Wells Wells Fargo About to Evict Widow of Vietnam Veteran

[sabrina 1]

I will call her Illysa as she is not ready to make her story public yet.

Her husband, Walt, a Marine Veteran of the war in Vietnam finally succumbed to the cancer believed by his doctors to be the result of his exposure to Agent Orange, three years ago.

Immediately after his death, his income from the military was cut off. She received a widow's pension and part of a life insurance policy and eventually found a temporary roommate which allowed her to keep up with the bills. She tried to return to the workforce after staying home during the last two years of her husband's life to take care of him. Last Fall when her roommate found a place of her own, Illysa knew she would not be able to keep up with her mortgage payments.

She contacted Wells Fargo after learning that as a condition of the two bailouts they had received, they had agreed to help 'keep people in their homes' by renegotiating their mortgage payments giving them a chance to get back on their feet. She met all four of the requirements listed on the government's page regarding this agreement.

In all she wrote six letters and made numerous phone calls. She received not a single response to any of her letters and was given a run-around every time she called.

It's hard to negotiate when no one will speak to you so she decided to send a partial payment of her mortgage, hoping that the non-response was the result of them having so many requests. The payment was returned to her.

Friends hearing about her situation managed to get her a lawyer. He called Wells Fargo and wrote to their attorney who was handling the fore-closure. Hard as it is to believe, he did not get anywhere either.

A few weeks ago, she received a notice saying her house would be sold on the courthouse steps. Her attorney wrote a letter to the judge, again attempting to stop the foreclosure until she had a chance to speak to the bank. There was no response to that letter either. She went to the court but there was no sale that day. And she learned later she had mistaken the date. Looking at the county records and public notices, we found nothing on her house, but saw that in that small area of upstate NY, there was a foreclosure notice almost every day. And the attorney handling many of them, was the Wells Fargo attorney who had refused to talk to her or her attorney.

She had also discovered that her mortgage had changed hands three times over the past number of years and that two of the lenders who had held her mortgage were listed with MERS raising the question of whether or not Wells Fargo actually held the note to her mortgage. But by the time she learned that information, things were moving so fast all she could do was mention it to the judge in her last letter to him.

On Nov. 13th, the day after Veteran's Day, an emotional day for her, she received another notice, telling her she must vacate the property in ten days. Not once during this entire process did a single representative of Wells Fargo even acknowledge her as a human being. They were made aware of her husband's death and of his service to this country.

I am not writing this asking for any help for her. It is too late for that now and although I did not go into details as it would take far too long, we, her friends and her attorney did all that we knew how to do to try to help save the home she and her husband bought together, and which meant so much to her.

I'm writing it merely to show how greedy and heartless these people are. How willing they were to take tax payer dollars when they could not pay their own bills, and then refuse to even abide by the conditions they agreed to to get that money.

Maybe someone reading this who has an account with them might think of cancelling it and telling them why. And the next time we head off to war and Wells Fargo decorates its banks with yellow ribbons and flags and 'Support the Troops' signs, ask them to remove them as I know Walt would do if he could.

Her husband literally gave his life for this country but he tried, before he died, to make sure his wife would have a home. The remainder of her mortgage, approximately $75,000.00 is pocket change to the Wall St. Corporate Welfare recipients.

Sorry, I'm angry today and I know that if her husband is anywhere where he can see what is happening to the woman he loved, he is in tears also, for her, and for what has happened to the country he loved. He was a wonderful person, a talented musician as she is.

I didn't write this very well, and hope to properly honor Walt in the future. Today I just wanted to show what greedy, uncaring, hard-hearted, compassionless bastards we the people gave so much money to when they screwed up. And how, in return, when the widow of a veteran loses her husband and needs a little time to get back on her feet, they would not even talk to her.

R.I.P. Walt we miss you ~ :cry:

[redwitch]

1. Why is this not illegal?

It certainly is immoral. I am so sad for your friend and also sad for this country. How did things get so bad?

[sabrina 1]

7. Thank you redwitch ~ meant to respond before

but I was thinking about whether some of what happened to her, may actually be illegal. They can foreclose on anyone who defaults on their mortgage. But President Obama did sign a bill that was meant to encourage lenders to negotiate with people who were in bad situations due to the economy or to a sudden loss of income. However, I did a little googling and although the bill has helped, it does not mandate that the banks have to negotiate. So it's not illegal.

She has her house on the market, hoping to sell it, rather than lose everything. Her lawyer asked for time to sell it, but got no response either. I don't understand it as if she sold the house, they would get what is owed to them, and she would get something to help her move to a new place.

This is why laws are needed. Because of the people who will not do what is morally right without them.

[roguevalley]

10. I once made an error and was 35 cents short on my mortgage

they sent me a hateful letter stating pay up or you will be in default to my 'contract' and have to cough all of it up at once. Amazing. I am sorry for this.

[sabrina 1]

15. They are not nice people ~ n/t

[roguevalley]

11. I once made an error and was 35 cents short on my mortgage

they sent me a hateful letter stating pay up or you will be in default to my 'contract' and have to cough all of it up at once. Amazing. I am sorry for this.

