Until now, only a handful of depositions from robo-signers have come to light. But the sheer volume of the new depositions will make it more difficult for financial institutions to argue that robo-signing was an aberrant practice in a handful of rogue back offices.
Judges are unlikely to look favorably on a bank that claims paperwork flaws don't matter because the borrower was in default on the loan, said Kendall Coffey, a former Miami U.S. attorney and author of the book "Foreclosures."
"There has to be a cornerstone of integrity to the process," Coffey said.
Bank of America responded to Tiktin's depositions by re-affirming that an internal review has shown that its foreclosures have been accurate. "This review will ensure we have a full understanding of any potential issues and quickly address them," Bank of America spokesman Dan Frahm said. Frahm added that, on average, the bank's foreclosure customers have not made a payment in more than 18 months.
JP Morgan Chase spokesman Thomas Kelly said the bank has requested that courts not enter into any judgments until the bank had reviewed its procedures. But Kelly added that the bank believes that all the underlying facts of the cases involved in the document fraud allegations are true.
Litton Loan Servicing did not respond to a request for comment.
Even before the foreclosure scandal broke, the housing market was in the midst of an ugly detoxification. Now the escalating crisis is likely to prolong the housing depression for at least another few years. The allegations are opening the entire chain of foreclosure proceedings to legal challenge. Some foreclosures could be overturned. Others could be deemed illegal.
For a housing recovery to occur, all the foreclosed properties -- which could account for 40 percent of all residential sales by 2012 -- need to be re-scrutinized by the banks and resold on the market. Now, with so much inventory under a legal threat, the process will become severely delayed.
"This just adds more uncertainty to the whole mortgage process, so buyers are asking themselves: do I want to buy a home in this environment?" says Cris deRitis, director of credit analytics at Moody's Analytics. "We need to fix these issues before the economy can recover."
Though some have chalked up the foreclosure debacle to an overblown case of paperwork bungling, the underlying legal issues are far more serious. Yes, swearing that you've reviewed documents you've never seen is a legal offense. But at the center of the foreclosure scandal looms something much larger: the question of who actually owns the loans and who has the right to foreclose upon them. The paperwork issues being raised by lawyers and attorneys generals have the potential to blight not just the titles of foreclosed properties but also those belonging to homeowners who have never missed a mortgage payment.
So far, JP Morgan Chase, PNC Financial and Litton Loan Servicing have stopped some foreclosure proceedings in 23 states. Bank of America and GMAC, recently renamed Ally, have extended their moratoriums to all 50 states. Wells Fargo and Citigroup have said they are continuing with foreclosures, adding that they are confident in their documents and processes.
But Citigroup has now backpedaled some on that assertion. The bank sent out a press release Tuesday that it was no longer using the law firm of "foreclosure king" David Stern, now under investigation by the Florida attorney general's office. "Pending the outcome of the AG's investigation, Citi is not referring new matters to this firm," the bank said in an e-mailed statement.
Late last week, in an interview with the Florida attorney general, a former senior paralegal in Stern's firm described a boiler-room atmosphere in which employees were pressured to forge signatures, backdate documents, swap Social Security numbers, inflate billings and pass around notary stamps as if they were salt.
Stern's lawyer, Jeffrey Tew, did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the public outrage continues to mount. In what is perhaps a sign of things to come, a Simi Valley, Calif., couple and their nine children broke into their foreclosed home over the weekend and moved back in, according to television station KABC of Simi Valley. The couple, Jim and Danielle Earl, say they were working with the bank to catch up on payments until they discovered a $25,000 difference between what they owed and what the bank said they owed. The family was evicted from their Spanish-style two-story in July. The home has been sold, and the new owner was due to move in soon.
The Earls and their attorney now allege that they were victims of fraudulent paperwork.
Curt Anderson contributed from Miami.
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Yesterday, five homeowners in the state of Maine filed a class action suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing them of filing knowingly false certifications for foreclosure, and false affadavits which back up the documents. Maine is one of the 23 states where judicial sign-off is required to move ahead with a foreclosure, and where GMAC (now Ally Financial) has suspended evictions.
