maddiesmommy

Here's a little background...

My husband and I were married in 2007. He went to deployment training a week later and then came home for a week before he actually left the country. In that week timespan, he co-signed a loan for his brother (Dwayne) and his brother's fiance (Mandy) for them to pay off something's and to pay for their wedding. I begged him not to do it regardless that Mandy was putting her car as collateral (sp?) Well the loan was for 20,000 and there were 2 cc's tacked onto the loan that they took as well resulting a possible 12,000 dollars tacked on to the original loan. Surprise, Surprise they didn't pay. I received a notice 4 months after the loan had been signed that the cards were maxed out and the loan money was all used up and NOTHING was being paid. [Insert every bad word imaginable]

My husband was deployed so I had to deal with this. I sent them my POA and cancelled the cards after their legal dept. approved it, but the damage was already done. Fast forward to my husbands credit bottoming out. CC's he's had since he joined the service in 97 we're cancelled due to his credit. Everything was just piling up, and on top of that the creditors couldn't reach Dwayne and Mandy because they had moved and changed phone numbers more than 3 times in the last year. We were running out of extra income due to my husband coming home and had no other choice but to let it default. I didn't realize that Wells Fargo was going to take over a year to reposess the car.

Well we're in 2008, new orders to the East Coast and we get a letter that the car has been reposessed and sold but 10,000 is still owed on it. We accept a settlement offer and pay 4,220 in 2 months to get the loan taken care of. The only thing left is the cc's. A few months later we're trying to find out what we can do to get a VA Loan, and not surprising, we have to take care of the CC debt.

After many, many phone calls and run around with Wells Fargo [that place is a joke], we find out that there has been a garnishment put in place on his brothers check [YAY!... not really] BUT they can't garnish his wages because there is a previous garnishment on it. We have to wait until December 2010 for it to start garnishing. OMFG!!!! We moved back to our home state in August 2010 because my husband is in deployment training and I didn't feel like raising my daughter by myself 25 hours away from my family.

Things seem fine, we're getting our debt paid down, downsizing on expenses trying to become financially stable enough to get a loan for a house and make it our home.

Fast forwarding to February of this year. I decide on a whim to check our credit again and amazing enough both our scores exceed our minimum requirement for a VA Loan. My husband has about a month to come home between training classes so we went and looked at houses. Found one we fell in love with and can't live without. Our first priority is to sell the house he 'co-owns' with his brother [bought in 2005]. His parents are trying to get a VA Loan for this house. Great they are approved. Our offer is accepted for the house that we want to buy... AMAZING. We're supposed to close in May which is wonderful because we're in a lease and are trying to get this rented before we close. Everything is falling into place....

NOT!

Our mortgage is contingent upon this 'co-owned' house selling. Just last week we found out that there is a judgement again my husband and his brother for the cc's. It's from 2009, a month before we paid the settlement on the car loan. His brother was served 'maintains he didn't know' and my husband wasn't because he wasn't living in state. I'm terrified that this is going to affect us getting our house, like it has everything else in our life and sure enough. I kept digging and found out more. His parents were to close on this house 3/31 TODAY! BUT there is a lien on the house because of the judgement for cc debt.

I feel like everything is falling apart. We worked so hard to get where we are and now it's all for nothing. It's sickening how this spineless piece of trash could be so willing to put the knife in his back OVER AND OVER AGAIN! I spoke with wells fargo to try and get a settlement for the debt and was told the lowest they would go is 10,500. I seriously DO NOT have that kind of money sitting around, and if I did, I really don't think I'd want to once again bail his brother out of the rest of this nightmare.

This house is our fresh start but unfortuately I don't think it's going to happen. PLUS the appraisal came back on the house we're trying to sell for less than what is owed so everything is up in the air. I'm sick to my stomach and I don't know if our marriage is going to survive another financial burden from his family. I have wanted NOTHING to do with them since all this happen 4 years ago and had moved back and made a fresh start with everyone and this is, yet again, a slap in the face.

My grandparents have offered to pay the debt so we can continue with our home purchase and we would in turn pay them back, but I would prefer NOT to involve anyone else in this mess especially when the person who SHOULD take care of it has done NOTHING for it, or us for that matter. I can't talk to my parents about it because I feel as if my Dad will stroke out from wanting to kill his brother.

It's a mess, I don't know what to do, where to turn to, I don't know anything anymore really...

(Sorry if it's a novel, it's my first post, I just needed this website and someone to talk to about it sooo much)

** UPDATE **

Wells Fargo is allowing us to pay 10,572 instead of 13,214. I know it's stil a lot BUT the brother in law is pulling 7,200 from his retirement and my gparents are helping with the 3,372. I spoke with the Attorney handling the case and once he receive the certified check(s) he will have the lien taken off the house in 3-7 days.... AMAZING!!!!! Plus the appraisal had discrepencies (sp) for the house we were trying to sell so it has to be redone... PLEASE ask whatever God you believe in that it apraises for atleast 160k. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I'm just hoping that it's not a freight train about to f**k my world up!!!!!

827Aug

Oh, I can relate! My "novel" is a lot longer. I'm trying to understand how the credit cards got "attached" to the loan your husband co-signed. My estranged husband has a mountain of cc debt. It is unsecured--and can not be attached to property we jointly hold. Have you consulted an attorney?

It sounds as though your grandparents are willing to help out. Instead of them helping with your BIL's debt nightmare, would they be willing to "buy" the house for you?....and you make the payments? That may be a safe way to go until the financial nightmare created by your BIL gets fully resolved.

maddiesmommy

The credit cards were an offer on top of the loan when we sat down and they signed the loan documents. My husband maintains that he never agreed but I was there and he did, unfortunately.

My grandparents however would NEVER buy the house for us because, they too, have been screwed by that situation. To top it off, it was my mom that did it!

My husbands brother has repeatedly said he was going to draw from his retirement and pay us back for the money we put into the loan and the settlement that we had paid on it, last night however, I spoke with my husband and told him to call him and be an *******, tell him that he will take the money out of his retirement tomorrow [today] and pay wells fargo off, otherwise we are taking him to court.

His brother then started whining about how his company is going to be bought out, and he might not have a job and he'd have to pay back all that money to his retirement wahhh wahhh wahhhh. Hubby told him 'how is it any different? you will still have to pay it back either way, but it means I'm off the hook' So we'll see.

Also, we spoke to an attorney back in 2008 paid retainer fees and what not for her to give us a check back in a week. We have no binding documents showing that Dwayne and Mandy are financially responsible for all of this.

I tried to file a fraud investigation into Wells Fargo because we never activated the cc's. Dwayne took them and said he was 'responsible' for them and would take care of it. I tried to get statements showing that none of the amounts had been purchased from the cards my husband was issued but they didn't have them after so long. I screamed at Wells Fargo saying you don't have TWO IDENTICAL CARDS on an account. They come from the same, but have 2 different numbers, how can you not see that? I then started asking if his card was activated because if it was, then that truely is fraud. My husband was DEPLOYED, how the hell would he have activated them? Umm.... HE WOULDN'T...

It's just a cluster!