[Deja Q]

2. An American company to their own countrymen - sick.

A multinational company should not be taking a penny of anything from our government.

Of course, the greedy want it both ways.

[peacetalksforall]

3. Contact Thom Hartman - ask him to get a special call in to Bernie Sanders - (see

the post about him filing for a break up of the mega banks).

The key it seems is making Wells Fargo -

1) Prove that they hold the mortgage.

2) Replyb to her four qualifications and somehow get the press to hound them to say why they ignored it.

I usually don't support boycotts because little employees get kicked out of jobs if the boycott succeeds. But, I endorse a boycott which in the case of a bank - means changing banks.

Where is the blue list of banks?

Have all the rules of the bail-out been examined here? Veteran Administration?

I extend my hand to her, you, and all your friends who are helping. Thank you.

[sabrina 1]

4. Thank you so much. I will contact him. I hadn't though ot that.

Last week, I saw this story, again involving Wells Fargo, about another woman they were about to foreclose on.

http://www.jwjblog.org/2009/11/foreclosure-stopped-belva-davis-will-stay-in-her-home/

Foreclosure Stopped. Belva Davis will stay in her home

The group who helped her, organized a rally outside of Wells Fargo and embarrassed them into talking to her. I thought of contacting them but they are in Ilinois and appear to help only people who have a work-related problem. I am going to call anyhow, they might be able to refer me to someone else in her area.

This case shows that they could have talked to that woman and resolved the problem, but did so only after being pressured into it.

I had a question I should have included in the OP. But is it possible for her to place a lien on the property until they show her proof that they are the holders of her mortgage? I have no idea how liens work or how much it costs to do this. But at least if she could do that, they could not sell it until they talked to her.

Again, thank you so much for caring ~

[Hekate]

12. Keith Olbermann might be interested as well. nt

[CurtEastPoint]

5. I have been exploring leaving Wachovia (WF) and this will do it for me. To the credit union w/this

letter. Shame on them. Shame.

[sabrina 1]

6. Thank you ~ n/t

[Vidar]

8. The national Guard should be be occupying companies like Wells Fargo, not

Afghanistan.

[sabrina 1]

16. At this point, that doesn't sound as bad an idea

as it might have in the past ~

[susanr516]

9. I closed my last account at Wells Fargo in Oct.

I'm paying off a credit card in Feb. By Mar. 1, I hope to be doing 100% of my financial business at a credit union.

[951-Riverside]

13. It should be legal for deadbeats to keep property they can't pay for

These credit/loan companies will think twice before handing out loans.

[sabrina 1]

14. Deadbeats?

I think that tax-payers have been thinking twice about bailing out these deadbeat banks. I am with Bernie Sanders, let them fail if they screw up this badly. Her tax dollars went to picking them up out of the financial gutter they got themselves into, as well as mine. What got them into trouble was pure greed.

They gave a loan to people who could afford it. All that was needed was a reduction in the mortgage payments temporarily or time to sell the house, which she had on the market with several potential buyers.

And why should these credit/loan people 'think twice' about handing out loans, when they are profiting hugely from grabbing these homes? In this case, by stealing, and it is stealing, this home, they will get back far more than they ever paid out, while depriving her of getting anything back from the money she and her husband paid up to now? What a racket it is.

If they gave her time to sell it, they would have gotten their money anyhow, or if they had reduced her payments, for a two year period, rather than sending back the money she paid, they would still get their money back.

It's a win/win situation for them whether they handled it in a moral way or not. They chose the immoral way.

[wolfgangmo]

17. I can't help but wonder how long it will be before someone posts a list

of bank presidents/CEO's/investors/board of directors names, addresses and schedules?

And I wonder how long it will take after that information is posted - perhaps by an employee of said institutions - before someone else does something permanent to these thugs.

And make no mistake, we have thugs in control of our government. It started with Nixon, accelerated with Raygun, became brazen under Shrub and hasn't slowed down under bObama (at least that I can see although he might be making an effort). They now control the government, the banks, the military and the media to name just a few.

I, and many others are mad and how long will it take until the fuse is lit?


... How long?

[sabrina 1]

18. I'm sure they are afraid of that. But they anticipated

it which is why there are all those private security groups, like Blackwater. Remember during Katrina when the wealthy had hired some of them who showed up in NO, and tried to disarm some of the people there?

Me, I prefer to go after them legally, and not make martyrs out of them.

We are not going to give up on this, and have been getting some advice from others who have become active in trying to hold these banks' feet to the fire.

They may take her house, but there are legal ways to make sure they cannot sell it, such as placing a lien on it eg.

If this had been a smaller community bank where they know their good cusomers, like my friend and her husband. When they are going through a rough time, they would sit down and talk to them like human beings to see what if anything could be worked out. And if not, help her by giving her time to sell the property after which they would be repaid and she would have something to get started over with.

But these mega corporations do not see human beings, or the good of the country. All they see are $$$ signs.

I know this has motivated me to get more involved in trying to stop this from happening to others.

