'Welcome Home, Son...The Bank Just Took Our House.'
A soldier returns home on leave from Iraq to find out his father's house has just been auctioned off the same day.
Change.org have been following this story closely for the past couple of months. Their online petition to stop the foreclosure now has 122,830 signatures.
Video and story from KTVZ in Oregon.
BEND, Ore. -- It was a bittersweet, even ironic "homecoming" day for Bend resident Tim Collette who's home is in foreclosure. His son, Aaron, arrived back home on leave from a tour of duty in Iraq. But hours earlier, his house was sold back to the bank.
Specialist Aaron Collette has been serving in Iraq for the past couple years, and Tuesday evening, his plane touched down in Central Oregon. It was a heartwarming reunion as family and friends greeted him at the Redmond Airport.
------snip-------
Collette missed two mortgage payments, then, for months, paid a trial modification. Now, he faces upwards of $20,000 in penalties. He said looking back, his bank never had any intention of modifying his loan.
"It's an unreachable thing, because it's not really there," said Collette. "They're telling you about it, it's like the 'carrot.' It's unattainable, because it's not really there."
Chase Bank won't comment on Collete's situation because of privacy laws.
Collette's suggestion to other homeowners with mounting bills -- hire an attorney.
"Everything that they are doing is to put you down the path that has one conclusion, foreclosure," said Collette.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is on the hunt to help homeowners like Collette keep their homes. Back in May, the Democrat introduced a bill to require banks and other mortgage servicers to create a single point of contact for borrowers. The hope is homeowners won't get tangled in a sea of red tape and confusion when calling about loan modifications.
Every time I see one of these stories, and I think about how all of this could of been easily avoided if any one of a dozen solutions suggested by Progressives had been acted on, we would be in the mess we are today.
When the "mortgage crisis" was hitting the news, when some were (foolishly) suggesting we "have a moratorium on foreclosures", I had suggested that Washington should simply convert... across the board... every existing ARM to a FIXED rate loan 2% lower than the current rate. This would of saved tens of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure without anyone claiming an "unfair benefit" for those who "were irresponsible". Had they of done this, the entire mortgage crisis and bailout could of been avoided w/o costing us a dime.
But instead, the Bush Administration gave Wall Street nearly a trillion dollars and left homeowners to fend for themselves. And the resulting crisis spread though the economy to where we are today.
It is BEYOND frustrating.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
your job, nothing anyone could do to save your home. Many of these foreclosures are on the flippers that bought the proprties and then tried to sell them after after a few fix ups. Others are the small investors that thought they could become a landlord and build for their retirement with the renter paying their montthly payment. In many of their cases, hard hit areas couldn't afford the rents so the smalltime investor let the properties go into foreclosure. There is no easy fix because there are so many diffrerent variables.
Remember that unemployment was still under 6% at the time.
When mortgage rates shot up and people couldn't afford to pay, the banks got stuck with a lot of mortgages with no one paying in, which led to the banking crisis, which led to the collapse of Wall Street, which led to job losses on Main Street.
We wouldn't be where we are today if people's mortgage hadn't exploded and kept to a level they could still afford to pay.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
And, there are some of us, myself included, that were forced to take out large mortgages at the height of the boom, only to not even be able to make the minimum payments after the bust. (was required to in lieu of alimony for wife #2)
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Banks don't foreclose on houses unless the person paying the mortgage stops paying the mortgage. It's because the house BELONGS TO THE BANK until it is paid off. How can people think signing a petition would stop this? It's a simple financial agreement that was broken. Right?
Usually, they only "own" about 10% of the house, since that is the part of the loan that is usually backed by the bank's real assets. They simply use the word of the person singing the contract in order to conjure money out of thin air to make up the rest. So technically, depending on how much money their client has put into the loan, the person being evicted may actually own more of the house than the bank does.
To complicate ownership matters further, sometimes the bank may not even hold the title of the hose, as it was bundled and re-bundled in debt packages which have long being modified/transferred/etc. Some people being evicted have actually challenged creditors to produce titles, and they won their cases when the banks couldn't produce to proper paperwork.
