Consumer complaint received 2020-05-11
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: BANK OF THE WEST (CA)

My name is XXXX XXXX, and I have lived in the area for over three decades now, spending the past 9 years in XXXX specifically. I owned a XXXXXXXX for a while but was forced to close shop last XXXX because the rent increased seemingly every single month. I XXXX XXXX XXXX, and that alone was a crushing blow to my finances and spirit. My humble abode is located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, CA, XXXX. Coincidentally, the monthly mortgage on this property ALSO began to climb. The result of which, is that the house is presently in foreclosure. There is posted sale date, but I refuse to sit around and wait for someone to take my home from me. Especially when I just KNOW there have to be options available to me regarding my circumstances for which I am detailing in this letter. 

One of my hardships has to do with severe medical ailments and issues that both my wife and I are currently dealing with. Namely, my wife has been battling with bouts of XXXX for quite some time now. I am struggling with XXXX while I try to navigate my financial woes. All of this combined with current events regarding this historic pandemic puts me in such a hard place in my life right now. I am a high-risk individual and my world is seemingly falling apart presently. My family and I are afraid to go outside and now there is a risk our safe haven is going to be stripped from us as well. A physical move right now amid this Covid-19 craziness will kill  us. What choice are you leaving us right now? What kind of press would that make? I think of many unfavorable headlines if something were to happen to us because we were kicked out of our property in the middle of a virus outbreak. As I understand it, the government is asking mortgage bankers and landlords to not evict tenants and consider the forgiveness of rent debts. I would like to pull all levers available to me right now. What I need is for you to give me another chance to pull my home out of foreclosure. After your broker 's presentation upon initial signing, I truly believed I understood the loan and its terms. Boy, was I utterly mistaken. The representative spoke with such a broken accent and it was clear English was not their first language. English is also not my first language either. Struggling and desperate, I agreed to all the promises I believed would be kept. I felt pressured to proceed with the loan, only to find out later it was interest-only. Do you know how I found out? This was discovered only after I started investigating why monthly payment was consistently increasing for no apparent reason, reminiscent of the business loan situation described earlier. I simply could not continue payments on both loans. I was inquiring about modifying the loan to alleviate some financial pressure and make payments more manageable. Why did it take all of that for me to find out the true nature of the loan? 

Like I mentioned, we are petrified to venture outside the house, yet we must do so to make ends meet. I work at a XXXX and earn {$2400.00} a month. My daughter-in-law, who works at XXXX XXXX, moved in with us to help contribute financially. She currently faces potential layoffs due to the economic and health crisis. We have recently offered to put up several thousands of dollars for payment and it was rejected because of the status of the loan. I have been going to the bank for years to make payments, interacting with your tellers in person. Please tell me how I am JUST NOW finding out that my previous payments have been going to some trust fund instead of paying off this confusing mortgage I was doped into agreeing to. How is that possible? I am trying to do the right thing and keep getting XXXX over left and right.