In depositions of GMAC/Ally officials as well as those at top mortgage lenders across the country, employees have admitted that they do not spend any time verifying the accuracy of the foreclosure documents, and often use a “robo-signer” who looks at the materials for less than 30 seconds and signs up to 10,000 affadavits a month.
The lawsuit alleges that thousands of Maine homeowners have lost their homes unfairly due to judgments based on false documents, and that most of them had no attorney operating in their defense. GMAC has been sanctioned in a Maine court for their “high-volume and careless approach to affidavit signing.” Local attorneys, along with the offices of Maine Attorneys Saving Homes, the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Responsible Lending are working on the case.
Bank of America, the largest holder of mortgages in the country, yesterday admitted to this practice and suspended foreclosure processes while they review the documents. They plan to “amend all affidavits in foreclosure cases that have not yet gone to judgment,” a process that could take months or even years. Citi and Wells Fargo, the only major lenders which have not slowed their foreclosures yet, have defended their documentation actions, with Wells Fargo standing by the accuracy of their affadavits. If all lenders eventually submit to review, it could put on hold the future of 4.37 million households either in foreclosure or severe delinquency.
The lenders often just service the loans, without owning the title. Private investment pools or even the government, in the form of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, often own the homes. Sometimes the owner cannot be determined because of securitization and sloppy processes during the housing bubble, leading to foreclosures by servicers who cannot establish ownership.
Connecticut, a judicial foreclosure state, has suspended all foreclosures for 60 days while the Attorney General investigates. California, a non-judicial state, has asked GMAC/Ally and JPMorgan Chase, another lender reviewing their documents, to halt their foreclosure operations. Asm. Ted Lieu, the state legislator who wrote the law that requires lenders in California to try to contact borrowers and document the outcome before any foreclosure, said yesterday that the state should call for a foreclosure moratorium.
robert shumake hall of shame
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
robert shumake detroit
Until now, only a handful of depositions from robo-signers have come to light. But the sheer volume of the new depositions will make it more difficult for financial institutions to argue that robo-signing was an aberrant practice in a handful of rogue back offices.
Judges are unlikely to look favorably on a bank that claims paperwork flaws don't matter because the borrower was in default on the loan, said Kendall Coffey, a former Miami U.S. attorney and author of the book "Foreclosures."
"There has to be a cornerstone of integrity to the process," Coffey said.
Bank of America responded to Tiktin's depositions by re-affirming that an internal review has shown that its foreclosures have been accurate. "This review will ensure we have a full understanding of any potential issues and quickly address them," Bank of America spokesman Dan Frahm said. Frahm added that, on average, the bank's foreclosure customers have not made a payment in more than 18 months.
JP Morgan Chase spokesman Thomas Kelly said the bank has requested that courts not enter into any judgments until the bank had reviewed its procedures. But Kelly added that the bank believes that all the underlying facts of the cases involved in the document fraud allegations are true.
Litton Loan Servicing did not respond to a request for comment.
Even before the foreclosure scandal broke, the housing market was in the midst of an ugly detoxification. Now the escalating crisis is likely to prolong the housing depression for at least another few years. The allegations are opening the entire chain of foreclosure proceedings to legal challenge. Some foreclosures could be overturned. Others could be deemed illegal.
For a housing recovery to occur, all the foreclosed properties -- which could account for 40 percent of all residential sales by 2012 -- need to be re-scrutinized by the banks and resold on the market. Now, with so much inventory under a legal threat, the process will become severely delayed.
"This just adds more uncertainty to the whole mortgage process, so buyers are asking themselves: do I want to buy a home in this environment?" says Cris deRitis, director of credit analytics at Moody's Analytics. "We need to fix these issues before the economy can recover."
