Today's Mailbox: 'They Are Selling My Mom's Home Today'
UPDATE: I wanted to thank everyone for their help today. We got this from one of our contacts at ACORN: "After about 2.5 hours, the bank agreed to postpone the foreclosure auction on Ms. Leary's house for 30 days. We'll be using that time to pressure them to sit down with her and come to a long-term solution to keeping her in her house."
You wouldn't believe how many e-mails I get every day, pleading with me to help with this cause or that. Usually I delete them because there's only so much I can do about all these problems. But this one (via ACORN - you know, the group Bill O'Reilly loves to hate?) really jumped out at me because it's far too emblematic of what thousands of people are facing right this minute. I can only imagine if my mother was in the same position:
Dear Susan,
I love my mom. Her name is Irene. She's 84-years-old, and she is the most important person in the world to me.
Today, her bank is selling the house she has lived in for 34 years, and it's breaking my heart.
The unbelievable part of it is that OneWest -- the bank -- doesn't even have to talk with my mom before selling her house right out from under her. That's because OneWest is among four big mortgage service companies that haven't signed on to President Obama's program to help stop foreclosures. It's the "Making Home Affordable" plan, and even though OneWest is the recipient of federal bailout money, they are still taking my mom's home away today.
Will you sign a letter to the CEO of OneWest before they sell my mother's home today? Click here. ACORN is sending copies of the letter to the CEOs of the other three banks whose mortgage servicing companies won't sign on to the Making Home Affordable plan (Litton of Goldman Sachs, HomEq of Barclays, and American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc, along with OneWest), because my mom isn't the only one who needs help right now.
But don't misunderstand me: my mother will lose her home today unless we can convince OneWest not to sell her house. Please help her. Sign the letter now. Click here.
I asked my mom to tell me about how she got into this situation -- she's been the same house for 34 years, after all. How did this happen?
Here's what my mom told me:
Your father was receiving dialysis three times a week and suffering from chronic, congestive heart failure. He was vulnerable and realized he was on the verge of passing. He was worried that he'd leave me with $30,000 to $40,000 in credit card debt. With those concerns, we sought advice.
OneWest advised us we would qualify for a loan based on our credit scores and the loan would "solve our problems." They definitely preyed upon our vulnerability.
Your father died a month after we received the loan. Our fixed income was $2,388.81 per month. With his passing, the income dropped to $1,600.00 per month. I continued to make payments, but they kept going up and up. They went up so much that even if my husband was still alive, we could not have made them.
That's how we got where we are: Today, OneWest is selling my mom's house out from under her unless we stop them. Please, please click here to send a letter to the CEO of OneWest.
From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of the most wonderful woman in the whole world, my mother, Irene Leary, thank you for taking action today.
Sincerely,
Dennis Leary
For Irene and all the other people who are being tossed out by this mortgage company, you know what to do. Let's flood these heartless creeps!
What bailout? Sounds more like a handout to only the good ol' boys.
"Courtesy is owed. Respect is earned. Love is given." --Unknown author, found in Guide to Texas Etiquette by Kinky Friedman
Indeed.
And just as the proposed health care plan seems like it'll end up being a giveaway to the (health) insurance industry. No single payer, just mandates to buy insurance from the same for-profits who are strangling health care right now. So, everyone will have to buy insurance, and those who can't afford it will have their premiums supplemented by the government--read, our taxes.
It's all a bottomless pit of taxpayer money flooding into corporate hands, no matter the issue. I would like to believe otherwise, but it's impossible, given the facts.
should never been sold on an adjustable rate mortgage. If she qualified, she should have gotten a fixed rate mortgage. I signed the letter.
.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
soulless vampires that's what they are, these banks (or rather these people and their minions that run them/profit from this economic savaging)
How many must go bankrupt and have their lives broken before the politicians will do anything of substance?
it's really that simple (and infuriating.)
Politicians are part of the problem.
It doesn't matter to most of the Pols how many "go bankrupt and have their lives broken".
The only thing that will matter to these guys is if we start punishing them at the ballot.
I'm ready to donate $100 to any primary opponent of the 10 Dems who are reportedly blocking a good public plan. How many of you other folks are with me?
