Last week, we took a huge financial hit when our mortgage company, GMAC, told us we had to pay a $4400+ balloon payment or risk foreclosure proceedings on our home. They had also destroyed my credit, even though I paid what they had told me to pay on time, every month.

They had us over the proverbial barrel.

We either pay the money or go into foreclosure.

Turns out, this (and worse) is happening to thousands of Americans. (here’s even more)

We decided the only positive thing that we could do was to spread the word, so we worked for days drafting and revising a press release, which I then took to PRWeb, a press release distribution service, to distribute nationally. I paid their fee, but they wouldn’t send the press release. They claimed that it’s intent was “to exact personal revenge or harm a person or group.”

They would not distribute the release unless we removed all mention of GMAC and made it about a “generic mortgage company.” Of course, the story is about GMAC, their billions in government bailout, and their treatment of customers.

Consumers should know that #1 they’re not alone in this situation, #2 GMAC shouldn’t get another dime in bailout money, and #3 not to borrow through GMAC if you’re about to get a loan.

Friends, please help me spread the word. Post it on your blog, Tweet it, share it on Facebook, email it to your local TV/newspapers… Hell! Send it to Oprah & Ellen & Obama. Just get the word out about GMAC and their criminal activity.

This is the press release PR Web won’t distribute:

GMAC Leave Texas Authors with Few Choices

Austin, TX…GMAC, the home and auto financing arm of General Motors, has received two government bailouts totaling $12.5 billion in taxpayers’ money over the last 12 months. They’re now trying to get $2.8 billion more. The money is supposed to help the corporation help homeowners who are having problems keeping up with their mortgages hold on to their homes. However, according to at least one Austin couple, that is not what is happening. They allege that GMAC gave them false information regarding their Loan Modification, forcing them into a corner.

Christine and Ethan Rose, award-winning authors of the “Rowan of the Wood” fantasy series, own a small home in the Austin area. Self-employed, they purchased their house in April 2006 on stated income with an 8.25% fixed rate, set to adjust after two years. During the first two years of their mortgage, they were never late with a payment, and they raised their credit score to 780, well above the national average. However, as time came to refinance, the mortgage crisis hit and the interest rate on stated income loans went “out the window.” For example, from April 2008 to April 2009, the Rose’s then-adjustable interest rate climbed to nearly 12%. Even so, Christine and Ethan continued to pay their mortgage on time.

Beginning in April 2008, Christine tried to refinance their mortgage with both GMAC and other lenders, but no loans were available for stated income. Then in March ’09, after talking with several mortgage specialists, she and Ethan applied for a loan modification through GMAC. The specialists advised them that they would have to have fallen behind on their mortgage however in order to be considered for a modification. A GMAC representative provided them with the same advice and also noted that the Rose’s credit history would not be damaged if they missed just one payment.

The Roses did just what GMAC suggested. However four months went by and the couple had not heard back from GMAC regarding their request for a loan modification. When Christine called to find out what was going on, she was told that their loan modification paperwork would have to be resubmitted because it had somehow “fallen through the cracks.” The person Christine spoke with also proposed that while their modification request was under review, they make reduced mortgage payments. Again, the Roses were reassured that making the smaller payments would not damage their credit history. As a result, they did exactly what GMAC advised them to do.

Jump forward to today. A month after their new book “Witch on the Water” was released, the authors returned home from a five-month book tour to a huge surprise. Their credit score had dropped to 649 because GMAC had reported them delinquent every month for the previous four months, even though the couple had paid the amount that they and GMAC had agreed on in full and on time every month. Additionally, the Roses had received a bill for nearly $4,400 — a “balloon payment” that they now owed because of the reduced mortgage payments. Furthermore, according to GMAC, the couple’s application for a loan modification had been denied on June 30th because the Roses didn’t make enough money to modify the loan. Yet, the couple was not notified of this denial until Christine called the lender on November 3rd.

According to Gerri Detweiler, a Credit.com expert and a nationally known authority on consumer debt and credit, the situation faced by the Roses is not unusual. “Many, many homeowners are having difficulty modifying their mortgage loans through the federal government’s loan modification program, which was designed to help homeowners hold on to their homes in these difficult economic times. This is because homeowners are receiving conflicting information about modifications from mortgage lender personnel, their paperwork is being lost and there are delays processing their modification requests, among other problems. In addition, some lenders are reporting mortgage loan modifications to the credit bureaus in such a way that home owners’ FICO stores are being damaged, which then further complicates the owners’ financial situations. It sounds to me like the Roses are the victims of many of these very problems.”

Christine and Ethan are understandably upset at GMAC’s business dealings. “I’ll be forty next week,” Christine said, “and I don’t want a foreclosure for my birthday.” Ethan added, “It seems like GMAC is trying to force us into foreclosure. Perhaps the more foreclosures they have, the more bailout money they can get.”