Though some have chalked up the foreclosure debacle to an overblown case of paperwork bungling, the underlying legal issues are far more serious. Yes, swearing that you've reviewed documents you've never seen is a legal offense. But at the center of the foreclosure scandal looms something much larger: the question of who actually owns the loans and who has the right to foreclose upon them. The paperwork issues being raised by lawyers and attorneys generals have the potential to blight not just the titles of foreclosed properties but also those belonging to homeowners who have never missed a mortgage payment.
So far, JP Morgan Chase, PNC Financial and Litton Loan Servicing have stopped some foreclosure proceedings in 23 states. Bank of America and GMAC, recently renamed Ally, have extended their moratoriums to all 50 states. Wells Fargo and Citigroup have said they are continuing with foreclosures, adding that they are confident in their documents and processes.
But Citigroup has now backpedaled some on that assertion. The bank sent out a press release Tuesday that it was no longer using the law firm of "foreclosure king" David Stern, now under investigation by the Florida attorney general's office. "Pending the outcome of the AG's investigation, Citi is not referring new matters to this firm," the bank said in an e-mailed statement.
Late last week, in an interview with the Florida attorney general, a former senior paralegal in Stern's firm described a boiler-room atmosphere in which employees were pressured to forge signatures, backdate documents, swap Social Security numbers, inflate billings and pass around notary stamps as if they were salt.
Stern's lawyer, Jeffrey Tew, did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the public outrage continues to mount. In what is perhaps a sign of things to come, a Simi Valley, Calif., couple and their nine children broke into their foreclosed home over the weekend and moved back in, according to television station KABC of Simi Valley. The couple, Jim and Danielle Earl, say they were working with the bank to catch up on payments until they discovered a $25,000 difference between what they owed and what the bank said they owed. The family was evicted from their Spanish-style two-story in July. The home has been sold, and the new owner was due to move in soon.
The Earls and their attorney now allege that they were victims of fraudulent paperwork.
Curt Anderson contributed from Miami.
Get HuffPost Business On
Twitter, Facebook, and Google Buzz!
Know something we don't? E-mail us at huffpostbiz@gmail.com
Yesterday, five homeowners in the state of Maine filed a class action suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing them of filing knowingly false certifications for foreclosure, and false affadavits which back up the documents. Maine is one of the 23 states where judicial sign-off is required to move ahead with a foreclosure, and where GMAC (now Ally Financial) has suspended evictions.
In depositions of GMAC/Ally officials as well as those at top mortgage lenders across the country, employees have admitted that they do not spend any time verifying the accuracy of the foreclosure documents, and often use a “robo-signer” who looks at the materials for less than 30 seconds and signs up to 10,000 affadavits a month.
The lawsuit alleges that thousands of Maine homeowners have lost their homes unfairly due to judgments based on false documents, and that most of them had no attorney operating in their defense. GMAC has been sanctioned in a Maine court for their “high-volume and careless approach to affidavit signing.” Local attorneys, along with the offices of Maine Attorneys Saving Homes, the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Responsible Lending are working on the case.
Bank of America, the largest holder of mortgages in the country, yesterday admitted to this practice and suspended foreclosure processes while they review the documents. They plan to “amend all affidavits in foreclosure cases that have not yet gone to judgment,” a process that could take months or even years. Citi and Wells Fargo, the only major lenders which have not slowed their foreclosures yet, have defended their documentation actions, with Wells Fargo standing by the accuracy of their affadavits. If all lenders eventually submit to review, it could put on hold the future of 4.37 million households either in foreclosure or severe delinquency.
The lenders often just service the loans, without owning the title. Private investment pools or even the government, in the form of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, often own the homes. Sometimes the owner cannot be determined because of securitization and sloppy processes during the housing bubble, leading to foreclosures by servicers who cannot establish ownership.
Connecticut, a judicial foreclosure state, has suspended all foreclosures for 60 days while the Attorney General investigates. California, a non-judicial state, has asked GMAC/Ally and JPMorgan Chase, another lender reviewing their documents, to halt their foreclosure operations. Asm. Ted Lieu, the state legislator who wrote the law that requires lenders in California to try to contact borrowers and document the outcome before any foreclosure, said yesterday that the state should call for a foreclosure moratorium.