I'm sick and tired of the smug attitude of Congress people, for whome strong reactions from their constituents is an "unhelpful" annoyance and "won't move me one whit". (Diane Feinstein latest stroke of genius)
Really? We've seen the odious compromissions on the stimulus package, your abject capitulation on the Housing Help bill (no cramdown provisions heh?) And do not get me started on the Climate Bill. It's a clusterfuck of special interests bondoogles, a gold mine for rent-seekers and yet again, a pile of money awaiting the "good offices" of Government Sachs. Not much change from the Republiscums reign.
Speaking if which, didn't you notice what happened to your colleagues of the Republiscum recently? The lesson did not sink in yet? Oh! I see! Because you're Democrats, you believe this'll act as a Golden Shield against popular wrath?
Do not believe that for a NY minute busters!
Beware of these in whatever from they take.
So this woman got screwed twice trying to do the honorable thing? Once on health care and the other from mortgage companies. American corporations: You gotta hate them. Where is she going to go now? I hope she has relatives who can take her in, otherwise it'll be a nursing home and Medicare AND Medicaid. That's your ultimate reward for working all your life. "The honorable thing"...a concept corporations have no knowledge of or legal obligation to care about. BTW, the good nursing homes require one to pay for their care, and only after all one's assets run out, do they accept Medicare and Medicaid. It is the county run homes that take those "on the dole." In these places, they dress up the helpless patients in Easter hats made out of paper plates with crepe paper flowers on them, and feed them ground hot dogs for dinner. It's a travesty.
Pasadena, Calif.-based OneWest. It is now a federal savings bank formed by an investor group that includes billionaire George Soros and Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell, who agreed last December to purchase the failed California lender (IndyMac Federal) for $13.9 billion.
tossing the elderly out into the streets by refusing to refinance?
Something to do with regulators easing restrictions on private equity firms buying up failed institutions perhaps?
...and Soros is filthy rich. If they have invested in OneWest, their purpose is to make money. I doubt if either is remotely concerned with the minutia of OneWest's business, and one mortgage is going to look pretty unimportant from the investor's vantage point.
These guys are in the business of making money, they're not likely to worry much about issues like foreclosures, which are inevitable.
If the sale is today, it's hard to imagine that a letter now is going to help. Still, I'd rather Irene got to stay in her house...so I'll sign.
soros is evil
None of them have moms, apparently. If there IS a hell, there is a special place there for usurious creeps like these people.
Edit: Sent the letter. Good luck to Irene and her family. You'll need it with creeps like this lurking around
me-oww!
Was her name on the credit card? My sister owed nothing on her husbands cards after he died because hers wasn't, and it was unsecured debt.
Sounds to me like that might have outright swindled her here.
http://www.jafafahots.com
And you can count on the credit card companies to harass survivors and down-right lie to them to collect whatever they can get. Unless you signed for a credit card, you do not owe on it. Even if the owner of the card let you use it, if you did not contract with the credit card company by signing a contract promising to pay them for the use of the card, you do NOT owe them for anything. And they cannot make you pay. They will harass, threaten, stamp their feet, etc. but they cannot sue you or collect from you. Laugh at them. Always call an attorney, if someone tries to scare you . Many solo practitioners will answer your questions for free.
...my Dad's credit cards when he passed. I just promised to convey their complaints to my states Attorney General's office and they quickly STFU.
When my father passed, a credit card company that he owed money to, contacted me with the intention of trying to get me to assume his debt. I told them that I hadn't lived with him for over twenty years and wasn't responsible for what he owed them. I haven't heard from them since.
...tried that initially. I have to believe that they probably get a lot of people to make payments that way because they don't know any better. Especially an older surviving widow/widower.
This should be a wake up call to anyone who still has living parents that you should at least try to look at their finances and let them know their rights.
As hard as it is to accept, our parents do get old and in many cases, susceptible to crooks that aren't always what they seem.
I feel so damned bad for her. Seems she would have been better off having the credit card debt because at least she would have been able to keep her home. Putting ones home up as collateral is a frightening thing, especially for retired people. Was this son consulted before they took out the loan? I'm just curious.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Too little information, too late.
