Action 9: Home hurricane nightmare could happen to anyone

For many families, recovering from Hurricanes Matthew and Irma was a nightmare that will not end.

An Ormond Beach family living in a trailer behind their wrecked home won an insurance settlement to rebuild, but claimed the lender held their check hostage.

They turned to Action 9’s Todd Ulrich for help.

Megan and Casey Ford's life has been shattered by two hurricanes in two years.

In 2016, Hurricane Matthew sent a tree into their Ormond Beach home.

It now sits gutted and empty.

A year later, Hurricane Irma flooded a rental house that had been their temporary home. They're now living in a recreational vehicle in the backyard of the home still not rebuilt.

For Megan Ford, the stress has been incredible. “It's been tough on our family, it's been tough on our marriage. It's just been tough,” she said.

Casey Ford said they’ve felt burned by insurance agents, adjustors and nearly every contractor.

"We don't know who to trust now besides family and friends," he said.
After settling an exhausting year-long insurance dispute, the Fords said their mortgage company, Ditech Financial, refused to release their $142,000 check.

It’s money they needed to rebuild their home.

Megan Ford said they could never find out why. “Every time I speak with someone they give me different answers and I never get the same answer,” she said.

The same lender threatened to foreclose on their property over a controversial forbearance program. Documents show Ditech Financial approved a 12-month disaster relief forbearance that allowed them to delay mortgage payments.

The Fords claim they followed the program, but were getting letters threatening foreclosure.

When they called Ditech Megan, they said all they heard were threats. “You pay this amount of money or we're going to foreclose on your house,” said Megan Ford.

She said Ditech won't allow them to modify the loan as forbearance requires because the home hasn't been rebuilt. But the couple can't fix the house because Ditech won't release their insurance check.

Real estate attorney Karen Wonsetler said a lender can't hold insurance funds hostage. “They weren't going to cash this and put in in their bank account. This was going straight to the contractors to repair their home,” she said.

Ulrich contacted the lender's corporate office. That same day, Ditech sent checks totaling $100,000 to the Fords.

The balance will be paid when repairs are finished.

Ditech also modified the loan so any foreclosure threat is now over.  
        
Ditech told Action 9 the check was ready to send before we called. The company said reviewing the contractor's bids and a loan modification takes time and said it did nothing wrong.

Contact Todd and the Action 9 team

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