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Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
robert shumake detroit
robert shumake hall of shame
robert shumake hall of shame
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
robert shumake detroit
Until now, only a handful of depositions from robo-signers have come to light. But the sheer volume of the new depositions will make it more difficult for financial institutions to argue that robo-signing was an aberrant practice in a handful of rogue back offices.
Judges are unlikely to look favorably on a bank that claims paperwork flaws don't matter because the borrower was in default on the loan, said Kendall Coffey, a former Miami U.S. attorney and author of the book "Foreclosures."
"There has to be a cornerstone of integrity to the process," Coffey said.
Bank of America responded to Tiktin's depositions by re-affirming that an internal review has shown that its foreclosures have been accurate. "This review will ensure we have a full understanding of any potential issues and quickly address them," Bank of America spokesman Dan Frahm said. Frahm added that, on average, the bank's foreclosure customers have not made a payment in more than 18 months.
JP Morgan Chase spokesman Thomas Kelly said the bank has requested that courts not enter into any judgments until the bank had reviewed its procedures. But Kelly added that the bank believes that all the underlying facts of the cases involved in the document fraud allegations are true.
Litton Loan Servicing did not respond to a request for comment.
Even before the foreclosure scandal broke, the housing market was in the midst of an ugly detoxification. Now the escalating crisis is likely to prolong the housing depression for at least another few years. The allegations are opening the entire chain of foreclosure proceedings to legal challenge. Some foreclosures could be overturned. Others could be deemed illegal.
For a housing recovery to occur, all the foreclosed properties -- which could account for 40 percent of all residential sales by 2012 -- need to be re-scrutinized by the banks and resold on the market. Now, with so much inventory under a legal threat, the process will become severely delayed.
"This just adds more uncertainty to the whole mortgage process, so buyers are asking themselves: do I want to buy a home in this environment?" says Cris deRitis, director of credit analytics at Moody's Analytics. "We need to fix these issues before the economy can recover."
Though some have chalked up the foreclosure debacle to an overblown case of paperwork bungling, the underlying legal issues are far more serious. Yes, swearing that you've reviewed documents you've never seen is a legal offense. But at the center of the foreclosure scandal looms something much larger: the question of who actually owns the loans and who has the right to foreclose upon them. The paperwork issues being raised by lawyers and attorneys generals have the potential to blight not just the titles of foreclosed properties but also those belonging to homeowners who have never missed a mortgage payment.
So far, JP Morgan Chase, PNC Financial and Litton Loan Servicing have stopped some foreclosure proceedings in 23 states. Bank of America and GMAC, recently renamed Ally, have extended their moratoriums to all 50 states. Wells Fargo and Citigroup have said they are continuing with foreclosures, adding that they are confident in their documents and processes.
But Citigroup has now backpedaled some on that assertion. The bank sent out a press release Tuesday that it was no longer using the law firm of "foreclosure king" David Stern, now under investigation by the Florida attorney general's office. "Pending the outcome of the AG's investigation, Citi is not referring new matters to this firm," the bank said in an e-mailed statement.
Late last week, in an interview with the Florida attorney general, a former senior paralegal in Stern's firm described a boiler-room atmosphere in which employees were pressured to forge signatures, backdate documents, swap Social Security numbers, inflate billings and pass around notary stamps as if they were salt.
Stern's lawyer, Jeffrey Tew, did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the public outrage continues to mount. In what is perhaps a sign of things to come, a Simi Valley, Calif., couple and their nine children broke into their foreclosed home over the weekend and moved back in, according to television station KABC of Simi Valley. The couple, Jim and Danielle Earl, say they were working with the bank to catch up on payments until they discovered a $25,000 difference between what they owed and what the bank said they owed. The family was evicted from their Spanish-style two-story in July. The home has been sold, and the new owner was due to move in soon.
