I have been and still am a victim of predatory lending even as we speak! Several years ago when I was single, raising my son who was only two at the time, I had to occasionally visit one of those friendly payday loan joints. It was called Cash Emporium and the fees were unbelievable! They did this simply because they knew their customers (like me) were just desperate enough to pay back these outlandish fees! Then, a couple years after I had stopped even going in this place, I get a letter in the mail saying I was part of a class action against Cash Emporium made up of people who had been overcharged when paying back their loans. I didn’t really think anything would become of it but a few months later I actually got a check for a little over $100 as my part of this settlement.
As for now, I believe that I am being victimized by my current mortgage company. We bought our mobile home in 2001 believing it was a 1996 model. All the paperwork stated a 1996 model but once we were already moved in and had spent nearly $5000 on the down payment and dozer work we find a paper in one of the kitchen cabinets stating it was a 1993 model! Then a few weeks later we get the title in the mail saying in fact it is a 1993 model! If that’s not enough, we also had to include our homeowners insurance in the payment. The first year we paid on our home we paid $232.00 as agreed upon. Then after that first year was up, our payment went up to $287.00 monthly! They explained this being due to the fact that our insurance had been free the first year but now we had to pay for it thus making the payment go up. The third year we get a payment book in the mail showing the payment has now went up to $317.00! Needless to say, I saw red! I called the finance company up and threatened to get an attorney and they politely said it was only an error in the computer and that our payment would not be going up anymore. I once asked them why I couldn’t just purchase my own homeowners insurance somewhere and they told me the only way I could would be to pay for a whole years policy from another company at once and send them a copy of the receipt. This really didn’t surprise me at all…
So, now we plan on paying this old house off in the Spring and selling it. I have vowed never to do business with Vanderbilt Mortgage again! I would rather spend my days in a nice cozy cave than live in something they had financed!