Since World could not provide a legal map, the original engineering map was located, which clearly shows our house outside the 100 year flood zone. 

The bigger problem and the bigger story is that during the last five years, our lender threatened foreclosure on our home some 30 times, and is still attempting to do so. They used the wrong map, one that never became effective, instead of the one that was, under federal law, under effect. 

How many of our city's homeless experienced the same fiasco, but could not afford to spend the time and money disputing it? 

4/15/10 Update. One of the houses in our neighborhood that is now out of the flood zone according to the new 3-foot-lower elevation (which should have gone into effect in 2004, according to the Chief of Engineering, Management Branch, Mitigation Directorate at FEMA) was foreclosed on by the bank. This is an extreme insult to everyone who thinks we live in a free country, when a mistake by FEMA can result in people losing everything they own. FEMA, the banks, and the insurance companies need to be held accountable.

7/26/10 Update. A letter from Allstate blames the dispute on a company called CoreLogic, which has made a determination that our house is in a flood zone (again using the map that never became effective), even though 16 pieces of documentation show that our house has always has been out of the flood zone. 

Will FEMA, Wachovia, Allstate, or CoreLogic do what's right? In the mean time, we have included CoreLogic in the Department of Homeland Security/Government Accountability Office investigation.  

8/24/10 Update. FEMA has finally "determined" officially in a Letter of Map Ammendment that our house is outside the flood zone. The bad news is that the flood abatement work the LOMA is based on was done in 2003, and since then Wachovia and FEMA have taken thousands of dollars from us for "flood insurance' based on the map which never went into effect. The Department of Homeland Security/GAO/FEMA investigation continues.

11/30/10 Update. The Department of Homeland Security/FEMA has directed Allstate and their underwriter to refund all five years of our "flood insurance" principal, and we have received a small, partial refund. In their letter to the underwriter, DHS flatly states that our house was never in a flood zone. 

12/20/2010 Update. Today, FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security fully refunded all of the "flood insurance" money they received from Wachovia. The reason stated for the refund on the check stub is that it was an "incorrect zone". Who made their determination based on an incorrect zone? Wachovia. Now it's up to the Comptroller of Currency and the Government Accountability office to hold Wachovia's feet to the fire and levy a steep fine for improper banking practices and attempted felony grand larceny. Wachovia now owes us tens of thousands in interest, late payment fees, legal costs, and four years of mortgage overpayment.

6/14/2011 Update. Wells Fargo Fights Dirty and Takes Revenge. Neither the Comptroller of Currency nor the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA have made final determinations in the case. However, we found out from a realtor who knocked on our front door today that our house has been listed in default and in foreclosure on the El Paso County Public Trustee website. Wells Fargo thinks they can stealth foreclose as revenge for losing the flood insurance case. Today we contacted the Comptroller, FEMA's regional head, two U.S. congressmen, our new mortgage holder, the Trustee, a legal flood zone specialist, a law firm, and ABC news.

9/27/2011 Update. We opened a new case with the Comptroller on Wachovia's "foreclosure" claim and escrow dispute. Several "customer service" people at Wachovia admitted that since October of 2009, we have been overpaying our PITI (principal, interest, tax, and insurance) each month. Wachovia has also admitted that they made mistakes in our "escrow analysis", they have not been able to figure out where their yearly insurance total estimate comes from; it is much higher than the actual amount paid for insurance the last two years. When they filed for foreclosure, there was more than a full month's payment in escrow that should have been credited as a payment instead of languishing in escrow, and they have not been able to explain this. Bottom line, they made several accounting errors that resulted in their attempt to foreclose on our house, while our monthly payments were actually more than needed for PITI, and we never made any late or short payments. They think revenge is sweet, we think they deserve prison time.

We finally got a statement from Wachovia's lawyers for payoff and paid the full amount to get our house out of hock, but the payoff (including our lawyer's fees and independent audit) was eleven thousand dollars higher than the remaining principal on our mortgage. Since Wachovia accounting mistakes caused the foreclosure, we are requesting that the Comptroller recover this money from the bank.

Wachovia sent a cashier's check refund that is approximately the same figure they claimed we owed as delinquent payments, and stated in writing that the reasons are "escrow overage from your last analysis" and "surplus in your escrow account". This makes the Comptroller's case for us. 

The original flood zone case is in the final appeals process with the Comptroller.

Will Wachovia/Wells Fargo make this right?