With less than 24 hours until our home is sold on the courthouse steps, I head over to the Cherokee County Courthouse in my last attempt to get a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop the foreclosure on our home.
Over the weekend, I had prepared sworn affidavits to correct the filings that needed to be verified and/or certified, I had prepared a Revocation of Power of Attorney to invalidate our Security Deed, and I brought copies of the Emergency Motion for a TRO and the Ex Parte Order for the judge to sign.
Once again, I enter my assigned judge’s office and approach her clerk with my documents. Once again, she refused to do anything with the documents, other than take my name and promise to call me if the judge agreed to hear my case.
Not ready to give up, I then went to the receptionist and ask who the “presiding judge” was this morning — if my judge wouldn’t hear my case, well maybe the presiding judge would. To my dismay, the presiding judge was … my assigned judge.
Now, officially out of options, I resign myself to pursuing backup plans B and C:
- Plan B was to follow-up on my mortgage modification application with the bank. While it was a long shot, the bank had always stated that they would not foreclose if they had an active modification in review. Mine was, so this was a possibility.
- Plan C was to file a Bankruptcy petition. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but it would immediately stop the foreclosure, no questions asked. I had a petition prepared and ready to file, just in case.
So I called Bank of America and asked about the status of my mortgage application. I had called on Friday, and I knew it was still active, but the foreclosure had yet to be canceled. Today, however, I received good news — the foreclosure had been canceled.
Given the number of wrongful foreclosures filed in court records, however, I was not comfortable yet. I needed to get something in writing, but Bank of America refuses to document anything they tell you over the phone. My only choice was to call the law firm handling the foreclosure, and attempt to get verification in writing from them.
Now on this morning, the law firm’s phones were ringing off the hook, and no-one was answering. Ring, ring, ring, only to roll-over to voice mail. I kept calling. Finally, after about an hour of calling I was able to get verbal confirmation that the law firm had also cancelled my foreclosure. I asked for written documentation, but my contact made it sound highly unlikely that I’d get it anytime soon.
Feeling that I had done all that I could do, I left the courthouse hoping that the verbal assurances I had received from Bank of America and their law firm would be honored. Instead of worrying about it, I went home for lunch and called it day.
Then, totally to my surprise, I got a call from the judge’s clerk about 2:30 in the afternoon. The judge had reviewed my motion, and had agreed to a hearing the following morning. At this point, I told the clerk that I thought the foreclosure had been cancelled, but I had not been able to get written verification of this. If I were able to do so, the hearing would no longer be necessary.
At that point, I called the law firm pursuing the foreclosure, and informed them that we had a hearing scheduled for the following morning. If they could provide me with written documentation that the foreclosure was cancelled, however, I would cancel the hearing.
Five minutes later, I had my written confirmation. I then cancelled the hearing for tomorrow, and was finally able to declare this day a victory. My house was safe for another month, and my case was finally getting some traction.
