Lawsuit: Home Foreclosed Out From Under Metro Detroit Couple Despite Being Told By Mortgage Servicer That Loan Modification Process Was Ongoing

In Detroit, Michigan, Bloomberg reports:

• Chuck and Alicia Krantz fell behind on their mortgage payments last year and sought to modify the loan to save their three-bedroom ranch home in Westland, Michigan, just outside Detroit, from foreclosure.

• Two payments in April brought them current, they said in a lawsuit filed in Detroit federal court. In May, CitiMortgage Inc., a unit of Citigroup Inc., told them they were in foreclosure and would be refunded the $3,129.96 they sent the month before. While the foreclosure proceeded, they continued to pursue a modification, Chuck Krantz said in an interview.

• CitiMortgage sent a modification package in May, requesting documents. Even as they discussed the modification with CitiMortgage, an ad announcing the foreclosure was published, said Adam Alexander, the Krantzes’ lawyer. The home was sold at a sheriff’s auction in June.

• “We sent all the paperwork via e-mail,” Chuck Krantz, 39, a disabled former casino dealer, said in an interview. “On the phone, they told us everything was all right.” He said he and his wife, who works for a transport company, were never formally denied a modification.

For more, see Michigan Foreclosure Method Catches Homeowners as They Seek New Financing.