By DIANA COMPOSTO

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- This is my last letter that I will be writing to anyone for assistance before I leave the keys in the door of my house and say good luck to the bank that owns it, Wells Fargo.

The recent devastation created by Sandy is insurmountable and heartbreaking. The little trust that I had left in this country for the working people has completely deteriorated.

I was born in 1982. I want to believe this generation is one of the last generations with work ethic and brains to understand that you need to work for what you want, not this sense of entitlement that many seem to have today. My parents worked extremely hard their entire lives to make sure that they produced active members of the community, as well as my fiancA(c)'s parents.

We went to college, took loans out and started our careers.

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I am a special education teacher in New York City and my fiancA(c), Frank, is an officer of the NYPD. We have been together for six years, got engaged and decided to plan a small wedding in order to buy a home, the ultimate goal for most hard-working Americans.

Out of my pathetic check of $2,500, I come home with $1,500 every two weeks because I have to help support the people who like to take advantage of the spineless government who continues to give to the well-bodied unemployed and welfare abusers.

Even though I do not make millions, I would not have traded my job for the world.

Now, we buy a house that is obviously overpriced because we live in NYC and the dictator, Michael Bloomberg, just bashes city workers every chance that he gets.

We bought our home but did not have the financial ability to put 20 percent down, so do you know what the banks do? They charge you an extra insurance fee every month because you couldn't pay the lump sum up front! How does that make sense? We didn't have the monetary stability to begin with, so charge ME EXTRA every month to make sure you put us in the hole further!

You're disgusting (the banks)! Then I am forced to buy federal flood insurance, on top of my homeowner's insurance, which came out to over $3,100 a year without content insurance for flood, because it was an extra $200 per year.

The agent representing the flood insurance policy told me if the ocean was never in the homes in my area, it was not worth it.

So, with that said, we didn't take it, we just took structure for $250,000. My home insurance had $175,000 content coverage and $500,000 structure coverage. So all together my 1,100 square foot home on a 40 x 100 lot and finished basement, cost us $2,977.82 per month.

What a joke that is!

However, we love it and can afford it at this point in our lives.

On November 1, 2010, we owned this house for $442,000. We had to gut everything and redo anything that was originally in the home. I have extremely bad asthma and the previous owners had cats and dogs and they also smoked. Therefore, all vents had to be flushed out and sanitized.

All new wooden floors were put in. New walls, lighting, furniture, etc. were completed.

We needed to make someone else's house OUR home, and we did.

The following year Hurricane Irene hit town and our beautifully renovated, fully finished basement had to be gutted and redone because six inches of water filled our basement. I also found out that our home had a stream underneath it which we were NOT notified of when we bought.

So we took a loss of $8,000, only receiving $5,000 from my home insurance because we had sewage as well.

Flood insurance said that the ocean would have to literally come in through our doors and windows for them to pay us anything. What a joke we thought to ourselves. We are paying all this money a year for what?

So, we re-did the basement and moved on.

We canceled our wedding in 2012 because we had to finish our basement and once again were set back financially. We would set it up for 2013.

I finally put the last piece of furniture in my home and asked my fiancA(c) if we could have Thanksgiving for the first time. He agreed and I was extremely excited to host my first holiday.

THE STORM ARRIVES

Now Sandy comes.

We evacuated because the mayor advised it. Over the night of the storm the wind was bad but the rain was not that serious. I assumed we got water in the basement but nothing extreme.

We went to the house the following morning around 6:30 a.m. I cannot believe what I saw -- fires all over, cars sitting on cars, boats on lawns, trailers three blocks from their owners.

"My house is still standing," I thought and, "It looks pretty good from the outside."

My neighbor saw us and told me not to go in.

"Why?" I thought to myself. "The neighborhood looks like a war zone but my house looks OK."

I walk into my house, water flows out of it, and my wedding dress, preserved in its Kleinfeld's box, comes rushing toward my feet. I immediately drop to the floor tearing it open, only to find exactly what I thought -- a ruined wedding dress that I have not had the chance to wear yet!

I'm crying and shaking.

I then run throughout my house and realize everything was destroyed. Everything!

I run into the basement and it is still filled with ocean water and sewage. It takes days before it drains out into the foundation of our home.

Everything that we have worked for in this life has been stolen from us! What we worked our entire lives to get was taken in matter of a few hours. We have nothing, not even clothes! Kleinfeld's would not even reinstate my alterations because the box that my dress was in was opened!

THE CLEANUP STARTS

Family and friends came to help a week later to empty the contents of the home, but it's too much and too dangerous so we had to hire a demo and cleanup crew.

This first bill was slightly over $19,000. We were floored.

The mold cost $2,400 to treat.

Mind you, we haven't received a dime yet and it is about two months after the hurricane.

We filed with all insurance companies and FEMA the day after the disaster. FEMA told us that because we have flood insurance we will be denied by FEMA. However, we MUST apply for an SBA loan, and if we are approved we can take it at 1.68 percent or we can reject it and come back for FEMA assistance.

This is what we were told several times by different FEMA representatives.

We applied, were approved for $99,300, called FEMA back to tell them we applied, were approved, but we do not want the loan because we currently can't afford it.

Do you know what they said to us? "Sorry, but you were approved and therefore are not eligible for FEMA funds!"

Are you kidding me? You scam artists!

