When will this nightmare end?

Things just really suck right now. I was hoping the foreclosure case would be over by now, but the dimwits at the Bank filed the wrong papers & the case got thrown out. So we have to start from scratch. Meanwhile, the evil people keep calling & calling & calling & calling me. I change my number & they somehow find it. This time, only family & doctors get my phone number. Friends will have to IM me (though I doubt it was one of them -- maybe they got it from my employer or the unemployment office or something).

Crazy idiots tonight. I tell them to stop calling me 8 times a day because first of all it's illegal & second of all it doesn't help anything. I didn't have the money at 7am, I don't have it at 8am, I still don't have it at 9am & I probably won't have magically found $12K by the next hour. Yes, I suppose a magical leprechaun could show up at my door with a pot of gold, but barring that the money isn't going to just appear.

So I'm changing my number again (& hoping I don't lose any employment offers because of it) & I've just really had it with these people. I told them that I had had it with these idiots calling & telling me I should just kill myself. Somehow they turned that around & reported it to the police as a "suicide threat". Well, it wasn't. I'm worth more than that. If I've learned nothing else in the past year it's that my life is worth more than $12,000. But it's just one more way they're trying to make me miserable. Of course the police came out & I explained everything to them & they totally were understanding and told me they were sorry for the trouble. But it just really gets me that they can be so unethical.

I tell you, I will never ever go anywhere near this bank for as long as I live. I started taking a new route to my temp job just so I don't have to drive past one of their branches on my way to work. GRRRRRRRR they make me so mad! I know I owe them money, but MAN ALIVE if it weren't for them using the bank's name I would easily mistake them for mobsters or loan sharks!

Frances,

Do you have caller ID or a message machine? I don't answer when it is a bill collector. That is how I deal with them, I know that your situation is much different, but it would give you some peace for a little while. Then you don't have to talk to them.

I truly hope that things work out for you. KNow that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Bless you and best wishes.

Hugs, Karen

It was a supervisor (or someone who claimed to be a supervisor) who told me that. I don't have caller id. They don't record their phone calls so I have no proof that's what they said, but they've been just horrible the whole time. I have a friend who is a judge who says she gets complaints against this Bank & their shady practices on a regular basis. I already have one formal complaint against them because the process server broke into my building & left a note on my kitchen door saying that he had a summons for me. Honestly, all he had to do was let me know who he was & what he was doing and I would have gladly taken the summons. I've had people out here from the bank telling my neighbors all my private business (I'm in default, I lost my job, I was on disability, etc.). These people are horrible & anyone who thinks that these things couldn't possibly happen, you better hope you don't have the same bank I do & you sure better hope you don't live in IL or one of the other 6 states where consumer protections against mortgage company are bare bones.

Besides actually coming out & saying it that one time, there have been multiple calls where they have asked me why I got into debt & I explained that it was bills for counseling & hospital stays, then they say that my mortgage should come before those kind of "optional" expenses. After one of their calls, I ended up in the hospital, so I asked them please to just send me letters or talk to my attorney, but they refuse (& that's their right in IL). I told them my psychiatrist would even write them a letter explaining that I shouldn't get any calls, but they said even that wouldn't make a difference (& my attorney said that's their right in IL). They tell me I'm a horrible person. They tell me I deserve to be punished. They tell me I need to get it together & give up whatever other expenses I have to be able to make my mortgage. For a while, I stopped eating for a few weeks because they suggested I cut down on my food budget (which was about $15/week). My PCP was not happy with me about that. She said I'm already underweight so eating should come first & if I can't afford my meds she will give me samples, but otherwise meds come second.

I just feel so beat down & hopeless. I am so miserable & the thought of this going on for God knows how many more months is terrifying. I don't care about losing my home. I'm not fighting it in any way. I just want these phone calls to stop. No, not all of them are mean, threatening people. The supervisors are by far the worst, but the rest of the people are a mixed bag. Some are nice. Some are decent. Some are mean. A few are awful. It's bound to happen when you're getting 6-8 calls per day from a different person each time. They change their phone number regularly so you don't know who's calling (probably virtual numbers). They call from local area codes a lot of the time. Sometimes they are 800 numbers, sometimes they are blocked calls, sometimes they are private callers. So even if I did have caller ID, I'm not sure it would do me much good.

