TRUCKEE, Calif. — When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a weekend ski trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and changed the locks.
When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son’s ski medals, winter clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the words “Together Forever,” that contained the ashes of her late husband, Robert.
The culprit, Ms. Ash soon learned, was not a burglar but her bank. According to a federal lawsuit filed in October by Ms. Ash, Bank of America had wrongfully foreclosed on her house and thrown out her belongings, without alerting Ms. Ash beforehand.
On June 24, PACT, CCISCO and the PICO National Network hosted a U.S. Treasury Hearing with 500 community members to urge Policy Director Laurie Maggiano: Treasury must do more to hold banks accountable for modifying loans to keep families in their homes. Tax payers bailed out the big banks, and now they need to be a part of stopping preventable foreclosures and rebuilding the economy.
Treasury is responsible for implementing President Obama’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) that promised to help 3-4 million homeowners avoid foreclosure. Fewer than 10% of these homeowners have received permanent loan modifications. We are working to change that!
Treasury Policy Director Laurie Maggiano agreed to:
• Make the program more inclusive of homeowners in need of loan modifications.
• Get back to PACT in writing within 30 days after taking all the stories, research, and demands for change back to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
This is happening all over….Make sure you have everything in writing and do not let your gaurd down! You will get evicted…it’s part of the game!
They were evicted, and late fees and charges added over $20,000 to their mortgage.
By Stella M. Hopkins
shopkins@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
Loraine and Kerry Swope likely would have lost their south Charlotte home to foreclosure last year had they not been trying to resolve issues with their lender and get a loan modification.
They rejected an offer last summer from GMAC that would have reduced their monthly mortgage payment by 40 percent because of several concerns, including their contention the debt wasn’t valid. GMAC reviewed their account several times, and the Swopes tried a court appeal, which they lost. During the battle, late fees and other charges added more than $20,000 to what had been a $197,000 mortgage.
This May, during a morning rainstorm, the Swopes were evicted. They hadn’t finished loading their belongings.
“Everything sat outside and got rained on,” she said.
The Swopes’ saga started in the summer of 2007 with a relocation decision that snowballed into economic disaster.
They were drawn to Charlotte from Florida by the city’s bustle and banking industry. He was also seeking better medical care for complications from a knee replacement.
This in via e-mail from the Foreclosure Defense League, they held a press conference on Sunday May 2nd, at 6:00 p.m., in addition to the below release, FOX Toledo reported on this story (link):
On Monday May 3rd, Keith Sadler of Stony Ridge will be evicted from his home. But unlike many in a similar situation, Mr. Sadler intends to resist his foreclosure and stay in his home illegally.
“I am resisting this eviction through non-violent civil disobedience,” states Sadler. “It’s time to make a stand against this corrupt system.”
Alongside Sadler stands a group of community members from the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League, a Northwest Ohio coalition of housing activists. TFDL is also joined by the national group Take Back the Land based out of Miami, Florida.
Sadler, along with the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League, will be peacefully occupying the foreclosed home by sealing themselves inside until the foreclosure is called off and a moratorium on all foreclosures is enacted.
“Housing is a human right. While banks are being bailed out, people are being thrown into the streets. The time has come to take back our land and our communities,” said Sadler.
Following Sunday’s press conference May 2nd at 6pm, activists will lock themselves inside until their demands are met.
Supporters have set up live streaming video and online content at the following web addresses:
LIVE 24 hour coverage from inside the home: (link)
Live coverage goes online at 6:00pm Eastern Standard Time at the scheduled press conference. No broadcasts will be made until then.
I put enough into these figures as I do in the “real” unemployment numbers. While they try to count numbers, I count lives.
WASHINGTON – March 23, 2010 – How many foreclosed homes are really out there? No one can say for sure, but the number seems to be somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million.
To date, no one has been able to track the total number of properties owned by banks, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and mortgage investors. Here are a few approximations:
• Barclays Capital uses foreclosure data from mortgage securities to estimate that there are slightly more than 600,000 homes in the process of foreclosure.
• RealtyTrac, which examines public records, estimates the number is closer to 700,000.
• Independent housing economist Tom Lawler combines data from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and securitization trusts to conclude that there are actually about 500,000.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, James R. Hagerty (03/19/2010)
How about puting the many faces and families into this equation instead of trying to put emphasis on numbers! Try numbers on Illegal foreclosure, evicted shattered lives MAYBE?
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