First Federal Bank of California

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About Us: Loan Modification Success Stories

Personalizing Successful Loan Modifications

First Federal Bank of California has now modified over $1 billion worth of home mortgages, enabling more than 2,000 California families to avert foreclosure. Here are some of our success stories.

San Diego Resident William Toon

San Francisco Resident Kim Bender

Santa Cruz Resident Barbara Bedford

San Diego Resident William Toon
San Diego Resident William Toon worked overtime to provide his daughter with a nice home. Thanks to First Federal Bank of California, their American dream didn't go up in smoke.

Mr. Toon is a fire department captain who lives in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon. A single father, Mr. Toon bought a house in 2004, hoping to raise his daughter in a nice neighborhood. Sometimes he worked two jobs to earn extra income, and he made every mortgage payment on time.

In March 2007, sensing his monthly payment was about to increase to a level that he couldn't sustain, Mr. Toon called First Fed and made a candid admission: he didn't fully understand the terms of his loan, but he was willing to fulfill his obligation and remain a positive role model for his daughter. But he needed the Bank's help to find, in his words, "a win-win situation" for both him and his daughter.

First Fed's Carol Baxter took up Mr. Toon's case and soon found a solution - in late summer 2007, long before loan modification was the government's rallying cry. She was very reasurring that we would have a successful outcome," Mr Toon recalls.

The Bank modified the terms by providing a two year fixed-rate interest only loan. Mr. Toon continued to make his payments on time, yet the following years, he contacted the Bank to say he'd like to lengthen the fixed-rate peiod to give him more certainty. Again, Carol Baxter was able to accommodate. She offered a five-year fixed-rate tenure, though monthly payments would be higher.

Mr. Toon accepted. Then later last year, when First Fed expanded its modified loan offerings to meet market conditions and demand, Mr. Toon received a 10-year fixed-rate fully amortizing loan that lowered his monthly payments.

Last December, Mr. Toon wrote to Babette Heimbuch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Fed, to express his gratitude. "Carol Baxter is a saint that is representing your Bank with honesty, integrity and the ability to understand and communicate with those of us that are not experts in the mortgage industry," he wrote.

These days, Mr. Toon shares his story with friends, many of whom have been stonewalled by their lenders as they try to modify their mortgages. "First Fed has been wonderful," Mr. Toon says. "They are allowing me to provide a house for my daughter and me." back to top

San Francisco Resident Kim Bender
Kim Bender grew up in Santa Monica, not far from the longtime headquarters of First Federal Bank of California. So in 2004 when she and her husband bought a home in Bolinas, north of San Francisco, she turned to her hometown bank. Five years later, Ms. Bender says, “I feel very lucky that I took a mortgage with First Fed.”

Ms. Bender is a senior staff member at the San Francisco Film Society. Her mortgage had already reset to higher payments when she contacted First Fed in 2008 to inquire about a loan modification. That June, the bank and Ms. Bender agreed on a five-year fixed-rate interest-only loan.

A few months later, the financial markets and broader economy slid into crisis. Ms. Bender wrote to First Fed to request another modification. She wanted a type of mortgage that the bank didn’t traditionally offer. Knowing that First Fed held mortgages in its portfolio and might have some flexibility as a community bank, Ms. Bender wrote directly to James Giraldin, president and chief operating officer. A few days later, Mr. Giraldin himself called Ms. Bender.

“It was such an unusual thing that the president called me,” she says. “It says a lot about how this bank is run.”

Within a week and a half, they came to an agreement to modify the loan to a 10-year fixed-rate fully amortizing loan, as well as extending the life of the loan by 10 years.

“Everyone I tell this story to is quite amazed at the bank’s responsiveness and its willingness to talk to its clients,” Ms. Bender says. But that’s been her experience all along. “Over the past five years, I could always reach someone at First Fed. I am grateful that there is a person on the other end, and my mortgage didn’t get farmed out and bundled up with other loans.”

Of her experience modifying her loan, Ms. Bender says emphatically, "It was more than satisfactory. It was amazing." back to top

Santa Cruz Resident Barbara Bedford
Barbara Bedford had hoped to retire a few years ago, but medical and economic setbacks delayed that plan. Now retired, she is grateful that First Federal Bank of California helped her through what she describes as a “devastating time” -- not only by modifying her mortgage but also by understanding the challenges she faced.

In late 2007, the mortgage on her Santa Cruz home reset to a much higher payment. The mother of seven was undergoing treatment to arrest breast cancer, but still working fulltime, and her disabled, wheelchair-bound husband required professional caregiving at home. She had paid her monthly mortgage dependably for years, but to do so now, she was depleting her savings and needed some relief.

Ms. Bedford contacted First Fed and was connected to Toney Kim in the Loss Mitigation department. “I was so blessed,” she says. “I called many times very upset, and I shared with him all my concerns. He always listened patiently and assured me he would plead my case…to the best of his ability.” Indeed, Mr. Kim led Ms. Bedford to a First Fed vice president. “I explained that I am a person who makes her payments and doesn’t want a handout,” she recalls. “I’m not going to walk away. I want to stay. Are you willing to help responsible people?”

First Fed was. Ms. Bedford’s loan was modified to have a five-year fixed-rate interest-only feature.

In a November 2008 letter to Babette Heimbuch, chairman and chief executive officer of FirstFed Financial Corp., the parent of First Fed, Ms. Bedford wrote, “I always refer people to your bank as a result of the great customer service given to me by Mr. Toney Kim.”

Mr. Kim subsequently helped steer Ms. Bedford away from a potential third-party mortgage-relief scam and advised her on how to approach the bank holding her second mortgage for a modification.
In a bitter twist of irony, Ms. Bedford’s daughter-in-law works in the real estate industry and her family makes payments on time, but now she can’t even get her lender – one of the country’s mortgage giants that has received federal funds – to return her calls. “My son keeps asking me: ‘How do you do this?’” Ms. Bedford says. “First Fed was willing to listen to my situation and work with me individually.”

“I would not be in my home today if it wasn’t for First Fed’s professionalism and courtesy,” she notes. “They did what other banks should have done. back to top

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