I was also told by my neighbor that if you bring your flood paperwork to the FEMA disaster center and show that we do not have content insurance and write a letter to FEMA stating we need assistance with our contents -- a $122,000 loss -- FEMA will approve you because they approved her, who never even applied for SBA.

So I did just that.

I got a copy of my flood premium and wrote the letter and got denied again because I was approved for the loan. The reason why my neighbor received it was because she and her husband do not make enough to pay the loan back. So I am better off with a low budget off-the-books job so I can get assistance.

NOT FAIR

It is not fair because I work and have an OK salary, and I stress OK because it is peanuts compared to many others. I can't even go away without feeling guilty.

But because we work, we have to pay for what we lost?

We are tired of always getting screwed; we are tired of always having to pay out of pocket and top dollar for everything.

We were forced to buy flood insurance and now nobody wants to pay. My flood insurer finally gave me a $15,000 advance that didn't even cover the beginning process of repairs.

My home insurance denied us because it was flooding and they do not cover flooding, only wind damage. In my eyes, home insurance should pay completely, considering that if it was not for the winds the ocean never would have made it onto the streets of my block.

Anyway, all that is left of our home is its brick shell, which is cracked all over the place, and studs and beams.

You can literally stand in my basement and see my attic ceiling.

We are still displaced and paying rent of $1,220 a month on top of my mortgage which is $3,000!

FEMA gave us rent for two months and that was it. My mortgage company told me that they would defer our payments for 90 days, but then we had to be paid in full at the end of the 90 days or our credit will be damaged! For real?

I am quickly becoming irritated at this point in my life. I want to get married and have a family, I am 30 years old and I'm not getting younger, and no one is helping us with our home.

'WE DIDN'T CAUSE THIS'

We didn't do this, we didn't cause this to happen and we damn sure didn't get anything for free!

I pay for insurance, therefore, I want everything I paid for back in my home. I do not want the low-grade material the insurance company wants to put in.

Plus all my insurance money checks will be endorsed to us and the bank and then the bank will hold the money, distributing it as needed with investigators to make sure we are doing the job!

Is this really happening to us? It can't be! We did everything right! Someone please buy us out. We can't take anymore heartbreak and disappointment!

I called Wells Fargo for a loan modification because we can no longer afford our daily living expenses, bills, mortgage, new rent of $1,220 a month, replacement of all content we lost and repairs for the home.

The representative told me that we definitely qualify for a loan modification. He puts me on hold for a minute and I am so excited that we might actually get help here so we do not lose our home. The representative gets back on the phone to tell me that we cannot go any further because they cannot complete a loan modification review because our house was damaged in the storm and we are up to date with our payments.

What? You can't help us at our lowest point ever because we actually need the help?

TOTAL FRUSTRATION

Words cannot describe the frustration, anger and hate I have for these banks and anyone who supports their loanshark ways. We no longer even have the ambition to pay for this house.

So you want us to pay and we can't live in our house but you won't even review our modification because it is damaged?

Furthermore, we finally decided to take the SBA loan because it is the only way we will fully get the funds to replace and rebuild our home. We signed the contract for $99,300 for 30 years at $357 a month.

We have to pay for this disaster! How is this possible? How can America turn its back on us like this? And by America I mean the political parties that are so disgusting, corrupt and displaced from the actual working class that they have no idea what it is like for the real working person.

The only people that seem to receive help are useless, unemployed persons who have never worked a day in their lives. And why should they? They get everything for free, immigrants who receive money somehow while being illegal here, foreign countries which we will send billions of dollars to, and rich people because they have the power to get the help they need.

We are tired! We are tired of working our asses off and we can't even have a wedding!

I'm tired! He's tired! We are tired!

SBA later informed us, after we signed the contract for $99,300 that they were deducting $15,000 from it because we received an advance from our insurance. And every time we receive money, our loan will be deducted. Seriously? What does one have to do with the other?

Plus, they will not release the funds until we BUY flood content insurance!

You thieves! It's $400 a month for content now, I have no content left to cover! This is extortion! And we allow it because they say it's allowed! Screw you Federal Flood but we are not giving you another dime!

We are not going to kill ourselves in order to pay for this house, raise it, re-buy all of the $122,000 worth of content that we lost and then pay extra for federal flood insurance!

THE BROKEN PROMISES

All of our congressmen, the borough president, senators, mayor and the governor have broken promises a million times over. It's over for us in my community in New Dorp Beach. We can no longer afford the mortgage, rent, bills, household expenses and life!

Besides, we have to raise our home according to the new proposed FEMA elevation guidelines, which means we lose our basement. So now you want us to pay out of pocket to lift our home, lose our entire basement -- which is HALF of my house -- and still pay the same payment, even more now?

YOU ARE INSANE!

Take our house because we do not want it anymore.

If we do not get assistance to rebuild, lift and replace our content we will be forced to hand over our keys and give America what it so seemingly desperately wants to happen, another foreclosure.

We have never been late on any payment ever, yet no one is willing to actually help. So congratulations Wells Fargo, United States government, New York and all its politicians, it's all yours if someone does not help us soon. You have forced two extremely hardworking citizens, who serve the public every single day, into a corner that they cannot get out of.

How you have treated our community is a disgrace and you all should be ashamed of yourselves. Never mind the fact that things need to change in this country because you are helping the wrong people.

You cannot make it in this country unless you are criminal, sneaky and corrupt! Thank you for ruining our once perfectly normal and contributing lives!

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