First I want to say that this is not an April Fools joke, unless the joke is being played on me. The research I have done shows that this is true though and it is just a coincidence that it falls on this day. The short of it is that some law firm sent me a notice that they would be selling my house on April 30th for cash. There was more words on the letter than this but it was mostly stuff I could not understand. Now for the full story. Well, I have had a life dream of owning my own retail hobby game store. Since quitting smoking 7 years ago and quitting drinking 4 years ago (I was a very heavy drinker), I was starting to save up a lot of money. I realized that if I kept saving up that my life dream could very well become a reality. In less than 3 years I had managed to save up nearly $17k. In 2008 I bought a house figuring I'd be staying in Cheyenne permanently I figured I needed about $25k to start this business out, however in July of 2009 I lost my job and decided to start my business a bit early. I was able to save a lot of my planned start up costs and made a huge decrease in my personal living costs by selling off personal belongings and having most of my house filled with roommates. after just 5 months in the business I began making enough in sales to cover at least the costs of running the business, however my backup funds still ran dry. Then summertime hit and sales went down hill. Even with roommates I was no longer able to keep up with house payments. I knew though that in order for me to be able to keep the house in the long run and have the business be successful, I had to put the business first and delay those house payments. I've tried over the past 6 months to work with Wells Fargo on this, however even getting the Better Business Bureau involved proved ineffective. It was impossible to get anyone with any authority at Wells Fargo to talk to me to work out the payment issues. The only thing they did was overwhelm me with paperwork without providing any assistance on how to fill it out. Last December the business came out of its hole and has been profitable ever since. I still don't make enough money to make my house payments but between selling off my car and biking to work and the money that roommates pay me, I am confident that I can begin making regular house payments again.... IF Wells Fargo will work with me. I have been in communication with a representative from Wells Fargo who told me that he would be my single point of contact. It looked like we were going to get this thing worked out, but it would take some time. On March 30th though I received a registered letter from Castle Stawiarski, LLC (307-333-5379) that really said nothing other than my house was going to be sold, for cash, by auction, on April 30th. Nothing about having to get out of the house, nothing about working this out or anything. This letter came out of nowhere and without any legal backing, no court, nothing. I wondered if it could have been an April Fools joke, but I called the number and it is in fact a law firm that deals in foreclosures. Of course it is my intent to fight this in every way possible. I am still in the process of trying to find out what is going on, but it is Sunday and nothing is open except my store. So that is it about the problem. I'm now working on solutions. Modify message
That's sick. I wish they would have at least tried to help you out. How heartless can you get? It's true that owning a business is tough, but nobody should have to go through what you have to deal with. I hope everything works out for you. I feel like I'm putting myself in danger, replying to a thread on April Fool's day, but you said it wasn't a joke and I believe you.
Ouch, Flutterbee... Well, that's terrrible. I'm so sorry that that's happened, but surely it'd have to say more, like how you could prevent it. And surely they should have given you notice before hand. That's just cruel what they've done to you. I really wish you the best of luck, Hope that ya work things out!
It most certainly is not a joke. Like I said unless it is being played one me. I did call the phone number and it was a foreclosure law firm. Anyway I am asking for help from any place I can get it. Some things people might be able to do to help is: Call or write Castle Stawiarski, LLC at 330 S Walsh Drive, ste 202, Casper, WY 82609 (307) 333-5379. Tell them that what they are doing is wrong and that they have to go through due process before making such an action. The house is not for them to sell unless it has been ruled that way in court and there are no other options, which there are plenty of options. If your in the Cheyenne area to swing by my store and possibly make a purchase. If you know people in positions of authority, such as politics or higher ups at Wells Fargo to tell them about this and get them in contact with me. Perhaps filing a petition. I'd start one myself but I'm fighting this in many other means and initiating a petition would take away from the time I could spend doing other things to fight this. My real name is Marshall LaFleur and you can find most of my contact information at www.cyborgsgaming.com. Since I'm always at work that is the best place to contact me. I am giving out all of this information out of desperation. Even if someone does come at me with identy theft. If I do nothing I lose everything anyway so the only chance I have is to fight this with everything I can. I also know I can't do it alone and need the help of others. Going against a big name like Wells Fargo is very hard. Considering the billions of dollars the government has given them to help people in my situation, that they instead choose to keep and give to millionaire executives and still make illegal foreclosures on people that are making an honest effort to pay up.
I am sorry about what is happening Flutterbee. I will try help as much as I can, even if it is simply moral support. I can't exactly write to them as I am across the globe, plus chances are they will not be put off from their corrupt deeds but I will do all I can, just tell me and consider it done.
Well, I just got done writing a letter to the editor of my local paper about the situation. Yeah there isn't much you can do in South Africa. There are much bigger problems than mine over there. The way I see it right now, nothing I do can really hurt the situation. The only wrong thing I could do is to do nothing. Therefore I'm doing as much as I can. Emails to many different people, phone calls, everything. I just can't do much that involves paying money.
I wish I could help in some way but other than trying to contact the firm you mentioned or signing a petition I'm useless. You do have my wishes and hopes that all will go well. Just keep fighting. Economic systems suck. Why do they always have to hurt those pursuing their dreams. Good luck sir. Also I hate Wells Fargo.
Maybe Change.org can help. They e-mail with petition signing all the time and foreclosure stuff occasionally shows up. One petition helped a family prevent their foreclosure and get the bank to work with them on payments. I don't know how any of that stuff works, but since you're basically backed into a corner, it's always worth a shot.
I think running with a change.org campaign would be a great idea. I think it could help a lot. I want to focus my efforts on other things though. I still need to put the business first and have a successful steady income for a permanent solution. Putting an end to this sale is just a temporary solution. It would mean a lot to me if somepony here could get something running on change.org.
I have more information and will continue to update this thread as more comes. I was able to speak with a lawyer from Castle Stawiarski and he was very helpful. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the conversation went. He informed me that the sale of the house wouldn't change my living situation right away. He said I would have an additional 90 days after the sale of the house to pay what I owed and still keep the house. So I have at least 118 days before I have to leave my house. I don't even have to make any payments right now. Things will continue as normal for me for now and I will continue to search for resolutions without having to depend on others help for it. I may even let the house go and sleep at the store or on a friends couch. Heck I pretty much live at my store anyway and there is a storage unit only about 2 blocks from my store anyway. so panic mode is officially off. I have some time and space to work with here. This thing of course is not settled yet. As you see it was not an April Fools joke, but it also isn't quite as big a deal as I was afraid. Not knowing what is going on is so much scarier than knowing. (and knowing is half the battle) Now I wonder why Castle Stawiarski couldn't just have given all this information in the letter they sent me in the first place. It would have saved a lot of problems. I'm going to let my BBB complaints go through because they do kinda deserve it for not including this important information in the letter.
I wouldn't start complaining to the BBB till after your problems are solved. You wouldn't want to give them a reason to be pissed at you, that wouldn't help at all.
QFT. You don't want to stand out as an enemy or they will make red tape as painful as possible. If you can stay at your store or a friends for a few months, you could save up lots of cash. Roommates aren't so bad if you find good ones.
Nah the complaints are meant to get to higher ups in companies to get the problems resolved. The problem I am facing with Wells Fargo now is that the apparently get so many BBB complaints that they just send them to another complaint department that doesn't have any authority to get them resolved, they just follow and SOP that doesn't work. Anyway yeah I will just stay at my store and save up a lot of money if and when I am kicked out of my house. Right now that isn't an option though. I still prefer to keep my house since I do have money invested in it.
