HUNTINGTON — A Huntington woman is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service after she claims it refused her payments, causing her to fall into default on her mortgage.
Kecia Dawn Ramey entered into a deed of trust with the defendant in 2011 via the defendant's Single-Family Housing Program, which provides low- and moderate-income households the opportunity to own homes in eligible rural areas, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Ramey claims she was to pay $350 per month for the loan, which included an amount of monthly assistance based on her income, but shortly after the loan originated, she was forced to stop working during complications with her pregnancy. She received a moratorium that allowed her to not make payments on the loan for one year.
When the moratorium expired in 2013, the defendant informed Ramey that she had previously improperly received payment assistance and changed her monthly payments to approximately $498, according to the suit. Ramey claims her husband lost his job in 2013, but she continued to make payments, sometimes struggling, and in September 2013, she made a payment of between $1,500 to $2,000 to bring her account current.
In March 2014, Ramey experienced another temporary loss of income due to transportation issues and in April 2014, the defendant offset her federal tax return by approximately $1,300, according to the suit.
Ramey claims when she obtained steady income again, she contacted the defendant in July 2014 and the defendant represented that she was in arrears approximately $4,000 and she was required to pay that in full before the defendant would start accepting further payments.
From July until October, Ramey repeatedly contacted the defendant and attempted to make payments on the loan, but was refused, according to the suit. The defendant then stopped sending Ramey a monthly statement and required her to pay by phone.
Ramey claims when she attempted to call to make payments by phone, she was told they could not locate her account and would not apply payments to her account.
"After these repeated efforts to pay were denied by defendant, plaintiff gave up and waited for defendant to provide her notice of foreclosure alternatives available to her and any adverse action such as acceleration," the complaint states. "Plaintiff received no notices, correspondence or any contact whatsoever from defendant for the next five years."
In April, the plaintiff received a door hanger instructing her to contact the defendant's foreclosure trustee regarding her loan. She contacted the trustee and requested foreclosure alternatives, but the defendant provided no substantive response to her request and proceeded with foreclosure.
"Despite several inquiries by plaintiff and her counsel, defendant refused to provide plaintiff any assistance," the complaint states. "Instead of putting forth a good faith effort to achieve a sustainable payment plan with plaintiff, as specially required under Rural Housing Service mortgage loans, defendant failed and refused to properly process plaintiff’s requests for appropriate loss mitigation under applicable agreements and guidelines, despite plaintiff’s demonstrated ability to make payments."
Ramey is seeking compensatory damages and for the court to enjoin the defendant from proceeding with foreclosure. She is represented by Bren Pomponio of Mountain State Justice.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 3:19-cv-00503
