Don't Bank with Your Mortgagee (a fine print story)

I went on disability last September. The hope was to sell the house and move on to cheaper environs, where my disability check would at least pay for food and shelter. We cleaned the place up, fixed some things, and put it on the market.

Go ahead. Laugh. I know. The thought of selling a house seems so quaint now. Actually walking away with some money to start a new life... What a joke.

So, in December, I stopped paying the credit union for the mortgage and the now-maxed equity line of credit. The disability pays less than half of what I used to make. It barely covers my mortgage. What else could I do? I can't afford the house anymore. I can't sell it. I wrote them a letter explaining my situation. They never answered the letter. They kept calling, I would explain the situation, ask for someone to call me, no one did.

Then last week, I woke up one morning to find that my checking and savings accounts, which I also had with the credit union, were empty. In fact, a few of the bills that were scheduled to be paid were refused for insufficient funds, and I was charged $25 each for three of them. Over $600 they took, which is what I had for a family of four to live on for two weeks before the next check. I have called them every day since now, and each time they tell me they'll call me back in 30 minutes. They never do.

Today I filed complaints, but got a very nice man on the phone from the National Credit Union Administration who told me, even though my credit union isn't federal, that I probably signed some small print in the loan that allowed them access to the account if I got behind.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

The next check is going in another bank.