[FoCHAT] CHAT: "I went home every night from First American and I prayed for every one of you"

[Melanie Ehrlich]

Dear Friends of CHAT,
   
  1. From our website updated today:
   
  http://chatushome.com
  New Items to which you can link from the top of our website:  CHAT’s Road Home Misery Index for Feb. 27 – Mar. 9, 2008 including Detailed Advice From a Former First American Title Employee About Pre-Closing Calls. Click on the end of this sentence to read about how ongoing problems with accuracy and fairness in grants affect storm victims and one former First American Title Co.’s staff member, who writes I went home every night from First American and I prayed for every one of you 
   
  Does this fired employee's story that was shared with CHAT explain much of the inability of ICF and ICF subcontractor staff (First American Title and HGI closing companies as well as other subcontractors of ICF) to give applicants meaningful answers to simple questions ever since the beginning of the program?
   
  Is it contractor policy to keep uninformed much of ICF staff and subcontractor staff who deal with applicants? 
   
  Does this former RH staff's write-up help explain why it has been so difficult for applicants who had rejected certified appraisal to get field review appraisals to validate their certified appraisal? 
   
  The well-designed field review appraisal policy (CP188G) was supposed to be in effect starting Nov. 9, 2008. However, there are still applicants in appeals because of rejection of their certified appraisal, who are struggling with their appeals. Instead, if applicants and ICF staff were informed about basic significant policy changes, those applications would be fast-tracked for a simple, but authoritative, field review appraisal by a licensed appraiser to validate their purchased appraisal. 
   
  Many applicants who still don't know about this field review appraisal policy had ICF staff refuse to even enter their purchased certified appraisal into their file in the past.
   
  Does this former RH staff's write-up help explain why applicants are still often told that there is no new policy about written documentation (CP189A; signed Nov. 9, 2007; supposed to be in effect Jan. 1, 2008) upon asking ICF staff and are still being phoned award or appeal information instead of getting it in writing?
   
   
    
   CHAT Newsletters from Feb. 16 – Mar. 9 highlighting elevation allowances and appeals: click here to read 
   
   
  2. If you are interested in being considered as a possible candidate for being interviewed by the media and:
   
   you have an easily explained scenario with your ongoing processing of your Road Home application or appeal
   
   or a major unresolved and uncorrected mistake in your grant application, 
   
  please explain this briefly in the last box of our online survey
   
   http://chatforfairness.org 
   
  and write "willing to be possibly interviewed by the media" in the last line of the last box of the survey.
   
  Best wishes,
   
  Melanie Ehrlich
  Co-Chairman, CHAT
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