Wells Fargo has so many complaints against them for they way are going about this, but there is no entity that we could find, to pressure them into even making a phone call. So, something needs to be done there.

And you're right, people are very, very angry and getting more so every day.

[clear eye]

19. Did she go to her members of Congress?

This is in no way to imply that the outcome was due to any fault of hers. She and everyone around her seem to have made a valiant effort. Wells Fargo's intentional stonewalling is likely bank policy since so many foreclosures have been denied due to banks not having the proper proof of owning the loan. Of course they know that if you don't have the money to pay your mortgage, you don't have the money to sue them for refusing to evaluate her for the gov't renegotiating program.

I wish you had come to DU w/ this earlier. There are a # of NGOs that are working to block these sorts of evictions. Their advice is almost always to refuse to vacate. If you don't leave you have some leverage.

[sabrina 1]

20. Just saw your post.

Thank you, she didn't tell everyone about her situation at first as she thought she could deal with it herself. So, all of her attempts initially were to try to work something out with the bank. By the time family members and friends got involved the process was already in place for foreclosure with not one single response to her calls and letters.

She is in NY state, and we have just recently helped her to contact members of Congress, not something she would have thought to do herself with so much else on her mind. So, they will be getting a letter this week, along with, as someone above suggested, Sen. Sanders.

I was not aware of the NGOs who are helping with this. Or if there are any working in her state. Thank you for the information.

I did try to email Thom Hartmann as suggested above, but the email bounced back to me. We are writing to other media also, on her behalf.

One possible good piece of information she received today. Her attorney finally got through to Wells Fargo's atty's office and asked for an extension of two months. He thinks they will grant that which would help a lot.

Most of us, her family and friends, do not live near her. I am on the West Coast right now, eg, and everyone else is scattered around the country.

If you have the names or phone numbers of the NGOs we could contact, that would be so much appreciated. I have done so much research in the past few weeks on this and am appalled at what I have discoverd. This story is not being told by the media, the extent of it, eg.

Thank you so much for the information. I did not write about it before as I thought once she finally had an attorney he would be able to handle it. That turned out not to be the case, sadly.

[clear eye]

21. I found this page called "When a Lender Won't Work with You"

which has a number of options depending on what agency insured the mortgage: http://www.hud.gov/foreclosure/workingwithlenders.cfm

They emphasize that it's essential to talk w/ a HUD approved Housing Counselor, saying "They may be able to help you with your lender." The page that lists those in NYS is here: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/fc/index.cfm?webListAction=search&searchstate=NY&filterSvc=dfc

In this situation they also recommend contacting "HOPE NOW or call the Homeowners Hope Hotline [phone]-HOPE) to ask for assistance in working with your lender."

Apparently this situation is far from unusual.

It sounds like she took all the right first steps in trying to get the bank to respond. She sounds like she is normally resourceful, although broke, so I understand why she thought she'd handle it herself. I would have done the same in her situation. I also would have been very stressed out and probably not thinking as clearly as usual.

She should contact her closest HUD approved Housing Counselor from the list linked to above, IMMEDIATELY. Ditto call 1(866) 696.2329 (HomeFree-USA). Ditto one or more of the agencies from this list: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/hcs.cfm?webListAction=search&searchstate=NY OR one of the agencies on this page: http://www.housingpartnership.net/members/find_a_member/search_results/index.php?state=33

If you want to pm me w/ which county she's in, I can narrow it down to a few counselors in her area. Remember they've all dealt w/ unresponsive lenders before.


I also know that it's possible to refinance w/ a credit union at a considerably lower interest rate than the banks offer. For instance here are some NYS credit union rates:

Suffolk FCU
30 Year Fixed Rate
Rate APR Points
5.000% 5.077% 0.000%
20 Year Fixed Rate
Rate APR Points
4.875% 4.980% 0.000%
15 Year Fixed Rate
Rate APR Points
4.375% 4.506% 0.000%

Municipal Credit Union
(10 Year Term - 120 Payments)
Pts Rate APR Monthly Payment Per $1,000 Borrowed
2 4.500% 4.937% $10.36
1 4.750% 5.037% $10.48
0 5.000% 5.137% $10.61
(15 Year Term - 180 Payments)
Pts Rate APR Monthly Payment Per $1,000 Borrowed
2 4.500% 4.937% $7.65
1 4.750% 5.037% $7.78
0 5.000% 5.137% $7.91
(20 Year Term - 240 Payments)
Pts Rate APR Monthly Payment Per $1,000 Borrowed
2 4.750% 5.075% $6.46
1 5.000% 5.206% $6.60
0 5.250% 5.339% $6.74
(25 Year Term - 300 Payments)
Pts Rate APR Monthly Payment Per $1,000 Borrowed
2 4.750% 5.131% $5.70
1 5.000% 5.284% $5.85
0 5.250% 5.437% $5.99

I'd try the routes I've listed above, rather than go to the press if it were me.

[sabrina 1]

22. Thank you so much, Clear Eye

Check your PM ~

[Nikki Stone1]

23. .

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