Our current economic/financial system is so ethereal and arbitrary it is a god damned mess, and it shows.
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
until 90 days. But these banksters are breaking the laws at will. They lie to the homeowner and drag them down the rosie path of promises. They lie- cheat and steal.
Chase is one of the worst with their added on fees that pile up unbeknownst to the homeowner. Their idea of modification is to let you pay the new rate for a period of time, and while doing this they slap you with monthly late fees because the old payment is considered late-while the modified payment is happily greedily accepted.
They also have the home reappraised without your knowing it and charge you for that to boot, By the time you are turned down for the modification you have racked up thousands of dollars they conveniently forgot to mention. Then they say "pay up."
I hope chase goes the way of BofA- stock now worth what? $5-$6 a share?
First they ignore us..then they ridicule us..now they are feeding us chicken crap- sign my petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/fda-stop-feed...
www.ickenittlepost.com
and have them burn Chase and BofA down. American's don't seem to have the stomach for that kind of thing.
"modification" plans that let a homeowner pay a lower mortgage for an "x" period of time, usually between 3 and six months depending on the bank. As long as those payments are made on time the bank is suppossed to then rework your mortgage.
However, many banks, and from the little information above, Chase CHOSE not to redo the mortgage and instead issued claim to all monies not paid under the "trial" plan. In this case, $20,000. When that can't be paid in full (which it generally can't) then the bank forecloses on you.
It's a scam run by banks on millions of people in order to foreclose on them. Don't ask me why they do it. It has something to do with increasing their bottom line.
Problem is that when the practice is so widespread, and with a housing bubble bursted, those assets may depreciate in the long run. But still, even in a real bad scenario where these properties lose half their value, banks would still get a minimum of 5 fold return on their initial "real" investment.
I assume this allows them to double dip, e.g. issue at least 2 mortgages on a single property: an original mortgage that depending on how much of the debtor paid, may actually cover the initial investment in bank assets, and then a second mortgage for the people who buy the foreclosed property from them.
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
Thankfully.
"Banks don't foreclose on houses unless the person paying the mortgage stops paying the mortgage."
Where have YOU been for the last two years? Banks have forclosed on:
1. People who have no mortgage and own their home
2. People who have consistently made their payments
3. People who applied for Obama's loan modification plan
4. People who have made their payments but are behind on their property taxes
AND the banks have forged loan docs to illegally forclose on properties to which they no longer have legal title. - google robosigning
You can google any of those above topics to find the related links.
"It's a simple financial agreement that was broken. Right?"
Here's a news flash for you. These banks don't give a damn about any agreements. They will do what they want until someone holds them accountable.
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
The wrong address...most of this shit, the wrong address foreclosure, and the two short sales PIF at the time of the sale, and the people who foreclosed on BOA on The Daily Show last night are in Florida.
But here in WA state, the AG is suing BOA for illegal foreclosures done in the
hundredsthousands in this state over which the bank and subsidiary were repeatedly warned of violations before they got sick of the shit.The bank says they're too big to be governed by mere state law; they believe they've been interpreting federal law correctly and FOAD WA state, love BOA.
me-oww!
People who paid cash for their home, like the folks in Florida.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." -- Robert E. Howard
When my husband's work cut his hours we lost 1/3 of our pay and started struggling to pay the mortgage at that point. We tried do refinancing but we would've ended up with a higher payment with paying PMI. The house had lost value at that point.
Then we tried do a Loan Modification with Wells Fargo. What a joke. It took a year with them losing the paperwork and starting the loan modification over a few times. We sent in our info twice a month or more. Us calling weekly about status and and anymore paperwork needed. More multiple problems and 'lost' stuff. Supposedly they scan everything in the computer, whatever.
When we finally started our 'trial' period time we thought finally it'll happen. Six months later we were approved for a modifcation at $300 more then what our monthly mortgage is. We told them heck no we can't afford that. Then they said we owed them $8000. What?!!
