Update: Edwards is 100% right about needing to fight corporations

[mnhtnbb]

I posted a personal story about our fight with the insurance and mortgage companies after our house burned down in Chapel Hill, NC last August. Here's the thread and story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2666995

I decided to send the lender (CitiMortgage) a letter giving them 1 week to acknowledge the payment
the insurance company had made last October, which CitiMortgage cashed 11/6/07, and refigure our new monthly loan payment. I told them we wouldn't be making any more payments until we heard from them. They did not respond within the week time frame I gave them. Yesterday I filed a formal complaint with the NC Commissioner of Banks, and the BBB in the Ohio area where the CitiMortgage office is located that deals with insurance payments.

Today we received a form letter from CitiMortgage telling us our payment is overdue! If we don't make the payment within 30 days they'll report us as delinquent to credit bureaus. I'm going to send them (where we're supposed to send our payment) the entire packet of the complaint to the NC Commissioner of Banks (which I already sent to the office handling the insurance payment). What I'd really like to do is write
'Fuck you' across their letter and return it to them--but I won't.

The left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing--which has nothing to do with what is right, true, or just.

Edwards is so right. These mega-corporations care not a whit about anyone; all they want is their money.
And it's a fight to get them to do what is right.

[kurth]

1. Corporate execs are the real welfare queens and leeches

[mnhtnbb]

4. Tell me about it. Hubby had on News Hour with Jim Lehrer while

I was fixing dinner.
No mention of Edwards by Shields and Brooks while discussing Dem campaign, and Brooks touting that a corporate tax cut is what is needed to fix the economy.

Even Jim Lehrer has gone over to the dark side.

[defendandprotect]

29. ...but WHY would you have still been watching Jim Lehrer --- ??? Over long ago ---

long, long ago ---

Even 10 years ago, they were calling PBS "Petroleum Broadcasting" . . . ????

[defendandprotect]

30. Our founders weren't too happy with "capital" ---

Capitalism is a "ridiculous King-of-the-Hill System" . . .

Time to keep your dollars out of the hands of corporations.

[mnhtnbb]

35. I know. We gave up years ago. Hubby facing surgery next Tuesday

(hip replacement) and he just turned it on to keep himself from thinking about the surgery.

[defendandprotect]

41. Sorry --- my husband had knee replacement a few years ago ---

went well and hope all will go well for you both ---

[Jed Dilligan]

21. Elected officials seem to run a close second. nt

[wundermaus]

2. They know exactly what they are doing...

It's a "convenient" one way communications breakdown... they do something wrong or they owe you... it's black hole time.
You do something wrong or (they think) you owe them... All hell breaks loose!!!

Screw 'em.

[Triana]

15. That's exactly my take on it...

..the bastards are quite aware of what they are doing and it is deliberate.

[redqueen]

3. Yes, he's right.

[Yael]

5. Oh, this is SO getting kicked and recommended

I am SO sorry that you are still fighting this battle.

[mnhtnbb]

6. It is unbelievable, isn't it? Next week hubby goes in for his hip replacement

I was 3 weeks post my hip replacement when the fire happened last summer.

[Yael]

12. Yes, I have been following

It is mind numbing what all y'all have been through. :(

[saracat]

7. This is the whole reason for the fight, and NO they don't get a seat at the table!

[mnhtnbb]

8. If it weren't for hubby going in for surgery next week, I'd march into

Edwards' office here in Chapel Hill on Monday and ask them to put me in touch with media. Who knows?

[saracat]

11. Call them anyway.I realize you are preoccupied but it can't hurt.

If you have time to tell us, you can phone them.Might be the best work you ever do! Seriously! DO it!They can take it from there.

[balantz]

9. K&R

[Lint Head]

10. End corporate rights now!

They are out of control. One example is CIGNA Insurance that killed the little girl needing a liver transplant. They need to be prosecuted for negligent homicide. This company has a Medicare contract. I feel for the elderly when a company like this is handling their claims. We need universal health care and make all corporations to answer to the people that they harm. If they go bankrupt because they harm someone that's just a part of doing business. :dem:

[mnhtnbb]

13. These companies have no sense of responsibility to clients, customers,

whatever you want to call US. They don't want any relationship with customers; they make that apparent in how difficult they make it to contact them.

Imagine if I could walk into an office, in town, and raise hell about this. We wouldn't be treated this way.

[MagickMuffin]

24. I think they only think of us as CONSUMERS

That's ALL they want from us. The more we consume the better their profits and there assured platium parachutes to benefit them when they have been caught red handed with the blood, sweat and tears of the average working class.


I'm sorry you're having to go through this, I understand your frustration. This occurs why to often and John knows how to correct the problem.

Good Luck pursuing the endless loop of run a round.

[mnhtnbb]

14. BTW, I also sent copies of the complaint to our Congressional Rep

David Price (D); our two Senators Dole and Burr (waste of paper); John Conyers as Chair of House Judiciary
Committee; and Chris Dodd as Chair of Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs suggesting
that these mega-corporations need to be held to some standard of courtesy to their customers.
I told them I didn't think CitiMortgage should be allowed to operate in NC since they couldn't bring themselves to respond to clients who'd had their house burn down.

[donkeyotay]

38. Having recently survived several bouts of call center in India hell

I second the motion that corporations need to have a minimum standard of accountability to their customers. They are hiding from us and extracting payments like highwaymen. It's criminal. They play the percentages in how many people will just give up and pay.

[stravu9]

16. Go John,Go!

:dem:

[mnhtnbb]

17. Yes!

[SammyWinstonJack]

34. Indeed!

:bounce:

[OzarkDem]

18. Keep fighting

The mortgage company is just jerking you around, trying to stall as long as possible before they take action. Health insurance companies do the same thing, even when they know they're wrong. They stall hoping you'll give up.

