Family Fights Bank To Get Home Loan Modified

Attorneys told Eyewitness News the same banks that took government bailout money are now turning their backs on families. The families have been fighting to get their loans modified so they don't go into foreclosure, but they say the banks have stopped working with them.

It is happening to hundreds of thousands of people across the country and a local family is just one of them. They moved to Central Florida because they loved the neighborhood, the house and the schools. Now they're scared this will be their last Christmas spent in their home.

Daniel and Denise Grebey moved into their Ocoee home in 2006 with their two children.

"It wasn't an investment home, this was our house that we didn't plan on leaving," Daniel Grebey said.

But Daniel’s hours were cut at work, Denise lost her take-home car and their mortgage jumped $500. The couple called their lender and qualified for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). They say they met several criteria and thought they'd get their mortgage modified and reduced, but that never happened.

"'Your modification is going to be done. Our management is going to contact you,'" Daniel said.

He says no one ever called back and now the Nationstar Mortgage is foreclosing on their home.

"This particular lender thinks they have an option of backing out. They're not right," attorney Matt Englett said.

Englett has 25 clients right now that qualified for HAMP, completed the trial process and never got a modification. He says banks got bailout money and are not motivated to work with families and numbers nationwide seem to back that up.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. qualified 143,000 people, but only 4,000 got permanent modifications. Wells Fargo qualified 104,000, but 3,000 became permanent. Bank of America qualified 158,000, but only 98 became permanent and Citigroup qualified 103, making 271 permanent.

Englett says we might be seeing numbers like that because HAMP is not as lucrative for loan servicing companies as foreclosure. For the Grebey family, that simply isn't an option.

“They would have to send the sheriff to remove us," Daniel Grebey said.

Englett says his firm is considering a class-action lawsuit for people in the Grebey's same situation. If a judge does not approve their modification in court, Englett will fight it through appeals.