A local gadfly who wants the quaint village to retain its Hudson River charm and who has battled with municipal officials over development plans, Webster is a data analyst for a radio market research business. His wife, Jean Allen Webster, 60, is an antiques dealer and former comptroller for a Knight Ridder advertising sales subsidiary.
Somehow this articulate and number-savvy couple have turned a house they bought in 1984 for $122,000 into a major liability with $1.2 million in outstanding debt and a final foreclosure looming.
They are trying to sell the property for more than $800,000 and convince the courts that they do not owe all that a title researcher might uncover at the Putnam County courthouse.
The couple, married for more than 28 years, now live hundreds of miles apart.
He remains in Cold Spring. She is at a Virginia farm that the couple bought in 2005, which was what finally broke their finances and plummeted them into a budgetary tailspin. He said it has been more upsetting than he would have expected.
"I thought I was up on all this and could figure it out," Scott Webster said in his nearly empty house.
He handled most of the loan details without an attorney, and said changes from Wells Fargo, not his lack of formal legal education, caused the problem.
"There is a stigma about a foreclosure ... like being accused of a crime. It seems as if we did something really stupid. But we figured all this out as lenders encouraged us," he said, surrounded by piles of papers, a computer and fax.
The couple moved from Queens to Putnam County 24 years ago and at first glance fell in love with the five-bedroom Victorian home built in 1855. It has three fireplaces, a full basement, granite stone foundation, and period features like a claw-foot bathtub, stained-glass windows and 10-foot ceilings with plaster crown moldings.
After a bidding war, they purchased the house by taking out a fixed-rate mortgage. In 1995, they refinanced for $162,000 with a new 30-year mortgage at a fixed rate of 7.25 percent with First Union Bank, settling their original debt.
In June 2005, their financial situation got complicated when the couple sought to buy a farm property in Virginia and sell their Cold Spring home.
They knew that temporarily they might own both properties because of timing, but did not foresee the problems that lay ahead due to new financing which, instead of a standard mortgage, had to be broken into a few agreements to satisfy Wells Fargo's requirements.
They applied for what they thought was traditional refinancing; one new mortgage for $522,000. On the day they signed the papers in Fishkill, the Websters received $299,000 to purchase their new property in Dugspur, Va., plus $50,000 and the belief that their 1995 mortgage was paid.
Scott Webster said a Wells Fargo representative explained that because of the large loan amount of $522,000, it had to be split into separate agreements. They were presented with a loan for less than they had applied for, a $380,000 mortgage plus a document called a "consolidated mortgage" that was to include the original $162,000 and provide them with a $150,000 home-equity line of credit, which they could draw on if needed.
Recorded papers in the county office show the $162,000 still outstanding in addition to the $380,000, the consolidated $522,000 and the $150,000 equity line, for a total of $1,214,000. The Websters have been unable to correct the paperwork to show the $162,000 loan was paid off or that there should never have been an additional $522,000 loan. They are contending they are victims of predatory lending - sort of a bait and switch.
"We cannot get a clear title unless this debt is properly resolved," said Jean Allen Webster. "We have already lost a couple of sales as a result of this problem."
Their New York house did not sell as expected, and the Websters contend that it is due to the title problems. After they defaulted on three $4,000 payments, Wells Fargo initiated legal action Dec. 15, 2006.
"We never believed that at this point in our lives, when we should be enjoying retirement or at least semi-retirement, that we would find ourselves caught up in such a fiasco as this current mortgage-market scandal," Scott Webster wrote in a Sept. 30 letter to banking officials. "Before we got sucked into this financial mire, we had an excellent credit score of 769."
Jean Allen Webster said that once the process started, Wells Fargo was not particularly helpful. In fact, the Websters believe they are victims of "predatory lending" and plan to sue the loan company.
They have created their own Web site at www.the-cri.com/congress.htm to tell "Our Great American Nightmare!"
"We ran into financial problems and it has been one thing after another," she said. "It is really hard to focus on anything else."
Wells Fargo said it tries to help customers in trouble.
"Contacting the servicer remains the most critical step a customer should take. In 2006, 30 percent of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage customers who went into foreclosure never contacted us," Kevin Waetke, communications manager/assistant vice president for the Home & Consumer Finance Group, wrote in an e-mail to The Journal News. The company, he said, offers a toll-free number so customers can talk with a financial expert about credit management, and the expert works with customers to prevent foreclosure.
"We know that foreclosures are emotionally devastating and is an event that can take years to overcome. Despite a lender's best efforts, there will be some customers we will not be able to help," he said, adding that he was not authorized to comment specifically on any client's situation.
Sometimes a homeowner must sell the property, said Diane Chipman, co-director of the Putnam County Housing Corp, a federally funded program that advises families in financial crisis.
"People are always asking, 'Why did this happen to us?' " she said, adding she was unaware of the Websters' situation.
"It is usually a case of buyer beware. And I think it is always good to have an experienced attorney."
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