What follows is my own short but true story about what Countrywide Bank and Bank of America have recently done to me. And I want to tell the world about it. These people are scum.
I received mail today from Countrywide to tell me that I may no longer draw on my Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC).
"We believe that the decline in the value of your property, from its original apprised value at the time your loan was made, is significant."
Well gee whiz, ya think?
"In accordance with the terms of your Home Equity Credit Line Agreement and Disclosure Statement (Agreement) we have elected to suspend further draws against your account as of the Effective Date above."
Now the sad part is my 1st mortgage is with CountryWide as well. And it's over half paid so it's pretty low. My HELOC was only for $20K and it's got a dent in it as well. And I haven't drawn on it in a while, but that's beside the point. And I'll repeat, I haven't even drawn on this HELOC in quite a while. Same with my credit cards, I quit using them alltogether months ago and have no credit card debt at all.
As for my credit, I've never missed nor paid late on either of my mortgages and have never paid late on any bills or ever declared bankruptcy. My credit is actually quite sterling (not bragging just stating the facts as they are).
Now I'm sure the appraised value of my home has indeed declined, but there's no way it's declined below what I owe on my 1st and HELOC combined. And it's not like I was requesting an increase in my HELOC. It's set in stone at $20k.
What riles me is that Countrywide can do this at all. They offer no empirical proof that their contention is even true. Or true in my particular case. That is to say they don't show or give a new appraisal value of my property or show that the new appraised value is lower than my 1st and 2nd combined. They only state that they "believe" that the value of my home has decreased.
Nor does Countrywide offer to rebate me any of the money I paid to them (in good faith) in fees and points when I negotiated this HELOC contract. Seems to me if they are going to reneg on the deal then they need to pay me back those fees or at least a portion of them. It was several thousand dollars.
I just need to vent, and I would be curious as to what other people have to say. It's not about being able to draw on the HELOC, it's about what Countrywide can legally do and get away with.