Fighting foreclosure

0
Belinda Brooks is
fighting foreclosure of her home in Luckey. (Photo: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)

LUCKEY – After faithfully paying her mortgage for years, Belinda Brooks worries that she might lose the
house she has made into a home for her family.
She lives in fear of coming home to find a sheriff’s sticker on the door of her home on Krotzer Street in
Luckey.
Brooks has always prided herself in being an upstanding citizen – from a long line of community leaders,
in fact. Her grandfather, called "Jingles" by townspeople, was the village police chief. Her
dad worked on the town maintenance department. And Brooks is in her fifth year as mayor of Luckey.
So Brooks has much more at stake than the two-story, white-sided structure she calls home. She is kept
awake at night thinking about the effect on her three children. She worries about her reputation. She
watches as her financial credit is destroyed. And she agonizes about the impact on her business.
How the trouble began
The mayor’s problems began when she tried to refinance her mortgage in 2009, a couple years following a
divorce. Due to the collapse of the housing market, her appraisal was much lower, making her home worth
less than her loan, and making her unable to refinance at a local bank. So she turned to a government
program called HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) designed to keep homeowners in their homes
and slow the nationwide foreclosure epidemic.
Brooks asked Aurora, her mortgage lender, for a modification through HAMP.
"I kept getting told, ‘you’re current on your mortgage, so you’re not a priority,’" Brooks said
of the repeated response she got from Aurora.
Always one to pay bills on time, Brooks said she had no intention on missing a payment just so she could
be bumped up on the mortgage refinancing priority list.
But after getting nowhere with Aurora, she paid her mortgage a week late in June of 2009. That was as
delinquent as she could be.
"It made me too nervous," she said.
That seemed to work, and her mortgage went from $1,448 down to $1,157 a month. It seemed that life would
be a little easier for Brooks and her children.
But she was terribly wrong.
While she was paying her new mortgage amount to one department at Aurora, Brooks said another department
was recording her as delinquent since she wasn’t paying her previous mortgage amount. Within months, she
got a foreclosure notice.
Not alone facing unfair foreclosure
Brooks isn’t alone in facing foreclosure unjustly, she said.
"Exactly what’s happening to me is happening to hundreds and hundreds of others," she said.
"This is the biggest white collar Ponzi scheme I’ve seen in my life."
But unlike many of the others, Brooks keeps meticulous notes of paperwork she submitted to Aurora, keeps
records of employees she spoke with at the mortgage lender, and saves correspondence from the company.
And unlike many others, Brooks is fighting back.
Only about three percent of Americans facing foreclosure bother to contest it.
"They basically hope you will run out of money or quit," she said of lenders. "I’m still
struggling to keep my home. Most people give up and file bankruptcy."
Brooks hired an attorney, Norman Sirak, from Massilion, who said he is representing several people
unfairly facing foreclosure from Aurora.
"Oh my gosh, there are thousands," Sirak said of the foreclosure victims. "They are
following the rules and can’t understand why this is blowing up in their face."
Aurora, Sirak explained, is an offshoot of Lehman Brothers, which declared bankruptcy after making
massive numbers of subprime loans. Sirak called Aurora, "a monster," unwilling to work with
homeowners to resolve problems.
"When you talk to Aurora, you feel like you are talking to the dining room table," he said.
Foreclosure traps
Diane Thompson, of the National Consumer Law Center, said many homeowners are falling into the trap of
foreclosure when they try to get loan modifications. Many are told to stop making payments, so they can
get a mortgage adjustment, but then they are labeled as in default. Their credit is then damaged, and
the foreclosure process can begin, Thompson stated during a Dan Rather Reports episode on "Home
Loans from Hell," which told of Brooks’ experience.
A group of homeowners has filed a class-action lawsuit against Aurora Loan Services LLC, claiming the
mortgage company duped them into paying tens of thousands of dollars each to have troubled mortgages
reviewed by the company with promises of loan modifications, only to have their property foreclosed upon
with little or no notice.
Repeated phone calls from the Sentinel-Tribune were left at Aurora Loan Services, with no response.
Life on hold
Meanwhile, Brooks is still waiting for that foreclosure notice. She has lived in her home, which was
bought for $118,500, for 12 years. It has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a big backyard.
"As a kid growing up, I always liked this house," she said. "It’s a great place to raise
kids."
Though her children are aware life has changed, Brooks tries to shield them from the severity of the
situation.
"I don’t talk about it too much in front of them," she said. "Ultimately, I don’t want to
pack up my kids and move."
If she does have to move, Brooks knows she will have to rent a home.
"This destroyed my credit. It’s financially destroyed me, completely." Brooks said. "You
don’t realize how important your credit is, till it is stripped away from you."
Downward dominoes
The "domino effect" of the mortgage mess has tainted every part of Brooks’ life. Her credit
line has dropped to $800, while her interest rate from creditors has jumped to 28 percent. "Even
though I’ve never been late on any of those," she said of her bills.
She can’t even come close to getting a loan for her business, which employs nine people and administers
health plans for small companies. "Sometimes you have to spend money to make money," she said.
But Brooks has none to spend. And she is very aware that she will lose her business license if she is
forced to file bankruptcy.
Like many, Brooks was at first too ashamed to talk about her financial problems.
"I was real quiet about this for a long time," she said. After all, she is a mayor and business
owner. "I didn’t want people to think I’m irresponsible. You feel so bad that you did something
wrong – when you didn’t do anything wrong."
But now, Brooks has no intention of going quietly. She has been interviewed by newscaster Dan Rather and
has told her story to state and national elected officials.
She has filed a lawsuit against Aurora, asking that the firm repair her record.
"I just want my credit restored," she said. But she has already racked up nearly $20,000 in
legal fees and isn’t sure what her chances are for winning. "I’m one person complaining in Luckey,
Ohio. If I don’t win these lawsuits, I will lose my home."

No posts to display