The Earls and their attorney now allege that they were victims of fraudulent paperwork.
Curt Anderson contributed from Miami.
Get HuffPost Business On
Twitter, Facebook, and Google Buzz!
Know something we don't? E-mail us at huffpostbiz@gmail.com
Yesterday, five homeowners in the state of Maine filed a class action suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing them of filing knowingly false certifications for foreclosure, and false affadavits which back up the documents. Maine is one of the 23 states where judicial sign-off is required to move ahead with a foreclosure, and where GMAC (now Ally Financial) has suspended evictions.
In depositions of GMAC/Ally officials as well as those at top mortgage lenders across the country, employees have admitted that they do not spend any time verifying the accuracy of the foreclosure documents, and often use a “robo-signer” who looks at the materials for less than 30 seconds and signs up to 10,000 affadavits a month.
The lawsuit alleges that thousands of Maine homeowners have lost their homes unfairly due to judgments based on false documents, and that most of them had no attorney operating in their defense. GMAC has been sanctioned in a Maine court for their “high-volume and careless approach to affidavit signing.” Local attorneys, along with the offices of Maine Attorneys Saving Homes, the National Consumer Law Center and the Center for Responsible Lending are working on the case.
Bank of America, the largest holder of mortgages in the country, yesterday admitted to this practice and suspended foreclosure processes while they review the documents. They plan to “amend all affidavits in foreclosure cases that have not yet gone to judgment,” a process that could take months or even years. Citi and Wells Fargo, the only major lenders which have not slowed their foreclosures yet, have defended their documentation actions, with Wells Fargo standing by the accuracy of their affadavits. If all lenders eventually submit to review, it could put on hold the future of 4.37 million households either in foreclosure or severe delinquency.
The lenders often just service the loans, without owning the title. Private investment pools or even the government, in the form of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, often own the homes. Sometimes the owner cannot be determined because of securitization and sloppy processes during the housing bubble, leading to foreclosures by servicers who cannot establish ownership.
Connecticut, a judicial foreclosure state, has suspended all foreclosures for 60 days while the Attorney General investigates. California, a non-judicial state, has asked GMAC/Ally and JPMorgan Chase, another lender reviewing their documents, to halt their foreclosure operations. Asm. Ted Lieu, the state legislator who wrote the law that requires lenders in California to try to contact borrowers and document the outcome before any foreclosure, said yesterday that the state should call for a foreclosure moratorium.
robert shumake hall of shame
robert shumake detroit
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
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robert shumake twitter
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
robert shumake detroit
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
robert shumake twitter
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
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robert shumake twitter
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
robert shumake twitter
You had enough money when you bought the place. In fact you had more than enough. You calculated it out yourself. You didn't want to go any more than one fifth of your income. So, you found a house and a loan package that you could support and afford and yet stay well within your budget.
It's a beautiful home. There are plenty of options for growth and a great neighborhood to raise your children in. Just enough land, ten acres, to allow for a garage some time in the future and not so much that you will be burdened with excessive upkeep. Though yours is not waterfront, on a good day, you can see the neighboring inland lake. Simply ideal you think. You are feeling a bit proud of yourself at having made such a great selection.
Your wife and you have worked hard for the past five years and have saved everything you possibly could just to get your piece of the earth. You've both worked two jobs while still trying to take care of your newest addition to the family, your now, two year old son. Your savings continued to grow and tempted you the full time but you withstood the urge to spend and you successfully saved it all for this moment.
Fortunately for you, your home based business turned out very successful. Who would have thought a business consultant could support a family, buy two new cars and even get a mortgage on a new home while doing something he loved so much. But, the means justifies the end, and here you are, sitting on the porch of your new piece of Americana, your family home.