.
If the debt was her husbands and her name was not on the card, then she would have owed NOTHING. NADA. ZIP. That's what's sleazy about this - if they called for advice and were not told that but were instead told to buy an adjustable rate mortgage, then they were flat out ripped off.
http://www.jafafahots.com
These mortgage companies offer to solve your problems by "consolidating" your debt into one payment. Even at a low, fixed rate mortgage this is a mistake. Rolling credit card debt into your mortgage turns unsecured debt into secured debt. Default on your credit card payments and you'll get harassed by collections agents. Default on your mortgage, and they'll take your house.
Was this decision political to damage Sotomayor's chances of getting on the court setting up an opening for her wignut critics to capitalize upon? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/29/ricc...
..... but have you, or has Acorn, checked this out? There's no shortage of similar stories that turn out to be all too true but there are also those which are just urban legends.
The thing that got my antennae buzzing was the letter. Why would the mother feel it necessary to inform her daughter of her own father's kidney and heart trouble? You'd think that most or all of this history would have already been all too familiar to this caring daughter.
Again, I hate that this story rings less than true to me... but it does.
Sounded a little too pat to me, too. However, gave me an opportunity to tip people off about the credit card thieves and how they harass survivors (above).
Lemons, lemonade.
I still signed since even if it's a fraudulent story, it's not totally without merit in purpose. Still, my cynical sensibilities smell a rat.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
.... the fishier it looks.
That was a fleeting thought in my mind too, but since there is no request for money, I'm giving it some credence.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
moms get thrown out on their ass like everyday...
Cue the Kabuki....
No. Not from the nets. They are asking for a letter to be written.
ACORN is handling it. I wouldn't be surprised if they cleaned up the letter, but why couldn't the
daughteroffspring be an excellent letter writer? Maybe s/he writes letters for a living, maybe s/he's a teacher.Call ACORN. Ask them what the lady's bona fides are. Don't just whip up anti old lady sentiment because you're suspicious and too lazy to check it out.
If you think it stinks, you are perfectly capable of calling ACORN and asking them to prove they're helping that old lady. And why hasn't the bank said "This isn't happening." I am getting crickets off the bank here...
BTW, ACORN sprung up nearly 40 years ago. I think that they are familiar with checking people out before they go balls to the wall for them.
me-oww!
We'll see.
By the way, the "she" would be the recipient, Susan, perhaps at Acorn. The putative author of the letter is a "Dennis Leary", presumably not the Dennis Leary.
x
could help his mom out, as long as he has stayed away from B Madoff.
me-oww!
The person that wrote the letter signed it Dennis Leary who is presumably the lady's son. He included her explanation of how this happened to her because he is asking for help and wants to explain the situation.
that many of the commenters didn't seem to read the letter. Is this another example of our literacy?
Granted, all they had to do was ask for support and they would have gotten it. But many groups use examples like this to raise money, awareness, etc. How many people want their 84 year old grandmother's personal business and her photo let loose on the internet? Take a Midol and grow up.
Nobody asked for money. All they asked for is you to sign the letter for support. Is that too much?
Ron. "Too little information, too late." "...many of the commenters didn't seem to read the letter. Is this another example of our literacy?."
were basically saying woulda, shoulda, coulda which don't solve the probleem at hand. why are you so defensive? The other comment was in response to Christy.
Uh people at their wits' end?
Sounds like you are the one who needs the Midol, missy. ron is past the age of menses.
me-oww!
that totally dismisses anything I have to say on the matter.
me-oww!
... her explanation was addressed to him. You'd think he'd have known the medical history his mother felt it necessary to outline to him. Also, when was the last time your mother referred to your father as "my husband" when speaking about him to you?
I'm not trying to say this stuff doesn't happen. It happens many times every day, I'm sure. That's what the hoaxer, if it is a hoax, is counting on.
So ACORN could include it in the letter. What on earth is so hard to understand about that?
A former award-winning journalist and lifelong class warrior, keeping a jaundiced eye on the Washington elite.
