Couple Won't Lose Home Over $2: Order Dismisses Foreclosure Action

Nov 29, 2008 (Albuquerque Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- SOUV | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Dixie and Paul Williams have much to be thankful for -- to wit, not being thrown out of their South Valley home for $2 in late mortgage payments.

And they're thankful to the lawyers at the Senior Citizens' Law Office who helped make that happen.

Senior Citizens law office executive director Angelica Allen said that an order dismissing the foreclosure action against the couple, who are in their 80s and not in the best of health, has been filed in state district court. This time, she said the bank accepted the $4 in mortgage fees that it had previously rejected as payment.

Of course, it would be nice if the Williams had heat in the house where they share space with several rescue cats and a dog named Vanna White.

The gas was cut off three months ago when a leak was detected, and the new line from the street to their house that plumbers said was the best fix will cost them $3,000.

"We were very pleased that the bank came to its senses," Allen said. "They (the Wil- liams) finished paying their back taxes, which caused a three-month delay in getting the gas line repair."

The couple, who live on Social Security, had pledged their house as collateral on a Small Business Administration loan in the 1970s and arranged an extension with a new mortgage payment of $1 a year when Paul Williams became ill. The terms of the legal arrangement say the house will revert to SBA or its successor bank upon the deaths of the Williams.

The paperwork had changed hands, and the Williams never got any notice of where to send the $1 mortgage payment, legal documents said.

The new mortgage holder filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the couple earlier this year when it failed to receive the $1 payments.

Allen said that, after a story about the Williams' predicament was published in the Journal, she heard from a man who wanted to organize a protest in front of the courthouse -- waving $2 bills.

"This foreclosure action reflects the current problem created by the use of mortgages as an investment product," Allen said. "What has happened is, local banks no longer have any tie to local homeowners and mortgages. So we're dealing with faceless bureaucracies who have no interest or investment in the communities."

She said that, in other, less dramatic cases in recent years, mortgages may have been sold multiple times.

"It's extremely difficult to try to discuss loan modification or payment plans. And that's become increasingly true over the years," she said. "I think half the people who end up in our office are there because they can't find a person who can engage in any problemsolving."

Dixie Williams said she felt a weight lifted with the dismissal of the foreclosure.

"It was resolved, thank god, after all the hullabaloo," she said. "I feel really relieved, because I'm a surviving heart attack patient, and I immediately felt some relief right inside. It was like turning loose something."

She said they've been without gas since July, relying on a wood-burning fireplace with heat boosters and an electric stove.

Without hot water, they have been washing their clothes at a Laundromat, but they haven't been able to take hot showers.

She hopes to eventually find a nonprofit that can help with the gas line cost.

In the meantime, she said she borrowed from friends and relatives, and someone from a charity group brought them firewood last week.

"Albuquerque people are a breed of their own. They can open their hearts pretty good sometimes," Dixie Williams said.

To see more of the Albuquerque Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.abqjournal.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index