Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Clay Kime on October 2, 2010 at 7:52pm

Hi Sara,

From my experience with very many SunTrust short sales, you never know what you are going to get. Since it very much depends on who gets assigned as the negotiator that determines the quality and professionalism, there is clearly a serious management and QA problem at the top. If there are uniform standards, they are not adhered to and the Production Manager cannot be conducting any oversight and performance analysis, or such wide variations would not exist. Unless she has been fired or replaced (one is allowed to hope), that person was Nicole Harwood, VP and Production Manager for Loss Mitigation [Nicole.Harwood@Suntrust.com].

SunTrust call center staff has not been trained to understand that “this is a cooperative effort.” Most of them are deliberately rude and obnoxious. It is not their fault. They are poorly paid and poorly trained “box checkers.” They don’t seek to provide assistance, they seek to get the agent to accept “no” and get you off the phone. More frequently than not, notes to the file are either not made or are inaccurate, and they are always incomplete.

The typical time for the “set-up team” to perform their tasks is at least two months (allow for longer), before a negotiator is assigned.

There are many negotiators that work very hard under the extreme duress that SunTrust management forces them to endure, but then there are too many that are simply incompetent and irresponsible.

I have had many good experiences, and a few horrible experiences which produces cautious ambivalence in me when taking on a new SunTrust-serviced short sale.

The worst experience was with a SunTrust negotiator supposedly named Michael A. Barnes. After nearly fifteen (15) months of excuses and non communication, and several buyers later, we were on the momentary watch for the approval letter. I had repeatedly warned Mr. Barnes that the trustee sale date needed to be postponed. He ignored my e-mails and voice mails. The call center assured me that it would be taken care of. At 6:30 a.m. on the morning of the trustee sale, Mr. Barnes called me to say that the investor, Fannie-Mae had refused to allow the postponement and it would go to auction in four (4) hours. (he didn’t even say “sorry.”) It did go to sale and SunTrust bought the property for the balance due. I then contacted FNMA and they launched an investigation into the circumstances. Two days later the FNMA investigator called back and reported that FNMA had absolutely no records of SunTrust requesting a postponement. Obviously, Mr. Barnes forgot to do his job, and everyone else suffered loss. The FNMA investigator recommended that I petition SunTrust (since it went back to SunTrust at auction) to request that FNMA rescind the foreclosure and allow the short sale to proceed. This was relayed to Nicole Harwood for action, of which there was none. Not even the courtesy of a response from even one of Ms. Harwood’s underlings. The next week the property was listed with an REO agent, other than me. Months later it remains unsold.

SunTrust wrote a lot of bad paper and they will continue to be at the forefront of non-performing loans and short sales. I have heard some say they will never take a SunTrust short sale again. I suggest that all who say that rethink that position. We are here to help the distressed homeowner and the bank reach an equitable agreement on the disposition of the mortgaged property. Even if SunTrust doesn’t or never breaks that code, we still have the moral and fiduciary responsibility to help those in dire financial trouble. If that’s not a reasonable consideration for an agent to hunker down and trudge through SunTrust yet again, I would suggest that that is an agent that has no business in professing to help distressed homeowners . . . yes I mean they are at best hypocrites.

NOW LET ME SAY SOMETHIG VERY IMPORTANT :

There is a huge distinction between SunTrust Mortgage (bad) and SunTrust Bank (good).
If you have a situation that involves Consumer SunTrust Credit Lines (Home Equity Lines Of Credit[HELOC]), you will have an entirely different experience. Those operations are headed by Steven Entwistle, a true professional. Everything is done on time, monitored for QC. Nothing is ever late, and no excuses

Oh that they would put Mr. Entwistle in charge of all SunTrust loss mitigation. Opps! Sorry, time to wake up Clay . . . Clay, time to get up!

Best of good fortune, and never give up. It’s the right thing to do!

Clay

Permalink Reply by Sara Pichelmann on October 2, 2010 at 8:01pm

Hello Clay,
Thank you for your insight to Suntrust. Micahel Barnes was the same person I had and never did get approval from him. I will make sure to watch out for him.
Thank you,
Sara Pichelmann

Permalink Reply by Lisa Allen, CDPE, SFR, CSSG on October 3, 2010 at 7:54pm

I have had a similar experience with Suntrust (and my husband works for them). They are a 90 minimum process. 2 months for processing and 1 month with negotiator. But, I had a different experience with Michael Barnes. In fact it was very positive. The offer price was 95% of BPO and he approved the file the first week he had it. I had the approval letter in a timely manner and that property has since closed with no other issues.

Permalink Reply by Sara Pichelmann on October 4, 2010 at 2:07pm

Lisa,
Thank you for your input.
sara

Permalink Reply by Amy Alvarez on November 22, 2010 at 10:54am

Help!!!!! I have been in a short sale with Suntrust going on 7 months and I am not feeling confident that I am going to get an approval..they took 5 months in setup, then the negotiator had the file for 2 months. I called today and they just re-assigned the file to a new negotiator. What is going on with this bank??!!

Permalink Reply by Sara Pichelmann on November 23, 2010 at 5:28pm

Amy,
Have you had a luck at all? I keep getting the run around as well.

Permalink Reply by Janet Fuller CDPE, HRC, ABR on March 8, 2011 at 12:21pm

I just set up a file in less than week- negotiator assign...now I wait

Permalink Reply by Sara Pichelmann on March 10, 2011 at 9:07pm

Can you post your progress. I would to hear how things go for you.

Thanks,sara

Permalink Reply by Janet Fuller CDPE, HRC, ABR on March 11, 2011 at 10:40am

absolutely, still haven't gotten a call from her...I requested it on the 8th.

But I was told they are working the 2nd (that was going to collections) and is a fixed installment loan.

 

Permalink Reply by Janet Fuller CDPE, HRC, ABR on March 14, 2011 at 2:51pm

File was set up on March 8th with a negotiator, Today on 3/14/2011 I was called for an interior BPO...I say this is progress.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Allen, CDPE, SFR, CSSG on March 14, 2011 at 3:18pm

Just had a Suntrust file approved in 22 days. That is from offer to approval letter.

Permalink Reply by Janet Fuller CDPE, HRC, ABR on March 14, 2011 at 3:21pm

That is incredible!

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