Yes, he asked her "how she got into this situation" but it's by no means clear that he was asking on behalf of Acorn or anyone other than himself. The letter was clearly addressed to Dennis since it begins with the words "Your father".
Susie, unless there is information in your possession that goes beyond what you've provided, you're making suppositions no journalist should make. I hope for better from you and I hope for better from Acorn. If this does turn out to be a hoax then the Right Wing will use it against Acorn.
Dude, you didn't know your dad was that sick and the care/cost involved and how your elderly parents were coping? Maybe it's just the wording.
I've seen some stuff, man. And some thangs...
...argument for universal health care. Had it been available, she would never have had to even think about refinancing.
Fucking blood sucking banks!
Susie - you should send this story to Obama and ask why we're not even talking about universal health care any more.
The Bank, Mortgage House, Bankers, Lenders... should never ever, forclose on anyone who has made payments for the better part of 25 years.
To take there home, without excepting less is heartless and it will bring, no good for all involved in the destruction of a long and fruitfilled relationship and the very lives they forclose on.
My brother loss his home and marriage, after 32 years, when he took a Prime second mortgage, with a ARM... 32 years and the bank refuse to take a smaller payment, said you got to go and the House sits empty, to this day, 5 months later.
My prayers for her and her family.
Ministerbruce
to a contract as important as a mortgage. A few hundred dollars is a small price to pay looking back on it now, isn't it? And Legal Aid societies are everywhere, providing legal advice from actual lawyers to indigent people.
I was just about to type the same comment.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
My dad is a lawyer and has explained the many ways they calculate interest on loans. The layman would mosst likely not understand, but the differences are HUGE!!!!!!
If you're signing over your house, it's worth going to a lawyer. I know my Dad wouldn't charge an 84-year-old woman in her situation. He is one of the nice ones that cares about people.
far left loon >.<
....."Let's flood these heartless creeps...."
I'm in! what damn should I blow!?
Cue the Kabuki....
Cue the Kabuki....
To them it doesn't matter if your Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, or this poor woman.
They want their MONEY.
our established policy now is to throw immense sums of so-called "money" at gigantic failing enterprises while millions of ordinary citizens wash overboard, without so much as a life-preserver.
Write to the bank not just in this lady's behalf, but just to the bank CEO's in General.
Americans for some reason are still on the couch watching TV.
Get Up for christ sake and Protest.
Get Mad
Make Noise.
Your power is in your numbers if you can just get people off the couch and out on the streets.
http://cbs2.com/local/IndyMac.OneWest.Sale.2....
from behind their keyboards.
This is what a rally is for, getting the people mobelized, Obama cannot do it by himself, he needs us to get active.
Writing to the CEO, would be even more effective.
Ministerbruce
"Making Home Affordable" plan...riiight.
obama makes homes affordable by doing everything he can to keep home prices high, and too expensive for anyone to buy them without teaser rates, ARMs etc., so that his friends on wallstreet don't go bust.
stopping these lending practices without falling home prices is a fantasy.
and that obama's "plan" is aimed at ladies like the one in the story is also a fantasy. it's supposed to stop foreclosures so that prices don't fall further (on paper) so that the banks can claim the toxic waste on their balance sheets has value.
I don't know where you live but here in Florida home prices have fallen through the floor. My home today is worth about a third of what it was just four or five years ago. Fortunately we bought the house ten years ago so we didn't pay the inflated price it would have brought four or five years ago.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I didn't say it was working. but the whole idea of stopping foreclosures, buying up mortgage backed securities by the federal reserve and such was to keep home prices high and rates low, so that the mortgages can be refinanced to fixed rates until the next Alt-A-wave of mortgage defaults hits.
doesn't look too good. fixed mortgage rates are rising quickly and refinancing got to a halt.
you can have an hour-long discussion if this was a good idea (imho not so much), but calling this plan "making home affordable" is orwellian.
Bush allowed this to happen! Bush put into place the plan to steal the wealth from the middle class.
bush did allow this to happen, but at some point you have to get over bush or you'll look really stupid, blaming the ongoing depression in 2020 on bush.
Seems we're quite justified in blaming the onset of the current fiasco on Ronnie Reagan's policies.