There was a time when this sort of thing wasn't allowed, when corporations faced real penalties for violating consumer rights. The GOP has weakened that system and nearly destroyed those laws and regulations that protect consumers. Its incredibly ignorant and short sighted, they only hurt themselves in the long run.

[ClericJohnPreston]

19. I hope you have a good lawyer!

I'm not kidding about that. Like our man JRE, I am a Plaintiff's Trial lawyer. Each day I take on insurance companies and their obscene profits, made by using their tactics of:

1. Denial
2. Protraction ( Delay )
3. Mitigation of damages

It takes a FIGHTER to down these behomoths. I know that from practical experience and years of fighting these corporate monsters.

It is clear Obamination doesn't have any Trial lawyers in it. If it did, they would know there is no BARGAINING with these brutes. You have to slap them silly to get their attention and to persuade them to do the right thing. They never give up anything without that fight.

[Two Americas]

28. trial lawyers

I sure would like to see you and Perragrande and others here dismantle the whole right wing "tort reform" propaganda idiocy for us one of these days. I even see Democrats here parroting the right wing talking points about this subject. Someone a couple of weeks ago trotted out the Limbaugh lines about that McDonalds hot coffee case.

[tbyg52]

20. It's the corporations, stupid! nt

[mnhtnbb]

22. Here's the letter I wrote in response to overdue notice we got yesterday

Thanks for the form letter informing us that our mortgage payment is overdue. It is overdue because nobody in CitiMortgage knows how to do the right thing—or even
what is required by North Carolina law.

If there is anybody at this address who knows how to get something done, I suggest this letter be put in that individual's hands.

If CitiMortgage wants any more loan payments out of us, it will do what we've been asking
since my letter of October 24, 2007, which included a check in the amount of $272,883.48
paid by our insurance company, USAA, against a claim for the loss of the insured property at x xxxxx xxxx, Chapel Hill, NC, which burned down on August 28, 2007. To date, CitiMortgage has sat on that payment and not applied it to reducing our loan balance and figured a new monthly payment based upon the remaining loan balance of $167,116.52.

On January 14, 2008, I sent a letter to the Loss Draft Department of CitiMortgage advising them there would be no more payments until our new payment amount was figured on the remaining balance. I also advised I would be filing formal complaints against CitiMortgage, which I have done. Enclosed is a copy of the complaint I filed with the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks on January 24, 2008. I have also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Dayton/Miami Valley, Ohio, case # 42013130. I have sent a copy of the complaint to: US Representative David Price (D) NC; Senator Elizabeth Dole; Senator Richard Burr; US Representative John Conyers, Jr., Chair of the House Judiciary Committee; and Senator Christopher Dodd, Chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The letter to the elected officials expressed my view that CitiMortgage
operates with a complete disregard for its customer and that it should not be allowed to do so.

Sincerely,

[Manifestor_of_Light]

23. Get a good lawyer and SUE THE BASTARDS.

I'm serious. The poster above was right. You need a good lawyer to sue them for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of various warranties, implied and express, DTPA (Deceptive Trade Practices) if your state has that statute, and other assorted business torts.

Keep good records and contact the state board that regulates mortgage companies & file a complaint at the appropriate time (probably before the last resort of suing them). But I'm not sure about that. You need a good, obnoxious plaintiff's lawyer to fight for you, and advise you.

Yes, I am a lawyer but I don't play one on TV.

[mnhtnbb]

25. I filed a complaint with the NC Commissioner of Banks on 1/24.

They do have regulatory authority over CitiMortgage. I have copies of all correspondence (and return receipts documenting dates they received my letters) and attached copies to the complaint.

I'll wait to see whether the NC Commissioner of Banks has any success with them, before filing suit.

[onehandle]

26. Kick! nt

[mod mom]

27. Yep...think of them as robber barons.

[lisainmilo]

31. John Edwards IS STANDING FOR US!

I am so sorry to hear your news, but your are right and John Edwards is right! I wish people would wake up, THE ALARM CLOCK has been going off for long enough....Do we have to wait until it hits EVERYONE'S front door?

[mother earth]

32. Of course Edwards is right! That's why we are in this corporate

economic mess and heading fast and furious to our collective destruction. If people don't understand this, they will reap the reward for their ignorance soon, if it isn't already too late.

I'm voting for Edwards because our way of life depends on it!!!!!!!

[LiberalHeart]

33. When I ran into a company where nobody in one dept. knew what they were doing in another...

...I stopped dealing with the dept. assigned to deal with problems like mine and began calling their law dept. directly. Problem disappeared in one day. They saw their potential liability and took care of it pronto. Might be worth a try.

Good luck!

[mnhtnbb]

36. That's what our attorney attempted to do. Problem is, it's impossible

to get phone numbers for these departments; you are dependent upon someone in the company giving
you the number and they don't give out numbers willingly. They don't want communication with
customers. They make it impossible to talk to anyone--and that's a deliberate choice on their part.

[LiberalHeart]

37. I've run into some companies that won't let you past the switchboard if...

...you can't ask for somebody by name. When I tell them I want them to ring a dept., they insist the numbers aren't listed that way. I've gone 'round and 'round with some folks over that nifty dodge they have set up.

[7horses]

39. Of course...

Edwards is right! Go, John go!!!

[mnhtnbb]

40. Hey 7horses! Welcome to DU!

[LiberalHeart]

42. I googled this company and see this their MO with lots of people...

It also appears that some folks are trying to put together a class action suit against them.

[deacon]

43. He's right on target and the only one speaking about it in detail. I don't get it man, he should be

be the nominee hands down. And yet we have two corporatists and lieberman supporters in the lead.