are not. They know that if foreclosed on their chances of getting paid in full drop a lot. Gently remind them that a lien on a house that is upside down is worse than working out a deal with you after you sell the house and no longer have costs associated with the house.
Hope someone can help me with this one. We own a home in California with a 1st (735K) and 2nd (49K) mortgage-- BOTH loans are with Etrade. My husband and I fell on hard financial times about a year ago and we requested a loan modification from Etrade several times. Despite our 35% reduction in income, we were denied 4 times because of their ridiculous and unreasonable guidelines. They noted that were denied because our “income was sufficient to cover the mortgage”, when it clearly wasn’t. Now we want to short sell the home and I’m beginning to worry that they will not approve the short sale taking the position that we do not have a legitimate hardship. I’m also wondering if having both loans with Etrade will give us more leverage or if it will complicate the short sale bank approval process even more. Has anyone had any problems with etrade approval on a 1st and a 2nd mortgage with Etrade? Our attorney will be guiding us through this but any thoughts or insight would be helpful. Thanks!
Hi Danielle, You can read more about ETrade short sales in our short sale report. http://www.foreclosureradar.com/short-sale-report. Even though both loans are with the same lender they are likely services by different departments so you would need to submit short sale packages to both. If you are more than 6 months delinquent on the 2nd it may have already been transferred to a recovery/collections department and you will be negotiating with them. I have heard from several people that ETrade has been very difficult to deal with on short sale negotiations but we all know that things can change from one day to the next. We have also heard that ETrade 2nds will typically require at least some seller contribution. It sounds like you have done the right thing in hiring someone to help you. Unfortunately you should be prepared for additional frustration.
Thank you for the tip Michelle. I’m going to read it now!
Hi Danielle
I had a 2nd with E*TRADE that was serviced through PNC/CLC (See above) I too had to do a short sale that started in March of 09 we will close at montrhs end. My sale was long because of a host of reasons not all associated with E*TRADE. I will be willing to bet that E*TRADE will accept a short on your house. I’m not a Real-Estate agent but I know how these sales work now and the interplay with the banks. Forclosure is not a good option for anyone, the bank looses. Craft a good hardship (See on line for examples, back up your hardship with provable facts, however I never had to provid any hard evidence) letter and have all the documents ready to fly, eveything that you would need in a re-fi or mortgage. Make sure that you have a real-Estate agent who can prove that he or she has done short sales in general and has worked with E*TRADE in particular, thats key. Holding buyers is another sticking point if the sale drags out so you might want to line up other prospects. Be sure to get contact numbers at the bank who holds ytour notes so you can stay on top of things, missed BPOs and paper work requests from the bank will slow things down. I did a lot of calling and pushing with my sale and you might have to as well. E*TRADE will require something from you to reasle the 2nd mortgage given that in Cal banks can’t seek deficientcies as i recall. The % of the 2nd that they will want at closing seems to be between 10 - 14% based on my experiance. Short sale is a long and frustrating deal that tests you at nearly every level. Everyone seesm to throw up hudles while moving the goal posts so be very patient and stay on top of things. Good luck
Well said Bruce!! It looks like you are one of the real professionals out there. Thanks for taking the time to share.
Hi Danielle, There is a new program called HAFA that began mid year orchestrated bo the Obama Administration. It only applies to homeowners who live in their home, not investment properties, and not all lenders are participating so I would call Etrade and ask them if they signed up. Again, the program is called HAFA. Once a home owner is denied a loan modification, they can use all of the same paperwork to initiate a short sale. They also give the bank and home owner a financial incentive to complete the process of a short sale. I don’t know if you are looking for a Realtor to help you navigate through the process, but if you are, and are interested in interviewing me, I’m in Northern Ca. in the east bay. Thanks. Elisa