I'm going to blaming Bush for a whole pile-o-crap, until i'm in my grave. Who cares if I look silly, it's true.
far left loon >.<
bush's just the last perpetaror (if you don't count obama yet).
there was clinton, greenspan and a whole lot of other people who built this road to a unsustainable consumer-based US economy.
and now we're back to price controls like in the 1930s.
not yet outright by law, but by market manipulation.
which is failing, so I wonder what's next...
All ture, but I really dislike Bush. The others are guilty, but it's the Bush administration that started these illgal wars, and OPENED THE TORTURE CAMPS.
He sealed the deal, making America into an evil Empire, not to be trusted ever again.
far left loon >.<
good to see that some of you are realizing that 'government' is the problem. The solution is now very simple. It's just a matter of eliminating the problem. I know you can do it if you really try.
My understanding is that if you file for bankruptcy you stop the foreclosure process. You may not stop it indefinitely, but you do stop it at once, which may buy you some time to find out what your true legal options are. You have until one minute before the foreclosure is to take place to file.
See related LA Times article here and good luck. This is certainly a raw deal for this mother and her family and I wish them the best. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cover-b...
This is not an overnight process. If you cannot pay your mortgage, get distressed immediately, and do something about it. The foreclosure fairy is not real.
There's something nasty called "strict foreclosure", which is quite immediate.
http://www.answers.com/topic/strict-foreclosure
If they sent a nasty-gram saying they want the money in 2 months with penalties, upon threat of foreclosure, when the two months are up, you're kinda boned. Welcome to United States.
You should research law on government sites. Not on those that advertise services to protect one from "strict foreclosure." 'Kay?
more than two months, "Example: Under a strict foreclosure proceeding, the lender requested the court to order the delinquent borrower to pay the debt within the next 2 months. When the borrower failed to do so, the lender took possession of the property and canceled the indebtedness."
They still have to go to court and get judgment, what seems to be the difference is that in a standard home foreclosure is that you have 1 yr from the date of foreclosure to buy your property back, this sounds like a way to shorten the time the bank has to sit on the property before selling it.
couldve kept the home and totally fucked the predatory credit card folks
a week or so ago about Obama's new plan protecting people from credit card lender abuses? Or does that not kick in till 2012?
Credit card companies have been abusing card holders since the usury laws went down, years ago.
Go here: http://www.bankruptcylawmaryland.com/blog/wha...
Everything about the US financial situation centers around an asset grab or stealing by money people.
never thought it odd that they were earning salaries of up to $5 million even in years when the Madoff operation's legitimate trading arm did badly.
....I'll blow this house to bits".
Unfortunately, the Simon Legree's and the Mr. Potters of the American banking industry have always been cold-hearted Americans.It is America. We've always been this way. That's why we Americans love a good bank-robber.....And we do.
Americans have always had this problem. I don't think we will ever learn. Do you? Stick 'em up. Your money or your life.
J.Dillinger
about this letter,I'm guessing that Dennis was well aware of his Father's health situation and it's aftermath.His Mother I assume,is simply relaying the chronology of events leading up to the decision to apply for the loan the details of which he was probably less aware of.This is an awful story,the kind that causes Republicans to tisk tisk about "lack of responsibility" although never on the part of predatory lenders like OneWest.
BTW, is it any surprise at all that Litton of Goldman Sachs didn't sign on to the Making Home Affordable plan?
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Bush allowed this to happen! Bush put into place the plan to steal the wealth from the middle class.
"allowed" this to happen also...
He voted for "the bailout" when he was a Senator...
...and appears willing to give the banks all they demand!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Obama Signs Credit Card Bill, Says Consumers and Lenders Need to Act More Responsibly
May 22, 2009
Charging things you cannot afford is irresponsible, isn't it. Both sides are guilty of bad behavior and bad faith, but one has much more responsibility than the other. Cash is a good thing.
One West = Oil Can Harry.
far left loon >.<
Bastards.
I know they've postponed the sale - 30 days? Bastards.
This could happen to any of us.
*
In thirty minutes the blogs will forget and move on...
Morality is the basis of truth and truth is the basis of all morality.
