The “Wright” mortgage is not “right”

March 2023
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Shortly after the January 10, 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer article by Alan J. Heavens in his “On the House” column appeared, I received a personal letter from the Law Offices of Bruce Shaw, LLC, 2735 Terwood Road, Willow Grove, PA 19090

After reading Mr. Heavens’ Philadelphia Inquirer article, Mr. Shaw wished to offer his services; he said if I was interested to please call him. I did; we had a lovely conversation and spoke about common interests, the mortgage and lending climate in general and my situation in particular. Mr. Shaw offered a complimentary review of my mortgage and I took him up on his offer.

We spoke again once he received my mortgage documents and he expressed concern over the nature of the mortgage, asking specifically what my goal had been when I modified the terms of the loan back in February 2008. I told him about my distress over the negative amortization and the nature of the pick & pay loan in general, the fact that interest rates were increasing at that time and at the same time my credit scores were declining. I said I’d wanted to get out of the pick & pay loan, lock in an interest rate and both improve my credit scores and preserve my good credit rating.

With that information he wanted to think more about this troubling situation and when we spoke yet again, he concluded the situation was not at all encouraging. On February 9, 2010, Mr. Shaw sent me another letter, excerpted below:

“What is of concern about your original mortgage and the Modification – is that both are not favorable to you – especially the Modification wherein you would think that the mortgage company would be trying to help you get on “firm ground” with your mortgage payments. Here, all they did was “fatten their coffers” with interest payments and you are left with the same principal as before.

It is possible we could sue them for consumer fraud – I honestly do not know if we could persuade the Court to look at the “total picture” and see how you have been “taken advantage of”.

Unfortunately one thing is for sure- at the end of the sixty payments, you are going to be in a worse position as then starts the adjustable rate terms – exactly what you were looking to get away from. Hmmm – maybe there is a valid course of action here!

I would like you to think “hard and long” about what you are going to do. It is most imperative that you change your mortgage – and the sooner the better.”

Upon receipt of the letter I called Mr. Shaw and said that unfortunately I could not afford to engage legal counsel; I couldn’t even pay my mortgage, let alone take on more bills. I said I was going to soldier on in my efforts to obtain a loan modification with Chase and he wished me the best.

I was both surprised and touched when Mr. Shaw phoned me in early March and said my situation was really sticking in his craw and that it just wasn’t right. He wanted to send a letter to Alan J. Heavens at The Philadelphia Inquirer and asked for permission to reference my case. I agreed and on March 7, 2010 he sent me a copy of his email to Mr. Heavens.

The subject line of the email: The “Wright” mortgage is not “right”…….

The content:Dear Mr. Heavens: Your article about the Wright “Mortgage” in your Jan 10^th issue sparked me to write to her as our firm handles predatory lending and foreclosure defense for homeowners. Most of our clients are mid to high income with Jumbo Mortgages. For some reason, there seems to be no sympathy for victims of predatory lending practices if you are “fairly well off”. And of course, the Lenders love these borrowers as they strive to keep their credit scores intact and therefore keep paying the payments on time – often times – like Ms. Wright – depleting all of their savings. Ms. Wright was offered a “so called mortgage modification” that – in essence – offered her little or no benefit whatsoever – and more importantly – she will be back into the same “hole” in five years. Her “mortgage modification” consisted of nothing more than a five year fixed rate interest only loan with a new higher (not lower) payment. The loan does not include ONE RED CENT of principal repayment and simply fills the Lender’s coffers with more interest per month. So – what was her net tangible benefit – nearly none….. Ms. Wright will have paid to the Lender – during her “mortgage modification” over $360,000.00 – and will still owe the same principal.

Had Ms. Wright had competent and honest counseling – I suggest that NO ONE on her side would have let her sign up for this bogus “modification”.

It has been my sad experience that predatory lending practices and shady mortgage modification practices are “alive and well” – many verging on consumer fraud.

Ms. Wright’s modification is one of the worst…….

Law Offices of Bruce Shaw, LLC

2735 Terwood Road

Willow Grove, PA 19090

JPMorganChaseLoanModifications

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