In the inbetween time they sent us a preforclosure letter. We called asking what was up since we had yet to miss a payment. By this time our savings was sucked dry and our credit cards were getting racked up trying to be 'good' citzens and not miss a mortgage payment. They told us to ignore the letter.
It turns out while you are in the 'trial' period you actually still owe the full amount of your monthly mortgage. When you pay the 'trial' amount you are considered late. They charge you late fees, it affects your credit, and you are late so they start the foreclosure preceedings.
For us not to be foreclosed on we had to take a loan out on our 401k to pay Wells Fargo. Now we are renting the house at about a $6000 a year loss while we rent and try to figure out what else to do.
Oh yes, we also tried doing a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but that was a joke.
So the moral of this story you could be good little citzens doing everything possible and still get screwed over.
Life happens and people need to stop judging and making assumptions on someone else's situation.
Don't talk the talk unless you've walked the walk.
BTW, I think the banks broke their agreement with not playing fast and loose with my money. Guess what we ended up the losers since it affected my husband's job. So whatever. Banks default on purpose all the time and get tax write offs and taxpayer money and they are still playing fast and loose.
I forgot to mention the reason the gentleman probably had only two missing payments is because you are told that to get into the loan modification program you should miss one or two mortgage payments. With the gentleman only missing two in the whole modification process it tells me that he was told to miss them.
who cant make their mortgage payments, who are the ones directly responsible for the mortgage crisis. Isn't that right you stupid ass republicans? isn't that what you keep saying?
Now be a good patriot and go tell him this to his face. Bring a video camera while youre at it so we can all watch him step on your neck and kick your head off.
of soldiering not paying the bills...
while the rich get tax cuts....
Well at least places like Oregon are safe now from Weapons of Mass Destruction...
er....unless Mount Bachelor blows its' top.....
The banks, among others, would seem to prefer our soldiers just stay over there and die... would keep items like this out of the news...
/only half-snark
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Mortgage brokers loved these because they could convince folks to buy more house than they could afford. An ARM has always been a sucker bet unless you KNOW you will be gone before the adjustment kicks in. I paid a half a percent more for a fixed loan at my CU - they service it, they know me, I can call the mortgage department and talk to a person - I can even go down to their main office and see someone. Every so often they send me a postcard reminding me that I can skip a payment if I want. (I don't want.)
25 years ago, when it was a respectable profession, I was a mortgage banker and I say there is no excuse for what went on in the housing market - my old boss must be spinning in his grave because he was a man of great integrity and honor.
You're still alive? Apparently you didn't give enough for your
countrybankers..."Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
while it is regrettable that this man lost his house, it is just as regrettable that you have bought into the "hero" myth.
it is posters on this site who have reminded me of what i used to believe.
this soldier made his own decisions, without dupes like him our government would not be able to prosecute illegal, unexplained, and immoral military actions around the globe.
every person is responsible for their actions, the fact this guy was a returning veteran does not make him any better than anyone else.
delete however many comments you like, doesn't change the fact that we have been at war in iraq for 20 years under 4 presidents, and with no end in sight.
but you don't really give a damn about that do you? just scoring points and being clever.
vets, having been in the military myself.
there are as many slimeballs in politics as in the military or in medicine.
Congratulations, you're a US citizen.
to the bushObama economy.
Some stuff you can't make up!
...our enterprising national media is all over this to provide clear perspective for all us citizens.
Oops, scratch that, they're not. This is the only place I've heard about this story. Oh yeah, if a national news outlet really covered this the right way they might lose an advertiser, so nevermind.
Interesting how every network worked up a fancy title, flag-waving graphics and theme music when we first went to war in the early 2000's. But the real work of the mess that's left, ehh, that's not so interesting to them.
He's abroad, as part of a force that kills civilians and destroys communities. The war always comes home.
Welcome back, fucker.
Comments are closed on this entry