Gandhi
"We had $40,000 of credit card debt..." as if they are saying, "we got hit by a tornado..." WHY did you have $40,000 of credit card debt, and what did you think that was going to do to your finances? I work as a refinance specialist at a big, evil banking institution, and while the big, evil banks certainly deserve their share of the blame, guess what? so do we. No one is blameless in this mess. We are a nation of venal, self-absorbed nincompoops who got the financial catastrophe we deserve. This lady, if she is real, is sure in a tragic situation, but like most of us, she played a part in her own un-doing. To say otherwise is simplistic and irresponsible.
that much of the credit card debt accumulated because of medical bills. Why do people that never experience the situation assume that someone with that kind of debt always think an 84 year old couple would be buying frivolous merchandise.
Them damn elderly are ruining our country, with their medicine, and walkers, wheelchairs, and all the other stuff they need. All frivolous. They need to stand up on their own two feet.
is that the bank that gave you Mom the loan the presold or resold it to a trust somewhere and has all ready been paid off by those investors for your Mom's house. They do not hold the note, nor the title and really do not have the "standing" to proceed with the foreclosure as they have changed the terms of the original note (securitized it) without her knowledge thus making it an "unsecured" loan. The trust that probably holds the note now does not have standing either as the trust is not permitted to hold both the note and the title. Your mother should consult a lawyer and familiarize herself with the terms "securitization" and "chain of title" and "securities fraud": probably her only hope.
American Home Mortgage is the worst of the lot, but some judges are getting it and throwing their cases out for lack of standing. Go to
http://livinglies.wordpress.com/ or
http://timothymccandless.wordpress.com/ or better yet,
http://mortgage-home-loan-bank-fraud.com/
If you can afford a lawyer, and the lawyer gets it, she may have a shot at getting it back. You'll need to be prepared for Federal or State Court filings and that can get expensive.
Sorry to hear about your mom. I'm going through the same thing with my sister.
And, BTW, Bush didn't cause this problem as some posters maintain, but He, Clinton, Frank Dodd and Obama aided and abetted this whole subprime mess. They should all be before Madoff's judge for the pain they've caused this country.
Good Luck
It would've been so simple to press "Delete" and be done with it.
But you did not, and for that, you helped us help an elderly woman who just want to finish her days in peace.
As for OneWest and the rest of the "heartless creeps" (love this one!) let's see if they get the message loud and clear: You can buy Congress, but you can't buy us.
They should also remeber that we can inflict tremendous pain on Congress if they push us too far. They certainly doing their very best right now to test us.
Whether this story is true or not, this is what I would do:
Put all the bank documents on-line,large enough for Graany to read, starting from the very 1st one sent from the bank, making sure that every bank/loan officer, no matter how low of a position they hold, that signed the papers is identified with bio's and photo's.
I have a question. Why did they choose to get rid of the credit card debt? Wouldn't that debt disappear when your father died? I thought credit card debt died when a person died and there was no way for them to garnish your money. I understand your parents concern but to give up their house to pay off some predatory credit cards seems like a big gamble. What were the credit card companies gonna do? Come arrest your mother?
May this story also point out the failures of our health care system and our predatory credit card companies.
Also, I would like people to imagine what life would be like had your parents NOT had their pension. Would your father been able to work until close to his death (I doubt it)? I don't think we truly realize how messed up things will be once people begin to "retire" on their worthless 401k's.
I think your mother should sit in her armchair until the police arrest her.
Good Luck to you and your mother.
I sold homes for over 20 years and can tell you that banks don't want houses back. This is especially true today. Foreclosure costs money. It is not a cheap process and the banks are flooded with these transactions. Secondly, banks cannot foreclose on a homeowner without a lengthy process. You must have missed at least 2, many times 3 payments before the bank is even allowed by law to foreclose. When I read the part of this story where it stated that because her mother's bank is not part of the government program, it did not have to notify her, I was mystified. That does not happen. Foreclosures are not news to any homeowner. I feel for all involved here, especially an 84 year old woman who is losing a home, but as much as I think banks can be pretty difficult, this story has a lot of holes that need to be filled in for it to make any sense.
Comments are closed on this entry