Suddenly, the climate chills and your brightening glow darkens. Your customers begin to cancel appointments. Some of them close their doors, others move out of the state or even out of the country. You frantically call them day after day only to hear things like "I can't even afford to buy raw material, how can I afford to bring you in." Your monthly activity falls from a lucrative 20 days a month to an existing 10 days a month, to a "get behind" 5 days. Now you find it difficult to schedule even one or two days a month.
You sell your second vehicle, stop several services, and cancel all magazines and newspapers and professional organization memberships. You and wife quit going out, no more lunches, no more weekend movies, and no more client entertainment evenings. You find yourself drawing on what is left of your now meager savings just to keep the mortgage and utilities paid. Soon, you find yourself prioritizing between the mortgage and the light bill; which one gets paid first?
This month you miss the mortgage payment and wait with bated breath to hear what the bank has to say. You are scolded and reminded of your responsibilities. You go to Mom and Dad and borrow the next month mortgage payment. Now you are already one month behind and will stay that way until something turns around.
You finally face the inevitable and put your life's dream up for sale. Your real estate agent suggests you drop your asking price even before they ever advertise your home for sale. You follow their direction and drop it just low enough to pay off your loan. You won't make any money but you will get the loan paid off.
You patiently await the surge of business you expect to come in from your customers but it never materializes. You sell your lawn tractor and the last of your "special" toys, you and your wife's matching golf clubs. You clean your two car garage out of all the tools, toys and implements that compliment a gentleman farmer's estate and park your one lonely family vehicle in the middle of it. You have long since traded in your second new car and settled for a nice looking, though eight year used, sedan.
One day you find yourself in the food stamp line. What happened? The next day you are applying for assistance? How could this be? You owned my own business. You were on top of the world. Now all that is left is your beautiful home; with three late payments to its credit and a letter from the bank threatening foreclosure. It is listed for sale but even if it sold it would be a "short sale." That's where the property sells for less than what it is worth. The bank has assured you that you would not owe anything extra but neither would you recoup your 20% down payment.
Facing foreclosure? Facing foreclosure you sit down with your wife across the table from you. You hold hands; you look each other in the eyes, watery, reddened eyes, and breathe a heavy sigh. You have each other, still. Now, more than ever you need each other. You are facing the greatest loss of your short life together. You pray your losses never get any worse than this but to lose your home was going to be a major blow, a numbing blow.
You can do no more. You have no more resources. There is nothing more you can turn off, or reduce, or quit or sell; you have done it all. You had the letter in hand and the regret in heart. You tried and you lost. Nothing more can save you.
This is all too familiar a scenario in America today. For awhile, everybody was willing to get as creative as they had to, simply to get you to take out a loan and buy a house. It didn't matter if you really had the wherewithal to eventually pay the loan back or not. The objective was to get the financing secured. Then, on top of that, our economy falls apart. Companies close, layoffs sky rocket, people quit buying, banks go belly-up, and people lose their savings and retirements. Financially, everybody's broke.
Facing foreclosure you will find yourself mysteriously alone. This is one of the greatest American tragedies yet, where is all the help? We pay 9/11 survivors almost 2 million dollars a family, we buy Katrina victims homes and give them jobs, America is on site at almost every disaster there is, except this one. Everybody turns their backs on the wretch who has allowed himself to be foreclosed upon.
Facing foreclosure? You will face it by yourself. Nobody will be by your side. You will go through the downsizing, the shame of poverty and the pain of loss by yourself. Your one best defense during this entire time is to keep your spouse close to you, stay close to your spouse, depend entirely upon one another and make it work! Whatever becomes of you and your situation - make it work! I did, my wife did, and today we are a fraction of what we once were but we are happy and we still have one another. It can happen.
robert shumake hall of shame
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
robert shumake detroit
Small Business <b>News</b>: BlogWorld Wrap Up
BlogWorld 2010 has come and gone with more than a few new revelations imperative to the small business community. This post will feature as kind of a wrap up of.
Virginia Thomas Leaves Anita Hill a Voicemail Asking for An <b>...</b>
A few days ago, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill received a message on her voice mail at work. Political Punch Blog.
ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>
Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...
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