I just want to pull all my phones out of the wall & hide under the covers until this is all over.

Thanks, WG.

Hopefully changing my number will do the trick. My old number will still exist for a little bit, but it now goes straight to voicemail (before it rings). I see the evil bank was already trying to call that number this morning. Since the phone doesn't ring, it confuses the auto-dialer into thinking the phone is disconnected (I've worked calling campaigns for politicians & was trained on how the software works). So maybe I'll even be able to eventually reclaim that phone number.

But, yes, they are horribly abusive. It is costly to file a case, so I probably won't do that, but I will bring a copy of my phone records to court if the Bank refiles the foreclosure case (assuming we can't work something out between us prior to them refiling the case).

I suppose if they do get my new number I could tell them that I am recording them (even if I'm not). Maybe it would force them to be a little nicer. In IL you must notify the other party that you are recording them prior to starting the recording. And I imagine that would cause them to think twice before saying some of these things. Normally the Bank records all their calls, so it seems pretty clear that they are not recording these calls because they allow the reps to make mean comments that they don't want coming back to haunt them.

Sadly, reporting them to the BBB won't really make a difference. They are a huge bank & will continue to get business no matter what. The problem is that they have so many customers that unless millions of people complain they will still be rated A+.

If I can get enough energy together, I might report them to the State Division of Banking. But that requires more energy than I have right now. My thyroid is all out of whack & I've become anemic & then to have to deal with all this on top of that is too much!

Thanks, Karen & Jamie. I was just so upset because I was already having a tough day & was looking forward to going to a cook-out with friends, but then the police showed up. I was going to be a little late as it was because of the stupid call from the Bank, but after having to deal with the police, I missed hanging out with my friends entirely.

And I'm sick today, but if my fever breaks some other friends invited me out tonight so hopefully I will be able to go & forget about all this stress for a while.

Karen, I know you understand how awful the whole process can be. It's hard because I never in a million years would have imagined it could be this awful. And I know that people who haven't been through it find it hard to understand what it's like. I've finally got a couple interviews lined up for permanent positions & was starting to feel less awful about everything. It seemed the tide was turning -- and it probably is -- but then the incessant phone calls started up again & it is so bad for me to even hear the phone ring. I know there's a chance it could be my headhunter or a recruiter, but all the muscles in my neck & back tense up and that makes my pain worse. It makes it harder to keep down food & I need to eat more right now. And my thyroid is going crazy so I alternate between being dripping with sweat to shivering uncontrollably with chills. Plus my crazy neighbors are still selling their pain meds, buying street drugs & running **********s (and beating their children) so I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in I don't know how long. It's just all so much & I am trying to fight the negative thoughts about being a horrible person, but I can't think straight right now because of my thyroid & not sleeping and it just seems like I'm having to work harder and harder to not think awful things about myself & my future.

I hope you are doing okay. I know I haven't posted very much lately. I've been so busy. But I know you have a lot going on too & I appreciate you taking the time to post to me.

peace,
frances

I think they do get off on making people's lives miserable because even their own lawyer said that having my credit ruined for years to come, losing my home & losing the $35K I put as a downpayment plus all the money I paid since then ought to be enough punishment. You shouldn't have to be harassed & berated on top of that.

I never used to cringe at the phone. I used to get so excited & run to grab it when the phone rang. Now I tense up, try to guess whether it's the evil bank people & then waiver back and forth on whether to pick up -- often so long that I don't even have a chance to pick it up before it stops ringing. But now that number won't ring at all. So hopefully after some time I will go back to being happy to hear the phone ring. Hiding from people makes me feel bad, but there really isn't any other choice with these people.

I'd call the police about the dog. A lady who used to live in my building had a barking dog that drove her neighbors crazy. Eventually she got sick of the fines & got a soft muzzle to put on her dog at bedtime. I swear -- some people are very inconsiderate!

take care,
frances

I think it probably only takes a few kinds to make the world go round, the rest are just along for the ride. ;)